Three Grille-Less Bottom-Breathers

Grilles are so crucial to automotive design, for creating an identity for a car’s “face,” that I sometimes think they become sort of a crutch. Now, don’t get me wrong: there are some incredible grille designs out there, and they can do so much to define the look of a car, but what really impresses me is when designers choose to forego this hugely significant element of car design.

Let me be specific here: this is only relevant for front-engined cars, usually liquid-cooled. There are plenty of grille-less designs for rear-engined cars, but I want to focus on those cars that are otherwise conventional mechanically – front-engine, radiators, the whole deal – but whose designers have deliberately decided to shun conventional grilles and instead try something bold and different.

So, this morning, let’s take a look at three grille-less designs and see what we think! Maybe celebrate a few of these daring designs. Before we do that, though, I think we need to establish some criteria.

So, for our purposes, a grille-less design is one that has no trace of a grille above the front bumper. Below the bumper, fine. But nothing above. That’s why the Citroën DS doesn’t count – its above-bumper grille is pretty minimal, but it’s there.

A trickier situation is the first-generation Ford Taurus:

It doesn’t really have a grille, but it does have a sort of intake around the Ford badge that’s almost a tiny grille. I’m honestly kind of conflicted with this one – I still think it’s a grille-less design, but if I want to be a real hard-ass, I may say that while a cleverly-designed badge can admit air, no intakes outside of the badge area are allowed.

Maybe. Like I said, I’m not totally decided here.

Also, I don’t count cars that have no grille but have made the strange decision to add a fake grille instead, like my old Reliant Scimitar:

See that grille on the front? It’s fake. There’s fiberglass behind it. It could not exist and the car would be just fine.

So, we’re going to look at cars that have zero grille above the grille, and no attempt to make a fake grille. Sound good? Here we go!

This 1970 Ford Zephyr is an early example of this, and I think it’s especially bold considering the era. All the air intake is below the bumper, and the area between the headlights is just an interesting panel that angles inward and has a full-width trim stripe between the lights. I really like this look, it’s very clean and crisp, and sets the Zephyr apart from so many other similar-looking hard-edged sedans of the era.

I wonder how much Corvair design influenced this look? I bet it had to have been a factor, to some degree?

Let’s jump to the 1980s, and the B3 Volkswagen Passat. Of all companies, VW perhaps had more experience with grille-free front ends than almost anyone, thanks to their history with rear-engine, air-cooled engineering. Their water-cooled cars have always featured prominent black grilles up to this point, so this was a real departure.

The VW badge in the center allows air intake, but I think it’s localized enough to the badge itself that we can still count this as grille-less. I really love the clean look of this era of Passat – it feels modern and rational, like modernist architecture or a really well-designed room.

Of course, in 1993, VW backpedaled and stuck a grille on the front, which I think eliminated the essential charm of the car. This always happens with grille-less designs: pretty soon the companies lose their nerve, and shove unnecessary grilles on the cars.

In 1989, Infiniti burst on the scene as Nissan’s brand for Fancy People, and it did so with some real verve, thanks to a grille-free front end that featured a large badge with ornate filagree in the background, an enameling technique known as cloisonné.

I actually love this badge; I have one in my basesment that I pulled from a junkyard.

Infiniti backpedaled as well on the grille-less look with the G45’s 1994 facelift, which added a fussy chrome grille that, again, killed whatever novel character the car had.

For all of these grille-free designs, I think we see cars that embrace cleanliness and a more careful approach to adornment. I love seeing the smooth faces of cars like this, and I suppose one of the advantages of living in this encroaching EV era is that there are more and more cars being designed sans grille.

It’s not easy to design a car face without such a significant element, but that just makes it a bigger triumph when it works.

What do you think of these? I’m not alone here, am I? Am I?