Suddenly It's 1960—In a Good Way!

Twelve Page Full Color Insert for Chrysler's '57 Finned Wonders Appeared in the Nov. 3, 1956 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post

The 1957 Plymouth's front end came in for a mid-year "correction" as complaints came flooding in regarding those original open vertical cooling slots in the bumper seen above. Apparently birds, small animals and tiny babies were being sucked into them, lol, and by mid-year, slim chrome vertical bars had been added to the previously open slots. Ink "bleed-through" appears on all of the pages in this 63 year old magazine. I've noticed this quite often in the Post's pages, and rarely in Life or Look. I'd say the paper choice is the culprit, but at a  cover price of fifteen cents for a 148 page weekly magazine filled with quality original writing, money had to be saved somewhere.

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — Chrysler Corporation's entire 1957 lineup was redesigned from tires to roof. Virgil Exner pulled out all the stops and shocked the entire automotive industry with his low and svelte and breathtaking automobiles. It would take the industry leader, GM, a couple of very busy years, working overtime, to field competitively designed cars. Chrysler's ad campaign, "Suddenly It's 1960," a further extension of his Forward Look begun in '55, has gone down in history as one of the most effective car ads ever. Had Chrysler actually waited a year however, and gotten its production capabilities in order to build these cars, perhaps Chrysler would have fared better in the late '50s and early '60s. Production quality took a huge hit producing these cars as quickly as management wanted them to.

"Swept-Wing" Dodges, with their seemingly separate cut-back fins, offered great two-tone possibilities. "Jet tube" taillights complemented the fins beautifully. 

Though DeSoto would exit stage right just after the 1961 models were introduced, this '57 Fireflite with "Flight Sweep Styling" had seemingly nothing but blue skies ahead of it. Those slim roof pillars and shockingly thin roof seemed as optimistically futuristic as space flight itself.

Chrysler's place in the world was clear by the artwork accompanying this red-and-white New Yorker hardtop sedan: mink stoles, tuxedos, chandelier earrings and elegant evenings under the moon and stars.

 "Imperial—the finest expression of The Forward Look" according to the ad copy, and who could possibly disagree with it? Curved sideglass made its first appearance on a production car with this Imperial. The newly-lowered roof, which made that large expanse of metal visible to most buyers for the first time, was detailed with an arching and "V-eed" piece of chrome trim, available in body color, an accenting hue, brushed stainless steel or a new matte and grained finish, giving the look of a fabric roof years before the vinyl roof became a ubiquitous option.

The five double-page spreads were preceded by this black-and-white introductory page touting the "Newest New Cars in 20 Years!" not exactly hyperbole.

Closing out of this 12 page ad insert was this single, full color page describing Chrysler's state-of-the-art Torsion-bar suspension. Chryslers of this time not only rode very well, but had exhibited roadability unmatched by the "Big Three." 

1964 Imperial Continental coupes. Huh?

Imperialista—production Imperial Continental?

C H O P S — I've always loved the Chrysler Imperials of the fifties and sixties, both the flamboyant Virgil Exner designed fifties flagships and the slightly more tailored Elwood Engel sixties versions. This is a 1964 Imperial coupe, Engel's facelift based on the same chassis Imperial had used since 1957. Engel had been hired away from Ford in the early sixties to replace Exner, and this is his first 'real' Imperial. Fresh off the classic '61 Lincoln, Engel really brought as much of a Lincoln Continental feel to the Imperial that he could, with cleaner bodysides, a squared off Continental trunk 'bulge' and a tasteful use of chrome highlights. Far from a fresh-sheet-of-paper design, needing to use the same wraparound windshield and 'hard point' from the formerly finned wonders, I think this series of Imperial is as striking as Exner's. There were awkward parts of the design, an overly tall roof and greenhouse, and the equal-length hood and taillights don't work for me, but overall they were quite tasteful and luxurious looking.

For the first chop above, I moved the cabin backwards on the body, to create a longer hood and shorter deck. I shortened the front overhang a bit as well, lowered the roof a bit and created Continental-type C pillars. This would be the 'volume' production version of an Imperial Coupe. The bespoke Crown Coupe is below. Much more drama to be had there!

A not-very-common 2 door limousine, the Crown Coupe.

This Crown Coupe takes the Imperial back in time in a way, creating an ultra luxurious Limousine Coupe, a bodystyle last seen (and very rarely at that) in the Thirties. The C pillars are huge, providing privacy for the two very special rear seat passengers. I've fared the bumpers into the body in a much more custom way, deleting much of their chrome and replacing it with mere outlines, also enhancing the 'propeller' motif and squared off Continental bulge of the Exner rear bumper. The rear bumper side 'bombs' are lengthened to balance out the C pillar, and I've slammed the roof down as much as possible to enhance the 'sinister' feeling. The LeBaron's already-small rear windshield was widened a bit but narrowed in height, better in keeping with the overall roof shape. Small 24KT gold "Crown Coupe" nameplates add the de rigeur snob appeal, tastefully, well as tasteful as gold nameplates can be. I've parked the Crown Coupe in front of a Frank Lloyd Wright home I found online, which is exactly the clientele Chrysler would have been striving for.

N O T E —  I'll be done with the book project by tonight. Back to work now!

Honey, Let's Take the Convertible Today

Chrysler hasn't produced a factory Imperial Convertible since 1968. This didn't stop me from creating one. Click to see this long, luxurious Crown Convertible in all of it's glory.

C H O P S — I don't chop convertibles very much at all. Convertibles are always a striking ride, but I find myself working on cars that somehow personally mean something to me, ie pillarless coupes, suicide door sedans, woody wagons. As huge a car fanatic as I am, I've only ridden in convertibles twice that I can remember. The moment I saw the current 300's styling however, a new Imperial appeared in my mind's eye, and a convertible just seemed a natural step beyond that.

When I was born, my parents owned a pink and black 1956 Ford Sunliner, recreated below, but I have zero personal memories of that car. I rode in my college friend Annie's lime green 1969 Pontiac LeMans convertible once, way back in the 1970s at Vassar. Then sometime around 2005, I rode in the tiny back seat of my friend Susie's gorgeous blue Porsche 911 convertible. Yes, I said Back Seat. With the top up, lol. To use the cliche 'packed in like a sardine' would TOTALLY not work, as that would imply it wasn't pleasant. ANY ride in a new Porsche 911 is a journey well worthwhile. Frankly, I would have enjoyed being strapped to the hood like a prized deer if that was my only choice, lol.

But I digress. Though my personal experiences are limited with convertibles, I love the bodystyle and wish there were more of them still being produced. Open cars, "ragtops" to some, herald back to the early origins of the automobile. They feature in the multitudes of vintage movies I love to watch. They're just sexy—they make the lucky drivers and passengers seem sexy and smart, and in on one of life's best-kept secrets—the joy of being out on the open road with the sun at your back, 'somewhere west of Laramie' to use Ned Jordan's classic tagline for his Playboy roadster of the 1920s. 

This Imperial Crown Convertible was made from the 300 sedan, and dates back to 2007 or so. I changed the bodysides to ape the 1969 Imperial, one of the last Imperials I still covet. This was the year that the Imperial was folded back into the regular Chrysler lineup, losing it's status as a separate marque, and losing much of it's unique sheetmetal, but I've still always loved the long, clean lines of Chrysler's fuselage styling of that vintage.

The lap of luxury, my Imperial Crown Convertible is idling outside, ready for my early Spring Saturday drive in the country . . . See y'all later! : )

This is a photoshop re-creation of the car my parents drove when I was born. They bought a pink-and-black 1956 Ford Sunliner right before they were transferred to Germany, and had the car shipped over for them. As fifties a color choice as there ever was, my Dad liked the fact that from the drivers seat, all he could see were the black front fenders and hood. The interior was black and white with nary a pink accent. The car's striking Salmon paintwork was only used below the Fairlane's now-classic 'checkmark' chrome trim and this hue was a one-year only color choice. The pinks that came before and after this '56 were more of a cotton-candy pink, without the subtle peach or orange undertones of this Salmon. I found this photo of the correct model and year, in black and white, and I 'painted' it in the correct colors in photoshop. I added a stylized background showing the Alps of southern Germany where I was born, and the frequent backdrops from family photos of that time. I filtered the entire piece to have it 'shimmer' as memories often do—neither sharp nor out of focus, but somewhere in between. Click to enlarge.

U P D A T E — I just checked my online source for Ford paint color names/choices, here, and interestingly, black/pink doesn't appear in the list for available '56 Ford regular production. The color, Sunset Coral, is listed as a Thunderbird-only choice. The two tone options for the Sunliner with black on the upper surfaces lists only Snowshoe White or Fiesta Red for the lower accent color. Was my father's car a special-order? I remember my mother telling me that their new convertible cost more than my father's yearly Army salary, close to $3300, which would indicate a fully-optioned Sunliner as the V8 convertible's base price was closer to $2600. I know it was equipped with the "Thunderbird Special" 312 V8, as opposed to the 292 V8 that came standard, so perhaps my Dad, or the dealer, had it painted with a Thunderbird hue as well. It does explain why I've never seen a pink/black Sunliner at any car show or Hemming's Motor News want ads. Let the research begin!