Plymouth – CARS-YDSE.com

1955 Plymouth Belvedere With Baby Fins

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During the mid 1950s the US automakers got into a real race by dressing up their huge cars with fins and heavy chrome trim. This car was released in late 1954 just before the craze began and it shows two small fins at the rear. These would be enlarged in 1956 and dramatically expanded in 1957 ( Click Here for more information ) and would continue to grow for several years.

In 1957, Chrysler took a big risk and skipped the planned 1957 models and brought out the 1958 instead. This was the beginning of the “fins and chrome” race in Detroit.

Also, hi to my friend Richard Haber who drove one of these right after high school. His was a fancier model with black and white paint job, as I recall. Thinking back, his might have been a 1956.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEf_-7s065E]

1958 Plymouth Belvedere

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Here’s another in the long line of Chrysler’s “Skip Year” cars. This one is a 1958 and that was the year that really hurt Chrysler sales because of the decision to skip several years of testing in 1957. Sales dropped as many cars had very bad reliability levels. See the previous article here.

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But you can see that the cars sold because of the look of the line. Too bad they didn’t test these cars more, Chrysler could have been a big winner.

1957 would be a banner year for the Chrysler Corporation, and Plymouth was no exception. Plymouth’s design was so revolutionary that Chrysler used the slogan “Suddenly, it’s 1960!” to promote the new car. The Belvedere line once again included the Fury. This year a new 318in³ V8 with dual four-barrel carburetors was the standard engine in the Fury, and it was available on all Plymouths.

The Belvedere would once again return as a top level trim for 1958. Styling was evolutionary from the sleek 1957 models. Quad headlights were new, as was a big block 350in³ V8 with dual four-barrel carburetors dubbed “Golden Commando.”

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1960 Plymouth Valiant

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This car was designed to look “European” and be economical to run. The car had a new slant-six engine and that allowed for a longer intake manifold and a lowerer transmission tunnel.

Aside from its somewhat radical styling, the new car would have a number of mechanical innovations, capped off by its slant-six engine. It would be called the Valiant and initially be offered for sale at both Plymouth and Dodge dealers.

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The “Skip Year +1” 1958 Dodge

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I remember the 1957 Chrysler products. I was thirteen years old but “loved” cars. The Chrysler cars, namely the Plymouth and Dodge were completely re-engineered in 1957, they skipped a year and delivered the 1958 cars in 1957. That’s what I remember and I looked on the Web and found some substantiation for this.

Apparently, Virgil Exner, who was driven far beyond just a take charge individual, used the corporate chaos to swiftly move into his own designs. He had completely scrapped three years of design work that had been spent on the entire line of the planned 1957 models, instead going right to designs that were said to be planned for the 1960 model year. The dealers were told to be ready for the most powerful set of car model designs that Detroit had ever seen.

More Information on the 1957 gamble
This was a great sales year for the Chrysler corporation.

The ads trumpeted: “Suddenly – It’s 1960!” and “1960 — Now, Plymouth is three full years ahead.”
“In one flaming moment,” read another, “Plymouth leaps three full years ahead—the only car that dares to break the time barrier! The car you might have expected in 1960 is at your dealers today!”

More Information on the 1957 gamble
But the gamble only lasted a year, the quality problems nearly brought the company down.

Chrysler had spent $300 million to bring the 1957 models to light, but in the long run they paid a terrible price for their victory. The cars, without a doubt, were some of the best designs turned out by Virgil Exner and his stylists. If they had truly been intended as 1960 models, they hit the showrooms without a full complement of testing. This, combined with breakneck schedules to meet demands, saw

Here is a graph of sales for that period of time.

by Jim Benjaminson. Copyrighted by Jim Benjaminson. Originally published as a printed book by Motorbooks International.

1963 Plymouth Valiant

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This was a car that sold fairly well before this major style change. In 1963 the car was redesigned.

The Valiant was totally reskinned for 1963 with a 1⁄2 in (13 mm) shorter wheelbase; it had a wide, flat hood and a flat square rear deck. The upper belt feature line ran from the rear body, in a gentle sweep, to the front fender tip. Here it was ‘veed’ back and down to the trailing edge of the front fender. The roofline was flatter and sharpened in profile. The grille was a variation of the inverted trapezoid shape that characterized contemporary Chryslers, with a fine mesh insert. Advances in body structure, many accessories and a new spring-staged choke were promotional highlights. The Valiant was offered as a 2-door coupe or hardtop, a 4-door sedan and a station wagon. The hardtop and the convertible, with manual- or optional power-operated top, were offered only in the high V200 and premium Signet trim levels.

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1965 Plymouth Barracuda

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I took this picture many years ago and have not found another Barracuda in much better shape. This was a very cool car in its day and my cool Uncle Oscar had one for me to admire. Oscar was an engineer by profession and I’m sure he baught it because it was good value, not because it was “cool”.

The back window was huge. Here is a quote on that aspect of the car.

The fastback body shape was achieved primarily with a giant backlight, which wrapped down to the fender line. Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) collaborated with Chrysler designers to produce this 14.4 ft² (1,33 m²) rear window, the largest ever installed on a standard production car up to that time.

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1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

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Shortly after the war, the US auto companies went from turning out tanks to making, well, consumer tanks. This 1949 model is in exceptional shape.

All Plymouths for 1949 were powered by a six-cylinder L-head engine that displaced 217.8 cubic-inches. There were four main bearings, solid valve lifters and nearly 100 horsepower on tap. A three-speed manual gearbox was standard.

The Series 18 Deluxe Six was available in either a four door sedan or two door club coupe. The sedan was very popular, accounting for 61,021 sales. It was not the most popular Plymouth of the year, those honors fell on the Special Deluxe Six Series sedan which sold for $1,629 and totaled 252,878 sales.

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An Educated Guess. It’s a ’69 Plymouth (see comments)

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I think what we have here is a 1970 Plymouth convertible. I took this just a few weeks ago about three blocks from our house. This was the shell for many a muscle cars, although many of them were tagged as Doge cars.