A Collection of American Classics

With a History of the Tail Fin Design

On this Sunday Drive with the Mercifuls we land at a private collection of American Classics. If hooded headlights and finned tail lights are your thing, then this gallery is for you! In a request for anonymity I will respect the owners right to remain private. This article will focus on the beauty of the machinery rather than the owners’ passion.

According to the Smithsonian Institute: “Tail fins started to appear on American cars in the late 1940’s, and while many cars eventually adopted them, most experts credit Cadillac for introducing fins tot he public.” In 1948 right after World War II, Cadillac’s luxury brand was connected to the technological wonders of Rockets and Jet Airplanes of the time. A P-38 Lightning fighter airplane was the inspiration of Franklin Hershey, lead designer of the team working on the fins. He visited an airfield during the war and was inspired by the aircraft. Famed designer Harley Earl did not like the fins and requested Hershey to remove them until backlash from other parts of the company supported Hershey. And the rest is history as the fins became an important design element for Cadillac for over a decade and can even be seen in the long vertical stripes of lights in modern Cadillacs.

In this collection we see tail fins of all designs, vertical, diagonal and even horizontal. Some tail lights have a pair of fins each! Fascinating. Imagine a time when automotive designers (any designer actually) were inspired by such a commanding design element. Fins showed up everywhere. Thomas Hine, author of the book “Populuxe, American Design from 1954-1964 stated: “…since this was the Jet Age, cars sprouted tailfins (the bigger the better); not to be outdone, radios had “sports-car styling…” The design caught the public’s imagination, symbolizing innovation and modernity.

In the American affluence of the 1950’s cars became a canvas for futuristic and bold designs. Tail fins grew larger and more extravagant. Clare MacKichan exaggerated the fins of the 1957 Chevy Bel Air with a finned trim panel. Virgil Exner at Chrysler designed the ’57 300C into a “Forward Look”. Then Harley Earl’s team at Cadillac in 1959 featured the tallest and most dramatic fins ever produced, with twin afterburner taillights embedded horizontally within the fins. It was at that point when the tail fins began their slow decent in size and importance as seen in the fin-less 1965 Impala whose three tail light designs poked out of a forward sloping rear deck.

The tail fin era represents a time when cars were more than transportation; they were symbols of ambition, individuality, and a nation’s identity. Which car or decade do you find most fascinating in this trend?