1947 in the REAR VIEW MIRROR

I WAS 3yrs old lol😂

Posted by: @larry-kemling

I WAS 3yrs old lol😂

LOL, I was still four years from conception. 

Thanks, George, for memories of 1947. The Chevrolet Aerosedan had that distinctive long back, but other cars had used similar styling, and the rest of the Chevy was just a continuation.  The Studebaker was the first all-new body since 1942.  The most striking feature was the extremely long (for a five-passenger car) hood-like cover over the luggage compartment of the sedan which was exaggerated on the Starlight coupe. Critics of the radically styled models commented by asking the rhetorical question, "Which way is it going?" (Comedian Fred Allen quipped: "Next year Studebaker is coming out with a model that you won't be able to tell if it is going sideways".) The viewer's astonishment was compounded by the great expanse of the wrap-around rear window.

  Unlike other pillared two-door sedans that use two side windows separated from the rear window by roof supports, Designer Raymond Loewy created a roof rounded at the rear with a wraparound window system that provided a panoramic effect, similar to a railroad observation car. The curved window was achieved with four fixed panels of glass. The roof was supported by two wide pillars (sometimes called "B" pillars) immediately behind the doors and in front of the wraparound back window. The body style was originally named, simply, "5-passenger coupe"; however, for the 1949 model year it was renamed Starlight Coupe. With the fixed windows, however, only the two door windows of the coupe provided unrestricted air flow.  Air conditioning in 1947 was restricted, I believe, only to the most deluxe Packards.

The car's unique profile provided the Studebaker marque with an easily recognized body shape copied as soon as possible by the other US manufacturers in their 1949 models, and appeared to be influenced by the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, particularly by the shortened fuselage with wrap around canopy. Studebaker followed a styling trend soon after the war of adopting fighter aircraft appearances on their products, as demonstrated on Buick and Cadillac vehicles starting in 1948.  (Most of this information came from Wikipedia).

But the new Kaiser/Frazer also had an impact when seen on the road.  It was also brand new, but very few were produced in 1947.  They were really accepted as modern, but it was a conservative modernity.  However, their engine and drive train seemed to be troubled, and drivers stayed away from their few dealers.

My daddy never considered either Studebaker or Kaiser.  They were too radical for him.   He bought a new Ford sedan in 1946, didn't like it and gave it to his mother, and bought a new Chevrolet in 1947.  That one he wrecked and replaced with a '46 Ford coupe.  He drove that Ford for years and then kept it over at his business to use as a company car.  I drove the Ford quite often in the mid-fifties while learning to drive.  It had a forgiving clutch, unlike the '47 Chevy with its vacuum shift.

Good memories!

really enjoying these George, great follow up David

Posted by: @geoff-jowett

really enjoying these George, great follow up David

Glad they are received well.  It's always fun to reflect on past times and memories.