1953 Burnside Special

Lot of early 60's car designs are basically the hangover of the late 50's.
I would say the Bluebuick is fairly accurate to an early 60's American Fullsize sedan.

 

I think the Bluebuck is spot on for a circa 1963 American sedan. I was saying that its envelope body, long/low/wide proportions, and frame are all closer to the 1957-1959 American car than the Burnside is. To make the Bluebuck into a late '50s car, the A-pillars would have to be pushed back to allow for a wraparound windshield, the C-pillars would have to be thinned out, the rear fenders would need to accommodate tailfins, and the doors would have to be adjusted to allow for the belt-line transition to the fins. The rest would be detail work (grille/lights/bumpers).

 

To be honest I think it would be easier to make a facelift version of the Bluebuck rather than a pre-facelift. Think about it, for a facelift all one would have to do is create a proper full width grille (perhaps with hide-away headlights similar to that of the Barstow RS), give it an slightly accentuated hip line similar to that mid-late '60s Chryslers (the Gm body seems a bit to much work), smooth body instead of those weird side creases that look as if the car were trying to be reminiscent of early '50s and proper rear tail lights too. Interior work could be very light, with different steering wheel(s), centre console with a manual shifter (why isn't that a thing currently devs?) and perhaps some small amounts of woodgrain for the RS/top trim cars

Where as doing a late '50s version of the Bluebuck would require almost the entire body to be manipulated just so it doesn't look too blocky, something that many late '50s cars were known to be but not anywhere near as much the early '60s cars (excluding those Exner... Things). Not to mention an entirely new interior just so it looks up to date with 1958 and not anywhere near as bland as the current Bluebuck. Really I'd much prefer an entirely new car to be off the Bluebucks frame rather than the body

 

Many cars that were born in the late 50s, from the exner's chryslers and loewy's GMs (he apparently threatened to fire everyone if their cars continued to look so dated after looking for the first time at exner's finns on a 57 desoto ad that he saw in his local news agent), continued into the very early 60s. I personally set the end of the 50s era of automotive excess to 1963, when buick's dynaflow was discontinued and Chrysler finally came out with new sleek designs (instead of repeatedly angle differently the front lights...). The Burnside, on the other hand, is too old, as the platform over which it runs is probably an early 50s design (my estimate in 1949-1952) so it has at most 2 years before a redesign. In '55 in fact GM would come out with the first dual headlights (not in all states) and it would be the first years that Chrysler's line would be entirely designed by virgil exner, with "the 100 million dollar look" ad campain.

 

The essence of what you're saying is correct, but some details: Harley Earl was the head of GM Design until his 1958 retirement, not Raymond Loewy. And it was while Mr. Earl was away during the Summer of 1956 that his staff, including Bill Mitchell, saw the 1957 Plymouths by looking into a fenced lot on Van Dyke Avenue in Warren, MI. They immediately went to work redesigning the 1959 models (it was too late for 1958) into the lower, longer, wider look that eventually came into production. Earl agreed with the direction once he returned. Bill Mitchell tookover as GM's head of the Styling department in 1958.

Also, the State laws that were restricting dual headlamps was finally universally repealed in time for the 1958 model year. The first cars to have dual headlamp options were the 1957 Chryslers (and Imperial) and the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham--which meant they weren't legal in all States yet. No cars had dual lamps in 1955.

 

thanks for the corrections, i was just going off my head and, as usual, i failed. I was quite sure about the story about the 57 chryslers but i must have heard a myth/incorrct story. the laws on dual headlights were changed in some states in 1956, but not in every state. GM had a cadillac prototype in 1956 with dual headlights but it did not go into production.

 

lol. this thread is 6 years old. how can you still post on this xd xd xd

 

erm..because it's an official car with updates and crap to discuss about, and people just want to discuss about old 50s murican cars?

 

what is so funny about a 56 cadillac prototype?

 

Oh man that thing is just sexy, why didn't they make that thing ?

 

because dual headlights weren't 50 state legal in '56

 

Another suggestion to make the Burnside more period correct. The Taxi would have been a low trim model, so I

• Changed the wheels to the more period-correct 4-slot design and painted black
• Removed the white wall tires
• Removed the extra chrome striations on the front fender

Just those small changes make a big difference:

 

a period taxmeter would be very realistic as well, but the i find that the livery is very realistic

 

Oh a taxi meter would be a great add! Police cars could also use some interior equipment changes.

And all Burnsides should have a spare tire standing up in the trunk

 

... and a thin wall between rear and front. i don't know if this was a thing in 50s police cars, but today i guess it's a standard in patrol vehicles

 

Even if it's something like the Beamnavigator that's common between alot of vehicles.

 

satellite navigation when TVs didn't have color and cars had 6 volt systems, the world we lived in back then...

 

lol you would like have a huge wooden box on the passenger seat, a 8 inch Braun tube screen and a huge whip on the trunk like the police Bluebuck has..

 

I mean Taxi parts being in the common folder and work with multiple vehicles, like the Beam Navigatior.

 

no it wasn't common to have those thing back in the '50s, those only came around in the late '70s, the more common thing was to give the crook a good thump on the head when they acted out