The war is over.  Millions of soldiers come home.  Demand for cars is extraordinary but there's nothing in the pipeline.  Manufacturers hurriedly facelift their 1942 models as they ramp up production.  Running boards are gone, but fenders remain: Cadillac handsomely redesigns them to mimic pontoons and Buick has the fronts 'fade into' the rears.  Chrysler unveils its Town and Country woody convertible.  But it's 1948 before Hudson revolutionizes body style with its low, wide 'step-down' design, and it's 1949 before Ford abandons separate fenders altogether in favor of a modern 'envelope' body.  In 1950, Ford previews a 2-tone paint treatment.  Styling departments begin to challenge company engineers in their influence in Detroit boardrooms.  By 1953, GM introduces the 'wraparound' windshield with its Motorama 'dream cars' and stuns the public with a 2-seater called the Corvette.  In 1954, the dazzling body-side treatment of the Oldsmobile Starfire dramatizes a Motor Trend magazine cover.  The stage is set.