As automobile sales were just gaining speed in the roaring ‘20s, closed body styles featured rather sizable window areas. It was the Jazz Age; people enjoyed seeing and being seen.

Simultaneously, architects at the Bauhaus were incorporating vast glass areas into International Style modernist homes and office buildings.

During the ‘30s and 40s, decades of depression followed by war, automotive design began moving in the opposite direction, with windows becoming smaller, the result of rising beltlines and lower, bulbus roofs with generous convex curvature that restricted window height.

During the 1950s, the trend for smaller automotive windows finally reversed and glass area slowly began increasing. Part of the interest in larger windows came from the desire to at least partially emulate the all-glass bubble top, a staple of Cars of the Future illustrations since the ’40s.

In the early 1960s the trend toward greater window area accelerated. Lower beltlines became possible with the increased use of side-draft carburettors and canted engines, cross-flow radiators, lower-profile and and reduced-height, side-mount or remotely-mounted air filter housings.

At the same time; roofs were became flatter, allowing windows to extend upward. In addition to increased visibility, the taller windows, lower beltlines and slim pillars gave an airy, open feeling that appealed to customers.

Such was the allure of an airy cabin that legacy models were modified during the decade to increase visibility and imbue a greater feeling of openness. As the Jaguar Mark I morphed into the Mark II for 1960, its window area grew by 18%, The Fiat 500 gained a slightly larger windscreen for 1965, and the same year saw Volkswagen go through the expense of changing most of the Beetle’s major stamping dies to facilitate a 15% increase in total glass area.

There’s too many models to list, but here are some stellar examples that defined and exemplified the openess and unencumbered visibility of Jet Age motoring in chronological order.

In the ensuing decade, the large window trend was carried forward by BMW and selected models from other manufactures including the Volkswagen K70 and Audi 80.

While contemporary architects continue to embrace large glass areas, automotive designers have moved into the opposite direction with many current designs featuring tiny glass slits resembling the gunports of a WW2 pillbox. This high-hip narrow-window look first popularized on the 2005 Chrysler 300 can be seen today on the BMW 8-Series, Chevrolet Camaro and many more.

Thirty years before McDonald’s introduced Supersizing, and thirteen years before the Marx Big Wheel tricycle; Ford introduced their amply sized Jet-Tube taillamps.

This crucial element of the 1960s automotive landscape began when Ford designers added a pair of large-scale circular taillights to the rear of their entire 1957 U.S. fleet. They were destined to endure through the better part of the next decade.

For reasons lost to history, Ford abandoned their singular Jet-Tube lamps for 1958, switching to a quartet of smaller lights across the board.

All was not lost however; as the mighty crimson orbs returned to glory on full-size 1959 Fords. Surrounded by large reflective fluted bezels, they were now marketed as “Iris Eye safety taillights.”

For 1960 Ford once again suffered a moment of doubt, electing to jettison the glowing Iris Eyes in favour of a pair of smaller trapezoids.

1961 proved a banner year however, as the classic rear lamps made a triumphant return on big Fords and Thunderbirds, promoted as Big Circle taillamps. This time, they would stick around a while.

For their penultimate appearance, Galaxie lenses were embellished with a set of chrome crosshairs.

For 1964 Thunderbird received new rectangular lamps, while Galaxies celebrated their final year of abundantly scaled circular lamps with new starburst trim replacing the one-year-only crosshairs.

When Ford introduced their all-new 1965 full-size models, the venerable Big Circle taillights suffered the ignominy of being consigned to entry-level Custom and Custom 500 models, while Galaxies were given new barrel-shaped lamps.

Jet-Tube tail lights also made their way during the decade to the compact Falcon from 1960-1967, and the intermediate sized Fairlane from 1962-1964.

Ford’s hallmark lamps weren’t confined to North America; they were also used to great effect by Ford of Britain. Introduced on the Cortina in 1962, the rear lamps were quickly dubbed Ban the Bomb lights due to their vague resemblance (albeit upside-down) to the symbol used by the U.K. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (known today as the Peace Sign.)

An integral feature of the Cortina through 1966, these distinctive lamps were also adopted for use on the Lola Mk6 GT, the TVR Griffith Series 400, and the Howmet TX turbine car.

The swan song for the classic Jet-Tube/Iris Eye/Big Circle taillights was their fitment on the rear of the 1967 Ford Falcon.

Many fashion trends were born in the 1960s, one of which was the Loop Bumper, a wraparound unit physically and stylistically incorporating the headlamps and grille.

A very early antecedent of the loop bumper appeared on the 1942 Oldsmobile which featured a split-level “Double-Duty” bumper for which Olds claimed Double Protection and Doubly Good looks!

Moving closer to a full loop was the dual full-width bumpers used at the rear by Vignale on bodies developed for the ’52-’53 Ferrari 212 chassis.

Oldsmobile took a further step closer to a loop-bumper on their ’56 model with a design that fully encircled its airfoil grille.

The first true 360° single-piece lamp-enveloping loop bumper showed up at the rear of Ford’s 1964 Thunderbird.

For 1967, Pontiac rolled out loop bumpers up front for its Firebird and Grand Prix, with demi-loops on other full-size Pontiacs. 

Virtually all 1968 Pontiacs featured a full-loop front bumper, but the big news was the urethane-covered body-coloured front loop bumper standard on the GTO, foreshadowing the plastic bumpers soon to appear on the Renault 5 and Corvette. Pontiac ushered in the plastic bumper just as they introduced the auto industry’s first plastic grilles two years prior.

The ’68 model year saw two other GM divisions adopting loop-style bumpers with their appearance on the Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado. The Riviera got one at both ends and Buick continued using them at the rear of a variety of models through 1973.

Chevrolet joined the loop camp, adding one to the front of full-size models for ’69, leaving Cadillac as the only GM division to eschew the loop bumper.

The same year saw Chrysler Corporation install loop bumpers at both ends of Imperials and to the front end of all Chryslers.

This was the beginning of a love affair between Mopar designers and the loop bumper. For 1970, the 300 received one at the rear to match the existing front loop, and others turned up on the front of full-size Dodges and Plymouths and Dodge Charger. Meanwhile, AMC added a loop bumper to the hindquarters of the Ambassador.

By 1971 loop bumpers would be found at one or both ends on the majority of intermediate and full-size Mopars from the Plymouth Satellite to the Imperial LeBaron.

After having introduced the loop bumper concept at the rear of the 1964-1966 Thunderbirds, Ford reintroduced them to rear of the 1970 Lincoln, 1971 Cougar and full-size Mercurys, and 1972 full-size Fords and Mercury Montegos.

Not to be outdone, Chevrolet added loop bumpers to the rear of its full-size models for 1972 and 1973. AMC doubled their offerings, adding a rear loop bumper to the 1972 Matador.

The ‘70s also saw a few faux loop bumpers consisting of a thick-gauge chromed-steel conventional lower impact beam, matched up to an upper section of chrome-plated light-gauge trim. These gave the look of a loop bumper (from a distance) without the cost and weight.

The performance requirements and standardized heights specified in U.S. federal bumper regulations of 1974 effectively spelled the end of loop bumpers a decade after their debut.

From the 1920s to the 1990s, when you entered most General Motors cars you first had to step over a turquoise-enameled Napoleonic coach; the hallmark of a Body by Fisher. Fisher supplied automobile bodies for GM for over eight decades.

The 1905 Cadillac-based one-off Osceola Coupé was the first Fisher car body, personally commisioned by Henry Leland, the founder of the Cadillac Automobile Company. It was created by Fred Fisher, one of the seven Fisher brothers who would come to run the company in its early years. In 1910, Cadillac placed its first production order for Fisher Bodies, as did Buick and Oldsmobile. Fisher was absorbed into General Motors in 1926.

The Fisher logo soon began appearing on more and more GM automobiles.

Fisher bodies of 1933 incorporated pivoting vent window panes, an innovation marketed as Fisher No Draft Ventilation, a feature that would become nearly universal throughout the industry for four decades.

By 1965 the Body by Fisher carriage appeared on the front-door sill plates of all North American built GM automobiles except Corvettes and Cadillacs.

Senior Cadillacs carried a Body by Fleetwood badge; while mainstream Cadillacs, depending on model and year, wore either a Cadillac crest on their doorsills or an Interior by Fleetwood, Body by Fisher plaque (Fleetwood was a subsidiary of Fisher.)

Fisher advertised and promoted Body by Fisher in popular periodicals like Life, Newsweek and Time. While advertising text touted Fisher features and workmanship, the accompanying imagery was designed to cultivate an aura of exclusivity and served to associate Fisher-bodied cars with glamorous upscale lifestyles. 

Thirty-three years after inventing the pivoting vent pane, Fisher led the way in removing them, beginning with the ’66 Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Riviera, the first Fisher bodies to have windows-up flow-through ventilation.

Despite GM ownership, Fisher maintained their own production facilities where complete bodies were fabricated, painted and upholstered. As such, by the mid-sixties Fisher was effectively America’s only post-war carrozzeria.

Body styling was handled within each GM division, but it was engineers and technicians at Fisher that turned the styling concepts, expressed in sketches, drawings and full-size clay models, into reality.

In the same manner as Karosseriwerk Reutter (as well as Karmann and Drauz) crafted bodies for Porsche, and Scaglietti built Pininfarina-designed bodies for Ferrari; Fisher fabricated bodies for all five General Motors domestic automotive divisions.

Fisher advertising typically concluded with a reminder that Fisher bodies could only be found at Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac showrooms. A statement that not only defined the availability of Fisher bodies, but reinforced the idea that the buyer of a low-price Chevrolet Biscayne could enjoy the same elegance, refinement and meticulous craftsmanship as their neighbor’s Fisher-bodied Cadillac Coupe de Ville. 

GM’s automotive divisions often marketed Body by Fisher as a competitive marketplace advantage:

Everything behind the engine and above the frame on the 1969 Chevelle has been sewn, stitched, bonded, tied, welded, stapled, bolted, painted and minutely inspected according to the exceptionally high standards of quality set by Body by Fisher. How many other car bodies do you know by name? – Chevrolet brochure, 1969

Fisher Body was dissolved and absorbed into GM in 1984 and the genteel Fisher carriage, along with its decades of brand equity, was unceremoniously retired in the 1990s.

In the first of a nine-part series, yours truly sits down with Koop Kooper of Cocktail Nation radio to discuss seminal post-war sporting cars. This month; the MG TC.

Like the paradox of Schrödinger’s Cat, simultaneously alive and dead, the Oldsmobile division of General Motors introduced a wheel option for their 1964 Starfire and Jetstar I models that was both real and unreal.

First; a bit of history. Wire-spoke wheels were the standard for sporting machines in the immediate postwar years. To add a dash of sporty pizzaz to their more mainstream models, American manufacturers in the 1950s began offering spoke wheels on a handful of models; and for the masses, imitation spoke wheel covers. These gave the spoke wheel look (if one didn’t look too closely) without the cost and high maintenance. 

By the sixties however, the tide was turning against spoke wheels, with racers increasingly turning to cast alloy wheels for their light weight, strength and low maintenance.

Ted Halibrand started making cast magnesium wheels in Southern California in 1946. He had become acquainted with the lightweight material during World War II while working for Douglas Aircraft. There had been a few magnesium automotive applications previously, notably Volkswagen’s crankcase and transaxle housing, but Halibrand was the first to cast it into wheels.

Ted’s ultralight magnesium wheels quickly became popular among hot rodders and drag racers, and were affixed to every Indianapolis 500 winner from 1951 to the mid-1960s.

Halibrand wheels also appeared on the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport and the Cobra Daytona Coupe. As a result of their popularity, to this day most Americans refer to all alloy wheels as “Mags,” even though the vast majority of later street wheels, like the popular Cragar S/S, Keystone Kustomag and American Racing Torq Thrust Ds were cast of heavier and cheaper aluminum, often affixed to a steel rim.

American auto manufacturers decided they wanted to cash in on the craze for magnesium and aluminum wheels without the expense. Enter the “Mag-Style” wheel cover.

GM, Ford and Chrysler all released optional “Mag” wheel covers for their sporty offerings beginning in 1965. All were quite similar in appearance, emulating a Rader wheel design by Dick Rader of Wheel Corporation of Long Beach, California that was sold exclusively through Sears stores; which in turn resembled a Cragar S/S with flattened spokes.

Like the majority of wheel covers at the time, these were made of stamped steel and attached to the wheel by spring clips around the perimeter. 

American firms weren’t the only ones proffering ersatz alloy wheels. Leyland produced probably the least convincing faux alloy cover in 1968 for the Rover 3500 P6. Unlike any of the aforementioned, the Rover cover didn’t reach out to the edge of the rim, so any clip-on balance weights (clearly attached to the underlying black-painted steel wheel) were clearly visible, adding to its inauthenticy.

Volkswagen got into the game with a simulated alloy cover for the Audi 100 Coupé S. As was the custom, the Audi covers were fabricated of pressed steel.

This brings us back to the Oldsmobile wheel, introduced in the halcyon days of October 1963, simultaneous with the release of Pontiac’s GTO and just days after Little Deuce Coupe reached its peak on the Billboard Hot 100.

Olds was ahead of the curve. Very few consumers outside of diehard automotive circles had any knowledge of magnesium or aluminum wheels. Two of what would become the most popular aftermarket cast wheels in America, the Cragar S/S and Keystone Kustomag, wouldn’t be released until mid-‘64.

What made Oldsmobile’s unusual design unique was structural. While later versions by other manufacturers incorporated inexpensive stamped sheet metal to imitate magnesium wheels, Oldsmobile used genuine cast magnesium.

The Olds Custom Sport Wheel Discs; available only in 1964 and 1965, roughly approximated a genuine 8-spoke-style Halibrand wheel style with the addition of through-holes between the spokes.

The large magnesium casting was secured to the hub via a trio of cast-in tabs fastened to the hub by three of the five steel wheel’s lug nuts. The holes in the tabs were reinforced with steel inserts.

The wheel was finished off with a chromed hub cap fitted with a two-bar ersatz knock-off spinner containing a colored plastic center cap with a ’62-’64-style Oldsmobile emblem. 1965 center caps received the new Olds vertical rocket logo. These 14” magnesium Custom Sport Wheel Discs were offered as a factory option only on Oldsmobile’s sportiest full-size models, the Starfire and the Jetstar I.

Thus, Oldsmobile devised a wheel treatment simultaneously deceptive (applied decoration, non-structural) and real (genuine cast magnesium.)

It was a felicitous wheel treatment for the nascent Space Age. After all, even NASA astronauts were drinking simulated orange juice.

Is fabric automotive upholstery finally ready for a triumphant return after decades of leather fetishism? I recently received word that the new BMW 7-Series is available with woven textile upholstery; not just any fabric, but cashmere.

This follows on from Maserati, which have offered woven silk upholstery by Ermenegildo Zegna in a variety of models since 2015.

Next time a well-heeled friend invites you to his manor house or chateau, have a good look around; you’ll likely see lots of silk brocades, woolen and linen damask, bouclés and other upscale upholstory fabrics, leather generally being reserved for the study or library, those vintage precursors to the man cave.

Leather seating was common in the earliest days of the automobile as most cars at the time were runabouts, roadsters, phaetons and other open-air body styles. As closed-body cars became increasingly common, fabric interiors won out. Sporting vehicles generally remained leather-upholstered as they remained topless.

After World War II, with the increasing popularity of closed sporting coupés, cloth upholstery became popular in cars like the Lancia Aurelia GT, the Porsche 356, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

The late fifties and sixties were probably the epitome of creativity in automotive textiles.

Some manufacturers have begun marketing imitation “animal free” leathers of vinyl and polyurethane (MB-Tex, Sensatec, etc.) Because leather is cold in winter and hot in summer, its popularity pushed the development of heated and cooled seats. Well; plastic faux leathers are freezing in winter and broiling in summer. Instead of artificial leather seating surfaces, why not far more comfortable “real” fabrics which can be fashioned in an infinite variety of attractive colors, textures and patterns?

It’s hard not to notice how exhaust tips have evolved into fetish items over the past decade-and-a-half. Overly stylized and comically oversized, they have become carbuncles defacing the stern of the majority of mid and upper-range vehicles currently on offer.

Baring little resemblance to the size and shape of the actual exhaust tubing, the open ends often resemble obscure vacuum cleaner attachments. Just as many manufacturers are trying to polish their green credentials, they’re simultaneously exaggerating the effluent discharge-tubes of their internal combustion offerings. Ironically, often these flamboyant (look how much I can spew!) pipes are nothing but fraudulent simulations.

Exhaust tips were heretofore styled a bit more discretely, sized realistically; and often hidden to near-invisibility.

In the earliest days of the automobile, exhausts were usually unfinished and generally terminated beneath the car just below the rear bumper. This began changing in the 1950s.

Here’s a look at some of the most distinctive tailpipes of the Jet Age.

Harley Earl’s design team at General Motors decided to highlight Cadillac’s new dual exhaust system debuting on ’52 models by incorporating the tailpipe tips not under, but into the rear bumper. A year later they styled a pair of chromed pipes that poked through the rear fiberglass bodywork of the new Chevrolet Corvette. These designs inspired a rash of similar built-in approaches on several American cars as well as Porsche’s 356 series.

This styling trend died off at the end of the decade (though briefly revived at GM for the ’63-’67 Sting Ray); the last Cadillac so equipped was the ‘58. However; a half century later, rear facias with stylized integrated exhaust outlets would re-emerge and become all the rage.

In 1953, Ferrari introduced what would become a signature design cue for the firm; a dual set of twin round, chromed pipes emanating from the rear. This distinctive design would feature on the products of Maranello for decades, and be emulated by many others models from the Lamborghini 350 to the ’67-68 Mustang GT. The tradition lives on at the home of the Cavallino Rampante on the current 812 GTS and recently announced Purosangue.

On their 1956 models, Volkswagen added a stylish pair of 21 cm (8”) long exhaust outlets. Closing adhering to the 1.6:1 golden ratio, they were spaced just over 30 cm (12”) apart. These twin chrome-plated pipes were an unheard-of embellishment for a no-frills ‘economy’ car. They became a Beetle trademark and remained until 1990 except in markets requiring a catalytic converter for emission control.

When Jaguar began offering the 3.4 litre version of the XK engine in the Mark I saloon in February 1957, part of the package included a pair of closely-spaced parallel twin pipes. A few months hence, Citroën adopted a similar design on the ID/DS. Three years later Mercedes-Benz executed their own implementation of closely-coupled twin parallel pipes on their 300 SE in 1961. This exhaust style became the gold standard on mid and upper-end models throughout Europe and Japan.

Definitely on the shortlist of sexiest set of pipes of the sixties were the central pair of upward-and rearward-thrusting polished exhausts fitted to the E-Type Jaguar, each emerging from its own tapered-end resonator. This functionally handsome design; emulated on the Toyota 2000GT and Alfa Romeo Montreal, was unfortunately replaced on V12 E-Types by an unsightly quartet of pipes cobbled from two pieces of pressed steel crimped together with external seams, flowing from a single rather pedestrian-looking recessed-end oval resonator.

Many new mid-engine exotics are sporting high-mount exhausts of late; they are not the first. That honour belongs to the 1955 Thunderbird which sported a pair of exhausts integrated into and above the rear bumper.

A more extreme example was seen on the Amphicar 770 whose single chromed pipe by necessity exited high above the waterline to prevent backflow.  

The flagship of the Mercedes-Benz fleet featured a set of dual chrome-tipped exhausts, notable for being set nearly to the very edges of the car adding extra visual width to an already imposing vehicle.

Pontiac offered an option of Exhaust Splitters on the ’64 and ’65 GTO that divided each side of the standard dual exhaust system into a pair of exit tips facing slightly downward and out to the sides at a rakish 45-degree angle. Pontiac would later use a similar system on Trans Ams and Formula Firebirds.

’65-’66 Mustang GT pipes were rather unusual in a couple of ways. Besides being designed to be seen, they were tapered; gaining girth as they emerged from the rear apron, lending the illusion of higher flow capacity. Secondly, they incorporated rather odd and certainly restrictive downward-facing black louvers at the tips reminiscent to those found on some ’56-’58 Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles, something one would never see on a genuine competition GT.

Side pipes weigh heavily in Corvette mythology, even though they were only available for four years: 1965-1967 and 1969. Rumored to be louder, yet more restrictive than the alterative stock-appearing under-car option code N11 Off Road Exhaust, the $130 N14 Side Mount Exhaust option attracted only 10% of Sting Ray buyers. Another issue that likely reduced popular appeal was the large polished aluminum heat shields covering the side pipes. Unless the car was metallic silver (like the Silver Pearl example shown above), the rather ostentatious ventilated heat shielding seriously compromised the aesthetics of the car.

Probably the most iconic single exhaust was the generously proportioned mono-pipe exiting the left-rear corner of the Porsche 911 via a cutout in the bodywork. Angled slightly to the side, the distinctive chromed, roll-edged tip was a feature of a variety of 911s and 912s from 1965 through 1989.

The ’65 Oldsmobile Starfire featured unique integrated side-exiting dual exhausts. It was the first American luxury car to feature visible, stylized exhausts since the ’58 Cadillac.

Oldsmobile’s ’66-’67 Toronado took over from the ’65 Starfire (which reverted to hidden exhausts for ’66) with a set of chromed pipes exiting from matching cutouts in the rear bumper. It would be the last appearance of visible exhausts on a high-end American car until the 1987 Cadillac Allanté.

Contrary to what one may believe after a visit to a vintage auto show (where nearly every U.S. car will display a set of unsightly, cobbled-up oversized twin exhaust cannons below the rear bumper), the vast majority of American cars in the 1960s were designed with discreetly hidden exhausts, befitting an era that was the peak of elegance in U.S. automotive design.

These covert pipes were slightly downward-facing and either tucked up forward of the rear bumper, or hidden away at the back of the rear wheel arches. From most viewing angles, they were all but invisible.

German manufacturers began embracing the dignity of clandestine pipes in the mid-nineties with even James Bond going pipe-free in his MI6-issued 750iL in Tomorrow Never Dies.

It was around this time however that young kids began fitting their Japanese sub-compacts with giant fart-can exhausts, far larger in diameter than any that had ever been fitted to a road car outside of Chrysler’s 1963 Turbine Car (and those were hidden.) 

As is its wont, questionable taste rose up the socioeconomic pyramid to the point where Rolls-Royce deemed it imperative to offer a Visible Exhaust option on their Phantom. Should you find yourself travelling behind one, you can easily discern whether the owner is Old Money or Nouveau Riche.

Metallic automotive paint finishes, around since the 1920s, became extremely popular in the U.S. during the 1960s. The then-new thermoplastic acrylic lacquers made an ideal showcase for metallic finishes as their low application viscosity allowed time for a majority of the aluminum flakes to align themselves relatively parallel to the surface before the paint began drying. This provided increased reflectivity compared to earlier efforts. The result was metallic paints with nearly the same visual appeal as todays, lacking only the extra sheen and depth of a clear top coat.

Some people wanted more however; and that included Bill Mitchell, GMs Styling Section Vice-President. Mitchell had been fascinated by the concept of an iridescent finish at least since 1961, when he oversaw development of the Corvette-based Mako Shark concept car.

He wanted something more subtle than metallic, and with a more pearl-like spectral iridescence. His fantasy would become reality just over a year later when GM’s 1963 models began appearing in showrooms.

Chevrolet’s new Sting Ray, in addition to its dramatic space-age design and independent rear suspension, was available in Sebring Silver Fire-Frost at an $81 upcharge, the same price one would pay for the optional leather-trimmed seating.

Instead of simple reflective aluminium flakes, the new Fire-Frost finish used transparent polyester flakes covered in a thin translucent layer of aluminium. Acting like tiny half-silvered mirrors, the flakes could both reflect and refract light, lending a soft iridescent glow and wider reflective chroma range than was possible with traditional opaque aluminium flakes.

Simultaneously the Cadillac division debuted not one, but five Fire-Frost Colors for ’63 Eldorados (optional on other models): Silver, Red, Green, Gold and Aquamarine.

Manufacturing the electro-deposition plated aluminized polyester flakes was quite expensive, and for 1964, GM switched from Fire-Frost to Firemist.

Firemist paints used titanium dioxide flashed translucent borosilicate glass flakes. Like the aluminized polyester flakes, these were both refractive and reflective. Unlike Fire-Frost paints however, Firemist finishes contained no aluminium (or any other metal) and thus were not “metallic” paints, as they were erroneously described by copywriters in some period brochures.

Cadillac offered customers five Firemist finishes for 1964: Saddle, Blue, Aquamarine, Green and Red.

Throughout the sixties, Firemist Colors were restricted exclusively to the Cadillac division as a $125 to $130 option. 

Offering buyers the velvety radiance of premium Firemist paints became a Cadillac tradition that would continue for three decades.

In 1971 and 1972 only, Chevrolet offered three unique Firemist paints on Corvette Stingrays; Ontario Orange, Steel Cities Grey and War Bonnet Yellow. Later in the decade a few Firemist colours became available on Buick Electras and Rivieras, and Oldsmobile Ninety-Eights and Toronados.

Almost inevitably, Firemist finishes also appeared on guitars. Fender Electric Instruments had been offering popular automotive paint colours since the 1950s. For 1965 they added four new metallic shades and two GM Firemist Colors: ’64-‘65 Cadillac Firemist Saddle (dubbed Firemist Gold) and ’64 Cadillac Firemist Blue (renamed Firemist Silver.) These two colours would remain as staples in the Fender guitar lineup into the next decade.

The radiant opalescence of Fire-Frost and Firemist paints lives on in today’s pearlescent colours which refract and reflect incident light in the same manner as their GM predecessors, now via microscopic translucent ceramic crystals.

It could be argued that the first automobile designs to seriously address efficient space utilization were the prewar Fiat Topolino, and the postwar Fiat 600 and Citroën DS; both the latter introduced in 1955.

The designers of the Citroën, André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni, incorporated a number of space-saving innovations in its design. Firstly, they tucked the fuel tank in the normally unused space beneath the rear seat, a location that today has become nearly universal. Secondly, they placed the transverse exhaust silencer in a crossways tunnel running beneath the front seats, allowing for a low, flat floor throughout the rest of the cabin.

Finally, they located the spare tyre and jacking post in the nose of the car where ample room was available due to the front-mid-engine layout which placed the powerplant entirely behind the front axle.

The idea to place the spare in the engine compartment may have come from the Volkswagen Transporter, which used such an arrangement from its inception in 1949 through 1954.

Citroën would retain engine compartment-mounted spares in their Ami, Dyane, GS, CX and Visa. In addition to conserving space, the engine bay location saved the necessity of unloading some (or in some cases all) onboard luggage to access the spare in the event of a puncture. 

It took a while to catch on, but in 1961 Chevrolet became the next manufacturer to place the spare in the engine compartment. Their Corvair got off to poor start in the sales derby in its maiden year, trailing the rival Ford Falcon by more than 180,000 units. One of the criticisms of potential buyers was limited luggage space: 11 cubic feet in the Corvair vs. 23 cubic feet in the Falcon.

To address this problem, three changes were made for 1961. First, the nose panel between the headlights, which had been concave, was made convex. Secondly, the large trunk-mounted gas heater was deleted from the standard equipment list. Finally, the spare was relocated from the trunk to the rear engine compartment in coupes and sedans; unfortunately exacerbating the handling foibles of base models (which lacked a front anti-roll bar) by shifting weight distribution further rearward.

Next up was Renault with their ground-breaking new 16. Since the Renault featured the same front-mid-engine design as the Citroën, there was plenty of room up front for the spare. Renault would continue with engine bay spares on their later 5 and 14 models.

The DAF 44 was fitted with an engine compartment spare in 1966, a location that would be retained in the DAF 46, 55 and Volvo/DAF 66.

That same year Ford of Britain launched their Zephyr Mark IV with the spare mounted forward of the radiator.

Subaru launched the front-drive 1000, the first passenger car powered by their marque-defining horizontally-opposed powerplant in 1966. The spare tyre and scissor jack were mounted above and to the rear of the compact flat-four. 

In 1967, Honda introduced the N360 with its spare tyre sharing the forward compartment with a transverse air-cooled inline twin.

The last major manufacturer to embrace the engine bay spare was Fiat which in 1969 placed one in the 128, the first front-drive car to bear the Fiat badge. This placement would be retained in the 127 as well as early Ritmos, Pandas and the Autobianchi-Lancia Y10.

TVR adopted an engine compartment-mounted spare for their M-Series sports cars in 1972, as did Maserati in the Khamsin two years hence; but by the mid-seventies, trends were in place that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the engine compartment spare. The increasing popularity of features like power steering and air conditioning left less surplus room in the engine bay, just as tyres began growing in width and eventually in diameter, outgrowing the increasingly limited underbonnet space.