Styling the Motor Car - 1949

General Motors (GM) created this film after WWII in 1949 to generate interest in its new cars by showing the public how far car design had come since the days of the horseless carriage. From an artist's sketch through full-scale steel sculpturing in clay and wood, to final rendering in steel, we see the motor car designer creating greater usefulness, performance and transportation value for each successive generation and its cars.
This film brings to life the fascinating work of an auto designer who really is infused with craftmanship and an artisan's sense of the practical value of beauty. We see how design had transformed the car from horse-drawn buggy to the modern Post WWII cars that were the envy of the world.The film is a glimpse into that hopeful, energetic, America that was on the go and ready to claim the year as the American Century.
#cardesign #cars #vintage #classiccars #midcenturydesign
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Ref: S046

[@edwardpate6128]

Makes me proud to have been part of the GM family for 35+ years

[@coldwarmotors]

Thank you for posting these fantastic old films. I wanted to be a car designer as a kid; now I'm glad I use my time to preserve the classics and not waste it on what cars have become. Interesting that they lingered on the shot of the tail of the Lockheed Constellation as Cadillac introduced the first tail fins...

[@jamesslick4790]

6:26 Accidentally gave Chrysler a marketing term 6 years early!

[@jcsonka1]

Wow. Such a time warp. Thanks.

[@WAQWBrentwood]

Ironically, in the architecture examples the "new" buildings seem less "livable" and more bland than the "stodgy" old ones today.

[@alfredoroldanmunoz4131]

Very nice video, thank you.

[@CortxVortx]

Just as the narrator sneers at technology of the past, the same narrator would be sneering at the "modern" technology of this video. And, by the way, what's with getting in on the passenger side and sliding across to the driver's side? I've seen that in old movies, as well.

[@matrox]

This is effing amazing.

[@MrShobar]

A North American Navion at 15:40. Very heavy. It was a gas-hog.

[@burtbenz9964]

53 stude. Starlight coop. That's future

[@emjayay]

So, why does the hot sailor in the car at 13:01 have his shirt off yet still has his white pants and ship captain hat on? I'm thinking there were a lot of gay designers/architects then too, even if they couldn't come out for a couple of decades.

[@matrox]

These are true effing artists.

[@emjayay]

Hi honey! I'll just step out of my cool personal airplane while wearing this blocky suit and switch to the convertible. Move over - it's time for the man behind the wheel naturally.

[@CortxVortx]

How about when the lady got in the car on the passenger side, slid over to the driver's side, shifted into drive without turning the ignition key, and drove off?

[@bluegtturbo]

A really badly considered comparison at 2:00 - the old building is about 1000 times nicer than the modern concrete block

[@TomJones-hi2wb]

6:45

[@thetreblerebel]

The world was once influenced by USDM style and design,once German, and Japanese design and styles caught on, the USDM manufactures have been trying to copy it ever since! Tesla is the modern US manufacture that the world is trying to follow. Everybody else is just in America is just trying to keep up. Hard to believe but it's true. 80s, and 90s beyond cars were trying get the European styling down!

[@emjayay]

Kind of cheating when those "modern" houses are in a price range far higher than that outdated one, and on lots about six times bigger, creating six times more sprawl and a population density that does not support mass transit. And the old one has a shabby yard and no plantings. And is a house that was not "fashionable" at the time. An apples to apples comparison would not be so favorable. The modern school, as much as you can see of it, looks like nice architecture. The other examples mostly look Soviet.

[@friendofdorothy9376]

That Cadillac sedan at the end in flat gun metal grey...what a yucky color.