Dagmar Bumpers

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Front end of a Cadillac from 1951 with Dagmar Bumpers

Dagmar Bumpers (also Dagmars ) were a stylistic device of automotive design that was used on US passenger cars from 1942, but especially in the 1950s. There are hemispherical or conical , mostly chrome-plated attachments on the front bumpers, the shape of which was initially reminiscent of projectiles during World War II and later of female breasts . Dagmar Bumpers are primarily associated with the luxury class brand Cadillac , which belongs to the General Motors group ; they were also available from some other manufacturers or brands. Just like the tail fins , the Coke Bottle line and the Knudsen nose , Dagmar Bumpers are icons of a certain design era.

History of origin

The first Dagmar Bumpers appeared in the USA in 1942 . It was the last year of civil automobile production before the industry switched to military vehicles in March 1942 as a result of the United States' entry into World War II . The idea of ​​equipping the front bumpers of cars with hemispherical attachments went back to GM designer Harley Earl . Earl equipped the Cadillac models of the 1942 vintage with such attachments. When civil automobile production resumed in the late summer of 1946, Cadillac initially took up this design feature unchanged and retained it until the late 1950s. Over the years, the bumpers got bigger and bigger under the influence of Cadillac designer Ed Glowacke , and their integration in the front section changed repeatedly. At the beginning of the 1950s, for example, they were detached from the bumpers and integrated directly into the front panel. In the 1957 model year, the horns finally had black rubber panels on their tips. With the introduction of the 1959 model year, the Dagmar Bumpers disappeared completely from the Cadillac range; 1960 was the last model year that they were attached to a new American car with the Lincoln premiere .

In addition to Cadillac, other American brands and manufacturers also equipped their models with Dagmar Bumpers at times. These include Buick (1954 and 1955), Ford (1951) and the brands belonging to the Ford concern Mercury (1953–1956) and Lincoln (1960), but also Studebaker and Nash .

Some manufacturers developed the design concept further. At Packard , in the early 1950s, bumper caps took the form of vertical ram blocks. The luxury brand Imperial , which belongs to the Chrysler group, installed chrome-plated attachments on the bumpers in 1955 and 1956 ; However, they served as a surround for additional headlights.

Sexual meaning

The importance of the Dagmar Bumpers changed over time. With a view to the global political situation in 1942, in which these bumper attachments were developed, they should first symbolize projectiles or projectiles and thus convey strength and influence. Over the years, however, a sexual connotation came to the fore: the shape of the bulges and their positioning below the headlights, understood as eyes, led to an association with female breasts. Finally, the black attachments on the tips of the bumpers that Cadillac introduced in 1957 could be interpreted as the court of the nipple .

GM supported these associations by publishing press photos showing female models with accentuated breasts next to Dagmar Bumpers. When the actress Kim Novak took over her Cadillac in 1956, she lay down over the front of the car in a strapless, low-cut dress for the accompanying photographers.

Terminology

The term Dagmar Bumpers has not been officially used by any manufacturer. It is unofficial but general terminology. It combines a female first name with the ambiguous word bumpers , which on the one hand stands for the bumper , on the other hand is also used colloquially (with a derogatory tendency) for female breasts. This thus supports the sexual connotation.

The component "Dagmar" refers to an actually existing actress of the same (artist) name: The actress Virginia Ruth Egnor appearing as "Dagmar" was a nationally known personality in the early 1950s, of whom numerous magazines regularly published portraits and upper body photographs . It is not known who was the first to refer the bumper horns to "Dagmar". What is certain, however, is that Virginia Egnor knew the use of her stage name as an unofficial name for bumper horns as early as the 1950s. She approved of this and was amused by it.

gallery

  • Cadillac Series 61 (1942)

  • Cadillac Series 62 (1948)

  • Cadillac Series 62 (1951)

  • Cadillac Series 62 Coupe DeVille (1955)

  • Cadillac Eldorado Brougham (1957)

  • Mercury Monterey (1954)

  • Ford Thunderbird (1955)

  • Lincoln Coupe (1960)

Sabrina Bumpers

Sabrina Bumpers on a Triumph TR6

The approach to designating bumper parts with a female first name experienced a renaissance in the early 1970s with the Sabrina Bumpers (also: Sabrinas): These were voluminous, more or less conical bumper horns made of black solid rubber, which were different especially on the US export versions British sports cars such as the MGB , MG Midget or Triumph TR6 were mounted. It was named after the British Norma Ann Sykes, born in 1936, who was known under the stage name Sabrina on both sides of the Atlantic as an actress, sex symbol and British counterpart to Jayne Mansfield . Unlike the Dagmares, the introduction of the Sabrina Bumpers did not primarily have a design background; on the contrary, they were perceived as particularly unaesthetic. Technically, they were an inexpensive reaction to the US Motor Vehicle and Cost Saving Act of 1972: collisions up to around eight kilometers per hour had to be absorbed without damage to safety-relevant vehicle parts. The Sabrina Bumpers absorbed some of the collision forces and diverted the remaining forces into stiffer body structures via metal beams and steel springs; at the same time, the Sabrinas compensated for the uneven bumper heights.

literature

  • Angelo Van Bogart, Brian Earnest: Cadillac. 100 Years of Innovation , Krause Publications, 2003, ISBN 9780873496902
  • Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . Beekman House, New York 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2
  • David W. Temple: The Cars of Harley Earl , CarTech Inc, 2016, ISBN 9781613252345 .
  • Paolo Tumminelli: Car Design . teNeues, 2004, ISBN 9783823845614

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David W. Temple: The Cars of Harley Earl , CarTech Inc, 2016, ISBN 9781613252345 , p. 54.
  2. ^ Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . Beekman House, New York 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 , p. 84.
  3. ↑ a b c Craig Fitzgerald: Dagmar Bumpers. www.hemmings.com, October 1, 2006, accessed October 1, 2016 .
  4. ^ Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . Beekman House, New York 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 , p. 517.
  5. ^ Georg Amtmann: Cadillac . Lechner Verlag, Geneva 1990, ISBN 3-85049-071-8 , p. 15.
  6. ↑ Angelo Van Bogart, Brian Earnest: Cadillac. 100 Years of Innovation , Krause Publications, 2003, ISBN 9780873496902 , p. 75.
  7. ↑ Angelo Van Bogart, Brian Earnest: Cadillac. 100 Years of Innovation , Krause Publications, 2003, ISBN 9780873496902 , p. 76.
  8. ↑ David Knowles: MGB, MGC & MGB GT V8 - A tribute to the British classic sports car . Heel Verlag, Königswinter, 2004. ISBN 978-3-89880-344-1 , pp. 119 to 121.