Design: Tail Fin Era
Edgy styling excites our eyes today, from Lamborghini to Lexus. How those creases play with the light reflecting off the surfaces almost makes us drool sometimes. That’s exactly what those rising tail fins behind the cars did to people back in 1948. Harley J. Earl, GM design head then started what is famously known as the “Tail Fin Era” but most consider Franklin Quick Hershey the guy who designed the 48’ Cadillac as the guy who initiated it. When the 1948 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe showed up, people couldn’t un-see it. The small fins that stretched to the rear and housed the tail lights which just shook the car design that was going on back then. Hershey was said to be inspired by the WWII aircraft P-38 Lightning which he saw at the Selfridge Air Base.
1948 Cadillac Series 61 Coupe
The 1948 Cadillac tail fin design spread pretty quickly in GM’s model line up and its family of brands. Virgil Max Exner who has most famously designed for the Chrysler got this tail fin little over the board. Under Chrysler’s “forward look design” program he made more designs inspired by jet age and airplanes. Exner adopted the tail fins as the main element of his car designs and made the cars lower, sleeker and aggressively looking. He worked on the famous Chrysler 300 series in 1957 which had the same ques and showcases the “forward look” very well. Check out the Chrysler 300C of 2019 and you’ll know how far the world has come with the design.
The tail fin designs peaked in the 1950s, the car companies got overboard with tail fins and they were seen on almost every car possible. Some of the famous cars became iconic because of the fins they had on the back.
1959 Cadillac Eldorado
The 1959 Cadillac Eldorado was popularly known as the “standard of the world” when it came back then. “El Dorado” refers to the Mythical South American City “Lost City of Gold”. And it indeed looked gold with that jet plane exhaust inspired rear and fins decorated with tail lights like a Christmas tree.
1959 Ford Thunderbird
The 1959 Ford Thunderbird popularly known as the “T-bird” had a very different way around the tail fin. Making use of the tail fin surface and curving it around the middle of the taillights. The Thunderbird was originally a two-seater but after 1958 refresh and addition of 4 seats it gained popularity amongst masses so much so that it sold almost 200,000 in 3 years. The tail fin design from 1959 T-bird has its uncanny hint in the BMW i8 tail surfacing too. Who knew tail fins would reprise after 60 years.
2017 BMW i8
The BMW Vision Concept EfficientDynamics landed in the International Motor Show Germany in 2009 and it shook the world with the swoopy surface styling. The design by Adrian Van Hooydonk made the car look like its inner surface unravels as an exterior surface. And it had just a little hint of the tail fin era of the 1950s, 60 years after.
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
The icon of its time, the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air which in its second-generation is the most recognizable American cars of all time. Two-color tone treatment on the Bel Air never gives a miss to the eyes. In addition to the medium-sized tail fins, it even had jet intake like structure on the hood. Shiny trims actually look like jewelry on these cars.
1959 Chevrolet Impala
The Impala which came as Bel Air Impala in first-generation became totally a different model in its second stint. The Impalas became huge, sleeker, lower and twin headlamps got introduced. It also had the signature three tail lights on either side. Tail fins on this one were horizontal than vertical which differed it from the most cars that came then. The Impala became so famous eventually that Chevrolet still retains its name in 2020, even though it has lost all the drama of the original Impala that became very popular in the art cultures of America.
2017 Mercedes-Benz One
An unusual car in the list here, just because it gets the tail fin properly back is the Mercedes-Benz Project One. For an introduction, it is basically a Formula One car that happens to be a road car. 1.6-liter V6 engine hybrid that produces over 1000 horses with a weight of 2646 lbs.! The bit that we are interested in is the air intake on the roof that changes its shape to become a singular tail fin bang on in the middle. It is beautiful how unintentionally the tail fin era kind of continues in hints on the most advanced cars of today. Of course, it comes straight from Formula One.
Coming back to the original tail fins from the 1950s the fins grew large, more flashy. People and Media started having mixed reactions about the outgrown and exaggerated fins later in the decade. And as they say “what goes up must come down” the tail fins from the American city landscapes vanished by the early 1960s. It did inspire designers of now, how provocatively designers of then, designed these cars.
