Rogues Gallery of Busy Grilles and Front Ends

I've been hammering away for a while now about the current fashion for overly decorated designs.  I think an important reason for this fad or fashion is government fuel efficiency regulations that have driven engineers and stylists to wind tunnels in the pursuit of high aerodynamic efficiency.  The result is car bodies with nearly identical basic shapes, and this has led to the use of excessive ornamentation and aerodynamically irrelevant body surface sculpting as means to establish brand and model identification.

Another -- probably lesser -- reason is the normal pendulum swing from one extreme to another that is common where fashion is concerned.

This post presents examples of overly-busy looking grilles and front end ensembles on American cars of the 1950s, an era noted for extravagant styling themes.  Then recent and current examples are shown, illustrating that we now seem to be in a period even more extreme than the '50s.

The 1950s images are of cars for sale.  The others are manufacturers' publicity photos.

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1950s American Examples

1950 Buick
Classic overstatement that was toned down for the next model year.

1952 Packard 400 Patrician
This is a modernized version of the traditional Packard grille intended to better blend with post- World War 2 styling trends.  The sculpting is rather Rococo, but the overly decorated part is the "teeth" that thankfully disappeared on the 1953 facelift.

1958 Buick
If the decorations on the face of the hood were eliminated, the design would be a lot more coherent.

1959 DeSoto
A three-level grille-bumper ensemble, each level having a separate theme.

1959 Dodge
This design approaches the confusion seen in some of the recent images below.


Current and Recent Examples

2015 Nissan Juke
A small car with intentionally funky styling.

2016 Nassan Maxima
The Nissan badge and its chrome nest serve as brand-wide identification.

2017 Lexus IS
Variously termed as "hourglass," "spindle," and (by me) "back-to-back Lexus Ls, this has been a Lexus theme for several years now.  And, as seen farther below, Toyota seems to be adding it to its mass-market brand.

2017 Renault Mégane sedan
That enduring, yet somewhat inexplicable Moebius-diamond symbol reinforces an already somewhat cluttered design.

2018 Audi A8
Audi pioneered the theme of draping the grille over the front bumper.

2018 Genesis
Count the textures on the face of this Genesis by Hyundai.

2018 Honda Accord
This car has some interesting sculpting, but it gets carried a little too far on the front end.  The sweeping element atop the grille and its details do not relate well to what is below.

2018 Hyundai Sonata
This design is cleaner than most shown here.  But the faddish fake air intakes flanking the grille add to the clutter.

2018 Infiniti Q50
An odd, droopy look to the front.

2018 Toyota Camry
As mentioned above, Toyota's mainline American sedan is now getting a Lexus-like frontal design.  The hood face, the faux air intakes flanking the actual grille and the dark, two-level apparent grille segment do not work well together.

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Triumph Dolomites Wearing a Hudson Fencer's Mask

A flash styling fad in America that lasted roughly 1935-1937 was the "fencer's mask" grille that I discussed here.  Such grilles had bowed out, convex shapes that suggested fencing equipment to enough observers that the term can still be seen.

Most such grille designs were fairly sensible and modestly attractive, as you can see if you scroll through the above link.  The strangest design was found on the completely restyled 1936 Hudsons.  Descriptive terms that come to my mind include: fussy, complicated, mannered, awkward and outrageous.   Hudson management, perhaps influenced by feedback from potential buyers, saw to it that the design was toned down for 1937 and replaced in 1938.

Not everyone got the message.  A grille design almost surely inspired by Hudson's appeared about a year later on 1937 Triumph Dolomite 14/60 automobiles.  This Wikipedia entry states that this new Triumph line's design "was overseen by Donald Healey and featured a striking new design of radiator grille by Walter Belgrove."  Belgrove surely was aware of 1936 Hudson styling because Hudson was a well-known and respected American brand in England in those days.

This is documented in the images below.  While the Dolomite grille is not identical to Hudson's, the Hudson theme is clearly used.

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A photo I took of a 1936 Hudson featuring the grille.

The grille on a 1939 Triumph Dolomite 14/60 Drophead Coupé, auction photo.  Hudson similarities include the wedged waterfall central element and flanking areas with a contrasting pattern.

Another view of the same car, providing more context to the grille.

Lacking crossbars and other non-ventilating parts on the waterfall element of the 1939 grille (that first appeared for 1938) is the grille on this 1937 Dolomite 1 1/2-Litre Saloon (Bonhams photo).

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When DeSoto Wanted to be a Buick

Buick stood next to the top (Cadillac) in General Motors' hierarchy of brands once LaSalle was dropped from the lineup after the 1940 model year.  Like other GM brands, Buick offered models across a price/prestige range.  Around 1950, the most expensive Buicks overlapped entry-level Cadillacs in price, while the least-expensive Buicks competed with Oldsmobiles and some Pontiacs. Over at Chrysler Corporation, Chryslers were competitive with Buicks, while the Imperial model was in the Cadillac price range.  DeSotos considerably overlapped Chrysler's range, but from a slightly lower starting point.  That is, DeSoto competed with all Buicks save the Roadmaster line and all Oldsmobiles except the lower-level 76s.

From 1942 though 1954 a major Buick brand identification feature was a grille with vertical bars.  DeSoto grilles also had vertical bars, but from 1941 through 1955.  And there was a brief time -- model years 1951 and 1952 -- that DeSoto even borrowed Buick's hood sculpting theme.  I am not sure that was a good idea, essentially copying the looks of a competing brand.  In any case, that detail was dropped on DeSoto's restyled 1953 line.

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1939 Buick - publicity photo
Buick first tried out a vertical grille bar theme in 1939, but went to horizontal bars for 1940 and 1941.

1941 DeSoto - Auctions America photo
DeSoto's first use of vertical bars on a horizontal grille.

1942 Buick
Vertical bars were back for the war-shortened 1942 model year.

1949 Buick Super Sedanette - Hyman Ltd. photo
Buicks were restyled for 1949.  Note the sculpting on the front of the hood.  DeSoto stylists were aware of this feature when the 1951 facelift was being developed.

1950 DeSoto - for sale photo
DeSotos were also given new body designs for 1949.  The 1950 models got a revised grille design.

1950 Buick Special Sedanette - Hyman Ltd. photo
Another new set of bodies for Buick in 1950.  The hood sculpting theme was carried over from 1949.

1951 DeSoto - for sale photo
All Chrysler Corporation cars were facelifted for 1950, the most noticeable change being the rounded-off hood prow.  Now DeSoto picks up Buick's hood sculpting.  Not an exact copy, but pretty close.

1951 Buick Super - Hyman Ltd. photo
That same model year Buick got a new grill, but the hood sculpting was unchanged.

1952 DeSoto - for sale photo
DeSotos for 1952 were almost identical to '51s.  The only difference seen here is the typeface for the word "DeSoto."

1953 DeSoto - Mecum Auctions photo
As mentioned above, restyled 1953 DeSotos dropped the Buick-like hood sculpting.

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1934 Chrysler Airflow Grille Up Close

Unsuccessful sales-wise in its day, the Chrysler Corporation Airflow continues to fascinate the design community, and not just automobile stylists.  Books and exhibits dealing with "Moderne" or "Art Deco" can include photos of Chrysler or DeSoto Airflows to help establish an early 1930s mood.

Books and web sites dealing with automobile design history -- including this one -- ignore Airflows at their peril.  For example, as of the time this was drafted, I'd featured Airflows here and here, as well as having another Airflow post besides this one written and awaiting future publication.

Airflow design was wind tunnel tested at the instigation of Carl Breer, a leading engineer who had the ear of Walter P. Chrysler.  Chrysler's styling section had been established in 1928, but was under the thumb of body engineering.  According to Lamm and Holls in "A Century of Automotive Style," stylists seemed to have been involved mostly with decorative aspects of 1934 Airflows: the design was essentially engineering-driven.

I want to focus here on the styling of the front end of the original, 1934, Chrysler Airflow.  It seems to have been a factor in the car's disappointing sales.  That's because Airflows for 1935 and succeeding years received more prominent, elevated grilles more in line with mid-1930s customer tastes.  For example, the second link, above, deals with the case of DeSoto Airflows and how Chrysler stylists tried to deal with problems created by the 1934 models.

Below are some photos I took a while ago at the National Automobile Museum in Reno Nevada. It is what remains of the huge Harrah collection.

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First, some stage-setting.  Above is a CU model, the archetypical Airflow.

Another 1934-vintage photo, this of the front end of the same car.  The dark rectangle is the opening to the radiator.  All those thin, vertical chromed bars serve to largely conceal the opening when viewed from other angles.  Now for my photos:

The subject is a 1934 Chrysler Airflow 5-Passenger Coupe wedged between a 1939 Mercury and a 1933 Studebaker.

Even from this nearly head-on angle, the opening cannot be seen -- though the black body color helps to camouflage.  Headlight assemblies are placed on the aerodynamically shaped nose of the car.  The Studebaker at the right of the image shows the sort of frontal designs potential Airflow customers were familiar with: the differences were shocking to many.

When not supported by sheet metal, the grille bars are attached to roughly horizontal metal frames at the upper and lower edges of the opening, allowing them to span the gap.

Chrysler symbolism included wings and a blue ribbon (first prize winner) enhancing the name badge.  The grille bars are attached to connective bits.  This is more evident in the photo below.

Closer view of the wings and badge.

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