Reaching the Top: The Pontiac Catalinas of 1950-58

摘要

For Detroit's "Big Three" and the various independents, the early postwar period could be compared to shooting fish in a barrel. Pent-up demand had the market exploding by the time that passenger-car production resumed in summer 1945. There was no need to come up with anything other than lightly facelifted versions of the prewar designs-if it rolled, it sold.Of course, that situation could not last forever. Sooner or later, the public would want newer, better cars. A few of the independents and industry newcomer Kaiser-Frazer got the ball rolling in thelate Forties. General Motors was the first of the Big Three to introduce all-new designs, which appeared on the corporate C-body 1948 Cadillacs and Oldsmobile 98. However, the bulk of GM's product turnover came in for the 1949 model year with a new generation of offerings that brought a fresh look and a succession of design and, mechanical advances, including an all-new body style, the "hardtop convertible." The airy new coupe roof line without fixed center pillars swept quickly through the industry. When Pontiac got one it called it the Catalina.