Here’s the latest in a regular series at Mac’s Motor City Garage, the Year in Cars. This time around we feature 1955.
The 1955 model year was a pivotal one in the Motor City as the automakers shed the last of their first-wave postwar designs and embraced ’50s modernity with full conviction. Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth, the industry’s volume leaders, all came with brand new sheet metal that year, with Ford and Chevy adopting the hot styling trend of the moment, the wraparound windshield.
A personal favorite of Styling VP Harley Earl, the 90-degree bent glass was featured across the entire GM line in ’55, even the pickups. First seen on the limited-production ’53 Cadillac Eldorado and Olds Fiesta convertibles, the windshield was jointly developed by GM and Libbey Owens Ford, with Earl receiving a design patent.
GM Wraparound Windshield
Chevrolet and Pontiac got brand-new overhead-valve V8s in 1955 to go with their slick new body designs. While the two divisions shared their GM A-body sheet metal. the Chevy and Pontiac engines were unique, sharing no part numbers. Packard also introduced a new V8 in ’55, a premium, well-engineered piece. But unfortunately, the storied automaker was already circling the drain.
Other technical developments for ’55 included tubeless tires (Cadillac was an early adopter) and wider use of 12-volt electrical systems. Cadillac, Buick, and Olds had gone from six to 12 volts in 1953; then Chevy and Pontiac in ’55, as meanwhile, the domestic auto industry was also standardizing on negative ground wiring. Inexplicably, Packard made the switch from six to 12 volts in ’55, but waited another year to switch from positive to negative ground. Chaos reigned on East Grand Boulevard in those final days, evidently.
Herb Thomas, 1955 Southern 500
Of course, the two big developments from 1955 that are most celebrated today are the ’55 Chevy, the car that transformed the humble Stovebolt from grandma-mobile to race-winner and world-beater, and the small-block Chevy V8, the engine that made all that possible. You’ll find plenty of Chevrolets with the other great cars of 1955 in the gallery below.
It’s ironic that the cars from the latter half of the Fifties are so celebrated; I guess it’s the wild colors that do it (and the fame of the ’55-57 Chevys). This period was a rough time for the auto industry. By my count, we lost seven marques.
In 1953 Kaiser-Frazer merged with Willys, and 1955 would be the last year for Willys and Kaiser automobiles but they continued on with Jeeps until 1962.
Hudson & Nash merged in 1954 becoming American Motors shortly afterward. They would take over Jeep in 1970.
Packard and Studebaker were supposed to be part of American Motors too. The deal fell through, and Packard bought Studebaker in 1954. Oddly enough, that marque died off in 1958 while Studebaker hung in until 1966.
DeSoto faded away in 1961 after 34 years of production.
Remarkably, Ford thought this period of turmoil was the perfect time to introduce a new brand – Edsel.
Chrysler’s purchase of American Motors and the subsequent death of Oldsmobile made them America’s oldest car company. Strange when you consider insolvency has plagued that lineage for more than half of its history. Technically, they lost the title when Fiat bought them.
1955 was a very good year for several reasons. When it comes to cars from that year, just give me two Speedsters, one from South Bend and one from Stuttgart and I’ll be happy!
We’ll never see the beautiful flowing lines that those 55’s had again, they are gone forever. I’m glad that I was around for that special time in history.