Oh, What Might Have Been...

[freebeard]

It captured people's imagination. Ford kicked the design they were going to introduce post-WWII to the Mercury or possibly the Fordette, to bring out their 'shoebox' design. Nash and Hudson held onto the streamlined look to their detriment.

Then it metasisized into the e.g, '56 Packard Caribbean and '59 Pontiac Catalina. That's a long way from the Jeep.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Sure. Many engineers go for the functionality over a fancy design, but the market often doesn't accept it so well.

Don't think you can blame the market in this case, as a) it was never allowed to come to market - "GM doesn't build small cars"; and b) following this, GM spent half a century getting their butts whipped in the market by VW & the Japanese, eventually going bankrupt and needing a taxpayer bailout to survive.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

GM sure has its own share of guilt on this matter, but the gov't also failed due to old policies which privileged gas-guzzling trucks and heavy SUVs in regard to emissions and safety norms which were not so strict as for smaller vehicles.