Pontiac Polylemma
My favorite automobile era is the decade mid-thirties to mid-forties. The 1941 Pontiac was a particular favorite, with their range of body styles.
Actually it can be stretched through 1948, because soon after Pearl Harbor everything went to war production and very few 1942 cars were sold; in December 1941, my parents got the last new Chevrolet to arrive in Panama City until after the War. There were no 1943,’ 44, ’45 models. After VJ Day in August 1945, automobile manufacture resumed with a vengeance, the 1946 models, Chevrolet leading the pack with a V-for-Victory.
Pent-up demand was so great that there was no pressing need to change pre-war designs and styles until the 1949 model year. But Hudson changed for 1948, with a breathtaking new step-down design.
1947 Hudson front view
1947 Hudson rear view
1948 Hudson step-down design rear view
1948 Hudson stepdown design front view
A few others also changed for 1948. The 1948 Cadillac had a new body. So did the 1948 Olds 98. Other than that, 1949 was the model year of big change. In the fall of 1948 when the spotlights hit the skies announcing that new cars were in the showrooms, there were some works of art; and some abominations of utter homeliness. The 1948 Nash was a classic. But the new Nash Airflyte? Even Old Mother Nash couldn’t have loved that boy.
1948 Nash
1948 Nash
1949 Nash Airflyte
The Nash Airflyte was uglier than the Pope's overcoat. In fact, from 1949, Nash was an ugly orphan until George Romney came along, wrapped Hudson and Nash into American Motors, and invented the Compact Car with his Rambler. Linda and I had two of George’s Ramblers in the early 1960s. Our two-tone pink 1961 Rambler station wagon was our first air-conditioned car.
Oddly, instead of a year earlier, Buick didn’t until 1949 adopt the gorgeous body of the 1948 Cadillac and Olds 98. But in 1949 Buick went forward with the enormous, quiet humming Buick Straight Eight, while Olds and Cadillac went from flat head straight eight and flat head V-8 respectively for 1948 to brand new OHV V-8s for 1949. Buick didn’t get a V-8 until 1953, and then in the Buick Super and Roadmaster but not the Buick Special.
No one thought in those days that eventually Hudson and Nash would combine to become American Motors. Or that Packard and Studebaker would combine in years to come and offer the Packard-loving public a retrimmed Studebaker, the most hideous and blasphemous Packard of the ages ...
... and that all these venerable names would eventually cease production altogether. After all, they were pioneers of the American automobile industry. Hudson, Packard, Nash, Studebaker ... LaSalle ... not to mention Oldsmobile, DeSoto, Mercury, Plymouth, and again one of my all time favorites, the Pontiac SilverStreak.
TomW
It means many choices and difficult to choose. And anyone who's saved knows that with its round taillights that's a 1948 Pontiac Silver Streak. The '46 and '47 had square taillights.
No one thought in those days that eventually Hudson and Nash would combine to become American Motors. Or that Packard and Studebaker would combine in years to come and offer the Packard-loving public a retrimmed Studebaker, the most hideous and blasphemous Packard of the ages ...
... and that all these venerable names would eventually cease production altogether. After all, they were pioneers of the American automobile industry. Hudson, Packard, Nash, Studebaker ... LaSalle ... not to mention Oldsmobile, DeSoto, Mercury, Plymouth, and again one of my all time favorites, the Pontiac SilverStreak.
TomW
It means many choices and difficult to choose. And anyone who's saved knows that with its round taillights that's a 1948 Pontiac Silver Streak. The '46 and '47 had square taillights.