The 1942 model year was an unusual one for Oldsmobile, from a number of angles.

For the U.S. auto industry, the 1942 model year will forever be marked with an asterisk. At Oldsmobile, for example, automobile production began pretty much as usual on August 31, 1941. But the shift to military production had already begun, and with the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, the orders came to shut down auto manufacturing completely. The last Olds rolled off the line in Lansing on February 5, 1942, which makes ’42 probably the shortest production year on record for Oldsmobile at only 158 days.

Despite the multiple challenges that year, the Olds division of General Motors launched ambitious plans for the ’42 season. There were five separate models in three series, with three different chassis of 119-in, 125-in, and 127-in wheelbase. And there were two engines, a 100-hp inline six (238.1 CID) and a 110-hp straight eight (257.1 CID). The top sales features for the Olds B-44 line, as it was labeled, included Hydra-Matic drive,  Fuselage Fenders, and an intriging if not downright curious feature, Double-Duty Bumper. It seems that in 1942, Oldsmobiles sported not one but two front bumpers.

This see-through illustration above details the Double-Duty front bumper feature. The upper horizontal bar in the grille/bumper array was no mere decoration. It was constructed from heavy gauge steel just like the conventional lower bumper, and it mounted directly to the frame rails with equally heavy brackets.

What was the purpose of the extra front bumper, exactly? We can only guess at the actual reasoning behind it, but it probably had something to do with differentiating the Olds brand from the rest of the crowded and competitive mid-priced field. And it certainly does project an image of ruggedness and quality of construction.

This production mock-up (note the wheels barely off the ground) shows the entire Olds redesign for ’42, including the Fuselage Fenders, in which the front fender sheet metal sweeps midway through the front doors. Due to the dramatically shortened production schedule, not quite 68,000 Oldsmobiles were produced for MY1942, roughly a quarter of the division’s 1941 output.

Above, two Oldsmobile executives admire the ’42 front end. We can see that this is a bit later in the production year, as the upper bumper, grille pieces, headlamp rims, and hubcaps are painted rather than plated. As the USA hurriedly ramped up its war production, chromium was declared a strategic material, and the automakers substituted paint for plating. Across the industry, these later ’42 cars with painted trim parts were often referred to as “blackout” or “victory” models. Once the war was won, Oldsmobile would resume civilian automobile production in the fall of 1945 with facelifted versions of its 1942 models, minus the Double-Duty front bumper.