From: "Bill Watson" <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: IML: AUTOWEEK/Hemmings
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 13:10:13 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: kandkoyen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 12:59 AM
Subject: Re: IML: AUTOWEEK/Hemmings
<snip>
.
Does anyone remember what GM did with the in-process designs of their
entire line-up when they saw the spy-photos of the 1957 Chrysler ine-up?
Anyway, there's some of the stuff that got mentally "written" in a fury
when I read the Hemmings article, and there was a lot more. I did enjoy the
fact that they finally put an Imperial on the cover- their best one ever,
incidentally- and paid some overdue and well-deserved attention to
America's
finest motorcar.
Kristian Oyen
1963 Imperial Southampton 4-door
When the GM stylists came back from seeing the new Chrysler Corporation
products sitting at the Mound Road plant, and not after viewing spy-photos,
a palace revolt (of sorts) was plotted. Then styling head Harley Earl had
planned new 1958 models with loads more chrome and was working on new 1959
models that used, in the case of Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, reworked
1957 bodies (which in turn were updated 1954 bodies based on 1950-51 bodies
based on the 1948 bodies). The new 1957 Chrysler products left all but
Earl
dumbfounded. At first, they could not believe that Chrysler was actually
introducing these models to the public. When reality sank in, the skull
duggery began.
Earl was sent on a trip to Europe (a vacation, really) and the various
studio heads worked like crazy to develop new designs for 1959. The first
attempts at the 1959 bodies had very strong Chrysler styling touches.
Sedan
roofs mimicked Chrysler's while grilles and rear quarter panels appeared
more Exner than Earl (or Mitchell, his successor). When Earl returned, he
was in a state of shock. Quite naturally, he felt he had been undermined
and fought to have the new styles dumped. But GM management liked what
they
saw and work was begun in earnest on completely new 1959 models. In order
to meet the deadline, it was detemined that one body would be tooled,
called
the B body, with the larger C body for the senior Buicks and Cadillacs to
be
extended roof/.trunk versions of the B body.
At Cadillac, styling studio chief Ed Glowacke had paid a visit to
Cadillac's
advertising agency to view what they were working on for 1958, this some
months after the 1959 program had begun with GM management approval. The
site of Earl's chrome-laden Cadillacs was depressing to Glowacke, with the
1958 models being forgotten in the rush for 1959. Exner's 1957 Imperial
was a clean, flowing design in comparison, and he felt something had to be
done. Glowacke returned to the styling studio and stripped chrome from all
models, but in particular from the 60 Special with its fourteen chrome hash
marks on the rear fenders, the small 'grilles' on the front fender sides,
ribbed vertical 'gravel' shields in the rear doors, a big 'V' on each rear
fender ahead of the bumper, and thin chrome strips that ran about 2" away
from and parallel to the chrome drip rails and front and rear window trim.
The production 1958 60 Special was a chrome-laden barge, but it is quite
clean compared to what Earl wanted. Glowacke could have been fired for
revising styling over the head of Harley Earl, but again managment liked
what they saw.
Harley Earl retired in 1958, by the way.
Bill
Vancouver, BC
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