1941 Chrysler Newport Concept

The automobile has evolved ever since its inception. Some periods in history were met with great advances in design, and the late 1930s and early 1940s were no exception. Among the leaders in this evolution were the manufacturers from Detroit. Edsel Ford was famous for creating wild customs and using them for his own use. Harley Earl at General Motors, Ray Dietrich at Murray, and Ralph Roberts at Briggs were among the top coachbuilders and designers of their time. In 1938, Earl created the milestone project Y-38, more commonly known as the Y-Job on a Buick chassis.

Driving these custom creations on the streets provided visual reinforcement of the skills employed. In August of 1940, K.T. Keller was approached by Ralph Roberts from LeBaron with an idea for two show cars that would become known as the Thunderbolt and the Newport. The Thunderbolt was a two-seater design while the Newport was a dual-cowl phaeton with seating for four.

Keller commissioned Roberts for LeBaron to construct six Thunderbolts and six Newports to be put on the national show circuit. LeBaron was given a mere 90 days to complete the cars in anticipation of the 1941 auto show season.

The impossible task was nearly accomplished; only five examples of each concept were created before the start of the New York show. They were then distributed around the country to inspire traffic to Chrysler showrooms. They were shown in parades and dealer showrooms, seen by thousands of people, and helped inspire sales and excitement for the Chrysler marque.

Though LeBaron was only able to create five of each custom, it was far more than Ford's one-off idea car and GM's sole Y-Job Concept. Chrysler had their own mini-fleet of Newports and Thunderbolts.

The Newport was designed by Roberts and Alex Tremulis and given a classic dual cowl phaeton body style. The chassis had a wheelbase that measured 145.5 inches, the same used on the Chrysler Imperial chassis. This was the first American car to have a fender line that flows from the front to the rear. There were no body seams or bolt-on fenders, and the smooth, uninterrupted, flowing design continued in all aspects of the car including the hood, doors, and deck. There was no excessive ornamentation. It was aerodynamic, with integrated rear fender skirts in the shape of teardrops, a flush cover for the top, and even a recessed license plate. Many of these design cues would make their way into future production cars. Manufacturers and designers were inspired by the designs, using their creativity to craft future vehicles. Earl copied the front-to-rear fender line and used them on the more expensive Buicks in years to come. His cars, though, had bolt-on fenders.

Since the concepts were handmade, each was slightly different than the others. Four of the five Newports had their headlights recessed into the front fenders behind retracting headlight doors. The fifth car had a clean front fender design with exposed headlights. This was the car that would be given the honor of being the pace car at the 1941 Indianapolis 500.

by Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2009