Beltline hasn’t always given cars character in obvious ways

1939 Graham two-door combination coupe

The beltline is the transition area between the bottom of a vehicle’s side windows and its body panels. It might have a piece of chrome or a crease, but until recently you were unlikely to find a hobbit hole. Here BMW once again leads the way (go here for further discussion about the i8 roadster shown below).

2019 BMW i8 roadster
2019 BMW i8 roadster (click here to enlarge image)

The beltline — much like the greenhouse as a whole — has significantly evolved since World War II, but not as quickly or radically as other parts of automobiles available in the United States.

Perhaps the biggest reason why is that the beltline is typically an integral part of a vehicle’s body. As such, it can’t be as easily changed as side body panels.

Beltlines mostly change with major body redesigns

For example, General Motors used the same basic body for its full-sized cars from 1965 to 1970 but made superficial sheetmetal changes along the way.

The images below illustrate the stylistic differences between a 1965 and 1970 Chevrolet. A variety of meaningful changes were made as part of a reskinning in 1969, such hiding the windshield wipers, eliminating vent wings and dispensing with fender shoulders in favor of the “fuselage” look — an unbroken sweep of sheetmetal from the sail panel into the body sides. However, the beltline was only slightly reshaped between the B- and C-pillars.

1965 Chevrolet Impala

1970 Chevrolet Bel Air and gleeful couple
1965 (top) and 1970 full-sized Chevrolet (Old Car Brochures)

In addition, automakers — particularly domestic — have frequently used the same basic body on a range of vehicles across multiple brands. As a case in point, the outer sheetmetal may have been completely different on a standard-sized 1970 Ford, Mercury and Lincoln, but their two-door hardtops all shared the same roof shape and beltline.

1970 Ford Galaxie 500

1970 Mercury Monterey

1970 Lincoln Continental
1970 full-sized Ford (top), Mercury and Lincoln two-door hardtops (Old Car Brochures)

Beltlines have varied in relationship to fender tops

In the late-40s and early-50s the beltline of American cars tended to be elevated above the fender shoulders. This may have been partly to save money — glass cost more than steel — and also to maintain a car’s overall height while allowing the fender shoulders to be lower. This trend is illustrated by the 1951 Studebaker Commander (go here for further discussion).

1951 Studebaker Commander
1951 Studebaker Commander (Old Car Brochures)

In the latter half of the 1950s U.S. automakers embarked on a race to make the lowest, longest and widest cars. This generally resulted in beltlines that were integrated with fender shoulders. The 1958 Plymouth’s beltline design was fairly typical for the time (go here for further discussion).

1958 Plymouth Fury
1958 Plymouth Fury (Old Car Brochures)

Up through the mid-80s, the beltline of most cars were level with the base of the windshield. Among domestic automakers, GM went the farthest in integrating side glass with the windshield. The 1971-76 full-sized cars had a massive wrap-around windshield.

Cadillac used this to best advantage by mimicking classic cars of the pre-World War II era. The fender shoulder was dropped well below the beltline, the latter of which curved into a hood line that connected to a radiator grille.

1975 Cadillac DeVille
1975 Cadillac DeVille (Old Car Advertisements)

Beltlines may have reached an all-time low for a non-sports car with the AMC Pacer. This may very well be the only mass-produced car the U.S. has ever seen whose windows did not role down all the way. AMC blamed that on the low beltline combined with the tall greenhouse (go here for further discussion).

1975 AMC Pacer
1975 AMC Pacer (Old Car Brochures)

Windshields sometimes separated from beltlines

American automakers began to separate the beltline from the base of the windshield beginning in the mid-1960s. GM arguably started this trend with its 1964-67 intermediates. The illustration below of a 1967 Pontiac Sprint shows how the A-pillar curves into the fender line.

1967 Pontiac Sprint
1967 Pontiac Sprint (Old Car Brochures)

American Motors applied this approach to fuselage styling to dramatic effect with its new compact body in 1970, which was first applied to the Hornet and its shortened sibling, the Gremlin. The windshield area’s basic shape was ahead of its time to the degree that the 1983 Eagle shown below still looked fairly contemporary.

1983 AMC Eagle
1983 AMC Eagle (Old Car Brochures)

The Chrysler Corporation’s first front-wheel drive subcompacts, the 1977-90 Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, used sharper angles to separate the beltline from the windshield.

1978 Dodge Omni
1978 Dodge Omni (Old Car Brochures)

The Ford Motor Company took the fuselage look to the next level with mid-80 models. For example, the subcompact Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz employed door frames that wrapped into the roofline and a beltline that was a few inches lower than the windshield base.

1984 Mercury Topaz
1984 Mercury Topaz (Old Car Brochures)

21st Century brings weird new beltline shapes

In more recent decades automakers have experimented with non-linear beltlines. As a case in point, Honda’s Odyssey has used both a zig-zag pattern as well as a melted clay look (go here for further discussion).

2018 Honda Odyssey
2018 Honda Odyssey

ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:

  • oldcaradvertising.com: Cadillac (1975)
    oldcarbrochures.org: AMC Eagle (1983); AMC Pacer (1975); Chevrolet (1965, 1970); Dodge Omni (1979); Ford Galaxie 500 (1970); Lincoln (1970); Mercury Monterey (1970): Mercury Topaz (1984); Plymouth (1957): Pontiac Sprint (1967); Studebaker (1951)

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