GM's Styling - The Look of Things 1955

I was cleaning up my office the other day and forgot that I have this complete, spiral bound copy of the mid 50s General Motors Styling Staff handbook "Styling- The Look of Things". I scanned a few pages for you to enjoy, including a comparison that ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

Pretty cool stuff, nice to see what the stylists were thinking.

 

Great info. Thanx. Here's some more.

http://www.55classicchevy.com/

 

This is super neat. I love the even the aesthetics of the pages describing the aesthetics.

Is this something for the design department, or something a dealer would receive?

 

Obviously I'm partial, but 55 was such a great year for the auto industry as a whole.

 

Thanks for posting this, GM would do well to reread this book to create a decent new car design.

 

I keep hoping that they will find the movie put out by the GM styling studio that our industrial arts teacher showed us about that time. It might have been 58 59.

I have an issue of Hotrod from Aug 1951 that has an ink stamp on the cover that says property of the General Motors styling studio. They were paying attention to us back then.

 

i've got a funny tast in my mouth (i think it is my foot) i sense someone coming FAST behind me! why does a 56chevy and a 56ford share the same profile ? HEY,i gotta go----------------

 

I do believe that 55 was a pivotal styling year for GM and Ford.56 years later,they still turn heads.

 

Makes me wonder what ever happened to people's sense of style. Now we mostly have jelly bean cars. No wonder the cars of the 50's are such head turners these days.

 

When I showed my chopped 57 Buick at the EyesOn Design show
(at the Edsel Ford House,Grosse Pointe Michigan)
They gave me this poster.The photo was taken on 5-19-1955.
Two years before the 57 was built.
TwoChops
LEFT CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

That's great! Thanks for posting.

 

Great stuff. I will always love the fifties.

 

Super cool!

 

That. Was. Awesome. !!

Very cool to see some of the thought process.

 

Thanks for posting, I like the quiz part. My new favorite term: informal symmetry.

 

Cool to see the "why" of things as mouldings and what were designers thinking. Obviously something to consider when customizing and being period correct. Never thought this existed, thanks for sharing.

 

Neato!

 

Jay, I really dig this post, what a cool book! I'm at work now and only had a quick look, but will take time at home to read it properly.

 

I would love to see more of this book... pretty incredible to see!!

 

It's a great little book. Every now and then one pops up on Ebay. I got a mint copy for around $25. Well worth it.

 

If you like that you might like this too. Poke around, there's a lot of great industrial design art extant.

http://deansgarage.com/

 

yeah and in the late 60's early 70's psychedelic images prevailed. someone make a time machine, i'm lonely for 1969....

 

That's a really cool thing to have in any collection!

 

My dad must've picked it up somewhere, Detroit Auto Show, or he wrote to GM... He still has it... I flipped through it when I was a kid... kinda boring when you are 8.

I've grown to appreciate it since.

 

This is awesome! thanks for sharing. Is there anyway I could find a copy of the entire handbook?

 

tommy & H.A.M.B. Posters...

This is DON FERRARA'S legendary '29 A ! He's the reason I'm doing what I do today...and he's still alive-and-well in Calif. ! See my Thread here on the H.A.M.B. OR, for his complete story, as well as the info & story about this particular photo (and the "Hot Rod Heroes" involved with it)that was used on this August, '51 Hot Rod cover, see my full Tribute Page here:http://www.legends.thewwbc.net/gpage105.html

Detroit, and all of us, owe Don a very big "Thank You" !

JK www.legends.thewwbc.net


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1955 was definitely a pivotal year for Detroit, and thanks for including all of this GREAT info for us to see & enjoy !

We often forget that some of the younger Posters here on the H.A.M.B. are still learning about our "roots"...and we need each and everyone of 'em to continue the Rod & Kustom Kulture into the Future long after we're gone !

JK

 

I got my drivers license in '56 so I can't fib about my age. The mid fifties was a new beginning for GM and rest of the big three, new styling,performance WOW! I suppose that's why I've owned three tri-fives, working on getting #4 on the road right now. May be red-headed step child as a sport sedan but it's still a '56 chevy.