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The 1964 El Camino was the right truck at the right time (note that within three years, the Falcon/Ford/Fairlane Ranchero had only caught up to the El Camino). And the Fleetside had come a long way from the 1960 original, while the 1964 Styleside was only beginning to catch up with its 1961 counterpart...

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Opening theme is "Happy Go Lively, by Laurie Johnson.

Ah, but if only theyd designed in as much corrosion protection and quality control as they did to styling! I love these cars, but in my native new England, the tin worm ate them all years and years ago.😢😢😢

The last flathead six in the mid-price field. LOL!

Plymouth had the best design I think, 1957 and 1958

It has a very mustang profile. Much more than the gen I Falcon.

To me, in 1953, the only great looking car was the Mercury !

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Mouldings were deleted in 1971.

It would be interesting to see one of these strips intercut with the opposing brand’s strip feature by feature.

I’ve read that a contributing cause of the poor quality of the 1957 models is because they were rushed into production too. They were originally planned to be launched for the 1958 models. The trickle down damage to both assembly and suppliers because of the accelerated release of these revolutionary designs was catastrophic. It caused irreparable damage to Chrysler’s reputation and sales over the long run.

I love the Chrysler Mopar Forward Look cars of 1955-1962 (and up to 1966 for Imperial). Design supervision was by Virgil Exner himself for all five car lines when he began work on the Forward Look behind the scenes in 1953, working on the 1955 models. He was ably assisted by Maury Baldwin at Dodge, and Clifford Voss as his assistant from 1956 to 1961. It's great to see a photo of Cliff Voss in this video documentary. I never knew what he looked like. Exner also designed the fabulous famous Chrysler Forward Look logo symbol, which he called the Floogerang. He also designed a new logo for Plymouth in 1959 which looked like a stylized rocket, and the 1962 Dodge logo which he called the Fratzog. Exner also came up with the basic concept of the 1960 Chrysler-built Slant Six engine, although he did not engineer it. "Think of it as half of a V-12" he told Chrysler engineers and executives. They built it although it took them 3 years to engineer it from 1956 to 1959. Sadly, the intense pressure of creating the 1957 Chrysler lineup of cars caused him to suffer a heart attack in July 1956, which he never really recovered from, and it cut his life short, at age 62 in 1973. His dark sunken eyes were a sign of his chronic heart condition, but he managed to continue coming up with fantastic designs. His last production car design was the 1971 Stutz Blackhawk. Although the build quality was flawed on the 1957 models of Plymouth and Dodge, the DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial lines were built better, and for 1958 the build quality was much better for all lines. However, the 1959 Chrysler and Plymouth lines suffered build quality issues again. All of these issues were corrected by 1960, when all five Chrysler car lines were beautifully designed, built and engineered.

The FORWARD LOOK changed everything ! Unfortunately today, almost EVERY CAR looks alike ! Boring ! Sometimes , you can't tell the difference between a Mercedes, and BMW, or a Lexus. No real style. Just a bland xerox copy of each other.

These cars always looked sinister to me, although that might have been influenced by the fact that I was hit by a car with huge tailfins as it was backing out, when I was about 3 (no harm to me, a huge dressing down to the driver by every mother on the block). Still, they just look as if they are up to no good. I was always fascinated by the apparent washing machine in the trunk. I'd have been disappointed if someone had told me that it was just a decoration.

I love the "Foward Look" and owned a few myself. But this "propaganda" about fins being "stabilizers" is only true if you're driving your car at 150 -200 + mph.

Because of the "New" Forward Look the sales of Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler's took off which led to poor quality of the cars because of rushed assembly to keep up with demand. The Forward Look cars were really big on the Highway Patrol TV show.

The Forward Look cars of 1957 were indeed "the newest new cars in 30 years," but Chrysler's build quality doomed the 1957 and 1958 models (the 1958 "Eisenhower Recession" didn't help, either!). People who switched to new Chrysler products were burned and never bought another Chrysler again. And by 1960, the Chrysler lineup looked rather like caricatures of the 1957s (instead of "Suddenly it's 1960," it was "Suddenly it's 1957").

The Forward Look began in 1955

These rocketship designs were such a brief period in automotive styling, only a little more than 5 years from beginning to end, but they left an outsized impact on the American psyche.

Popularity of the Forward Look styling had a short life. By 1958 sales were decreaaing. By 1960 it was very hard to sell. In the 1960s these cars looked way out of date.

Very interesting. What does forward look actually mean?

1st coming of Chrysler corporation: 1951 HEMI 180 HORSEPOWER 2nd coming of Chrysler corporation: 1955-1961 Forward look 👌 👀 👍 Plymouth Dodge Desoto Chrysler Imperial

That’s a great artifact of how the Chrysler product line was perceived at the time. Very entertaining and enlightening!

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I own a 1954 DeSoto Business Coupe. It was the last of the "stodgy" styles by Chrysler Corp. Some different than the 1958s.

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The biggest issue I see is the X frame. What a terrible design. A way to get the car “longer, lower, wider” and keeping cost low. Yes Chevy called it the “safety girder frame”. It was anything but safe and the rockers that were “beefed up” were prone to rust causing a loss in structural integrity as time went on. The bodies would easily twist.

On looks alone the 53 Ford is a clear winner. Yes, Plymouth was restyled for 53, but not successfully. Downright ugly, and the warmed over Ford was still more 'modern'. Plymouth interiors were pretty drab too; indeed they upgraded for 54 to more closely match the competition. Got a point about those vacuum wipers though!

Ain’t nothing better than a salesmen in a suit talking to another salesmen in a suit.

I have always liked the 61 Impala 💋

The under-dash "Cool-Pack" could be dealer installed, but the "All-Weather" (in-dash) air conditioner was a factory option only. Power windows and seats were factory-installed only, yet power steering and power brakes could be added either at the factory or after delivery. (Indeed, the dealer made profit both ways.) The other items were still accessories, despite what the selling pitchman says! I have yet to see a remote mirror or speed control on any 1961 Chevrolet...ever...much less the trunk release or rear window defroster

11:16 The artist stayed with a minimalist aesthetic for most of the film but just went all out on those shoes!

A variety of directional signals are essential for safety and legally required in most states, available for all models in either bracket or flush-mounted.

What? I've seen in dash air in 1960 full size Chevy models. Why show that knee knocker? Are they gonna mention power windows?

... I've always loved the DeSoto grills ... Grrrr 😬 ...

i have a 68 torino with formal roof and vinyl top. love it

*_Thurl Ravenscroft was the black honeypot in the heffalumps and woozles scene from the movie: The many adventures of winnie the pooh._*

Having driven late 1950s cars with wraparound windshields such as the Cadillac, it does take some getting use having the windshield post protruding into the space you enter the car.

The sad part about this filmstrip was that all 1958 cars save Rambler sold fewer cars than their 1957 versions (except Edsel). DeSoto sales were especially hard-hit, cut by more than half from the year before...

Ugliest car ever made.

THESE WERE BOTH WONDERFUL AMERICAN CARS BUT MY DAD OWNING TWO DIFFERENT 1957 DESOTOS GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO WITNESS THE DESOTO PERFORMANCE ! DAD LIKED TO DRAGRACE OCASIONALLY AND I WITNESSED HIM WAY OUT PERFORMING NEWER CARS AS NEW AS 1965 OR LATER MODEL CARS ! MY BROTHER JIMMY BOUGHT A 1961 DESOTO AND DAD'S 57 DESOTO COMPLETELY OUT PERFORMED THE 61 MODEL BECAUSE DAD'S 57 HAD THE HEMI ADVANTAGE ! ALMOST 100% OF THE OLD RAIL DRAGSTERS THAT PERFORMED SO WELL HAD CHRISLER CORP. HEMIs AND NO CAR FOR YEARS HAD A TRANSMISSION THAT COME CLOSE TO THEIR TRANSMISSION PERFORMANCE ! I'M JUST STATING FACTS !!!!!!!!!

Good one. The coolest family car of the '60's was our 1961 Galaxie convertible. Caribbean Turquoise. 390 V-8. Loved the tinted glass. Took my driving test in this baby. Top down. The examiner loved it.

The 1958 car scene. Just opinion here...I always thought the Plymouth Fury, Dodge Custom Royal Lancer and DeSoto's Adventurer stood out for sheer sleekness. Even the names matched the groovy looks. .

Do some of these films not come with the initial "Focus" slide or do you edit them out? I really like seeing those.

Considering Ford and Chevy sales were within 100 units of each other in 1954 (depending on the source), Chevrolet was bound and determined to make sure it didn't happen again for 1955...oh, incidentally, the "moisture-sensitive top raiser" was never, ever offered on any Chevrolet...ever. It appeared on a handful of Cadillac show car convertibles in 1958, but nowhere else...and by the early 1960s, Popular Science offered a home-grown version in its Home Handyman Encyclopedia

This was obviously produced early in the production of the 1968 Torino's as there is no mention of the 428 CJ. The 428 CJ engine was introduced on April 1st 1968. My old 1968 Torino GT Fastback was made in May 1968 and it had the 428 CJ, a truly fun car to drive. Some days I wish I hadn't let that car get away.

My first car Was a 1954 0lds Rocket 🚀 98 My first love😊