1941 Studebaker Champion Custom Coupe

"Famed designer Raymond Loewy has complimented the good taste of every Studebaker owner by styling these beautiful new 1941 Studebakers to perfection. Studebaker's new slip-stream bodies of advanced torpedo are longer, wider, lower and roomier. The famous speed planes of the stratosphere were their inspiration. You've never seen cars so expressive of movement — so smoothly contoured — so thrillingly distinctive in every line."

Who wouldn't know Raymond Loewy in the America of the 1940s? Throughout the 1930s, he had made a name for himself as the industrial designer that turned many mediocre products into best-sellers by design. Being as good in self-promotion as he was as a designer, he quickly became the enfant terrible of American industrial design, and one of the protagonists of the influential "Streamline Moderne".

Studebaker commissioned the design of their 1938 models to Loewy. Based on the tremendous success of these cars, Loewy Associates became Studebaker's only design contractor. Studebaker's advertisers, of course, loved to credit Raymond Loewy as the designer of their cars, capitalizing on its famous name. But, as so often in design history, he wouldn't draw a single line for the design of the 1941 Studebakers. It was actually the young Virgil Exner, who oversaw their design development.

Exner was leading Loewy's Studebaker operations since he got hired away from GM in 1938. Yet, the fruitful collaboration between the young design talent and the experienced promoter should come to a sudden end when designing the Studebakers for 1947 and 1948: Roy Cole, Vice President of Engineering, had encouraged Exner to develop an own competing design proposal without Loewy's consent. Consequently, Loewy fired Exner in June 1945, when he discovered the insubordination. Cole hired him the same day as Studebaker's first styling chief, making Exner and Loewy direct competitors. Exner's proposal, unsurprisingly, was selected for production.

Exner should move on to Chrysler in 1948 where he'd become styling director in 1953, and was responsible for the stunning "Forward Look" cars that swept Chrysler to the top of American car styling in the latter 50s.

Rewind to 1941, the Studebaker Commander was an remarkable car that exudes a lot of Exner's aesthetic philosophy. Compared to other cars of this vintage, the Studebaker sits really low on the tarmac and sports a rakish, yet elegant look. Its slanted windshield is unusually wide and together with the slim and straight A-posts, it already hints at more trapezoid cabin proportions that should become common industry-wide only some years later.

1962 Chrysler Newport 4-door Sedan

"Newport's surprisingly low price has caused thousands of smart car buyers to move up to Chrysler. And because Chrysler builds full-size cars only, your new car investment is fully protected. No small car steals the thunder from the Chrysler name — or the pride you'll take in owning one!"

Here's a car that doesn't seem to fit quite well into Cuba's automotive landscape: in 1962, the U.S. trade embargo came into full effect and car imports from Detroit went down to quasi zero. So, what is a Chrysler from 1962 doing here? Nelson, the owner of this Chrysler Newport from Cardenas, knows the answer: "This was one of four cars used by the Canadian embassy in Havana. At one point in time, the cars were donated to the church and served there for long years. Somehow, my family later got into possession of this Chrysler." We can only speculate what "somehow" means.

Technically, the 1962 Chryslers were quite advanced cars. All fullsize Chryslers had been adopting a modern unibody structure in 1960, while the main competitors still used a classic body-on-frame construction. Too bad, that the modern engineering wasn't reflected in the design, as Chrysler styling perseverated in the 1950s for too long. Large tailfins and excessive chrome detailing which the rest of the industry had already abandoned, remained a Chrysler identifier through 1961. Perhaps, for just a little too long Chrysler was hoping to ride the wave of success that they had enjoyed with the first and second generation of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" cars.

Adding insult to injury, wrong decisions of Chrysler's brass should severely hamper progress. Chrysler design always had had its up and downs. But at the dawn of the 1960s, Chrysler was sailing through really rough waters, and the 1962 models are a testimony of these times. When their development was under way, William C. Newberg became Chrysler's new Vice President. 64 days later, he should already be dismissed, when evidence surfaced that he had financial interests in several Chrysler suppliers. Yet, these 64 days were long enough to cause enormous damage, because he had ordered a massive downsizing of Plymouth and Dodge models, that were already heading for production. In the following "crash-course", Chrysler designers literally worked their butts off in shifts around the clock, to minimize the production delay and to adjust the designs to the demanded proportions. Yet, the final result was less than convincing to say the least. Chrysler's design chief Virgil Exner was the only one to raise open criticism to the board. Ironically, he should become the scapegoat, being held responsible and fired in late 1961 when it became evident that these downsized cars wouldn't sell.

The styling of the fullsize Chryslers, luckily, suffered less from the chaos. For 1962, these models simply kept the front end of the previous model year, showing the same gaping grille and canted headlights. The large tailfins, a leftover of earlier "Forward Look" styling, were axed and replaced by a clean and boxy rear end. And, most importantly, these cars retained their good proportions since they didn't get downsized. Only the "Astradome Instrument Panel" with its big circular speedometer and lavishly applied brightwork still exudes an aura of the 1950s.

1959 Ford Zephyr Mark II

"Now an American favorite, too! THEY'RE  IMPORTED, compact and thrifty! English Ford Line cars are a joy to drive, a pleasure to park. They cost hundreds less than most new cars. And you drive them for pennies  . . .  up to 35 miles per gallon! THEY'RE FROM FORD, a name you can depend on. Every American knows that Ford gives value  . . .  the most car for the money. That's true of the English Ford Line, too. Built in England's largest, most modern auto plant, with Ford mass-production know-how."

Pictured here, a Ford that essentially was designed twice. In its first incarnation, it should become the Ford Vedette, to be built by Ford's French subsidiary. Ford's stylists in Dearborn began working on the Vedette in spring 1953. Their styling proposal was further refined and engineered by Ford's German branch. But then, the French plant and the almost production-ready Ford were altogether sold to Simca, and became the successful Vedette which bowed in late 1954.

Soon, Ford of England realized, that a car of this exact size would be a perfect successor of the Ford Zephyr Mark I, that was produced in the UK since 1951. So, British designers under chief stylist Colin Neale began designing an eye-pleasing trio of Fords, to be launched in 1956. The lineup spawned three very similar cars: the entry level Consul, powered by a 4-cylinder engine, the 6-cylinder Zephyr and the better appointed Zodiac, which soon should be dubbed "The Three Graces". In their styling and dimensions, these models kept bearing a strong resemblance to the earlier French design.

The Zephyr and its siblings were the biggest Ford models that you could buy in Europe. Beside an American Ford, however, they look truly compact. And exactly for this reason, the "Three Graces" should become so successful on American shores: the "Big Three" had completely missed the boat when "compact" cars became extremely popular in the latter 50s. To have something to offer, Ford intensified the Import of the "English Ford Line cars". On both sides of the Atlantic, these Fords became a tremendous commercial success, and consequently, Ford's UK production doubled between 1954 and 1958. Today in Cuba, not surprisingly, you still see quite many examples of the "Three Graces".