As to the twin pseudo-air scoops at the hood parting line, one custom shop artist remarked, in noting how little he cared for to the effect, that it looked like one of the body designers had stood too close when holding a running grinder, and having buzzed off the leading edge, had to repeat on the other side for the sake of symmetry! The most popular of these was the replacement of the designers' nice "grin" with a simple tube grille of chromed bars. Some definite Cad influence can be discerned in the stamped-aluminum grille texture a toothy 'Vette-inspired unit was considered! The upside was that the treatment lent itself to loads of effective restyling, which customizers, even the high school auto shop kind, loved. Though pleasing in a less radical way, to some critics it looked as if it had been chosen "off the rack" by the stylists and merely attached to the distinctive tail by the expedient of slathering clay to join two design bucks. Few now recall the poor timing of it all 1958 was the year of the "Eisenhower Recession" and though the new Chevy again prevailed in its market, overall car sales slumped badly, and adventurous marketing proved hard sledding!įrontal styling for the new lineup was a bit controversial for a different reason: critically viewed, it didn't quite "match" the rear look as seen in all previous Chevys. To keep these developments in context, recall that a wild and hyper-controversial new lineup was being readied by FoMoCo in 1958-that styling boomerang called the Edsel! Sensation proved its worth, and the E-Car sold very well at first, but mostly to the detriment of Ford and Mercury. After that, C-B-O-P-C could march forward in a unified rank, thus significantly simplifying parts inventories and saving the bean counters lots of legumes. Why? Well, part of the plan was to get all the divisions in synch over at Fisher Body with intensified inter-line rationalization: think roof and window shapes. Precedent was broken a year later when GM planners pre-empted the new bodies (and similar Pontiacs as well) with a radically new design that retained only the basic frame and power packages of the 1958s. And, in a hotly contested race for high sales, it regained the winner's circle-but the challenge would be how to follow that act? Released only as a convertible and two-door hardtop-remember that the 1958 Bel Air series had its own hardtop that shared few body panels-it overwhelmed the warmed-over second-year styling of both Ford and Plymouth, and notched up the luxury target for years. It was to be a package: a completely new, compact V-8 at 348 ci (available with dealer-installed Borg-Warner four-speed), a new X-frame that moved the engine's harmonic balancer up even with the spindle centerline-all in support of a more luxury-oriented, and appreciable heavier, body. This surprise was a new line-leader called the Impala, and it would bring even more Caddie cachet to the arena. When its arch competitor Ford and upstart Plymouth both came out with all-new bodies and frames in 1957, ever wonder why big Chevrolet didn't follow suit? It's too easy to assume that as king of the Low-Priced Three market, Chevy merely wanted to prolong the line of that classic with the iconic 1957 nope-the front office had decreed that Chevrolet would spring a big (literally) surprise on the market to claim lasting precedence in 1958! Ford's all-new-if traditional-body thus sold very well, and controversy exists to this day who won the 1957 sales race suffice it to say that Chevrolet not only didn't like to lose, they likewise didn't relish a close finish. These were the days when new-car introduction time was like a circus in town.
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