![]() The front end was simply too wacky, and the rounded “turtle” deck was not what buyers in that class wanted. The Chrysler, however, would have landed with a thud. The original 1962 Plymouth probably would have sold better, as that car looked considerably less awkward – and more substantial – than the shrunken 1962 Plymouth. There are also photos of the final full-size clays of the planned 1962 DeSoto and Chrysler. The story even featured accurate drawings of the Plymouth if it had debuted as Exner had originally envisioned it. Colbert was ousted because a lot of this had occurred under his watch, and stockholders and board members were increasingly upset over the corporation’s dismal sales performance after 1957.Ĭollectible Automobile ran a story on the planned 1962 Plymouth back in 1996. Newberg’s ouster didn’t have anything to do with his product planning decisions. He was gone well before the fall of 1961. Newberg was forced out as a result of a growing “payola” scandal involving key Chrysler executives and several suppliers. Of course, Exner championed the whole bizarre asymmetrical thing which could have been where he took sixties Chryslers, so maybe it was all for the best he was let go. Surely, Exner could have adapted and shown similar restraint as his GM and Ford counterparts. I mean, it’s not like GM and Ford fired all of their late fifties’ stylists they managed to come up with some of the nicest styled cars, ever, in the sixties. Still, a huge automotive ‘what if’ (at least for Chrysler aficionados) will always be how things might have turned out if Exner hadn’t been cashiered and there wouldn’t have been any of the Engel-era ‘me-too’ GM lookalike cars that followed all the way up to the Iacocca days. After seeing some of the original ’62 full-size clays, well, I’m not sure that if Exner’s non-downsized cars had made production, they’d have done all that much better. ![]() But, honestly, aside from the ’63-’66 A-body, Exner had already pulled a couple of whoppers with the ’60-’61 cars. The general prevailing attitude on Exner in the early sixties is the he got a raw deal when the downsized ’62 Mopars turned out to be disasters and he was terminated as the scapegoat. The distinct roof line and rear fenders and tail lights were still classic late Exner the last production cars to sport his influence. But the front fenders were still the same, or certainly mostly so.įor its 1966 finale, Chrysler saw fit to tool up new front fenders for the Dart (as well as the Valiant), to make the transition to the Engel era complete at least from the cowl forward.īut as can be seen here, that did not apply to the back two-thirds, although they were toned down as much as possible. In 1965, the Dart got a new grille which toned down the prominent headlights. The Turbine is typically associated with Engel, but undoubtedly much of it was already in the works, at least the basic front end design, before he put his stamp on it, which is quite visible on the sides, predicting the ’65 Chryslers. The ’63 Dart was of course still a bit out of the mainstream, with its prominent single front headlights and protruding front fenders, a design that it shared with the Chrysler Turbine car. Some of these cars were designed and approved during his absence recovering from a heart attack, others just somehow slipped by, and of course the ’62 cars were downsized due to corporate edict.īut he left having largely righted the listing Chrysler design ship. The original ’63 Dart (along with the Valiant and cleaned-up semi-full size Dodges and Plymouths) was a farewell shot by Exner, and went a long way to redeem himself for the numerous awkward cars that somehow found themselves being released and built during the difficult 1960-1962 model years. And it’s still on mostly full display, even if the front end was been fully Engelasized. That left the ’66 Dart and Valiant as the last living relics of the Exner era. The same happened in 1966 to the mid-sized cars. ![]() By 1965, Chrysler’s full size cars were completely made over under the direction of its new design head Elwood Engel. Jim Cavanaugh’s recent CC on a 1964 Dodge Custom 880 pointed out that the 880 was the last relic of Chrysler Design Chief Virgil Exner’s “Forward Look”.
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