Re: [T3] It's not a Volvo...

[Scott Taylor <scottbtaylor@earthlink.net>]

<x-flowed>On Sunday, February 15, 2004, at 12:45  PM, Steven Ayres wrote:

> Ghia had already been heavily influencing American design through most 
> of
> the '50s through concept cars and design collaborations, and to that 
> extent
> it was certainly at least an indirect influence when GM was looking 
> for a
> Volkswagen-killer. Take a look at Chevy's Corvair Spyder concept car 
> and
> you'll see even more of the Type 34 styling.  It's clear to me that 
> there
> had to be information flow somewhere between the Corvair design and 
> Type 34
> design teams, and this was common practice in the industry worldwide. 
> The
> question is who influenced whom?
>
> No question, the Corvair hit the market first, by a pretty good 
> margin. It
> was also on a crash production schedule to grab a piece of the family
> compact market, which was only identified as a profit-maker in '59. 
> Was it
> really coincidence that the behemoth GM came up with its first and only
> rear-engine, air-cooled sedan just as VW was developing its own 
> upgrade to
> the same market? I have a hard time imagining Ghia looking to GM for a
> Volkswagen design, but the idea of GM borrowing VW ideas seems 
> perfectly
> likely, even shrewd.
>
> What would settle it for me is good evidence of exactly when the 
> Corvair and
> 34 designs made it to paper. Anybody have a source on that?

It's true that most car stylists have worked for multiple manufacturers 
in their careers and that ideas have moved with them. It's also true 
that there was a strong American influence on Ghia's styling in the 50s 
and early 60s, mainly through Ghia's long working relationship with 
Chrysler and its styling chief Virgil Exner, and that Ghia in turn was 
very influential on Chrysler's "forward look" of 1955-61.  One of the 
Type 34 Ghia's principal designers was Tom Tjaarda, an American, and I 
read somewhere recently that Exner's son, Virgil Jr., was a stylist at 
Ghia in 1961-62 also. There's no doubt that design ideas were and are 
shared, stolen, and leaked within the automotive community. And it's 
true that GM set out to design a VW killer in the late 1950s, and the 
layout and engineering of the Corvair were obviously based on the VW. I 
haven't seen any evidence, though, that the Type 34 was an influence on 
the Corvair's styling. The timing suggests it wasn't -- the Type 34 
design team was just getting started in 1959 and it was on the drawing 
boards until mid-1960 (according to Jan Norbye's "VW Treasures by 
Karmann"), but the Corvair was already in the showrooms by the fall of 
1959.

The Corvair was clearly an influence on European car styling in the 
1960s, some examples being the NSU Prinz, the Fiat 1300/1500 sedan, the 
Hillman Imp and its sister the Sunbeam Stiletto (a dead ringer), and 
the Simca 900/1000. And, to a lesser extent, the BMW 1500, BMW 
1600/2002 series, etc.

I think the Type 34 Ghia was probably an influence on the BMW 1600/2002 
(overall lines and proportions, taillights) and the BMW CS coupes, on 
the Plymouth Barracuda's grille and "fog lights," and definitely on the 
Corvair Super Spyder show car (which I believe dates from 1962 or 63). 
The 1961 Plymouth shares some styling ideas with the Type 34, and they 
would have been developed at the same time, maybe in the same office.

Now, who wants to talk about the Ferrari 250's influence on the Type 
3's styling? (I'm not kidding)

Scott
62 343 (not a Corvair, but sometimes mistaken for one)

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