The 1955 Chevrolet Design Story: Part III
In parts one and two of the design of the 1955 Chevrolet we learned about the bones and heart of the car. In part three we conclude with the outward styling that brought it all together.
The previous two issues of Old Cars covered the development of the 1955 Chevrolet chassis and small-block V-8. Part three concludes with the design story of the iconic car.
An all-new body design was in the works concurrently with the Chevrolet’s new engine and chassis. Three years were expended in the 1955 Chevrolet design, and it was a major achievement in automotive history owing to all the features included in what was classed as a low-priced car. The introduction to the 1955 Chevrolet “Fingertip Facts” informational book for dealers said of the new car, “It’s a completely new concept of low-cost motoring — without parallel in automotive history. Starting with a clean slate, Chevrolet first found out, through exhaustive research, exactly what people want in a car of lowest cost; then developed—in one compact design —values that exceeded people’s greatest expectations of a car of Chevrolet’s class… As a result… Chevrolet is by far the most beautiful, most enjoyable, and finest performing Chevrolet ever built.” Those were bold words, and many buyers of cars in the low-price class evidently agreed that Chevrolet was offering them a very good automobile for their money.
In the December 1954 issue of Motor Trend, the new 1955 models were detailed by Walt Woron. His introductory comments regarding the 1955 Chevrolet revealed the stark contrast between the early-1950s models and the new car: “Seldom has there been a car that year in and year out has been described in the same monotonous style:
‘Not a car of high performance
‘Continues to provide good, economical transportation’
‘A car that won’t set the connoisseurs aflame with desire’
‘Who said this about what car? We did—about the Chevrolets of model years 1950 through 1954—and justly so. Now, there could be no one happier to announce that we can junk all these old phrases.”
Woron attributed the change to “mostly a new philosophy in thinking about their product and its relation to the competition. The Engineering Dept., headed up by Ed Cole, has come out with a machine that’s not only going to give fits to the other members of the Low-Priced Three, but is going to keep the other divisions of General Motors hopping to stay out of the Chevy’s way.”
Those who wrote Chevrolet’s advertising for the 1955 models made many claims, such as the car was “for the young in spirit” and “Here’s Chevrolet’s new show car styling at its beautiful best… New look! New life! New everything!” Some promotional material featured the slogan “Motoramic Chevrolet” which, along with the phrase “new show car styling,” were references to the dream cars shown at the GM Motorama, the traveling General Motors exhibition. The best-known today of all the catchphrases, though, is “The Hot One.” All of their boasts had merit. The wraparound, or “Sweep-Sight,” windshield, planned from the start of the styling process for the 1955 models, was a styling touch lifted from the GM Le Sabre and Buick XP-300 concept cars, both completed in 1951, and included in the 1953 GM Motorama show circuit. The wraparound windshield went into use for three production models starting with the 1953 model year; all of the cars with the innovative windshield were limited-production models: the Cadillac Eldorado, the Oldsmobile Fiesta and the Corvette. By 1955, all of GM’s new models, including its trucks, had the wraparound windshield.
While the wraparound windshield was planned from the start (though initially as a two-piece affair), other aspects of the car’s innovative styling underwent some changes along the way. Indeed, just one change resulted in a domino effect in regard to the car’s styling. The early design process included having the hood line low between the front fenders, with the fender line continuing into the front door where it would subtly dip at the A-pillar (windshield post). From there, the body line continued straight back. As the engine design progressed, it simply became too high to fit under the low hood, leading, of course, to a higher hood line. That, in turn, caused the fender height to be raised to maintain the recessed hood. This change forced the dip to be much greater than in its previous form, resulting in an ungainly appearance. The changed height of the hood and fenders also altered the proportions of the car, giving it a tall, narrow look. Finally, the recessed hood concept was abandoned and was essentially raised to fender height. (As it was, an air cleaner for the six-cylinder had to be designed to fit underneath the hood, which necessitated a small revision to the carburetor main metering jet to compensate for the slight increase in restriction caused by the side-mounted air cleaner.) The fender line continued almost through the door, then dipped near the C-pillar, just as on other GM passenger cars, except for station wagon models that had a straight line from pillar post to pillar post.
The grille for the 1955 Chevy actually arrived late in the styling process. Earlier proposals for the grille continued with the general look of those for 1953 and 1954, none of which suited the vice president of GM Styling, Harley Earl. During Earl’s annual trip to the European auto shows in the fall of 1953, the egg-crate grille of a Ferrari on display gave him inspiration. He decided an adaptation of the Ferrari grille was exactly the look the new Chevrolet needed. When the new Chevrolets were introduced in October of 1954, though, the grille design appeared to have been a major mistake. Dealers did not like it, just as they hadn’t of Harley Earl’s tailfin on the 1948 Cadillac, and the public also seemed to have some resistance to it. People were used to seeing a full-width grille and, for a time, such a new grille was in the process of being designed for the ’55. However, the public soon warmed up to, or at least learned to live with, the Ferrari-style grille and sales took off. Even so, a full-width grille was included on the 1956s.
The 1955 Chevrolets had styling that made them appear to be lower, longer and wider. In reality, the look was partly an illusion; the car was indeed lower (about 6 inches for wagons and more than 2 inches for other models), but was actually around 1 inch shorter and 1 inch narrower than in 1954. The lower height, in combination with a hood line nearly flush with the top of the front fenders, helped in obtaining the desired effect.
Other styling highlights included flush-fitting rear fenders, a first for Chevrolet. (The bulging rear fenders used through 1954 dated back to the 1949.) A vast number of two-tone paint schemes for the 1955 Bel Air and Two-Ten lines were available. Furthermore, a twin-cowl dash and instrument panel very similar to that of the Corvette (a sports car that went into production during 1953) gave the interior a sporty appearance. A decorative panel on the instrument panel of Bel Air models had 987 “Chevy bowties” cut into it. The idea for this decorative panel was probably inspired by the external panel also with the logo cut into it at the rear exterior of the 1954 Chevrolet Corvair show car displayed during that year’s GM Motorama and other venues.
The two-tone color schemes were not limited to the exterior. The so-called “Coloramic interior” was offered in 30 distinct arrangements of color-coordinated, two-tone patterns consisting of fabric and vinyl. The seats for the Bel Air and Two-Ten models were decorated with chromed moldings along the front seat end panels. Furthermore, these two lines of cars had, as standard equipment, automatic interior lamps that illuminated when any door was opened. The One-Fifty line had its own distinctive upholstery pattern. The Delray offered a more attractive interior than other members of the Two-Ten series.
The Chevrolets that followed for 1956 and 1957 were, of course, built upon the foundation of the 1955 model. Under the fresh, modern styling of all these models were multiple and popular innovative features uncommonly found in a low-priced automobile, albeit a number of the features were optional at extra-cost. Ultimately, the combination of styling and performance offered by the 1955-1957 models led to one of the most successful and important Chevrolet generations in automotive history. Chevrolet sales, which were the best ever, easily exceeded those of archrival Ford, which also offered new styling for 1955 (though it retained its 1952 inner structure). Ford also had its best sales year up to that point. GM had half of the overall car market in 1955, with the Chevrolet Division accounting for about half of those sales. Today, the 1955-1957 Chevrolets are at least as captivating as they were nearly seven decades ago, thus they have remained among the most sought automobiles among collectors.
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