Vintage 1950's white Frigidaire stove - $650 (Gainesville, Ga.)

If you'll look closely at that design, you can see that Frigidaire's designers were whittling away at the Loewy design, making it appear more squared-off, less rounded.

It should be remembered that Frigidaire was owned by GM, the biggest car company in the world, and that car companies of that era worked several years ahead, signaling transitions before they actually occurred. That's what's happening with this Frigidaire - they're preparing consumers for a radically different look that consumers don't know yet is coming, but Frigidaire does know is coming.

GM did this with cars all the time. The 1949-53 Chevrolet was given a heavy face-lift in '54, to relate its styling to the big change that was coming in '55. Often, stuff intended as an overall GM styling theme was introduced on Cadillac, where it was nearly guaranteed acceptance, and then spread across the line, gradually. The example would be the tailfins introduced on the '48 Cadillac, which went all the way from Caddy to Chevy by '54. GM did this for many, many years - when they knew that they had to downsize the entire line, they began by creating the Seville, which made trim-size luxury the hottest ticket in town.

GM was not alone in squaring off appliances; GE did it at the same time. But if you'll look at '56 GE designs vs. '57 Straight-Line Design GEs, you see that it was a harsher, more abrupt transition. Frigidaire prepared much more carefully.

That doesn't mean that Frigidaire did a better job in the sales race; they had a hard time flogging the Control Tower concept to laundry equipment buyers, with the result that the Control Tower was a one-year wonder. The very glamorous GE Liberators and Stratoliners achieved fine sales, if surviving numbers are anything to go by. If I had to guess, I'd say that sales race was pretty much a dead heat.

But a lot of thought went into industrial design in those days, and I wish Corporate America would do as much for consumers now. We once had a level of glamour and excitement in consumer durables that is completely absent today.


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Post# 767629 7/3/2014 at 08:36 (3,578 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia )
Checkrate/Likes again, poor photography for a nice stove CLICK HERE TO GO TO ovrphil's LINK on Gainesville Craigslist Photos... < > Photo 1 of 2 View Full Size

Post# 767650 , Reply# 1 7/3/2014 at 10:52 (3,577 days old) by bluejay (Havre de Grace, MD)
Checkrate/Likes I love this particular style of dashboard. Was this right before they launched the Sheer Look line?

Post# 767686 , Reply# 2 7/3/2014 at 14:52 (3,577 days old) by moparguy (Virginia)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Neat stove! I am pretty sure that this is a top of the line 1955, two years before the sheer line. The 1956 models had the large light panel running full width above the controls. I always liked this offset look.

Post# 767723 , Reply# 3 7/3/2014 at 19:13 (3,577 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Pre-Sheer Look, BUT....* If you'll look closely at that design, you can see that Frigidaire's designers were whittling away at the Loewy design, making it appear more squared-off, less rounded. It should be remembered that Frigidaire was owned by GM, the biggest car company in the world, and that car companies of that era worked several years ahead, signaling transitions before they actually occurred. That's what's happening with this Frigidaire - they're preparing consumers for a radically different look that consumers don't know yet is coming, but Frigidaire does know is coming. GM did this with cars all the time. The 1949-53 Chevrolet was given a heavy face-lift in '54, to relate its styling to the big change that was coming in '55. Often, stuff intended as an overall GM styling theme was introduced on Cadillac, where it was nearly guaranteed acceptance, and then spread across the line, gradually. The example would be the tailfins introduced on the '48 Cadillac, which went all the way from Caddy to Chevy by '54. GM did this for many, many years - when they knew that they had to downsize the entire line, they began by creating the Seville, which made trim-size luxury the hottest ticket in town. GM was not alone in squaring off appliances; GE did it at the same time. But if you'll look at '56 GE designs vs. '57 Straight-Line Design GEs, you see that it was a harsher, more abrupt transition. Frigidaire prepared much more carefully. That doesn't mean that Frigidaire did a better job in the sales race; they had a hard time flogging the Control Tower concept to laundry equipment buyers, with the result that the Control Tower was a one-year wonder. The very glamorous GE Liberators and Stratoliners achieved fine sales, if surviving numbers are anything to go by. If I had to guess, I'd say that sales race was pretty much a dead heat. But a lot of thought went into industrial design in those days, and I wish Corporate America would do as much for consumers now. We once had a level of glamour and excitement in consumer durables that is completely absent today.

Post# 767742 , Reply# 4 7/3/2014 at 21:00 (3,577 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)
Checkrate/Likes *Case in Point:* Just for grits 'n giggles - here is an old CL photo of a '57 Frigidaire Sheer Look range. Note its "family resemblance" to the '55 above, particularly in the "L"-shaped configuration of the lighted glass area of the backsplash. Frigidaire was taking a big upcoming change and spoon-feeding it to consumers:

Post# 767747 , Reply# 5 7/3/2014 at 21:47 (3,577 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia )
Checkrate/Likes Sandy -cool stove. 1957 was a good year - I had a third grade teacher who introduced us to transportation, all year - we took trips to the airport , train stations, and bus depot...to get an overview of transportation in 1957. Car designs were looking more and more like sleek aircraft, with fins, etc. It's always interesting to see how design evolved through the 50's and into the 60s. Not to rant, the topic has been mentioned many times over. But thanks for posting that picture of the stove.

Post# 819266 , Reply# 6 4/14/2015 at 21:18 (3,292 days old) by Srwilson22 ()
Checkrate/Likes *1957 Frigidaire Stove* I have a Pink 1957 frigidaire stove that I would love to find a good home for. It's in fantastic shape and works perfectly. Photos... < > Photo 1 of 2 View Full Size

Post# 819373 , Reply# 7 4/15/2015 at 11:24 (3,291 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes How beautiful! That has been cooking for a long time and it looks to be well taken care of.

Post# 819409 , Reply# 8 4/15/2015 at 14:46 (3,291 days old) by srwilson22 ()
Checkrate/Likes Its in great shape. Anyone know the best way to sell it or how much it might be worth?