In 1939, Chrysler, DeSoto, and Dodge offered a special body style that foreshadowed the hardtops that took the Motor City by storm a decade later.

Chrysler Imperial Club Coupe prototype

Recently at Mac’s Motor City Garage, we explored the story of the 1939 Plymouth Convertible—the only convertible offered by the Chrysler Corporation that year. (See the feature here.) However, a few months into the model year, the Dodge, DeSoto, and Chrysler divisions introduced their own sporty body style, though it wasn’t a convertible.  Rather, here was a distinctive victoria coupe designed by Dean Clark at Chrysler, while the bodies were manufactured by the Hayes Body Corporation of Grand Rapids, Michigan. In it, we can see a hint of the pillarless hardtops that arrived in Detroit 10 years later.

1939 Dodge Luxury Liner Deluxe Town Coupe 

All three corporate brands used the same Hayes body shell, with the coupe roofline extended 16 inches to accommodate a full rear seat. However, Dodge called its version the Town Coupe, while the DeSoto was labeled a Club Coupe. The style was also called a Club Coupe at Chrysler, where it was offered on three models: the six-cylinder Windsor and the straight-eight Imperial New Yorker and Imperial Saratoga. Each was  trimmed and painted to suit its respective division. While the name was not official,  enthusiasts know all these cars as “Hayes Coupes” in honor of the rare and exclusive body style.

DeSoto Custom Club Coupe

To modern eyes, the Hayes coupe’s most compelling feature is probably its slim B-pillar and bright-metal window surrounds, which seem to approach the look of the pillarless hardtops introduced by Buick and and Cadillac in 1949. Mercury and Graham also introduced thin B-pillar greenhouse treatments in 1939, although the trend failed to stick. In fact, it disappeared by 1941. We can’t say if these thin B-pillar designs had any influence at all on the pillarless hardtop craze of the ’50s, but if we may editorialize, it’s a handsome look in any case.

Dodge Luxury Liner Deluxe Town Coupe 

Another stand-apart feature of the Hayes coupes: Instead of the usual smooth transition from the greenhouse to the deck, there’s an abrupt break or crease to separate the roof from the body. This, along with the greater daylight opening, also serves to lighten up an otherwise heavy and amorphous shape. An additional crease travels down through the split backlite. With these attractive details, it’s easy to understand why the Hayes coupes are especially sought after by vintage Mopar collectors.

For contrast, a standard Dodge Luxury Liner Coupe is pictured below. Priced at several hundred dollars more than the regular production jobs, the Hayes Coupes did not sell in great numbers, not that they were meant to. In Mopar lore, Chysler ordered just 1,000 bodies from Hayes, while factory records indicate 1,016 cars were built: 264 DeSotos, 363 Dodges, and 389 Chryslers. They’re extremely rare today as barely a dozen have checked in. The Hayes coupes have one more distinction: Reportedly, these were the last complete bodies manufactured by Hayes. From then on, the company survived by supplying individual stampings to automakers and appliance manufacturers.

Dodge Luxury Liner Coupe