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The 1950s in America and abroad was an unmatched period of automotive architecture. During no other decade in our car design history has there been such an artistic and tasteful attention to detail when it comes to achieving the apex in class and overall styling.
In particular, tail fins made up the largest part of American and foreign auto design, but it was the States’ post-World War II preoccupation with jets and their various components that caused the distinctively American tail fin design to spread and be adopted by the international auto scene.
This 1937 Delage D-8 will be one of many automotive icons to be featured in Petersen's tail fin exhibit.
For this reason, Los Angeles’ own Petersen Automotive Museum, along with curator, Leslie Kendall will be celebrating the heritage of the automotive long and much-loved tail fin tradition, a tradition planted firmly in the ’50s but started to appear as early as the late 1930s with such makes as Cadillac.
Starting this February 23rd, Petersen’s “Fins: Form Without Function” will teach and entertain the West Coast’s motor enthusiast community until February 2nd of 2014, and the classic exhibit is scheduled to feature more than a dozen motoring icons, ranging from the ’59 Cadillac to the ’37 Delage Aerosport.
Museum curator, Leslie Kendall sums up the significance of the tail fin design to the automotive historical landscape, “Fins have an interesting history in that everyone knows about them, but no one is quite sure of the specifics,” explains Kendall.
“The tail fin design, which is largely credited to General Motor’s design chief, Harley Earl, is most frequently associated with the 1950s…While the design had no real function aside from aesthetics, tail fins were well received in the United States and their popularity expanded worldwide,” says Kendall.
