Posts from ‘Frank Peiler’
1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith by Vignale (L), and some of Collectible Automobile Publisher Frank Peiler’s “what-if” designs.
By Frank Peiler
I recently came across a couple photos of a 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith with a one-off body built by the Italian coachbuilder Vignale. This car was special ordered by a New Jersey man named Joseph J. Maschuch, and it was finished in the spring of 1955.
1963 Buick Riviera (L), and some of Collectible Automobile Publisher Frank Peiler’s “what-if” designs.
By Frank Peiler
Buick’s 1963 Riviera is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful cars ever produced by any auto manufacturer. This svelte personal-luxury hardtop coupe artfully blended American and British style, and it changed the Buick brand’s somewhat stodgy image almost overnight. General Motors styling chief William L. Mitchell freely admitted to borrowing some of the ’63 Riviera’s key design elements. Its razor-edge roof styling, for instance, was inspired by certain 1950s English custom bodywork.
1952 Mercedes-Benz W194 race car (L), and some of Collectible Automobile Publisher Frank Peiler’s “what-if” designs.
By Frank Peiler
It was early 1952 when Mercedes-Benz was in the midst of developing the 300SL sports car. The skeletal frame, drivetrain and suspension were beautifully engineered masterpieces. However, the original form-follows-function body looked like a half-used bar of soap with a cap stuck on top. Let’s say that in this post-WWII era of rebuilding, there wasn’t much of a design department at Mercedes-Benz that the company could turn to.
My Favorite Grilles: Fifties Edition
Is your favorite grille on Frank’s list?
Collectible Automobile publisher Frank Peiler has been working around automotive publications since the early Seventies, but his love of cars goes back much further than that.
10 Coolest Dashboards of the 50s
1955 Packard
by Frank Peiler
In the early days of the automobile, dashboards were just that: wooden planks onto which gauges and switches were mounted.
By the early Thirties, wood dashboards were replaced by steel, and designers began to take an interest in the collection of dials and knobs located there.
1953 Crosley by General Motors
By Frank Peiler
Time for another exercise in counterfactual automotive history. This time we ask the question: What would have happened if other carmakers had lent their designers to Crosley Motors to help style an all-new 1953 Crosley lineup?
By Frank Peiler
The full-size pickup truck market could hardly be hotter these days. Roughly 2.5 million such vehicles were retailed in the United States in 2017, making big pickups the largest single vehicle segment.
Collectible Automobile publisher Frank Peiler picks his five favorite taillights of the early Fifties. Check out his list:
By Frank Peiler
In the early Fifties, auto designers didn’t always seem to put much thought into the back ends of the cars they were creating. The rear of the car often felt like an afterthought–just a place for a trunk and a couple of brake lights, and not much in the way of style.
1960 Chevrolet Corvair “what if” concept
By Frank Peiler
Studebaker introduced its Lark series of compact cars for 1959. Though fresh looking, the Lark wasn’t really as new as it seemed to be. Since Studebaker was strapped for cash, the company’s strategy with the Lark lineup was to update its six-year-old basic body structure with newly styled–and significantly shorter–front and rear sheetmetal.
What if another manufacturer had created their own version of the ’55 Hudson?
By Frank Peiler
Anybody who knows a little something about automotive history knows that Hudson merged with Nash in 1954 to form American Motors. As a result, AMC had to come up with a new Hudson in record time to make the 1955 model year. The design department at Nash did a very good job transforming the Ambassador/Statesman into the new Hudson. The car didn’t look much like a Hudson, and it certainly didn’t handle at all like previous “step-down” Hudsons, but the design was a refreshing change from the old and tired car. However, we ask, what would the ’55 Hudson look like had the merger been between General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation, or the newly merged Studebaker/Packard?
