Fender Skirts & Frank Lockhart

Apparently, Frank Lockhart was the first to coin a term for the fender skirt, naming it "pants" in his remarkable 1928 Land Speed vehicle. When the fender skirt became an accessory in 1950s America, remains a research question that can only be answered by reviewing old copies of Motor Trend, Hot Rod, and Rod and Custom. Why were they popular, along with Continental Kits? In an age of conformity, expecially apparent to those living in working class America during that time (remember gettting a lunch box like your father's to take to school?), the fender skirt was a cheap add-on that visually lowered the car a bit, streamlined what could be a clunky early 1950s model, and distinguished one from the crowd -- or in one's mind, anyway.

1959 Chevy custom

An early 1950s Chrysler Product -- sort of an embarrassment, but at least a coupe

A streamlined Nash Airflyte