Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

Anybody know why do most cars from the 20 s and 30 s look so much alike? Did Briggs and Murray build bodies for other manufactures besides Ford?

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

I think most cars today look alike.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

Agreed! Jellybeans with wheels.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

This true except where they can bring in the "Transformers" look.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...vap0j5FrcTQwOQ

I must be getting old. Such a look has NO appeal to me. IMHO mere marketing hubris and born out in P.T. Barnam's immortal quote.

The salemen must laugh as something like this pulls out of the car lot.

Joe K

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

The short answer is Yes, they were coachbuilders however one also needs to remember that Ford's engineers set the initial design in motion as to what they wanted their bodies to look like. Also remember that often times, the design details were hinged around the stamping presses that the manufacturer had at their disposal. With low production poorly funded manufacturers, they were more likely to produce simplistic designs.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

I think design trends and copying had a lot to do with the similarities. Look at 33/34 almost all brands have the same style of grille. Jmo

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

I think that contemporary cars have always pretty much looked alike, with a modest exception during the 50's. There have been a few exceptions over the years, like the Stout Scarab, but none have ever done very well, for some reason. Modern creative stylings have been a mixed bag, like the Pontiac Aztec, PT Cruiser, and Honda Element and its ilk.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

At a stoplight a while back, there were 2 cars side-by-side in front of me. Same color (white) and for all practical purposes were identical -- until I noticed a bow tie on one of them and a blue oval on the other one. :D

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

I recall that Chrysler was also a big Briggs customer for a good part of the 1930s.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

Mainstream buyers expect products to look a certain way, in any age. Step outside the box and sales volumes drop. So the 20's cars looked the same, just as they look the same today.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

I always heard that the Chrysler Airflow models didn't do so well mostly because they just simply looked different from contemporary expectations of car look/shape.

Re: Cars of the 20's and 30's
 

I think I read that Murray produced bodies for Dodge and Pierce Arrow. Looking at the back of my 1930 Townsedan, it does look similar to a 28-29 Pierce Arrow.:rolleyes: