Why did we ever think tail fins belonged on automobiles?

Stabilizer fins serve a perfectly reasonable engineering purpose at the tail of an airplane. They aren’t just there for looks. In fact, it might be quite possible to design a better looking aircraft without any tail fins attached to it. The twin tails of some small planes certainly don’t make them look twice as good to me. So how did we, in the crazy 1950s and 60s, get the collective idea that all automobiles ought to have huge tail fins, and that the bigger the fin the better?

And please, consider the nostalgic study in automotive art linked above a Christmas present to one and all here at Fluther. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a little more tail.