1950’s America loved two-seat sports cars, or roadsters, and domestic car-makers, as well as rivals from Europe and beyond, rushed to satisfy the endless demand. Seeing the potential of new revenue streams and fresh customers, firms such as Jowett and Triumph, traditionally makers of small...
The rare 1957 Rambler Rebel was conceived by the American Motors Corporation as a medium-sized, high-performance sedan car. It has since been lauded as the first factory-produced, lightweight muscle car, and is the forerunner of icons such as the Pontiac GTO and Plymouth Road Runner,...
Saloon cars were the top-selling workhorses of the 1950s’ car world. In an era where hatchbacks still hadn’t really been invented, mid-sized saloon cars with separate boots and four doors—or two big doors to make getting into the back a straightforward business were in big...
Seeking to boost mobility and car ownership, the Italian government struck an innovative deal with the country’s most important car manufacturer. Politicians pledged to invest in fast highways connecting up the important cities of the long, thin country, if Fiat committed to building a new...
MG—the company that virtually invented affordable, fun, British sports cars—started life making stolid, unsporting Morris cars go faster, but it quickly adapted and modified them into some legendary models to produce “affordable, performance cars.”...
For a nation so recently devastated by wartime bombardment, Germany’s automotive resurgence in the 1950s was impressive. The resurrection of the Volkswagen project, and the methodical rebuilding of the Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and German Ford marques, laid the foundations for the mighty German car industry we...
Cars are complicated and expensive to design and build, so manufacturers have always tried to find ways of reusing components in as many models as possible, which meant developing new markets. In the 1950s they discovered sports cars. A new generation of drivers wanted fun...
With its highly distinctive “Gullwing” doors, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL was the fastest production car in the world at its launch in 1954. Its name, Sport Leicht (“Sport Light”), denoted a sincere attempt by its creators to produce and sell a genuine racing car for the...
At his peak, Virgil Exner’s influence over Detroit was as significant as any designer’s. A true artist endowed with an air of sophistication, he brought vision, innovation, and a much-needed sense of restraint to 1950s’ American car design. Exner’s ideas breathed new life into Chrysler’s...
By the late 1950s American car design had reached a new level of exuberance. The tailfins, two-tone paint schemes, whitewall tires, and wraparound screens that typified most US models had inspired many European car-makers, with the likes of sober Humber and sensible Simca producing cars...