I’m betting that the car industry has a word for those chrome-outlined stabs of gold that were on the sides of cars in the fifties and sixties. On Impalas they looked like checkmarks. On the 1958 Ford Fairlane it was more like a long pointing finger. What do you call them - lightning bolts, blazes?
Buicks had Cruisaline Ventaports, a tradition that remains to this day…
I’ve seen them called ‘spears’.
I recall people referring to the chrome side trim of '50s & '60s cars as “side spears”.
I’ve been looking at ford and chevy related websites and the closest I’ve gotten is “side trim.” sort of generic.
any pictures for reference?
The corrrect term for the chrome strips that extend the length of the body is sweep spears.
When the added "trim"molding began to be an unnecessary expense in peoples eyes, it was replaced by those things called decals and side molding that actually protected doors. Same “look at me” intent for decals.
Technically they’re called “trim moldings”. They’ll typically consist of the “rear quarter trim molding”, the “door trim molding”, and the “front side trim molding”.