| Long and sleek! With Elvis as the hero of the day | | | | sparkling glamour, car designers became aggressive in |
| during the 1950s, whatever he drove become the car | | | | their creativity. By 1957 and 1958 the designers |
| of the day. And Elvis loved the glamour that shiny new | | | | produced disastrously overblown responses. Sharp |
| tail-fins exhibited. His fans loved them, too, which led to | | | | clean fins reached in all directions. They were streaked |
| over thirty heart-stopping models being designed during | | | | with chrome, and somewhere in the middle a body |
| the 1950s. No one cared back then whether cars | | | | was grafted into them. Bright yellows! Passionate reds! |
| were gas-guzzlers or whether the paint job would last, | | | | Baby blues! And regardless of the weather where one |
| or whether the shiny chrome that protruded out the | | | | lived, convertibles were in, even if you never lowered |
| back begged to have dents inserted within the first | | | | the top. |
| few weeks. | | | | The intense competition among the car manufacturers |
| The appeal of cars during the 1950s was more than | | | | meant that each model became extinct quickly. |
| just Elvis. It was prestige and glamour for even the | | | | Planned obsolescence meant the customers had to |
| average working person. The feeling of luxury seeped | | | | choose between buying a new car each year or being |
| into one's feelings and emotions, and romance | | | | a social leper. Because of the expense of redesigning |
| bloomed with respect while riding in these elegant | | | | all models every year, the manufacturers took to |
| vehicles. | | | | keeping the inner workings of the cars basically the |
| The Chrysler Town & Country Newport coupe which | | | | same and only changing the outward look. |
| came out in 1950 didn't have fins (they started | | | | By 1958 some models,such as the 1958 Oldsmobile, |
| creeping into the design around 1952). Yet it wasn't the | | | | were beginning to be called 'ugly.' Some even said it |
| typical car of the 1940s. Almost a dinosaur compared | | | | looked like a brick with a hardtop sitting on it. However, |
| to today's styles, the Newport featured distinctive, | | | | the indented chrome on the doors still caught one's |
| external wood framing (referred to as being a | | | | eye of respect. |
| 'Woodie') and strongly appealed to the hunter and | | | | All systems self-destruct from within. The era of the |
| sportsmen. | | | | glamour cars had outdone itself and common sense |
| Pontiac had a mascot - an Indian Chief- whose | | | | dictated that what would follow in the 1960s would be |
| unsmiling face formed the base of the front hood. His | | | | based on performance, a concern for the environment, |
| headdress consisted of streaks of chrome sliding back | | | | and conservative packaging. During the 1960s people |
| over the hood and being picked up again on the trunk. | | | | weren't impressed with external appearances to the |
| Sleek looking! Everyone wanted a car with a | | | | exclusion of what existed underneath. This attitude |
| personality, and the Indian Chief gave the Pontiac one. | | | | was reflected towards both people and cars. Yet, |
| Because the cars of the early 1950s had a somewhat | | | | who will ever forget Elvis? Or the glamour cars of the |
| dowdy appearance but reflected the potential of | | | | 1950s? |