There’s just something about the identity and design of cars that’s pretty much gone now. Sadly, the need to improve efficiency and reduce emissions has led to a generation of cars that sometimes seem possible to tell apart from each other only when you read the nameplate. That’s a far cry from my youth when there was no way a Dodge could look like a Chevy even at 100 yards.
I was reminded of that again (actually any visit to a parking lot is a reminder) at Tacoma’s America’s Car Museum, with its great selection of elegant, custom and just plain distinctive models. Most of these standouts come from the ‘if you have to ask the price you can’t afford it’ end of the spectrum, though not all. The one just above, by the way, is a 1930 Cadillac with a V-16 engine that produced 165 horsepower. For comparison, a Camry 4-cylinder engine is 203.
The 1916 Pierce Arrow Limousine above (with nickel rather than chrome, by the way) is still clinging to elements of horse-drawn coaches including the lamp at the door, and the driver outside the passenger cabin.
Interiors clearly also got full attention in this 1917 Crane Simplex.
Many of the most elegant cars on display are the work of custom body builders (or coachbuilders as some of them continued to call themselves). Customers would buy a ‘rolling chassis’ from the carmaker and have it delivered to the customizer who would create whatever the customer wanted. The radiator shape and hood ornament would often be the only visible factory details. The customizing often included seats designed for the customer’s size and weight.
Above, a 1926 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, and a 1938 Bentley. Bentley was owned by Rolls for many years. In the 1930s it had a reputation for being sportier; after the war, in my childhood, only the grill and hood ornament distinguished them.
The 1923 Lincoln touring car below has a unique story: The museum points out that the touring car was purchased new by a dealership that never sold it and never had it privately licensed. No explanation for why, but it certainly must qualify as “low mileage, top condition” for a sales ad!
Below, another Cadillac, this one a 1929 model with two firsts: A synchronized transmission and safety glass in all windows—but only a V8. And just below it, the super-sporty 1930 Dusenberg Model J roadster. The make was known both for luxury vehicles and for racing cars, and this one belongs to both of those. And it has a rumble seat to take care of annoying passengers.
Also on the sporty side, and just as red, is this 1931 Studebaker President convertible, a muscle car in its time.
Back to the meant-to-be-chauffeur-driven mode, we have this Lincoln ‘L Brougham’ model with a separate canopy over the driver compartment. The passenger doors swing back, rather than forward, getting them out of the way of their Very Important Passengers.
The 1930s saw a lot of changes in high-end car design, including smaller, more streamlined and not necessarily any less elegant. And in the case of the 1937 Cord below, not any less flamboyant. It was a front-wheel drive car, and could be lower to the ground, eliminating the running board to step in, and was the first to hide the headlights—at a time when others still mounted them separately, as on the Cadllacs below.
Note the difference between the two fairly similar cars above: One was for the owner to drive, but the one on the left put the chauffeur outside.
The late 1930s also saw a number of significant ‘personal’ cars with appeal for rich folks who wanted to drive themselves. It’s hard to imagine a place where the 1939 Packard Super Eight wouldn’t stand out. The Lincoln Continental is dated 1947, but the design came earlier when Edsel Ford told the design department to make a “strictly Continental” car for his own use. After the war, it went into commercial production.
Later limousines took on a more aerodynamic look as well, but not always very impressively. Compare, for instance, the imposing 1946 Packard Super Clipper, customized with an extra 21″ and more luxury touches with the 1940 Chrysler Crown Imperial Limousine. Even its length doesn’t give the Chrysler the ooomph of the Packard (which came in two versions, one with a chauffeur partition and one without).
And the sad note, the last note. Argue with me if you wish, but it largely ends there. True, there are custom Rolls and the like to be had. And true, there was the Avanti. But in terms of classic ‘impression cars,’ it goes downhill from there. Look at the 1959 Continental and Cadillac below. You cannot tell me they belong in the same class with their counterparts of thirty years before.
Previous America’s Car Museum Blogs:
