Styling
The EA/EB and E1 featured largely identical and innovative styling showing the influence of the Electro-Motive Corporation's new buyer General Motors. While mechanically they had much in common with previous, experimental EMC locomotives, GM understood the importance of looking new and exciting, not merely being technically innovative. This basic "slant nose" style was continued in the subsequent E3, E4, E5 and E6 models, while a more "bulldog nose" style was tried in the E2 and a style somewhere in between was used for the E7, E8 and E9, as well as the freight diesel cab units. It could fairly be said that the overall styling influenced passenger locomotives around the world. The "shovelnose" styling was modified on later models because the streamlined headlight was found less satisfactory than more common types with vertical lenses, and the elegantly sloped nose had a bad habit of deflecting vehicles up toward the cab in a grade crossing collision. More enduring was the paint scheme—E1 number two and her booster #2A were the first locomotives to wear the world-famous Santa Fe "Warbonnet" red and silver colors. In fact, these units used stainless steel sides on the carbody to better match the road's new stainless passenger cars. Interestingly, this decor was not developed by the Santa Fe, but by EMC—or rather, by GM's Art and Color section.
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