such remarkable brake lights, above the quarter panels and at the base of the roof. 
I believe the pennant is to show that the car is a 1939
Sunday, April 23, 2023
the shark nose Graham was one of those daring designs back when they didn't know where things might go, and companies too chances (Cord 810, Airstream Chrysler)
such remarkable brake lights, above the quarter panels and at the base of the roof. 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Man,Those headlights ! A work of art.
ReplyDeleteThe Sharknose styling was compliments of one Amos Northup. The guy was a well established car designer when he laid out the essentials of the Sharknose. He died in early 1937 and the final version of the car had open wheel wells, which Northup had envisioned as skirted.
ReplyDeleteThe remark about car companies taking a chance with design brings to mind Chrysler. In the early fifties KT Keller contracted (hired?) Virgil Exner to head up a special products division of some sort, to explore what Chrysler products might look like in the future. One of Exner’s first projects was the 1953 DeSoto Adventurer, a stunningly beautiful four place coupe. The design was executed by Exner himself, with construction farmed out to Ghia.
Exner and sympathizers within the company pushed to have the car built on a limited basis. In the end it was, unfortunately, not to be. There were too many executives and board members who had survived the Airflow debacle, and their only justification for resisting the Adventurer was, “Remember the Airflow, remember the Airflow.”
Exner drove the DeSoto for a number of years as his personal vehicle, before it was scrapped. Because the car had not built here it was subject to import tariffs and all the rest of that crap, unless it was destroyed. So instead of paying up, Chrysler put it to the torch.
Here’s a link to a picture of this car...pretty as a pair of lace panties in my mind.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/autohistorian/4017916735
and just exactly why were they so scared of the fees? They paid their CEO's, and VPs, ridiculous amounts of money, free new car every year, free new car for their wives, etc etc fly on the company airplane, ridiculous amounts of expensive country club lifestyle and golf course perks. But they refused to pay an import tariff? A couple thou? It makes no sense. I don't doubt it's true, but in context of how much money flowed to make those upper executives happy, it's senseless.
DeleteI don't see that in the same way, it reminds me too much of the Daimler and Packard/Studebaker type of look.
I did like the DeSoto Adventurer II https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/04/desoto-concept-car-built-by-ghia-of.html