1950s Automobile Designers

1950s automobile designers including Virgil Exner, Harley Earl And Raymond Lowey helped shaped the most iconic era of motor cars in history.

Cars of the 1950s blazed a trail of innovative design, powerful engineering and advanced transmission systems. 

The distinctive chrome, grills and fins that are synonymous of cars of the period were the creations of designers which put the 1950s American automobile at the forefront of worldwide motoring.

By 1950 the American economy was booming and industry was adapting itself from the war production of the 1940s to meet the demand of the affluent American people. 

The car industry was at the forefront of development as it raced to meet the demands of a public looking to spend their money on big, brash and powerful cars.  And how the 1950s automobile designers responded to meet the challenge.

Men like Virgil Exner, a dynamic young designer at Chrysler, were the moving force behind the innovative designs and styling that became popular during the decade.  Other 1950s automobile designers to become household names included Harley Earl of General Motors who is credited with pioneering the tail fin that became inexorably linked with classic cars of the 1950s.

Perhaps the most famous name associated with automobile design during the 1950s was Raymond Loewy.  Known as the ‘Father of Industrial Design’ he designed the Studebaker Starliner Coupé, which the Museum of Modern Art later called a "work of art."

Of course not all 1950s automobile designers achieved such fame as enjoyed by the three men above but countless others contributed to the wealth of incredible car designs that graced the roads of America in the golden era of automobile engineering and styling.

But, unfortunately, just as there is good there is always bad.  And even the iconic 50s had its share of motorised turkeys.  Perhaps the biggest of them all was the notorious Ford Edsel.  It was truly a donkey amongst thoroughbreds.  

Named after Henry Ford’s son the Edsel was launched with a budget claimed to be in excess of $200 million.  Production lasted just three years, ceasing in 1959, as the public turned its back on the cars ugly looks and sky high price tag.  But the Edsel gained its real notoriety through the unfortunate styling of its horse-collar grille which bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain part of the female anatomy!

But, the odd turkey apart, the 1950s automobile designers got it right most of the time and produced a range of motor cars that are the essence of good design.

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• Virgil Exner
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