As a former street racer from the 60's, I can tell you that all of my Torqueflite automatic mopars had a big advantage over the manual competition when it came to drags from a standing start. I had a 1963 Dodge Polara sleeper that put the hurt on many GTO's and Corvettes in the Detroit area. I worked at Chrysler's Central Engineering, so I had a little edge when it came to getting the most from my Dodges and Plymouths.
@@What.its.like. At the time I was a budding architect of 21 and thought about design in things other than buildings. Judging it from a strictly design standpoint, I saw it as a rational solution. Handsome as it was in my eyes, the majority of the buying-public rejected it as it had 28 years earlier with Chrysler's Airflow designs.
I like this era Chrysler full-size car. Light weight, big engines. One of my college room mates, landing a nice job, spent his as-yet-unearned first paycheck on a down payment for a '64 Dodge Coronet with 383 and Hurst 3 speed floor shifter. So he gets four of us in there - or maybe five - and lights it up. Wow! Even with all us us in there we felt the Gs.
I used to bet that nobody could grab a cigarette off the dash of my 69 Roadrunner while I was taking off. Few did. Those 60's Mopars had so much torque!! And yes, lightweight. Good times (before Nam)
I was back there a couple days ago to shoot a couple other cars like the Lincoln mark V... and it was sitting there... I will say the side profile looks good and like I said in the video it down look better in person than pictures it’s still an inquired taste.
The “Forward Look” ( big tail fins and thin profile roofs) excited and swept the market for 1957, but by 1960 had completely run its course of market acceptance. The design of the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge evolved from the concept of the 1960 Valiant, Exner’s attempt to introduce something new and hopefully exciting that would once again jump ahead of the competitors. It was a pretty complete flop, a sad end to a very talented car designer’s career. Your comments about Chrysler’s very successful advances in body engineering, suspension design, and power train development were, however right on target.
Yeah thank you for the correction I don’t know i called it that I knew it was going to forward look... that car looks hideous but better in person still ugly tho
I've heard that Virgil was wery pissi about the fact that tail fins wasn't the hot stuff anymore, but he still had to design cars for Chrysler, so he did, in a wery monkey paw kind of way.
I will do a whole episode on him it sucks the way newberg treated him and the whole exit from Chrysler, if he stayed everything would be completely different... Elwood Engle would have never came in turbine car would have looked totally different
This one is a little before my time, however, when our car (either a Pontiac Bonneville or an Olds Delta 88) was at the Mechanics, he’d loan us his car. I don’t remember which model it was, but it was a Chrysler because it had a push button automatic transmission! Talk about a unique design!
In the late 50s and early 60s I think all chrysler cars offered push button automatics. I understand that Packard and Edsel had pushbutton transmissions for a while.
I had a 62 Dodge custom 880 with the 361 and push button trans. In comparison to my Buicks, Galaxy's, and Mustangs (including a 73 Mach), my Dodge was the quickest and most fun to drive. Technically, didn't make any sense. As most car enthusiasts know, sometimes you get lucky and come across that special engine that defies logic even though was built as equal to the rest.
I’ve had cases like that I raced a friend they had a Ford explore circa 2002.. I had a Lincoln town car signature series 1988 and I smoke them with my 5 L making a whole 150 hp.. it was fine I’ll even let them go first ahead of me and we flew past them... that was a long time ago I was 18
I'm a big fan of these early chrysler designs... very futuristic. Add to that how light they were plus add a factory race motor and you can see why they dominated the strips by the mid 60's. My friend had a done up 62 Belvedere 440 4speed back in the 80's. It was unbeatable. Fastest car I've ever been in. I have a heavier 64 Polara maxie
This car I worked at Jk Galleria over the summer time in this car absolutely hated me I never had so many issues with a car the cross ram it would run great and then it wouldn’t.. I took it out for a photo shoot test drive and shut it off I could not get it started again no matter what I did.. mopars are generally very finicky anyway I ended up pushing that car a quarter mile back to the show room by myself because I couldn’t leave it where it was
The Ford was ugly not the MOPAR I’m sick of people saying this model was ugly 😡lot of BS This car is MOPAR heaven an yes the beach boy got it wrong as it been done again an they had egg 🥚 on their face .
@@shempuhorn8261 true story..... At least there's one thing... The new cars, they're all ugly, these new cars are a pathetic pile of complete boredom‼️®️™️ ,
I remember when my dad brought home our new 1956 Plymouth Plaza (one step down from the Savoy). The fins were quite a contrast to the 1950 Ford that he traded in.
These were the first Super Stock cars I ever seen race. At the time the 409 Chevy's were putting away the 408 Fords. I didn't believe a Plymouth or Dodge with an Automatic Transmission could possibility win, but when it was all over the Plymouth and Doge were against each other for top Stock Eliminator.
Thank you so much for sharing those memories I got to drive this car last summer and when it hooked up it hooked up great but within a second or two if it didn’t run good these cars were really finicky with the cross ram..
Forward Look. Unique to the Savoy was the "Plymouth" script that you see on the door. For the next model up it would have said "Belvedere" while Fury and Sport Fury it was relocated entirely. The hood and deck lid trim that extends from the ornaments wound not be found on a Savoy. Neither would this have "Golden Commando" call outs on the front fender. This car has no heater so the "cool" button nearly opens an air vent. Depending on the driver and gears answers both of your questions about the Corvette and manual vs. A/T. (p.s. inside door handle is upside down.)
I like these Savoys... When everything else was going squared off and boxy looking, the Savoy styling really stood out. I consider these "proto" muscle cars, even though they were technically "full size", they were smaller and had shorter wheelbases, closer to that of midsize cars and they could be had with the full size engines... like the cross ram 413. Now, could one of those beat a Fuelie Stingray? Maybe... it'd be a damn good race to watch! As for the automatic vs manual trans, most automatics were slushy and designed for comfort at the time, but Chrysler automatics were actually quite well built for performance. Most people will say that the Chrysler autos were the first to be "faster" than 4 speed cars.
I worked at the Classic Car dealership last year I got to drive that car it was absolutely incredible when it ran great but it could switch with an instant because it had those cross ram carburetors and they were very finicky.. we had a few injections stingray as well as this car and I asked my boss I said I don’t wanna drive but I will totally film it can we take them out back and see which one is faster.. The answer was no.. which was a total bummer but I totally understand why I told him I was like let’s just see what she wants the first one to 60 we don’t have to get any speeding tickets we don’t have to ““ be racing.. I only asked once and once it was pretty much a no I just let it go but that is something that I’ve always wanted to do
The 300 S L Mercedes gullwing coupe and roadster had an inclined OHC straight six. Also the 413 would handily eat a fuel injected Vette with little effort, stock right off the showroom! I have weight, rolling resistance, power and torque to Gross weight ratio charts. And the Dodge advantage is huge!
The push button transmissions were a pain. Operating them was not intuitive--you couldn't be sure of hitting the right button without looking, unlike with a lever whose angle would tell you by feel what gear you were selecting. This meant you had to take your eyes off the road to shift. It also meant it was a pain to rock the car back and forth in snow to get going. And to top it off, the buttons were fragile and had to be repaired at some point. The styling actually made sense, given the smaller dimensions--it was a way to make the car look less boxy, while still having good space utilization.
The Savoy sure is a stark series but the Fury 2 door and Sport Fury for 1962, I thought, were quite nice. It is sad that Virgil and Chrysler Corp. got slammed for the styling. If you look at the Dodge, the Plymouth is beautiful, IMO - at least the Fury and Sport Fury. More ornamentation and chrome. Interesting dashes in this years of Plymouth and Dodge. The Chryco products I drove had very quick and precise shifts without pushing the buttons, so I'm sure a lot of Plymouth automatics out ran it's competition. It was the quickest, I believe, as the Turbohydramatics had yet to come along and the heavy duty Power Glide wasn't there yet either, at least for the normal Joe buying one and expecting performance. I'm not talking of racing transmissions. So a long winded way of saying yes, a 413 wedge Savoy (light car) could outrun a Corvette and probably the Chevy 409 and Ford 406 of 1962. Of course as one said below, drivers and gears make a lot of difference. Oh, isn't the Plymouth you show when talking of a '59 a '57? Thanks for a look at the 413.
I had a 1963 Sport Fury, 383, push button auto….friend had the Dodge 1964 same engine, etc, except his was 4 speed manual….90% of the time The Push button edged the manual out….say, One car length. That 62, was coyote butt ugly, dont know what it was other than the lines were all over, cleaned up in 63, real nice in 64. 👍🏻
I worked at Jkgalleria in the summer time and got to drive that car mopars are finicky it would run good you would shut it off or I shut it off and then I couldn’t get it started again no matter what I did it wouldn’t start.. I was shooting a video for it for the shop and when I shut it off I had it all the way in front of the store I had to push it the whole way back I think it was like a quarter mile or something like that it sucked but that car was easy to push.. With that said my boss let me hammer it that 413 man it’s so fast very underrated car I drove it ginger and then he said let me show you how it’s done The car is incredibly fast it’s like no miles to the gallon but that’s not what it’s about.. car is super under rated It will run circles around the Corvette what I really want to do one day is a comparison episode Studebaker Avanti versus Plymouth Savoy two of the fastest most underrated cars of the early 60s
Regarding the Beach Boys song "Shut Down," as soon as the fuelie Corvette lost traction, even for a split second, there was no hope of catching the 413 Dodge.
That 413 is underrated to those who don’t know it.. but to those that know it it’s a legend I got to drive that car that summer and when it hooks up it hooks up it’s unbelievable what that car can do
I got to drive this car this past summer I worked at the car dealership. That car was so finicky, Because of the whole cross ram long tube intake.. I was their media guy and I took the cards out and got pictures of them stuff like that I drove the car maybe a quarter mile down the road and I shut it off because I didn’t wanna leave it running while I took pictures of it. I couldn’t get it started again no matter what I did. I had to push it back to the dealership which wasn’t that bad because that car was really easy to push 54 Corvette was the hardest thing that I ever pushed ever for whatever reason didn’t like to move.. 1940 ford is another car that sucks to push. But when that car ran good it ran great that thing was a monster. My boss let me hammer it and I went pretty ginger he told me to get in the passenger seat and he would show me what it would do. That car was awesome when it ran good total nightmare when it didn’t. Somebody traded a 2013 challenger core edition for it the challenger had 3,000 miles it was brand new, well almost brand new it still had the new car smell some how
I have no idea why this car did not have mirrors I think this car was used as a drag car it belong to a renowned transmission specialist in the area. I got to drive this car over the summertime and let me tell you it is fast, but I will also add they are extremely temperamental very finicky if it’s running good do not shut it off because odds are you won’t get it started again. When it ran good it ran great but then there was times where you could not get that thing started to save your life. I worked at the Classic Car dealership over the summertime and I was told to take it out and get some videos of it and I shut it off I ended up having to push it like a quarter mile back to the show room because I couldn’t just leave it there. It is easier to push that car than it is say a bubble top Belair with a 409 in it or any Corvette for whatever reason Corvette is a really hard hard to push especially the first generation that is like one of the hardest cars that I pushed all year last year 1954 Corvette.
My Dad fired me over a car just like this. Push button I was doing burnouts at the car lot lost control and hit two other cars. I worked at Arby's for a week before he made me go back to work and fix those cars.
I got to drive that car last summer it will haul some serious ass when it runs good but when it doesn’t run good it is a complete nightmare and it can change all within an instant.. I was the media guy at Jk Galleria last year and I took that out to go get pictures of it in front of the dealership and I couldn’t get it started so I had to push it back to the show room that car is one of the easiest cars I’ve ever pushed ever definitely easier to push it in a Corvette for whatever reason Corvettes aren’t easy to push.. but yeah and I didn’t even get on it hard my boss took me for a ride in it and the stuff that she was able to do with it it wasn’t my car so I didn’t want to thrash it.. And the sound that it made sounds like nothing else
I don't believe that the A-833 four speed was available until 1963. If I am right, then someone had to modify things to get this in. The "Cool" button was kind of weird. My dad's 1965 Dodge Coronet had this. WIthout A/C, it just blew vent air.
Mercedes Benz took the standard six cylinder OHC, gave it direct injection, and slanted it 45 degrees for every 1955 on wards SL 300 Gull-wing, and the SL300 Roadster for 1962. So Mopar wasn't the first with a Slant Six...but close!
I remember going down to Chinook Chrysler in Calgary with my dad as checking out the latest models of the big three was something we both enjoyed each spring. My dad fell for the Chrysler Saratoga with the 383 4brl. 4 door ht. It took getting used to, but I eventually lusted after the Plymouth Fury which had 6 tail lights including backup lights which were standard on the Fury, and more chrome. And the 413 with a single 4brl. Looking at this car, I have to admit I like it over the busy Fury. The single tail lights are perfect for this body style. As is seeing less chrome. Is this a Belvedere, or a Savoy?
It’s a savoy, I worked at that dealership over the summer and I got to drive that car it was extremely temperamental. Like when it ran good it ran great but when it didn’t. Me and my boss took it for a drive up the road and it stalled stilling in traffic and the battery was dead.. good times.. but when that car ran it ran it would haul some serious ass
Max Wedge was never a term used on these engines until many years later. Even the "wedge" term wasn't attached until the then new Race Hemi was released in the spring of 1964. At that point it was necessary to distinguish between 426 wedge and hemi engines. All 413 and 426 "Max Wedges" were labeled Super Stock in Plymouths, and Ramcharger in Dodges.
Mopar produced 426 Race Hemis in 1964-65 B-bodies, and 1968 Mopar A-bodies. The 426 Hemi was based upon the big block wedge engine, but with a different head bolt pattern, along with cross bolted main bearing caps. I currently have the aluminum front end (one of fifty made) '63 Plymouth Savoy 426 Max Wedge that my dad bought new and raced throughout the sixties, as well as the '64 Dodge Polara 500 426 Max /4 speed that my dad and I built to run in NHRA stock classes when I was a teenager in the mid seventies. My dad's car is in museum condition, so hasn't been raced in fifty years. I still race my Dodge in the NHRA B/S class in Stock Eliminator. @@What.its.like.
Virgil Exner did not approve of this 1962 design. He created the larger version. Exner was recovering from a heart attack when his associates did the downsized version. Exner called the downsized version a "plucked chicken". He didn't like it. The large version shows two possible rear end versions as many styling exercises used. Think the more conventional version.
I admit to being disappointed when the Plymouth/Dodge 62's came out. However, the design has grown on me; and, today, I like it better than many of the older finned vehicles.
Nice car, but it has a few problems under the hood including the WRONG radiator. ALWAYS do your homework or consult an expert whenever you are thinking of buying ANY Max Wedge car. Thanks for the vid.
This was a tribute car it wasn’t a real 413 car it was built by a transmission specialist this thing with a horse I’m serious Ass I got to drive it last summer. But I will also say that no pars especially with a cross ram or super finicky it could run perfect and within an instant it could run completely like crap and just die out on you in the middle of the street.. that time ended up being the wrong gas cap but if they were always really finicky I took it to go take pictures of it outside the dealership and they couldn’t get it started once I shut it off so I had to push it back to the dealership show room which was about a quarter mile away that car is really easy to push Corvette on the other hand I’ve never push the Corvette that was easy.
@@What.its.like. had Plymouth was allowed to stick the the original design of the 1961 Furys they would sold just as well as the Galaxies and Impalas. GM adopted the rear side window design for their 65 through 68 coupe models
Exner was not fully responsible for the 1961 Plymouth or Dodge. (Recovering from a heart attack.) To see what Exner planned for 1962 and beyond, Google "1961 Dodge Flitewing" images. It was this concept that Exner planned to base future Mopar styles on. Automotive journalists (probably hating Exner's fins) allowed Exner to be misrepresented and actually demonized . The Flitewing concept was a bit extreme, as concepts tend to be, but one can conceive of designs such as GM's later personal luxury cars of the 1970s resulting from this influence. (Hope this is not excess comments. One disappeared.)
Thank you so much for the correction =) and insight, I have no idea why comments are disappearing I was. Writing a response and it disappeared and couldn’t find it, it’s not the first time that’s happened either
Surprisingly it was an option it seems like it was an option on all cars from this time period I had a 67 mustang at one point in time and it only had a driver side rear mirror passenger side was an option
Rewatching this video I came to the conclusion that G.M execs purposely discussed the downsized chevys knowing that Newburgh was in earshot in order to deceive him. G.M. Execs must had read “The Art of War”. However, the downsized 62 Dodges and Plymouths would had been a smash if the ugly trims or brows weren’t adding on the sides. The sides on both Plymouths and Dodges could have had the straight “fuselage” look that eventhough downsized would had been well received and even probably forced G.M. and Ford to really downsize their Fairlanes and Impalas. You could find s9 eons who know how to do digital imagery on the 62s without the ugly trims and you would see how much better to the eyes these models look. I don’t have that technology. If you can, post the reimagined model. I would love to see it online.
Definitely sent mixed signals that’s for sure I’ve seen what the design proposal was and they didn’t look bad , I feel so bad for Exner he was the fall guy and he made Chrysler’s imagine what it was in the 50s. But that’s the car industry. It’s an industry where no one is safe (no ones job is safe) can be greatest thing since sliced bread and then out the very next day.
@@What.its.like. or it is a possibility that Chrysler wanted Exner gone anyway due to his unique styling especially for the 61s. The Plymouths did become finless that model year but had an odd front end design. The 61 Dodges had an oddball rear end design. Exner probably didn't want to adopt to the clean line look that the other two car companies had adopted to. He always wanted to add some odd details to Chryslers 60s model cars. He did design the 63 models for Furys and Dodges with the strict direction and watch of Chrysler over his shoulders and a little tweaking by Elmwood Engle
It’s called the “Forward Look”. If you’re going to make a video, do your homework and get the terms right! To understand the design of the 62, you have to look at the 61 Plymouth because there are some styling cues carried over from that year. Case in point is the dual emblems on the stainless spears that are on the center of the hood and trunk. So you can’t tell if the car is “coming or going”. The fins started to go away on the 62s, but there is still a shadow of fins on the 62. The 62 isn’t for everyone, but the looks can grow on you. In 2 door form they are more attractive. The interior is a lot plainer than previous Plymouth models. But the vinyl portion of the front seat back had the embossed Plymouth rocket symbol like the 61 model. A cool cue imo. The downsized unibody was a nice driving car. It handled well for the era with the torsion bar suspension. Ride was smooth, but not sloppy. They steered easily. My driving experience was in a Belvedere sedan model with a Slant Six, manual steering and brakes and automatic. I had no issues driving it at low speeds or parking it. The trunk seemed pretty expansive and there was ample interior room. Sounds like it wasn’t Exner’s fault for the styling mistake. It was Chrysler’s president screw up. Should have done a better job scouting the competition!
I had forgot to watch this one. I don't care what anyone says, the 62 Mopar's were much better looking than the 61's by miles. My dad had a 62 Dart, which was this size car. It had vent windows & pushbutton trans and radio. I could tell a story about a 10 year old punk with a wrist rocket & a bag of ball bearings, but I won't. Toodle ooh!
I got to work at that dealership over the summer and got to drive that car and it was super finicky when it ran good it ran great the power, was unbelievable.. but it could change with the wind. I shut it off to take pictures of it and I couldn’t get it started again I had to push it back to the dealership.. (that’s where the push test came from) that car was super easy to push if I had someone with me I would have tried to kick start it, thank god I wasn’t far from the dealer just off the lot but had to push it the whole way to the back side, someone traded a 2013 challenger for it
@@What.its.like. Well...I had some vehicles in the beginning that needed a push from time to time to get running. 52 Chevy Panel was HEAVY! My 60 Bug, not so much. I also received a wrist rocket for my 10th birthday & shot a ball bearing through the back windshield. My dad called the cops because it looked like a gunshot! WOO HOO! "Stupid punks"
I just love American cars from 59 to 63. Tailfins were over but no one quite knew what was coming next, so designs were an eclectic mess. Ugly but interesting!
To be honest, I think the '62 Plymouths and Dodges were a big improvement over the '61 models. Now, those cars were ugly! Very dated and bizarre styling.
The year 1962 could be described as "Annus horribilis" for the Chrysler Corporation this was their nadir since they started in the automobile industry. The foreseeable future for Chrysler did not look promising at all you could say that it bordered on the bleak side. For American Motors business was booming they did better this year than a year ago in 1961 with production increasing 12 percent, to 423,104, but Pontiac and Oldsmobile, introduce their new senior compacts: Tempest and F-85 and overtakes AMC in production and they fall back a notch from 3rd to 4th place. President and Chairman George Romney resigned to seek the Michigan Republican gubernatorial nomination, and is subsequently elected. Roy Abernathy succeeds Romney as President and CEO while Richard E. Cross is named Chairman. Abernathy is less loyal to sensible sized compact cars and begins an ambitious model expansion program. Richard A. Teague is announced as the new director of styling. The big news at Ford was the introduction of the first "intermediate-size" models named: Ford Fairlane and Mercury Meteor which were available with small V-8s. Ford increases sales ever so slightly but cannot catch their competitor General Motors who's sales take off like a shooting star, going higher, and higher, and higher. The BAD news for Chrysler was the 1962 models, they were hurriedly restyled in late 1959 over Virgil Exner's objections as he predicted they would be a complete and utter devastating disaster for Chrysler. You can ask yourself how could this happened? William Newberg, Chrysler's executive vice president, had attended a Detroit garden party where he overheard Chevrolet general manager Ed Cole discussing a smaller Chevrolet that the division was planning to launch for the 1962 model year. Only six months earlier, Chevrolet - like Ford and Chrysler - had launched their first compact car, the Corvair. Now, Newberg thought they were going to follow suit by downsizing their full-size cars as well. At the time, Newberg’s conclusion did not seem as outlandish as it may seem in retrospect. In the wake of the 1958 recession, American Motors’ Rambler line, most of which consisted of compact cars, had risen to fourth place in production and soon was nipping at Plymouth’s heels. (It would briefly displace Plymouth in the No. 3 spot for the 1961 model year outselling Plymouth by 20,400 cars.) Small imported cars had seen unprecedented sales growth, something that would have been almost unimaginable 10 years earlier. In reality Cole was referring to the introduction of a more conventional, front-engine car that was then being readied as an alternative to the rear-engine, air-cooled Corvair, whose sales had been disappointing. Others within Chrysler were probably aware of the Chevy II or could have found out easily enough - the Detroit auto industry is an insular world and unless a company makes a deliberate effort to keep a project secret, gossip spreads rapidly. Unfortunately, instead of investigating, Newberg ordered a crash program to make the 1962 Dodge and Plymouth lines smaller. By the time Newberg issued those orders, the design work on the 1962 models was basically complete and the cars were only a few months away from production. To redesign them in time for the start of production - only about a year away - the styling department had to work in double shifts which entailed working around the clock to alter the dimensions of the previously approved designs. Those designs perhaps were not Virgil Exner’s finest hour. After taking the design leadership from General Motors in 1957, Exner seemed to be struggling for a new direction. His “S-series” designs took themes developed for the compact Valiant and expanded on them for the larger cars. That was a curious decision; General Motors styling usually went in the opposite direction, introducing new concepts on Cadillac models and then filtering them down through the less expensive divisions. Even if the designs hadn’t been tampered with, the 1962 Dodge and Plymouth lines would have been odd-looking. As they emerged, they were aesthetic disasters. To save time and reduce costs, the full-size 1962 Dodge and Plymouth models were moved to a stretched version of the Valiant/Lancer compact shell. This had the effect of making the new cars considerably smaller than originally planned: Wheelbase was reduced from the planned 119 inches to 116 inches; overall length shrank by 7.5 inches; and width was reduced by about 4 inches, with a less than convincing effect on the cars’ proportions. To make matters worse, the engineering staff was standing over the stylists’ shoulders throughout the process looking for ways to cut production costs. This cost-cutting push led to the deletion, late in the development process, of various planned features, including curved side glass, wraparound bumpers, and an attractive new hardtop roof line. Exner, horrified, insisted that the results would be a commercial debacle and declared that his styling staff should not be held responsible. Curiously, to our knowledge, no one - other than Exner, whose protests fell on deaf ears - thought to question Newberg’s actions or, it appears, to even investigate the rumor that had provoked that decision. Indeed, many Chrysler executives had apparently convinced themselves that the downsized 1962s would be monumental hits. The dealer introduction, which took place shortly after Townsend took office, went badly. Dealers had not been particularly fond of Chrysler’s 1961 styling and were positively dismayed by the 1962s. The negativity was understandable; car salesmen and advertisers had been telling American consumers for years that bigger was better. Now, Dodge and Plymouth dealers were being asked to sell cars that were not only visibly smaller than the competition, but that also looked like overgrown, strange versions of the compact Valiant. For all that, the full-size 1962 Dodge and Plymouth still cost as much as a full-size Chevrolet or Ford (and almost as much as a Pontiac Catalina), but were closer in size to Ford’s new intermediate-size Fairlane and Meteor or even General Motor’s newly introduced senior compacts: Buick Special, Oldsmobile F-85, and Pontiac Tempest. It was not a recipe for commercial success. By the end of 1961, it was clear that the dealers’ reaction to the 1962 models had been prophetic. Sales of the full-size Plymouth's were down 13% from the already mediocre 1961 total, falling from about 207,000 to fewer than 183,000. Dodge dropped from about 198,000 to around 159,000. At the same time, sales of Chevrolet’s Impala, Bel Air and Biscayne which had not been downsized after all - soared to 2,061,677 million, almost 20% better than 1961 and made history for Chevrolet. This was the first time that Chevrolet broke the 2 million mark in sales. As you might imagine, a sales decline of almost 25% had Dodge dealers screaming for relief.
1961 and 1962 Chrysler products were pure trash as far as looks go. The 413 was another story these babies could go. But most self -respecting hot rodders shied away from buying this body style. As a matter of fact as young teenagers we used to go around and award people the ugliest car on the block award.
Totally agree this car was kind of hideous they are super finicky if it has the cross ram intake I dealt with that car last summer when it was running good it was running great but the moment that it wasn’t running it was very finicky
Those cars were ugly 😵💫 even when new. The finned Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodges were every bit as good looking as any other car. To me back then the C/P/D’s were a little more elegant and still sporty. But the model year you are reviewing is 🤦♂️🤷♂️. Although Exner was the senior designer I promise there were multiple meetings and many people involved. The decision wasn’t solely on him. Also, C/P/D was selling very, very well with the fin designs. I think Chrysler has a patent on the torsion bar suspension (1951). You might do a video on the multiple Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge/Desoto models through the 50’s and what the sales figures were. You can see how upper management f’d up.
Yeah this was the sad end of exner at Chrysler.. the original design was ready to go and looked better than this newberg jumped the gun. Exners team reworked it down to what was known as the 62 savoy.. it sucks they put all that time and energy into turning it from a alright looking car into an ugly car and exner still losing his job over it in the end.. every tho it wasn’t his fault.
I wish they kept the original design... and that would have changed history big time exner would still have his job and Elwood would have still been over at Lincoln...
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As a former street racer from the 60's, I can tell you that all of my Torqueflite automatic mopars had a big advantage over the manual competition when it came to drags from a standing start. I had a 1963 Dodge Polara sleeper that put the hurt on many GTO's and Corvettes in the Detroit area. I worked at Chrysler's Central Engineering, so I had a little edge when it came to getting the most from my Dodges and Plymouths.
Awesome thank you so much for sharing those memories =)
Virgil Exner designs are unmistakable. This particular model is so homely it’s beautiful. I’d love to own it.
It looks good from the sides.. has that studebaker look don’t know if it’s coming or going
While I do like the production vehicle, the original design you showed looked much better to me.
@@What.its.like. At the time I was a budding architect of 21 and thought about design in things other than buildings. Judging it from a strictly design standpoint, I saw it as a rational solution. Handsome as it was in my eyes, the majority of the buying-public rejected it as it had 28 years earlier with Chrysler's Airflow designs.
and we ordered a Valiant Station Wagon, 6 cyl, rear facing third seat, Powder Blue with dark green interior. Classy.
I like this era Chrysler full-size car. Light weight, big engines. One of my college room mates, landing a nice job, spent his as-yet-unearned first paycheck on a down payment for a '64 Dodge Coronet with 383 and Hurst 3 speed floor shifter. So he gets four of us in there - or maybe five - and lights it up. Wow! Even with all us us in there we felt the Gs.
I used to bet that nobody could grab a cigarette off the dash of my 69 Roadrunner while I was taking off. Few did. Those 60's Mopars had so much torque!! And yes, lightweight. Good times (before Nam)
The Coronet didn't reemerge until 1965
I Love the look of this car, so inviting to the eye after DECADES of car shows featuring chevys
So cool! love these old Mopars
=)
The Mercedes 300SL had the first slant 6 for the same reason. It allowed a lower hood line for a straight 6 engine.
I loved the looks of these cars.
I was back there a couple days ago to shoot a couple other cars like the Lincoln mark V... and it was sitting there... I will say the side profile looks good and like I said in the video it down look better in person than pictures it’s still an inquired taste.
The “Forward Look” ( big tail fins and thin profile roofs) excited and swept the market for 1957, but by 1960 had completely run its course of market acceptance. The design of the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge evolved from the concept of the 1960 Valiant, Exner’s attempt to introduce something new and hopefully exciting that would once again jump ahead of the competitors. It was a pretty complete flop, a sad end to a very talented car designer’s career. Your comments about Chrysler’s very successful advances in body engineering, suspension design, and power train development were, however right on target.
Yeah thank you for the correction I don’t know i called it that I knew it was going to forward look... that car looks hideous but better in person still ugly tho
I've heard that Virgil was wery pissi about the fact that tail fins wasn't the hot stuff anymore, but he still had to design cars for Chrysler, so he did, in a wery monkey paw kind of way.
I will do a whole episode on him it sucks the way newberg treated him and the whole exit from Chrysler, if he stayed everything would be completely different... Elwood Engle would have never came in turbine car would have looked totally different
I had a 64 Plymouth Fury with a push button auto loved that thing I know safety reasons, but the push button was great
Virgil Exner was a polarizing designer for sure!
He was but he kept everything interesting
This one is a little before my time, however, when our car (either a Pontiac Bonneville or an Olds Delta 88) was at the Mechanics, he’d loan us his car. I don’t remember which model it was, but it was a Chrysler because it had a push button automatic transmission!
Talk about a unique design!
In the late 50s and early 60s I think all chrysler cars offered push button automatics. I understand that Packard and Edsel had pushbutton transmissions for a while.
I love the Plymouth savoy. Great look and fast too. Thumbs Up !
Thank you so much glad you liked the review =)
@@What.its.like.
You are welcome also.
I would not call this the most in depth look but it is a good basic look at that car on hand but I enjoyed it so it's a thumbs up from me
I had a 62 Dodge custom 880 with the 361 and push button trans. In comparison to my Buicks, Galaxy's, and Mustangs (including a 73 Mach), my Dodge was the quickest and most fun to drive. Technically, didn't make any sense. As most car enthusiasts know, sometimes you get lucky and come across that special engine that defies logic even though was built as equal to the rest.
I’ve had cases like that I raced a friend they had a Ford explore circa 2002.. I had a Lincoln town car signature series 1988 and I smoke them with my 5 L making a whole 150 hp.. it was fine I’ll even let them go first ahead of me and we flew past them... that was a long time ago I was 18
I'm a big fan of these early chrysler designs... very futuristic. Add to that how light they were plus add a factory race motor and you can see why they dominated the strips by the mid 60's. My friend had a done up 62 Belvedere 440 4speed back in the 80's. It was unbeatable. Fastest car I've ever been in. I have a heavier 64 Polara maxie
This car I worked at Jk Galleria over the summer time in this car absolutely hated me I never had so many issues with a car the cross ram it would run great and then it wouldn’t.. I took it out for a photo shoot test drive and shut it off I could not get it started again no matter what I did.. mopars are generally very finicky anyway I ended up pushing that car a quarter mile back to the show room by myself because I couldn’t leave it where it was
The Ford was ugly not the MOPAR I’m sick of people saying this model was ugly 😡lot of BS This car is MOPAR heaven an yes the beach boy got it wrong as it been done again an they had egg 🥚 on their face .
@@What.its.like. Yeah I remember the finicky days... usually due to the stock ballast & points system. It's the one thing that I upgrade in mopars.
@@brianandglendaharkin9457 You want ugly... look no further than modern cars.
@@shempuhorn8261 true story.....
At least there's one thing...
The new cars, they're all ugly,
these new cars are a pathetic pile
of complete boredom‼️®️™️
,
62 Plymouth’s are epic
It might have been a sales flop but to me the design is very attractive and I'm a bowtie guy..The general public just didn't appreciate the design..
That was a sad time in Chrysler history with that car and the exit of Virgil exner..
I remember when my dad brought home our new 1956 Plymouth Plaza (one step down from the Savoy). The fins were quite a contrast to the 1950 Ford that he traded in.
Ford was very conservative in the 50s and had little fins compared to competition even amc in 59 had bigger fins
These were the first Super Stock cars I ever seen race. At the time the 409 Chevy's were putting away the 408 Fords. I didn't believe a Plymouth or Dodge with an Automatic Transmission could possibility win, but when it was all over the Plymouth and Doge were against each other for top Stock Eliminator.
Thank you so much for sharing those memories I got to drive this car last summer and when it hooked up it hooked up great but within a second or two if it didn’t run good these cars were really finicky with the cross ram..
Ford was a 406, with a cross-bolted bottom end but lacking in cylinder head flow. The block was used in the 427 Fords a few years later.
0:57 The style was called Forward Look not Forward Movement.
Yep miss spoke
Forward Look. Unique to the Savoy was the "Plymouth" script that you see on the door. For the next model up it would have said "Belvedere" while Fury and Sport Fury it was relocated entirely. The hood and deck lid trim that extends from the ornaments wound not be found on a Savoy. Neither would this have "Golden Commando" call outs on the front fender. This car has no heater so the "cool" button nearly opens an air vent. Depending on the driver and gears answers both of your questions about the Corvette and manual vs. A/T. (p.s. inside door handle is upside down.)
Awesome thank you for the insight =)
The Savoy and earlier Plaza were named after NY hotels. Belvedere is Italian for "beautiful view" (room with a . . .)
Awesome video and awesome car. Thank you
I like these Savoys... When everything else was going squared off and boxy looking, the Savoy styling really stood out. I consider these "proto" muscle cars, even though they were technically "full size", they were smaller and had shorter wheelbases, closer to that of midsize cars and they could be had with the full size engines... like the cross ram 413. Now, could one of those beat a Fuelie Stingray? Maybe... it'd be a damn good race to watch! As for the automatic vs manual trans, most automatics were slushy and designed for comfort at the time, but Chrysler automatics were actually quite well built for performance. Most people will say that the Chrysler autos were the first to be "faster" than 4 speed cars.
I worked at the Classic Car dealership last year I got to drive that car it was absolutely incredible when it ran great but it could switch with an instant because it had those cross ram carburetors and they were very finicky.. we had a few injections stingray as well as this car and I asked my boss I said I don’t wanna drive but I will totally film it can we take them out back and see which one is faster.. The answer was no.. which was a total bummer but I totally understand why I told him I was like let’s just see what she wants the first one to 60 we don’t have to get any speeding tickets we don’t have to ““ be racing.. I only asked once and once it was pretty much a no I just let it go but that is something that I’ve always wanted to do
The 300 S L Mercedes gullwing coupe and roadster had an inclined OHC straight six. Also the 413 would handily eat a fuel injected Vette with little effort, stock right off the showroom! I have weight, rolling resistance, power and torque to Gross weight ratio charts. And the Dodge advantage is huge!
The car at 0:31 sure looks like a 1957 Plymouth.
The push button transmissions were a pain. Operating them was not intuitive--you couldn't be sure of hitting the right button without looking, unlike with a lever whose angle would tell you by feel what gear you were selecting. This meant you had to take your eyes off the road to shift. It also meant it was a pain to rock the car back and forth in snow to get going. And to top it off, the buttons were fragile and had to be repaired at some point. The styling actually made sense, given the smaller dimensions--it was a way to make the car look less boxy, while still having good space utilization.
The Savoy sure is a stark series but the Fury 2 door and Sport Fury for 1962, I thought, were quite nice. It is sad that Virgil and Chrysler Corp. got slammed for the styling. If you look at the Dodge, the Plymouth is beautiful, IMO - at least the Fury and Sport Fury. More ornamentation and chrome. Interesting dashes in this years of Plymouth and Dodge. The Chryco products I drove had very quick and precise shifts without pushing the buttons, so I'm sure a lot of Plymouth automatics out ran it's competition. It was the quickest, I believe, as the Turbohydramatics had yet to come along and the heavy duty Power Glide wasn't there yet either, at least for the normal Joe buying one and expecting performance. I'm not talking of racing transmissions. So a long winded way of saying yes, a 413 wedge Savoy (light car) could outrun a Corvette and probably the Chevy 409 and Ford 406 of 1962. Of course as one said below, drivers and gears make a lot of difference. Oh, isn't the Plymouth you show when talking of a '59 a '57? Thanks for a look at the 413.
Thank you so much for sharing that information =)
I had a 1963 Sport Fury, 383, push button auto….friend had the Dodge 1964 same engine, etc, except his was 4 speed manual….90% of the time The Push button edged the manual out….say, One car length. That 62, was coyote butt ugly, dont know what it was other than the lines were all over, cleaned up in 63, real nice in 64. 👍🏻
I worked at Jkgalleria in the summer time and got to drive that car mopars are finicky it would run good you would shut it off or I shut it off and then I couldn’t get it started again no matter what I did it wouldn’t start.. I was shooting a video for it for the shop and when I shut it off I had it all the way in front of the store I had to push it the whole way back I think it was like a quarter mile or something like that it sucked but that car was easy to push..
With that said my boss let me hammer it that 413 man it’s so fast very underrated car I drove it ginger and then he said let me show you how it’s done The car is incredibly fast it’s like no miles to the gallon but that’s not what it’s about.. car is super under rated It will run circles around the Corvette what I really want to do one day is a comparison episode Studebaker Avanti versus Plymouth Savoy two of the fastest most underrated cars of the early 60s
61 was the last forward look car. Totally different roof line.
Regarding the Beach Boys song "Shut Down," as soon as the fuelie Corvette lost traction, even for a split second, there was no hope of catching the 413 Dodge.
That 413 is underrated to those who don’t know it.. but to those that know it it’s a legend
I got to drive that car that summer and when it hooks up it hooks up it’s unbelievable what that car can do
dont know which is faster automatic or 4 speed but do know its a helliva lot more fun shifting that beast than pushing a button
Yeah totally agree would rather drive stick way more connected to the car
I drag raced a 1962 sport Fury 305hp 361cid with at
Stock engine ran consistent mid 14 seconds at 105mph
I got to drive this car this past summer I worked at the car dealership. That car was so finicky, Because of the whole cross ram long tube intake.. I was their media guy and I took the cards out and got pictures of them stuff like that I drove the car maybe a quarter mile down the road and I shut it off because I didn’t wanna leave it running while I took pictures of it. I couldn’t get it started again no matter what I did. I had to push it back to the dealership which wasn’t that bad because that car was really easy to push 54 Corvette was the hardest thing that I ever pushed ever for whatever reason didn’t like to move.. 1940 ford is another car that sucks to push. But when that car ran good it ran great that thing was a monster. My boss let me hammer it and I went pretty ginger he told me to get in the passenger seat and he would show me what it would do. That car was awesome when it ran good total nightmare when it didn’t. Somebody traded a 2013 challenger core edition for it the challenger had 3,000 miles it was brand new, well almost brand new it still had the new car smell some how
I had a 63 Belvedere. Wonderful car…just curious, why was there not rear view mirrors on this particular car
I have no idea why this car did not have mirrors I think this car was used as a drag car it belong to a renowned transmission specialist in the area. I got to drive this car over the summertime and let me tell you it is fast, but I will also add they are extremely temperamental very finicky if it’s running good do not shut it off because odds are you won’t get it started again. When it ran good it ran great but then there was times where you could not get that thing started to save your life. I worked at the Classic Car dealership over the summertime and I was told to take it out and get some videos of it and I shut it off I ended up having to push it like a quarter mile back to the show room because I couldn’t just leave it there. It is easier to push that car than it is say a bubble top Belair with a 409 in it or any Corvette for whatever reason Corvette is a really hard hard to push especially the first generation that is like one of the hardest cars that I pushed all year last year 1954 Corvette.
In my opinion these were very good looking but another instance of when Chrysler got ahead of American public’s taste.
Park it next to a Prius! Then you will see how beautiful it is!
Totally true
@@What.its.like. I rather have a Camry or Corolla than a Prius. To me, the Prius is a Chick car similar to the "New Beetle."
Or just about any car built after 1972...
My Dad fired me over a car just like this. Push button I was doing burnouts at the car lot lost control and hit two other cars. I worked at Arby's for a week before he made me go back to work and fix those cars.
What a beauty!
I got to drive that car last summer it will haul some serious ass when it runs good but when it doesn’t run good it is a complete nightmare and it can change all within an instant.. I was the media guy at Jk Galleria last year and I took that out to go get pictures of it in front of the dealership and I couldn’t get it started so I had to push it back to the show room that car is one of the easiest cars I’ve ever pushed ever definitely easier to push it in a Corvette for whatever reason Corvettes aren’t easy to push.. but yeah and I didn’t even get on it hard my boss took me for a ride in it and the stuff that she was able to do with it it wasn’t my car so I didn’t want to thrash it.. And the sound that it made sounds like nothing else
I don't believe that the A-833 four speed was available until 1963. If I am right, then someone had to modify things to get this in. The "Cool" button was kind of weird. My dad's 1965 Dodge Coronet had this. WIthout A/C, it just blew vent air.
I believe ‘64 was the first year of the A833 after the ‘63’s with sourced T10’s grenaded.
@@weirdkindofsexsymbol Thanks. I had heard that a 4 speed was available before 1964. I just didn't know which one it was.
Mercedes Benz took the standard six cylinder OHC, gave it direct injection, and slanted it 45 degrees for every 1955 on wards SL 300 Gull-wing, and the SL300 Roadster for 1962. So Mopar wasn't the first with a Slant Six...but close!
Awesome information thank you so much for sharing =)
I remember going down to Chinook Chrysler in Calgary with my dad as checking out the latest models of the big three was something we both enjoyed each spring. My dad fell for the Chrysler Saratoga with the 383 4brl. 4 door ht. It took getting used to, but I eventually lusted after the Plymouth Fury which had 6 tail lights including backup lights which were standard on the Fury, and more chrome. And the 413 with a single 4brl.
Looking at this car, I have to admit I like it over the busy Fury. The single tail lights are perfect for this body style. As is seeing less chrome. Is this a Belvedere, or a Savoy?
It’s a savoy, I worked at that dealership over the summer and I got to drive that car it was extremely temperamental. Like when it ran good it ran great but when it didn’t. Me and my boss took it for a drive up the road and it stalled stilling in traffic and the battery was dead.. good times.. but when that car ran it ran it would haul some serious ass
My 1st car. The only car in my High School parking lot that was faster was a new '64 GTO.!!!
Awesome 😎👍👍👍 car
Max Wedge was never a term used on these engines until many years later. Even the "wedge" term wasn't attached until the then new Race Hemi was released in the spring of 1964. At that point it was necessary to distinguish between 426 wedge and hemi engines. All 413 and 426 "Max Wedges" were labeled Super Stock in Plymouths, and Ramcharger in Dodges.
Awesome information
They also made a 426 hemi that engine and the wedge are different?
Mopar produced 426 Race Hemis in 1964-65 B-bodies, and 1968 Mopar A-bodies. The 426 Hemi was based upon the big block wedge engine, but with a different head bolt pattern, along with cross bolted main bearing caps. I currently have the aluminum front end (one of fifty made) '63 Plymouth Savoy 426 Max Wedge that my dad bought new and raced throughout the sixties, as well as the '64 Dodge Polara 500 426 Max /4 speed that my dad and I built to run in NHRA stock classes when I was a teenager in the mid seventies. My dad's car is in museum condition, so hasn't been raced in fifty years. I still race my Dodge in the NHRA B/S class in Stock Eliminator. @@What.its.like.
It’s a matter of taste, I think the Savoy is so ugly it’s cool, especially equipped with the 413 Wedge. The car was a Vette killer for sure!
My dad had one when I was a kid growing up except it was a slant 6
Slant six is still cool, I saw a channel build one with tri power side draft Weber’s and a big cam sounded awesome if I find it I will link it on here
Pontiac made a slant for the side, a 389 in half
That’s super interesting I did not know that might have to do an engine episode on that engine =)
Virgil Exner did not approve of this 1962 design. He created the larger version. Exner was recovering from a heart attack when his associates did the downsized version. Exner called the downsized version a "plucked chicken". He didn't like it. The large version shows two possible rear end versions as many styling exercises used. Think the more conventional version.
I admit to being disappointed when the Plymouth/Dodge 62's came out. However, the design has grown on me; and, today, I like it better than many of the older finned vehicles.
It’s a design that has grown on me as well
Nice car, but it has a few problems under the hood including the WRONG radiator. ALWAYS do your homework or consult an expert whenever you are thinking of buying ANY Max Wedge car. Thanks for the vid.
This was a tribute car it wasn’t a real 413 car it was built by a transmission specialist this thing with a horse I’m serious Ass I got to drive it last summer. But I will also say that no pars especially with a cross ram or super finicky it could run perfect and within an instant it could run completely like crap and just die out on you in the middle of the street.. that time ended up being the wrong gas cap but if they were always really finicky I took it to go take pictures of it outside the dealership and they couldn’t get it started once I shut it off so I had to push it back to the dealership show room which was about a quarter mile away that car is really easy to push Corvette on the other hand I’ve never push the Corvette that was easy.
Yeah it a great MOPAR 👍🏻🇦🇺💯
Reminds me of my wife. Beautiful.
=)
The push buttons worked great for manual shifting but not for very long.
By the way, that gear lever handle shows a 4th gear on it.
It’s a 4 speed
Exner was the fall guy. He did design the 63 Furys and Poloras
What Chrysler did to Virgil Exner was just wrong I mean Chrysler would never be the company that they were going forward without his awesome designs.
@@What.its.like. had Plymouth was allowed to stick the the original design of the 1961 Furys they would sold just as well as the Galaxies and Impalas. GM adopted the rear side window design for their 65 through 68 coupe models
Exner was not fully responsible for the 1961 Plymouth or Dodge. (Recovering from a heart attack.) To see what Exner planned for 1962 and beyond, Google "1961 Dodge Flitewing" images. It was this concept that Exner planned to base future Mopar styles on. Automotive journalists (probably hating Exner's fins) allowed Exner to be misrepresented and actually demonized . The Flitewing concept was a bit extreme, as concepts tend to be, but one can conceive of designs such as GM's later personal luxury cars of the 1970s resulting from this influence. (Hope this is not excess comments. One disappeared.)
Thank you so much for the correction =) and insight, I have no idea why comments are disappearing I was. Writing a response and it disappeared and couldn’t find it, it’s not the first time that’s happened either
This car didn't come with door mounted rear view mirrors?
Surprisingly it was an option it seems like it was an option on all cars from this time period I had a 67 mustang at one point in time and it only had a driver side rear mirror passenger side was an option
Lotus had a 907 4, slant motor that they put in the Jensen Healey etc.
Awesome information thank you so much for sharing that. =)
The Torqueflite automatic transmission can shift faster then a manual trans can.
Rewatching this video I came to the conclusion that G.M execs purposely discussed the downsized chevys knowing that Newburgh was in earshot in order to deceive him. G.M. Execs must had read “The Art of War”. However, the downsized 62 Dodges and Plymouths would had been a smash if the ugly trims or brows weren’t adding on the sides. The sides on both Plymouths and Dodges could have had the straight “fuselage” look that eventhough downsized would had been well received and even probably forced G.M. and Ford to really downsize their Fairlanes and Impalas. You could find s9 eons who know how to do digital imagery on the 62s without the ugly trims and you would see how much better to the eyes these models look. I don’t have that technology. If you can, post the reimagined model. I would love to see it online.
Definitely sent mixed signals that’s for sure I’ve seen what the design proposal was and they didn’t look bad , I feel so bad for Exner he was the fall guy and he made Chrysler’s imagine what it was in the 50s. But that’s the car industry. It’s an industry where no one is safe (no ones job is safe) can be greatest thing since sliced bread and then out the very next day.
@@What.its.like. or it is a possibility that Chrysler wanted Exner gone anyway due to his unique styling especially for the 61s. The Plymouths did become finless that model year but had an odd front end design. The 61 Dodges had an oddball rear end design. Exner probably didn't want to adopt to the clean line look that the other two car companies had adopted to. He always wanted to add some odd details to Chryslers 60s model cars. He did design the 63 models for Furys and Dodges with the strict direction and watch of Chrysler over his shoulders and a little tweaking by Elmwood Engle
Very true
It’s called the “Forward Look”. If you’re going to make a video, do your homework and get the terms right!
To understand the design of the 62, you have to look at the 61 Plymouth because there are some styling cues carried over from that year. Case in point is the dual emblems on the stainless spears that are on the center of the hood and trunk. So you can’t tell if the car is “coming or going”.
The fins started to go away on the 62s, but there is still a shadow of fins on the 62.
The 62 isn’t for everyone, but the looks can grow on you. In 2 door form they are more attractive.
The interior is a lot plainer than previous Plymouth models. But the vinyl portion of the front seat back had the embossed Plymouth rocket symbol like the 61 model. A cool cue imo.
The downsized unibody was a nice driving car. It handled well for the era with the torsion bar suspension. Ride was smooth, but not sloppy. They steered easily. My driving experience was in a Belvedere sedan model with a Slant Six, manual steering and brakes and automatic. I had no issues driving it at low speeds or parking it.
The trunk seemed pretty expansive and there was ample interior room.
Sounds like it wasn’t Exner’s fault for the styling mistake. It was Chrysler’s president screw up. Should have done a better job scouting the competition!
Old video… thank you for sharing that information and insight
I like the Beach Boys, but they were Dreamin'.
I had forgot to watch this one. I don't care what anyone says, the 62 Mopar's were much better looking than the 61's by miles. My dad had a 62 Dart, which was this size car. It had vent windows & pushbutton trans and radio. I could tell a story about a 10 year old punk with a wrist rocket & a bag of ball bearings, but I won't. Toodle ooh!
I got to work at that dealership over the summer and got to drive that car and it was super finicky when it ran good it ran great the power, was unbelievable.. but it could change with the wind. I shut it off to take pictures of it and I couldn’t get it started again I had to push it back to the dealership.. (that’s where the push test came from) that car was super easy to push if I had someone with me I would have tried to kick start it, thank god I wasn’t far from the dealer just off the lot but had to push it the whole way to the back side, someone traded a 2013 challenger for it
@@What.its.like. Well...I had some vehicles in the beginning that needed a push from time to time to get running. 52 Chevy Panel was HEAVY! My 60 Bug, not so much. I also received a wrist rocket for my 10th birthday & shot a ball bearing through the back windshield. My dad called the cops because it looked like a gunshot! WOO HOO! "Stupid punks"
727 TorqueFlite first automatic transmission to shift faster than a standard yet another Chrysler engineering first
Sweet =)
The full size Plymouth would have been a hit ////////////////////////////////////////////
The proposed designs looked really good
It think it looks amazing not bland like the others.
It’s definitely interesting and different =)
I just love American cars from 59 to 63. Tailfins were over but no one quite knew what was coming next, so designs were an eclectic mess. Ugly but interesting!
So true
I have always liked these, however, they strike me as a school teacher's car.
You show a 1957 Plymouth yet describe it as a 1959??
Yeah that was a mistake I just wanted to forward to looking nice looking 57 car I was supposed to say 57 but said 59 good you picked that up =)
The stingray won in the song! These cars are what I call so ugly they are cool!
No outside mirrors!
Forward LOOK
8:48
Eyelashes lol
Those late 50's, early 60's cars are now ugly cool.
0:36 that’s a 57
To be honest, I think the '62 Plymouths and Dodges were a big improvement over the '61 models. Now, those cars were ugly! Very dated and bizarre styling.
That era of Plymouth and dodge was ugly duckling era they look good from the side view
The year 1962 could be described as "Annus horribilis" for the Chrysler Corporation this was their nadir since they started in the automobile industry. The foreseeable future for Chrysler did not look promising at all you could say that it bordered on the bleak side. For American Motors business was booming they did better this year than a year ago in 1961 with production increasing 12 percent, to 423,104, but Pontiac and Oldsmobile, introduce their new senior compacts: Tempest and F-85 and overtakes AMC in production and they fall back a notch from 3rd to 4th place. President and Chairman George Romney resigned to seek the Michigan Republican gubernatorial nomination, and is subsequently elected. Roy Abernathy succeeds Romney as President and CEO while Richard E. Cross is named Chairman. Abernathy is less loyal to sensible sized compact cars and begins an ambitious model expansion program. Richard A. Teague is announced as the new director of styling. The big news at Ford was the introduction of the first "intermediate-size" models named: Ford Fairlane and Mercury Meteor which were available with small V-8s. Ford increases sales ever so slightly but cannot catch their competitor General Motors who's sales take off like a shooting star, going higher, and higher, and higher.
The BAD news for Chrysler was the 1962 models, they were hurriedly restyled in late 1959 over Virgil Exner's objections as he predicted they would be a complete and utter devastating disaster for Chrysler. You can ask yourself how could this happened? William Newberg, Chrysler's executive vice president, had attended a Detroit garden party where he overheard Chevrolet general manager Ed Cole discussing a smaller Chevrolet that the division was planning to launch for the 1962 model year. Only six months earlier, Chevrolet - like Ford and Chrysler - had launched their first compact car, the Corvair. Now, Newberg thought they were going to follow suit by downsizing their full-size cars as well. At the time, Newberg’s conclusion did not seem as outlandish as it may seem in retrospect. In the wake of the 1958 recession, American Motors’ Rambler line, most of which consisted of compact cars, had risen to fourth place in production and soon was nipping at Plymouth’s heels. (It would briefly displace Plymouth in the No. 3 spot for the 1961 model year outselling Plymouth by 20,400 cars.) Small imported cars had seen unprecedented sales growth, something that would have been almost unimaginable 10 years earlier. In reality Cole was referring to the introduction
of a more conventional, front-engine car that was then being readied as an alternative to the rear-engine, air-cooled Corvair, whose sales had been disappointing. Others within Chrysler were probably aware of the Chevy II or could have found out easily enough - the Detroit auto industry is an insular world and unless a company makes a deliberate effort to keep a project secret, gossip spreads rapidly. Unfortunately, instead of investigating, Newberg ordered a crash program to make the 1962 Dodge and Plymouth lines smaller. By the time Newberg issued those orders, the design work on the 1962 models was basically complete and the cars were only a few months away from production. To redesign them in time for the start of production - only about a year away - the styling department had to work in double shifts which entailed working around the clock to alter the dimensions of the previously approved designs.
Those designs perhaps were not Virgil Exner’s finest hour. After taking the design leadership from General Motors in 1957, Exner seemed to be struggling for a new direction. His “S-series” designs took themes developed for the compact Valiant and expanded on them for the larger cars. That was a curious decision; General Motors styling usually went in the opposite direction, introducing new concepts on Cadillac models and then filtering them down through the less expensive divisions. Even if the designs hadn’t been tampered with, the 1962 Dodge and Plymouth lines would have been odd-looking. As they emerged, they were aesthetic disasters. To save time and reduce costs, the full-size 1962 Dodge and Plymouth models were moved to a stretched version of the Valiant/Lancer compact shell. This had the effect of making the new cars considerably smaller than originally planned: Wheelbase was reduced from the planned 119 inches to 116 inches; overall length shrank by 7.5 inches; and width was reduced by about 4 inches, with a less than convincing effect on the cars’ proportions.
To make matters worse, the engineering staff was standing over the stylists’ shoulders throughout the process looking for ways to cut production costs. This cost-cutting push led to the deletion, late in the development process, of various planned features, including curved side glass, wraparound bumpers, and an attractive new hardtop roof line. Exner, horrified, insisted that the results would be a commercial debacle and declared that his styling staff should not be held responsible.
Curiously, to our knowledge, no one - other than Exner, whose protests fell on deaf ears - thought to question Newberg’s actions or, it appears, to even investigate the rumor that had provoked that decision. Indeed, many Chrysler executives had apparently convinced themselves that the downsized 1962s would be monumental hits. The dealer introduction, which took place shortly after Townsend took office, went badly. Dealers had not been particularly fond of Chrysler’s 1961 styling and were positively dismayed by the 1962s. The negativity was understandable; car salesmen and advertisers had been telling American consumers for years that bigger was better. Now, Dodge and Plymouth dealers were being asked to sell cars that were not only visibly smaller than the competition, but that also looked like overgrown, strange versions of the compact Valiant. For all that, the full-size 1962 Dodge and Plymouth still cost as much as a full-size Chevrolet or Ford (and almost as much as a Pontiac Catalina), but were closer in size to Ford’s new intermediate-size Fairlane and Meteor or even General Motor’s newly introduced senior compacts: Buick Special, Oldsmobile F-85, and Pontiac Tempest. It was not a recipe for commercial success. By the end of 1961, it was clear that the dealers’ reaction to the 1962 models had been prophetic. Sales of the full-size Plymouth's were down 13% from the already mediocre 1961 total, falling from about 207,000 to fewer than 183,000. Dodge dropped from about 198,000 to around 159,000. At the same time, sales of Chevrolet’s Impala, Bel Air and Biscayne which had not been downsized after all - soared to 2,061,677 million, almost 20% better than 1961 and made history for Chevrolet. This was the first time that Chevrolet broke the 2 million mark in sales. As you might imagine, a sales decline of almost 25% had Dodge dealers screaming for relief.
So much information thank you so much for sharing
12 second car had small bias ply tires ! Put some tires on it and go
Yeah I wonder what it would do with some good tires
Actually the first slant 6 was the Mercedes 300SL and for the same reason, the slant 6 allowed a lower hood line with a straight 6 engine.
It was known as the "Forward Look" not movement.
Yes
ln depth?
Mopar or No car!
The automatic generly were faster
Forward LOOK. Not forward movement.
Thank you for that correction=)
The 62's , in my opinion, were some of the most unattractive designs ever to ruin what had been a gold mine for them.
62 is definitely an acquired taste as far as styling goes
Great engine......such an UGLY FUCKIN CAR.........THE DODGE HORNBUCKLE.
That era of mopar was ugly
Stop taking down the truth
1961 and 1962 Chrysler products were pure trash as far as looks go. The 413 was another story these babies could go. But most self -respecting hot rodders shied away from buying this body style. As a matter of fact as young teenagers we used to go around and award people the ugliest car on the block award.
I never got why the Chrysler cars are so ugly they went from being so gorgeous to hideous in like a year.. the engines they were making was next level
One of the most ugly American cars ever. I know it has it's fans but not me and I'm a Mopar fan.
Totally agree this car was kind of hideous they are super finicky if it has the cross ram intake I dealt with that car last summer when it was running good it was running great but the moment that it wasn’t running it was very finicky
You naysayer fools. Exner was way ahead of you. And by the way, the narrator doesn't understand the word "unique".
Yep this is the ugly era of mopar
Those cars were ugly 😵💫 even when new. The finned Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodges were every bit as good looking as any other car. To me back then the C/P/D’s were a little more elegant and still sporty. But the model year you are reviewing is 🤦♂️🤷♂️. Although Exner was the senior designer I promise there were multiple meetings and many people involved. The decision wasn’t solely on him. Also, C/P/D was selling very, very well with the fin designs. I think Chrysler has a patent on the torsion bar suspension (1951). You might do a video on the multiple Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge/Desoto models through the 50’s and what the sales figures were. You can see how upper management f’d up.
Yeah this was the sad end of exner at Chrysler.. the original design was ready to go and looked better than this newberg jumped the gun. Exners team reworked it down to what was known as the 62 savoy.. it sucks they put all that time and energy into turning it from a alright looking car into an ugly car and exner still losing his job over it in the end.. every tho it wasn’t his fault.
Ugly car but the curves are interesting.
I wish they kept the original design... and that would have changed history big time exner would still have his job and Elwood would have still been over at Lincoln...
hideous
I agree they should have kept the design that was planned.