It’s really a bold design for an American ad at that time. (I know because I had to study that kind of thing when I took Industrial Design classes at Ohio State.) The ad has somewhat of a modern European flair – which Plymouth obviously hoped the reader would transfer to the perception of its cars.
Anyway, I’ve mentioned on this blog how susceptible I am to advertising. I’m beginning to think my parents were too, because it wasn’t too long after this ad when they purchased a 1958 Plymouth Savoy.
I wrote about that car (which my siblings and I later compared to the Batmobile) here.
It wasn’t long, however, before my parents switched their allegiance to Oldsmobile and later, specifically the Cutlass.
The entire Chrysler Corporation lineup for 1957 was sleek long and low.It just reeked of modern and futuristic design elements.It was so far ahead style wise that it made GM scrap all of their offerings for 1959.They went back to the drawing board and came out with dramatically styled cars for 59.As the 1959 GM lineup was going to be slightly rehashed 1958 offerings....Today when you see a 1959 megafin Cadillac at a classic car show you need to thank Chrysler.When you see a batwing 1959 Chevy Impala you need to thank Chrysler.When you see a 1959 Oldsmobile you need to thank Chrysler.1959 Buick?1959 Pontiac?Thank you Chrysler....Just compare a 1958 Chevy to a 1959 Chevy and you'll see what I'm talking about..Virgil Exner was Chrysler's lead stylist at the time and he had it going on for 1957-1959 at Chrysler,Plymouth,Dodge and DeSoto.He made all final design decisions for all 4 brands.Now as the 1960's wore on his design choices got a little weird and he was let go in 1961 or 1962.But during that brief timeframe of 3 short years his styling had no equal.Chrysler was always the smallest of the Big 3 so they decided to spice things up,as they had nothing to lose.It all started with the "Hundred Million Dollar Look" of 1955.Then came the comepletly restyled 1957 models.....Back when Americans bought American brand cars.Back when America was great.Back when people supported their neighbors and friends by purchasing American built products.Back when America had it going on.
ReplyDeleteAnd for a little bit of useless trivia....Does anybody know what make had the tallest tailfins ever designed on a production automobile from the 50's and 60's?...Everybody thinks it's the 1959 Cadillac as those fins just looked magnificent with all that chrome applied in the right places.It had cool rocket shaped taillights perched halfway into the fin.And chrome trim that outlined the entire fin.....Well it's not the 1959 Cadillac....It was another Chrysler product that one upped GM once again....The 1961 Chrysler Imperial had the tallest tailfins ever to be produced by anybody in the world....Granted they didn't look as good as the Caddy but by then Chryslers styling for all of its brands had "jumped the shark" if you will....The 1961 Imperial featured free standing headlights and free standing taillights.The shark fin inspired tailfin soared higher than anything before or since.Nestled under the tailfin was a free standing taillight.Very weird and sales dropped from 1960.Virgil Exner was fired shortly after other "far out" restyled Chrysler products resulted in loss of sales.But for one bright shining moment Chrysler had the title for the tallest tailfin ever with the 61 Imperial.
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