Starting in 1948, American cars entered a new developmental phase where they sprouted curious and rather excessive body extensions at their rear ends, often adorned by fins, rockets, jet engine exhausts, wings and other ornamentation. This era reached its peak in the late fifties and through the mid seventies. These remarkable protuberances then retreated and have long since been superseded by more practical and aerodynamic short and high rear ends. If—like me—you’ve ever wondered which car had the longest rear overhang, both in absolute as well as in relative terms, we’re finally going to answer that question. How can such important questions have been left unanswered until now?

In addition to our two winners and numerous runners-up, we’re also going to look at the history of how this trend unfolded.

Let’s start with the history, which like a few other fads and firsts, was started by Cadillac. Short trunk appendages started appearing in the mid-thirties, like on this 1933 Cadillac Town Sedan, but they mostly looked like afterthoughts, giving meaning to the word “trunk”.

The 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special, attributed to a young Bill Mitchell, was the first to make a longer trunk an integral part of the overall proportions and design. It essentially was the first mainstream “three-box” car in the US, and it was very influential indeed. It doesn’t take much squinting to see a Rolls Royce or Bentley from the fifties or early sixties.

The definitive trend to ever longer tails and to having it be an object conferring ever greater greater prestige commensurate with its length was also pioneered by Cadillac in 1948, when the higher priced 60 Special (bottom) got a tail stretch as compared to the Series 61/62 (top). This was accomplished by both moving the rear axle rearwards some seven inches as well as with longer fenders and trunk. The two numbers you see here are their rear overhang as measured from the center of the rear axle in absolute terms (inches) and in relative terms, as the percentage of total length.

In the case of this 60 Special and other cars with rearward-extended rear axles, those numbers don’t fully reflect the full impact of the additional rear body length and mass in relation to the passenger compartment. The 60 Special was 11″ longer overall, but the additional overhang only represents 4.3″ of that. But that’s what “overhang” means, and it’s the only way to make reasonably apples-to-apples comparisons. But don’t let that stop you from savoring the full visual impacts of extended rear decks.

Cadillac really stepped up its game in 1954, when a new longer tail was now to be seen not just on the 60 Special, but also on the Series 62 Coupe and Convertible, but without the extended rear wheelbase. This pushed the coupe and convertible solidly into new territory, in terms of overhang length and percentage. These numbers would soon be topped, but ultimately only by less than three inches. This is where seriously big butts—albeit a quite attractive one in this case—got their start.

The Series 62 sedan still had a more modest appendage.

 

This continued through 1958, with Cadillac offering a shorter Series 62 sedan (top) as well as an extended deck version of the 62 (middle, whose longer tail was standard on the DeVilles. And then there was the 60 Special, which had the longer tail but with the rear axle moved rearwards and a swath of chrome to enhance the look of length.  Take your pick: long, longer, or what fools the eye to be even longer.

This ended in 1959 when a short tail just wasn’t going to work with the flamboyant fins that year. That made some loyal Cadillac drivers with older garages or ones that resented the challenges of parking them unhappy. The result was a temporary reversion, in the form of the short-deck Series 62/Park Avenue available in 1961-1963 (top). By 1964, it was history, and Cadillac continued the march towards ever-longer cars and rear overhangs.

Enough with the preliminaries.

The Top Ten Longest Overhangs, In Inches:

#1: 1974-1975 Imperial, 1976-1978 Chrysler New Yorker. Someone had to win, and this one is quite worthy.

 

#2: 1974-1976 Buick Electra 225. Buick was fond of long tails.

#3:  1963-1964 Buick Electra 225

#4 1969-1973 Imperial. Given that the ’73 Imperial (with the added little rubber bumpers in front) was the longest regular production car in the US at 235.3″, one might assume that it also had the longest rear end. It may well, but because the rear axle was extended rearwards compared the Chrysler, that somewhat reduced its percentage and the resulting absolute number.

 

#5: 1960 Ford. It was also the widest car of its time.

 

#6: 1974-1979 Lincoln Town Car. It had to be in the top ten.

 

#7: 1974-1976 Cadillac DeVille. Not at the top of the heap anymore.

 

#8:  Tie between the 1960 Pontiac Bonneville (and 1959) and the 1958 Buick Limited. Again, if it weren’t for its set-back rear axle, the Bonneville would have scored higher. With its horizontal lines and trim, it certainly looks like it could be the longest.

 

#9: 1959-1960 Cadillac Series 61/62/DeVille. Yes, these ’59 and ’60 GM cars all look very tail happy.

#10: 1965-1968 Chrysler and 1969-1973 Chrysler. Coincidence? Maybe; of course my measurement tools, using a fine scale ruler on the best profile shots with the lowest lens distortion I could find and viewed on a large monitor isn’t going to be quite perfect. Undoubtedly there are accurate measurements on AMA spec sheets, but not readily accessible. These long tails work a lot better for me as wagons, and a lot more practical, obviously.

 

 

The Top Ten Longest Overhangs, In Percentage

Of Total Overall Length

 

#1: 1960 Ford. Ford made the ’60 too wide and long. The star of rear overhangs, in percentage of body length.

#2: 1959 Chevrolet. Ford was obviously reacting to the ’59 Chevy. Its relatively short wheelbase makes that tail longer as a percentage of total length.

#3: 1968-1979 Plymouth Belvedere/Satellite and Dodge Coronet station wagons. Seems a bit unlikely, but I’ll explain why a bit further down with the ’65 version.

#4: 1960 (and 1959) Pontiac Catalina. Due to the Bonneville’s setback rear axle, the Catalina has the longer overhang in percentages if not in inches.

#5: 1966-1967 Dodge Coronet and Plymouth Belvedere station wagons. I’ll explain with the ’65 below.

#6: A six-way tie between the 1959-1960 Bonneville, 1963-1964 Bonneville, 1963-1964 Electra 225, 1967-1968 Catalina, 1961 Ford, and 1970-1973 Coronet/Satellite wagons.

#7. A tie between the 1957 Thunderbird and the 1958 Mercury. I did not count continental spares, optional or standard (1956 Thunderbird).

#8: 1965 Plymouth Belvedere and Dodge Coronet. All these Belvedere and Coronets wagon bodies were based on the downsized 1962 Plymouth and Dodge wagons which had a 10″ rear extension over the rather short-tailed sedans in order to have enough room for a third seat. The ’62’s were a bit longer in front, so the percentages are not as high as these later version.

#9: 1966-1967 Buick Skylark:  Buick was trying very hard to make these look like big cars, and succeeding.

#10: Another tie, between the ’62 Bonneville, the 1959-1960 Olds 88, the 1967-1968 Chevrolet and the 1969-1973 Chryslers.

 

Honorable Mention:

1968 Holden Brougham. This was a botched butt-enhancement job on the Holden Premier, and its percentage of overhang would have tied it for #3 in this contest, which was limited to US mass-production cars.

 

Note: This was a best-shot effort given the lack of manufacturer’s specifications, so I do not guarantee the accuracy herein. But the point has hopefully been made.

 

Related CC reading:

Design Analysis: Did The Lincoln Mark VI Have The Biggest Overhang Ratio Ever?

Who’s The Longest Mega-Coupe In The Land?

1961–1963 Cadillac Town Sedan And Park Avenue Sedan De Ville – Cadillac’s Bob-Tailed Nags

Curbside Classic: 1975 Imperial LeBaron Coupe – The Last One Worthy Of Its Name