UGLY(??) Chrysler Corp cars of the 50's and 60's

[#41]

I agree with that assessment of the periods' designs.
The late 50's had devolved into a great big pi$$ing contest between makes of "oh yeah? Well, how about THIS!?!!"
as they constantly tried to out-do one another in MORE fin, MORE chrome, MORE spear this or spike that...
It had to peak/crash at some point - and once it did, I don't think any of the manufacturers knew where to go
from there with things.
I mean, where do you go from TOO MUCH EVERYTHING??

Turned out, back to square one - clean lines, simpler....ok, a bit plain-Jane, really.

Design was mirroring our society in general, if you think about it - we were transitioning from all the exuberance
and sky's-the-limit optimism that was the post-war 50's to the cold hard realities of a harsh recession and the
sudden possibility of nuclear war with a new enemy.

Humans are quite the fickle beings, turns out.

Yup, the history of the USA is reflected in the design of its vehicles.... all the way up to today, and it's not hard to imagine tomorrow. It's just another one more thing that drives my interest in the automotive hobby.

 

[Backrd.Junkyard]

Any 61 Mopar (possible exception, the Imperiall) was worse.

I’m in total agreement here. No offense intended to any ‘61 owners, but there was once a blue ‘61 fury four door on eBay that defied description. Not just any blue, but kindergarten classroom Tempera pupil piercing blue. It exaggerated all the weird curvature, arcs, and radii built into every part of the car. It’s the only car that made me physically sick to look at the pictures of it. The deeper I got into the details of all the different shapes, the more nauseous I got. It’s like there was no safe place to look, as if it were intentionally made to be overwhelmingly ugly from all directions. It should have had “Point Toward Enemy” stamped on every panel…

 

[33 IMP]

I’m in total agreement here. No offense intended to any ‘61 owners, but there was once a blue ‘61 fury four door on eBay that defied description. Not just any blue, but kindergarten classroom Tempera pupil piercing blue. It exaggerated all the weird curvature, arcs, and radii built into every part of the car. It’s the only car that made me physically sick to look at the pictures of it. The deeper I got into the details of all the different shapes, the more nauseous I got. It’s like there was no safe place to look, as if it were intentionally made to be overwhelmingly ugly from all directions. It should have had “Point Toward Enemy” stamped on every panel…

Yeah, but, I'd still love to have a 61 two door wagon Mopar. And after having my 62 as long as I have , I think I could stand a 61.......

 

[Dave6T4]

I think Lexus tried to copy the 1961 Plymouth grill. It was truly FUGLY! The '61 Plymouth looks like it got completed, and the stylists (?) stood back to admire their handiwork. All of a sudden, they had the same thought, "Tail Lights! We forgot to put tail lights on it!" . So, they quickly tacked on some Big Rig cab clearance lights to the rear fenders. Done!

 

[matthon]

I love how ugly my 62 Dart is I wondered why I passed it by so many years, just sitting in the same place for decades.
Now I'm hooked, bought a 58 from the same guy.
It's the best looking car I've ever seen!

 

[Ron H]

Luv that old Dodge! Spooky with the dusted windows – be careful – ya know – just in case, lol.

 

[barbee6043]

Cool weird cars with style!!!!

 

[Auggie56]

I've always like the '62 Plymouth savoy and belvedere myself. So ugly they're pretty. We jokingly say we're going to get a '62 Savoy four door and paint it candy crab apple green and put a bundle of snakes wrap on the roof. Followed by blue/white LED lights in the headlight rings and name it Medusa. So ugly that it would turn other cars to stone...

The early Variants of must have been a reason for that 62' B body styling. Somehow the rear just never looked quite right. But then the Dodge of 62' was one I always liked.

 

[OKDart]

The early Variants of must have been a reason for that 62' B body styling. Somehow the rear just never looked quite right. But then the Dodge of 62' was one I always liked.

I read somewhere online, that the reason for the odd ‘62 rear styling was Chrysler shortened the wheelbase at the last minute. Based on bad intel that GM was shortening theirs. I don’t find that hard to believe based on blatant design copies between Chrysler and GM in the 50’s and 60’s.

 

[slimt]

I know this is not a Dodge. But to me owning a Concept model from the 50s is once in a life time. I have the pedigree of how it was to be , who aquired it from Kaiser , how I got it.


I even have the W and Aero hood ornament that was sent to me from the person David that aquired this from Kaiser at the time of demolishing the Kaiser plant.

 

[mpgmike]

As for the movie "Christine", I watched it 14 times consecutively in 1985. I have seen it over 20 times total. Just something about it that got me hooked.

 

[Dave6T4]

I read somewhere online, that the reason for the odd ‘62 rear styling was Chrysler shortened the wheelbase at the last minute. Based on bad intel that GM was shortening theirs. I don’t find that hard to believe based on blatant design copies between Chrysler and GM in the 50’s and 60’s.

In the early '60's Ford was working on the design of the smaller Fairlane, and GM was working on its new midsize Chevelle. By the time this news filtered back to Chrysler, the story was that both Ford and GM were downsizing their mainstream Galaxie and Impala lines. In a scramble to be competitive with these new size cars, Chrysler quickly shortened and narrowed some Exner-designed prototypes. Some of these were strange in their own right, with sharp body creases and asymmetrical design features. Some of these design cues could be seen on the concept XNR (Exner, get it?) roadster.
The Dodge and Plymouth concept cars were smoothed and modified to become the new 1962 models. There were even odder looking Chrysler and DeSoto concepts that never made it to production. DeSoto was killed off, Exner was fired for the poor public acceptance of the downsized 1962 B-bodies, and an alternate design for the 1963 C-body Chyrsler was chosen for production.
Plymouth dealers usually sold Chrysler models as well as the Plymouth, giving the customer a choice between the smaller B-body or larger C-body. Dodge was usually sold along side with DeSoto, but since this make had just been discontinued, potential Dodge customers did not have the same choice. Dodge dealers were furious and demanded a quick solution to their problem. Chrysler quickly grafted a 1961 Polara front clip to the modified 1962 Chrysler body, and the C-body Dodge 880 was born to appease dealers. For 1963 and 1964 the Dodge B-body was smoothed out and wheelbase increased from 116" to 119" to offer a larger car. The 880 was carried on through 1964, and discontinued for 1965 when the Polara line was upsized to C-body. The original B-body continued to 1965 as the Coronet and Belvedere lines.

 

[Auggie56]

The first two years of the line 1957 and 58 Chryslers were new and to me they effected the designs of the other makers. What happened from there on to me was "more is better," (?) but it was a huge mistake, just as the Edsel cars that only lasted a whole three years because of their horable designs.

 

[abloch]

Fugly is in the eye of the beholder. More style than any e-body pony car.

 

[threewood]

They are all unique and interesting for sure.. My 62. I like the style.

 

[Backrd.Junkyard]

Solid Beauty! Mmmmmm! But this is cool just seeing how they were built.

 

[33 IMP]

My favorite fin car from the fifties is the 57 de Soto. A friend had one for sale, quite a few years back, a four door two tone green. I didn't want a four door anything then, and not a green one either.......


Sure wish I had the chance to do that over again.......

 

[Darter6]

For me it's a 1957 Chrysler Saratoga. It was our family car back in 1962.
Anybody willing to post a photo for me ?

 

[Ron H]

1957 or 1960 Chrysler 300..

 

[Photon440]

For me it's a 1957 Chrysler Saratoga. It was our family car back in 1962.
Anybody willing to post a photo for me ?

You didn't mention if it had two or four doors. So...