By 1950, all American makers had unveiled their post-World War II designs, with varying degrees of success. The first major independent to show its new designs was Studebaker and its Loewy coupes and bullet-nose styling resulted in some of its best sales years ever in the '50s.

Hudson's step-down design and Nash's aerodynamic Airflyte styling were very successful as the '50s got under way. Packard tried to adapt to the modern age, but never really recaptured its grandeur years of the '30s.

Of the Big Three, Ford Motor Co. was the most successful. Its 1949 design, with fenders tucked into the body for a slab-sided look, was generally considered to be the car that saved the Ford empire. Ford Motor Co. regained second place in sales from Chrysler Corp. in 1950 (Chrysler Corp. had taken over second place in 1933).

With the post-war designs, the auto industry took a big step forward to the modern car. In the mid-'50s, design changes would transform most American cars. And the most amazing design element, the one that most people associate with the '50s, was the tailfin craze.

In 1948, Harley Earl's team at General Motors put some small tailfins on the Cadillac's rear fenders to house the taillights. Earl said he was inspired by the World War II P-38 fighter plane. Cadillacs sported tailfins every year after that through the '50s.

The tailfin was exclusively Cadillac's for several years, then other makers began putting tailfins on their cars. In one of the most curious automotive fads in history -- the fins had no function whatsoever except decorative and, of course, to sell cars -- the fin became the symbol of the American car of the '50s, reaching bizarre proportions before it ran its course.

There were other aircraft influences on auto design of that era, but no one copied Studebaker's bullet nose or Buick's fender "portholes." But within a few years all makers began grafting tailfins on their cars -- literally, in some cases, as custom body shops began welding fins on cars for trendy guys who could not wait for Detroit to catch up with this odd customer demand.

By 1955 nearly everyone was on the tailfin bandwagon. Cadillac's fins stayed small and tasteful, but in 1955 huge shark-like fins were put on the Eldorado. It challenged stylists at all the companies and they began responding in often weird and rarely beautiful ways.

An icon of '50s design was this "bullet-nose" 1950 Studebaker Commander Starlight coupe, obviously inspired by World War II fighter aircraft design. A movie lobby cutout of James Dean stands beside the car at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Ind.

Ford stylists were not enamored of the fin, but with GM fitting them to all its lines and setting the public tastes with more than half the market, they followed suit with mildly finlike rear fenders in 1955, then went to very distinct and definite fins in 1957. As soon as the fad began to fade, Ford dropped them and only a vestige remained on the '60 and '61 models.

Studebaker added fiberglass fins to its otherwise beautiful Hawk models. American Motors reluctantly began putting fins on its Rambler, which never did look comfortable with them. Even staid Mercedes-Benz added fins, but they were small and not used until the fad had pretty well run its course.

The tailfin looked best on a large car, where the proportions could be made to look right, usually not possible on a small car. British maker Sunbeam brought out its replacement for the elegant Alpine, a short wheelbase big-finned model which eventually had a Ford V-8 stuffed into it and became the Tiger. It looked like a doorstop.

Jet aircraft clearly inspired Virgil Exner in designing this '57 Chrysler 300 C, the most successful of the big tailfin cars. It was powered by a 392 Hemi V-8 rated at either 375 or 390 horsepower mated with TorqueFlyte pushbutton automatic transmission.

GM went a bit overboard, with strange slanted fins on the Buick, major chunks of chrome on the Oldsmobile and eventually the bizarre "batwing" fins of the '59 Chevrolet.

And Cadillac, which had started the trend, caused its tailfins to soar to the height of parody in its '59 models.

It was Chrysler Corp. that eventually demonstrated how good a car could look with large fins with its "Forward Look." Virgil Exner's soaring designs through the late '50s outfinned everyone.

The first Chevrolet Corvette was introduced for the 1953 model run. Based on the 1952 EX-122 show car, it went into production with styling almost unchanged. This is one of only 300 built in the '53 model run. It belongs to Al Hill of Oak Hill, Va., and was shown at the 50th anniversary show of Corvettes at the Alfred Sloan Museum in Flint, Mich. That first Corvette drew fire from sports car fans because it used the standard Chevrolet sedan "Blue Flame" six and came only with Powerglide automatic transmission.

In 1953, Chevrolet introduced a sports car, the fiberglass-bodied Corvette. It looked very much like a European road racer, but it had only Chevrolet's six-cylinder engine and came with Powerglide automatic, hardly high-performance stuff.

Two years later, Ford unveiled its Thunderbird two-seater sports car. It had a V-8 and its styling was very much like the bigger Fords. It was an instant success.

In 1955, Chevrolet unveiled its revolutionary long and low Chevy with V-8 performance and flashy styling, with vestigial tailfins. They grew for 1956 and became full-fledged fins in 1957. Other GM divisions followed suit. The Corvette got the high-compression V-8 and other performance goodies and was on its way.

Eventually, the Corvette developed into a truly world-class sports car while the Thunderbird grew into a larger "personal car." Both were successes, although by different routes.

By the end of the '50s, Nash and Hudson were gone, replaced by Ramblers. The Packard was gone and Studebaker was on its way out. On the way in was a growing tide of imports from Europe and Japan.

The first Ford Thunderbird was introduced in 1955, a V-8-powered "personal car" and answer to Chevrolet's Corvette (a six) unveiled two years earlier. The Thunderbird was an instant hit.

Richard A. Wright is a Detroit-area free-lance writer. He can be contacted via e-mail at ac8328@wayne.edu