The 55-57 Chevrolets were a good looking, well proportioned car with modest tailfins that grew incrementally through the three year run. The 1958 model was bigger, longer and lower, with almost nonexistent tailfins, exactly the opposite of what Ford and especially Chrysler, were doing.
The Chevrolet sold well, but was dumped at the end of the year as GM rejoined the trend to the exaggerated tailfin look for 1959 and 60.
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| C. Edson Armi, The Art of American Car Design, Pennsylvania State University Press 1988 |
The fins on the 50s GM cars allowed the designers to play their favourite game of "let's hide the gas filler". Either behind a taillight or in the fin itself, it kept the gas station attendants on their toes. With the fins gone in '58, they had to come up with something new. The filler is located between the bumper and the trunk lid, behind the 5" wide fold away panel to the left of centre (the matching right side panel is a dummy). It was a little more challenging to find than the run-of-the mill fold down license plate location so commonly used in those days.
ReplyDeleteI say bring back the fins for 2020! I think I will run on the platform... Man those are skinny tires eh?
ReplyDeleteI guess moving the gas filler out of the fender oand into yet another new location helped the stylists, though there was so mich chrome on some of them, it could have become part of the stayling!
ReplyDeleteWhat do mean narrow? Jeez, those are F789-14s!!!
I always thought the American Motors Pacer should have had fins. I rendered up a sketch in design school as a joke, and then sat back and listened to the comments. Another candidate might have been the 240 Volvo.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is a F789-14? Some French tire size? Down here in 'We will go to our death before the metric system" they came with 8.00-14's. I had a 67 Corvette with about that size, they were down to the cord in two days:)
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