Art & Inspiration Design Pinnacle

I wonder why , in my opinion., 1957 was the absolute pinnacle of automotive design ? Everyone seems to have been on top of their game .Cars weren't boxes anymore .Was it A dozen years post war , the jet age , nuclear proliferation , something in the water ?

 

I don't know, but it really turned to crap in 1958

 

I'm partial to GM bubble-tops, 1959 to 1962. And although beyond the HAMB era, GM 65-68-ish.

 

Lately, I have been looking at the mid 30's cars.......they say all of the cars look the same today......well, take a look at the mid 30's lineup from Ford, GM, and Chrysler those 4 door sedans have an awful lot of similarities.
Wonder why that was.........spies?

 

I like 1957's, but can also think of several C2 Corvettes, the GM bubbletops, first gen Camaro and Mustang fastback as pretty darn good (and lasting) styling too.
(Not to mention 32-34 and 39-40 Fords!!!)
Shoot, I'll take one of each!

 

After the mundane, prior to the excessive.

Not sure there's any one particular pinnacle year, maybe some not so good ones.

 

I think 55 was more the pinnacle, as they were excessive by 57.

Also, 1933 was another pinnacle year.

 

I sort of agree with squirrel. 55 (some 54) GMs were to me, the "purest" of the designs, with the following two years an exploration of the theme. 57s are certainly duded up compared to the 55s, but not overdone for the most part imo. 58 went to hell. 57 Ford was an all new look that fell into line with everyone else's new look for 57. 57 certainly was a high point (except for Mercury. They should've quit when they were ahead in 56.)

 

I agree, but it picked up again quickly in 1959!

 

I was behind some new POS that had all of this angular dangular stuff going on in the back and I said "wow people think that's good looking? WTF? 1958 didn't look so bad after all.

 

I think that the 1957 Chevy is the 1932 Ford built by GM. If you could name one of the most popular standard vehicles (today) of the General Motors inventory is would be the 1957 Chevy, just as the most popular standard vehicles of Ford Motor Company it would be the 1932 Ford. Just my 2 cents on this subject.

 

Agreed but I'd take anything from '58 over 95% of the rides in the showrooms today. In fact, I'd be quite happy with a '58 Impala.

 

1957 was a watershed year... Not so much for GM who reskinned their '55 models one last time, but Ford and Chrysler both introduced all-new cars that were longer, lower, and wider than previous models. GM followed suit the next year. Styling differences between makes reached it's peak in this era until 'badge engineering' reared it's head in the late '70s...

 

If my dad were alive he would say it was the European classics from Bugatti, Delahaye , etc.

 

For American car design, IMO, 1941 was a year of overall excellence…..not to say prior and later years didn’t have excellent style in several cases….but ‘41 was one of those years that occurs periodically where everyone ‘got it right’.

1932 is an example, 1940 was pretty good too, 1949 another …..I agree with @squirrel though, 1955 was a better example than 1957 and 1955 sets sales volume records that stood for many years.

Ray

 

It's OT as a year goes but I would have liked to have been a car shopper in 1969. Every manufacturer was killing it! And it was a good year for women as witnessed by my beautiful wife!

 

My first car. As a hot rod (396 4spd.) it sure got a lot of attention in a sea of Tri-Fives. At that time ('70s) they were dirt cheap in comparison. Last I saw they were bringing more. Wasn't particularly heavy as I recall but the X frame, two piece drive shaft and coil sprung rear were a bit of a hassle.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder of course. I prefer the '58 to the following few years.

 

58 looks OK when you get rid of all that fat ugly chrome crap up front

(58 ford had the same problem, to my eye)

 

Like was said like the 55/56 Mopar offerings compared to the later 50's Mopar's not just because I was born then either !

 

I'll have to say '56 was the pinnacle year of refined elegance in the looks of most makes and models for me. At the time the new 57's had the wow factor but like any "hot" fashion was old by '58's excess. Bubble tops that followed recovered some, but not all, pleasing lines to my eye.

Ed

 

Seems like 57 Chevys are "the favorite one", but for me, the 55 was the best looking Chevy. As a mostly Ford guy, that is "all I have to say about that" .

 

55 was a pinnacle year for the big three up to 57.
58-60 was simply crazy and a “ LOOK WHAT I DID” eta the 59 Cadillac is a fine example of sheer over the top takiness , Chrysler’s of this era are just ..... ummmm wow ok.

then 61-62 ushered in the long low slab sided luxury barges that I just love , 63 and on Lincoln’s caddies and imperials I think are the pinnacle of “ ive arrived with money and class “ ( Lincoln especially and that continued into the late 70’s)

Back on the teens and into the early 30’s I think almost everything looked the same as today with minor grill or trim belt line reveal etc to distinguish a Chevy from a dodge.

the 30’s brought on an era where style over function came into vogue and we had some brilliant cars that where driving art pieces while still being 100% functional.

not much to look at today, some nice cars, lots of horsepower and speed whitch I like. But they are mostly appliances to get from point a to b.

kinda like the teens again no ? Just transportation .

 

I will say that 1937 was also a Pinnacle year for GM. everything (with exception of 8 cyl Olds) was beautiful.

 

My choice would be French stylists, in the late 30's for the pinnacle of design. Second would be America in 1957.