Art & Inspiration Top-5 American Automotive Designs

Great choices, but there's too many cool cars to ever just pick 5.
We're all partial to what we like, what we were exposed to when we were young, and I've got to include the 39/40 Ford coupe on my list, plus one more.
At the famous Gatlinburg rod run in, I believe, 1973 or 1974, I saw my first chopped Merc in the flesh. It sat outside the Gatlinburg Auditorium the whole weekend, had NC plates, and was blue.. That car kicked my ass bigtime. All weekend, I kept going back to it.
When I got home, I immediately bought a 50 coupe that sat abandoned in my home town. I paid $50 for it. It was as bad as any $50 car is supposed to be.
Thus began a now almost 50 year obsession with one style of car.
But nope, can't do just 5.

 

Just recently came across this interesting video, co-incidentally, extolling the virtues of Chryslers sleek new late '50s designs and GMs spying effort resulting in their attemps to keep pace.

 

Choose only 5? That's tough. Here are 5, in no order.
37-38 Chevy Coupe.
56 Cadillac
32-34 Ford (technically two different body styles)
39-40 Ford
29 Duesenberg

I really could go on and on... I like cars!

 

No particular order, approximate 5 favorite:
56 Lincoln Continental
54 Corvette
40 Ford coupe
36 Ford 3W coupe
34 Ford 3W coupe
1963 Corvette coupe
1932 Ford roadster
1931 Ford coupe

 

In no particular order,
Same question tomorrow may not have the same answer

 

34 ford 3w, 57 chev, 32 ford coupe, 62 corvette, 55 chevy

 

55 chevy hardtop
33 ford 3 window
59 Buick
53 corvette
39 zephyr

I was tempted to put 59 Rambler on the list, but it's just too hideous

 

mine----a mixed bag of sorts...

'61 Pontiac bubbletop
'37 Ford business coupe (not the club coupe)
'59 El Camino
'40 chevrolet business coupe
'55 Nomad

my number 6 is a '41 studebaker coupe and it could be in the top 5 tomorrow...or a couple hours even....

 

Fords, 34 Roadster and 40 coupe, 56 DeSoto, 59 Buick, 62 Grand Prix.

 

Add Bulgemobile to my list.

 

1940 Fords - I've owned 7 of them.

1932 Fords - I've owned 10 of them

1963 1/2 Falcon Sprint - only one

1950 Ford coupe - only one

And me being such a Ford guy I have always wanted a '55 Chevy - Hot Rod. HRP

 

1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible
1957 Desoto Adventurer coupe
1959 Chevrolet El Camino
1933 Ford 3-window coupe
1929 Ford roadster

 

1936 Ford 3 window
1959 Chevrolet Impala
1965 Buick Riviera
1940 Ford Tudor Sedan
1936 Ford pickup

 

1964 Galaxie- owned 9 of them

1955 Chevy

1938 Dodge Business Coupe- owned one

1951 Hudson Hornet

1934 Ford 3 window- owned 1

 

'40 Ford Coupe....'32 Ford Highboy Roadster........'36 Ford 3 window......'63 Corvette Split Window Coupe.......and believe it or not, '36 Cord, simply because of the Gordon Buehrig advanced styling, certainly not for reliability.

 

In no particualr order:
63 Riviera (I like the rear bumper and taillights, and the round headlights in the square grill)
63 Avanti (I really like round headlights)
63 Corvette (especially the GS race car with round headlights under clear covers)
39 Ford Deluxe coupe (better than the 40)
53 Studebaker

Honorable mention:
56 Continental
70 Camaro (These 2 haven't aged well)
32 Ford
61 Chevy bubbletop
49 Ford
65 GTO (most improved by just a new grill and taillights)
55 Nomad (maybe 56, not 57)

 

1965 Pontiac Bonneville
1957 Chrysler
1956 Continental
1956 Lincoln Premiere
1953 Studebaker

Slightly out of HAMB period (not shown)
1966 Buick Riviera
1967 Cadillac Eldorado

 

49-51 Ford coupe
39 Mercury convertible
60 Ford Starliner
36 Ford 3 window
57 Thunderbird

 

I have a friend that is in the insurance business and he always talked about wanting a corvette. one after noon he called me and ask me what I know about Corvette and I said very little, he proceeded to tell me one of his clients had a car that had belonged to her husband, it was not running and had been sitting in the garage for almost 30 years, he ask me if I would go look at it with him.

20 minutes later we were on the road and within 30 minutes we pulled into a well manicured gated community, we had the gate code and went to the address, the lady was in the yard when we arrived and went inside to open the garage door.

I was shocked to see a red 1963 split window Corvette, it had a 327 and a 4 speed transmission, the license plate was from 1979, So the car had been sitting for more than 44 years.

Mark ask me what I thought and I ask the lady if she knew why her husband had parked the car and she said he had a brake problem and never got it fixed and she didn't remember the last time it ran.

To make things better for Mark, the lady was going to sell the house and move into a condo and didn't want or need the car.

I ask the lady what she wanted for the car and she handed me a note book full of paper work and said I want what George paid for it, Mark bought the car for $4,437.00, exactly what her husband paid the Chevrolet dealer.

This is about 12 years ago, Make has since went through the brakes, added muchly needed air conditioning, air circulation in that was basically non existent, new tires and buffed the paint.

I give Mark hell about the car sometimes and tell him if he stepped in $H!T it would turn to gold!

When he drives it to work he constantly gets offers to buy the car. HRP

 

Every designer for 40+ years after the coffin nose Cord came out seemed to be obsessed with it. Even Virgil Exner, with all his futuristic tail finned designs loved the Cord, the grille in the '61 Imperial was supposed to mimic the Cord grille (really gotta squint to see that one, but that's what the man said). The Cords are super neat cars, but they're also kind of a footnote in and of themselves, surprising what an impact they made on designers for years to come.

I know I did at least one of these "top 5" lists years ago, I'm sure they were all stuff with tail fins on them, mixed in with a couple models of whatever I was working on at the time.

 

I can't generally narrow down to specific years or models, and these are my current coolest (but not necessarily most beautiful):

Gotta follow the Boss for first two:

1. 1965 Rivi (What Ryan said)
2. 1934-36 Ford Roadster (What Ryan said)
3. 1947-48 Chrysler Business Coupe ( I just love these clown cars as customs)
4. 1961-62 GM Bubble Tops (Timeless elegance)
5. 1958 Lincoln Hardtop or Convertible ( But there's also something about a baroque design...)

 

I always have trouble with this and have to put the stipulation of "what if Hot Rods and customs were banned and I could only have an original car". What cars do I think were perfect from the factory? While I like '56 Chevys and Shoebox Fords, they just look awkward stock.
So my current Top 5....
'40 Ford (any body style, except maybe the convertible, that top hurts it)
'57 T-bird
'63-'65 Riviera.
'63 Grand Prix
'56 Olds 88