Buick Roadmaster Fastback 1942

The 1942 model year was a low-production affair in the United States because the government ordered building of automobiles to halt early in 1942 following the country's entry into World War 2 in December 1941.  Therefore, there aren't very many 1942 American cars around today.

Fortunately, one survivor of an especially interesting type was auctioned by Mecum in 2019, and there are many photos of it available.  It is a Buick Roadmaster Sedanet 2-door fastback.  Only 2,475 1942 Roadmaster C-body Sedanets were made, plus 3,000 Roadmaster and Super Convertible Coupes with the same exclusive fenderline.

Those senior-level Buicks were built on General Motors' new for 1942 C-body that I wrote about here.

Fastback designs were becoming popular in those days because they gave cars a streamlined appearance, and streamlining was expected to be the future of automobile styling.  As it happened, car body shapes became dictated by wind tunnel testing more than 30 years later after the US government imposed fuel economy restrictions.  Classical 1940s fastback styling faded by the early 1950s due to lack of luggage space compared to cars with bustleback trunks.

As hinted above, an interesting styling feature of the Roadmaster Sedanets and Convertible Coupes was the fenderline.  The front fender extended aft until it touched the rear fender.  This was a forecast of near-future fender design by most American carmakers.  All other 1942 Buicks had front fenders that extended only partway across front doors like other GM cars.  Front fenders from most other American carmakers did not extend beyond the front door's forward cutline.  Therefore, this post's subject car was indeed futuristic in its day.

Gallery

The frontal design doesn't seem to match the more dramatic rest of the car.

The roof curve is not as sleek as found in Buick's 1949 fastback redesign, but the trunk carrying capacity here might have been a bit greater.

The rear seems rather heavy from this perspective.

There is a semi- boat-tail shape to the trunk lid area.  The taillight assemblies might have looked better had the round elements been placed towards the body edges.  The setup here has a cross-eyed look.

Those bold, horizontal stripes were eliminated for the next model year: 1946.

Use of rear wheel opening spats was necessary, creating continuation sculpting on the rear fender.

Only a kid in a gas station performing a lubrication job would see this car in something like this way.

Model year 1942 was the first for many years that Buick grilles featured vertical bars.  Buick added vertical bars in the grille for 1939, but that was abandoned for 1940 and 1941 and then brought back for 1942.  The flat bar surfaces create a somewhat weak appearance. Headlight placement at the fender edges rather than closer to the center was GM playing catchup with competitors' designs.

Bristol 401 Origin and Walkaround

This post contains speculations regarding the design of the Bristol 401 coupé.  Bristol automobile history mavens are encouraged to correct me in comments if I got things wrong.

In 2013 I briefly wrote about Bristol's sporty 401-403 models.  Since then, more information and photos have appeared on the Internet, so I figure it's time for an update.

The Wikipedia entry for the 401 is here.  Christie's auctioneers had a protoype 401 by Touring Superleggera up for bid and wrote:

"It is a result of the collaboration between the Bristol Aeroplane Co. and Carrozzeria Touring of Milan.  Constructed and designed in Italy, the bodies benefitted from the considerable experience for which the Italian coach building company was renowned.  The engine was built by Bristol to an original BMW design, the licence for this having been obtained in the form of compensation for war damage.  This particular car was built by Touring for the Bristol factory as a prototype and was expected to compete in the 1948 Mille Miglia but was unfortunately not finished in time.  The car was however displayed on the Touring stand at the Geneva Motorshow of 1949.  Bristol had invested a great deal of time and money in this project, matching Touring's light weight "Superleggera" concept with Bristol's own experience in aerodynamics.  Unfortunately the original idea of commissioning Touring to build 200 cars fell through in the end."

It seems that a badly deteriorated Touring 401 was found on a French farm, and its body was recreated by Touring, as mentioned here.

From this point, it seems best to move to the Gallery and discuss images, rather than rely purely on wordage.  Walkaround views are via Gallery Aaldering, a Dutch firm, the subject 1951 Bristol 401 having left-side steering.

Gallery

According to a long-lost Web source, this was supposed to be a 1938 Lancia Aprilia by Touring.  Actually, it was displayed at the 1947 Paris auto show and appears to be the original version of the Bristol 401 body design.

This is the 1947 Touring prototype of the Bristol 401.  It is almost the same as the Lancia in the previous image.  Its grille is the two-nostril BMW style used by Bristol.  The beltline drops closer to the top of the rear fender than on the Lancia and closer than other 401s.  Note the smooth sides of the fenders, something different from other Touring Bristol prototypes.  The front fenderline is more curved than production versions.

Front view of the 1947 prototype, posed with Touring's boss Felice Bianchi Anderloni.  Note the BMW-like grille even at this early stage.

I don't have a source for this photo.  The car's body is by Touring, so it's probably a prototype or possibly an early custom 401.

This is the 401 with the recreated body Touring built.  These cars featured sculpted ridges aft of the wheel openings.

Now for walkaround views of a 1951 production Bristol 401.

The front fenderline is straighter than on the cars in the previous images.

Vision to the rear was limited.

Trunk space was also restricted thanks to the tapered passenger compartment greenhouse.

The greenhouse is tall and the windows are large, a fashion more of the 1960s and 70s than the early 1950s.

Most of the busy detailing is at the front, making a nice contrast with the rest of the car.  All told, a pleasing design.