1957 Olds Starfire 98 Holiday Convertible Coupe
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The main development in American automobile styling of the 1950s was the influence of jet fighter-plane styling and the emergence, by the middle of the decade, of tail fins as expressions of the power, speed, and image of the future that so many consumers clearly felt played an important role in suburban lifestyles. The 1948 Cadillac, designed by Harley EarI, was the first model to move beyond the curved aerodynamic streamlined look - a heritage from the prewar period and adopt a suggestion of tail-fins.
By the early 1950s, brightly polished chrome on bumpers, door handles, headlight surrounds and body trim had become the main means through which automobiles expressed more than their mere utility functions. Their bulbous pressed steel bodies provided a canvas upon which all sorts of imaginative delights could be portrayed. While it was a highly capital-intensive exereise to modify the shell itself, it was relatively cheap to vary the amount of chrome detailing in order to provide a range of differently priced models. The fact that General Motors soId automobiles under a range of different brand names - Cadillac, Pontiac, Buick, Chevrolet and OIdsmobile, each aimed at a different sector of the market - meant that it could simultaneously standardize the production of major components and provide different models through varied body decoration.
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