1961 Dodge Styling

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Here's a link to a post that's currently located in the Buy/Sell thread on this site. It's an ad for a '61 Dodge that's for sale:

 

I started this separate thread because I certainly didn't want to post anything negative on his ad thread. I was crazy about cars, old and new, and eleven years old when this car came on the market. This was the Virgil Exner era at Chrysler and he was responsible for overseeing the styling design of this and many other cars. This particular Dodge isn't unique in it's styling, but instead, typical of the Exner era. I know how I felt about these cars then, and my thoughts and impressions haven't changed since. My question is this, what did you guys think of the look of this car at the time? I'm interested, also, in responses from those who are too young to have had seen it when it first came on the market.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Hudsy Wudsy (see edit history)

[vermontboy]

From the Buck Rogers dash to the reverse fins I thought it was great - still do. It's been on and off my bucket list for a long time along with many other similar vintage Mopars. Getting too old for the bucket list now but if the opportunity came along ............

 

There was a road test in either Motor Trend or Motor Life of the police version. I believe that the only negative they had was  rapping their knuckles on the dash mounted mirror speed shifting into second gear.

 

Thanks for the memories.

[Curti]

Personally I think they are but ugly along with the 61 Plymouth  62 Dodge, 63-4 Chrysler 60-62 Valiants.  My dad was a Chrysler Plymouth salesman at the time, he was not happy ! 

[John_S_in_Penna]

I wasn't around when they came out.

Today, however, I think that the styling

of that model is not at all graceful:

the concave grille makes the front end look weak--

most grilles are flat or convex--and the rear end

is not attractive, but just weird.

 

The higher-end 1961 Dodge models, though,

are a bit different:  The rear has the taillights

surrounded by the sweep of the sheet metal,

and I think that looks very good.  (See pictures here.)

And the concave grille at least has a ornament in the middle,

so it's at least acceptable to me.  I do like the

"reverse-slant" tailfins.

 

Virgil Exner's earlier production cars (1955-1958 at least)

were unusually graceful and beautiful.  Toward the end of his

Chrysler career, his designs, I think, became mostly bizarre.

But at least he was an independent thinker--and his work

gives us something to talk about and collect today.

 

Edited October 31, 2016 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Up to 54 they made some excellent but boring cars. 55 and 56 they began to show some style. 57 - 59 were style leaders. 60 - 62 what the hell were they thinking. 63 up much better, some excellent some so so but no real dogs.

[George Smolinski]

I think they are spectacularly unique. I know of a '61 Plymouth Fury convert that is NFS as of now. I'd be leery of buying any of these that needed body panel replacement. I doubt there are reproduction panels available.

[TerryB]

Unusual, different, maybe a bit weird all seem to fit.  Never was on my short list of desired autos but to each his own.  When I was learning to drive it was one of those I hoped my father did not find for sale and bring it home for me to have to learn to drive in. He was a big fan of Chrysler products.  Fortunately I learned to drive in a 1966 Chevy.

 

Terry

[Rusty_OToole]

I see some have the 63 64 Chryslers on their sh*t list. This surprises me as I think they are a sleek sophisticated design. Evidently BMW agreed because they copied them years later.

[Dosmo]

9 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

I wasn't around when they came out.

Today, however, I think that the styling

of that model is not at all graceful:

the concave grille makes the front end look weak--

most grilles are flat or convex--and the rear end

is not attractive, but just weird.

 

The higher-end 1961 Dodge models, though,

are a bit different:  The rear has the taillights

surrounded by the sweep of the sheet metal,

and I think that looks very good.  (See pictures here.)

And the concave grille at least has a ornament in the middle,

so it's at least acceptable to me.  I do like the

"reverse-slant" tailfins.

 

Virgil Exner's earlier production cars (1955-1958 at least)

were unusually graceful and beautiful.  Toward the end of his

Chrysler career, his designs, I think, became mostly bizarre.

But at least he was an independent thinker--and his work

gives us something to talk about and collect today.

 

I concur with John_S_in_Penna when he says the higher-end 1961 Dodges are better styled, especially the tail lights.  The bronze colored Dart in the above photo just looks bizarre with the stuck-on circular tail lights just inboard of the reverse-slant fins.  This is especially true due to their being mounted just above the OEM wrap-around tail lights just above the rear bumper.  I seem to remember reading somewhere that the circular tail lights were added at some point during the model year due to complaints about the wrap-around lights being hard-to-see as a result of being mounted just above the bumper.  

 

Nonetheless, I think these are striking looking cars.  So wonderfully quirky, and so unlike the melted jellybean shaped pods we wheel around in today.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Dosmo (see edit history)

[Xander Wildeisen]

9 hours ago, Curti said:

Personally I think they are but ugly along with the 61 Plymouth  62 Dodge, 63-4 Chrysler 60-62 Valiants.  My dad was a Chrysler Plymouth salesman at the time, he was not happy ! 

I would give my opinion on the styling of the cars, but Curti beat me to it. I will say from a custom view point, the car has get bones. And with some modern touches and styling Q's. You could create a really cool custom sled. In a sea of over done cookie cutter cars. Customs done on platforms like that, really stand out. And can have a big impact on pulling in different people in to the custom car world, because of the out of this world styling the car has. Artists from different occupations, drawing, painting and sculpting could really dig the design. Where as a 40 Ford might not even interest them. Cars are great, so many great designers and eras have left their mark. It is why the custom car scene and traditional hot rods are so popular, you can pick up where the designers left off, and put your stamp of individuality on it.

[mike6024]

11 hours ago, Curti said:

Personally I think they are but ugly along with the 61 Plymouth  62 Dodge, 63-4 Chrysler 60-62 Valiants.  My dad was a Chrysler Plymouth salesman at the time, he was not happy ! 

 

You left out a "t" in your comment. Butt the point came across nonetheless.

[Curti]

I did that on purpose. Ya never know if one of the mods might get a hair up his BUT.

[Xander Wildeisen]

I was going to say some thing, but the fear of going off topic. And getting my electronic words banished, made me think twice.

[john2dameron]

I could take or leave the styling of a '61 Dodge but as a whole early Chrysler styling stinks.  Good examples:  '61-62 Plymouth, 62 Dodge, '63-64 Chrysler, and those awful looking '60-62 Valiants.

 

[Mike36]

All of the listed Chrysler cars were beautiful, but only when parked next to a '59 Chevrolet.

[61polara]

I've lived with one since 1961.  I was 8 years old when my Dad bought a 1961 Dodge Polara 2 door hardtop.  I wanted him to buy a Buick, but Mom fell in love with this car.  Dad drove it for four years and traded Mom's '56 Chevrolet 150 on a '65 Olds.  The Olds dealer took one glance at the clean, four year old, 50,000 mile Dodge and said, "I don't want it, what else do you have to trade?".  The Polara was such a great driving car, Dad was not going to give it away.  It became Mom's car for four more years and then was handed down to me as my first car at 16.  (Mom got a 1968 Charger to replace it)  I still have it with 100,000 on the clock.

 

There is nothing indifferent about this car.  You either love or hate it.  It is the only car my parents or myself have owned that people would consistently roll down windows at stop lights and ask what kind of car it was, because it was great looking.  I'm sure there were plenty of window left up comments on the other side.  Personally, I always referred to this styling as the "Exner on Drugs Period".

 

It's still one of the best driving cars I've ever owned and still turns heads everywhere.  No comments offend me, I've lived with it for 55 years now.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2016 by 61polara
Additional comment (see edit history)

[plymouthcranbrook]

My father had a 60 Dodge with the 225 six in it in the mid 60's. He was a man who did not do any preventative maintenance.  Never changed oil, or greased a car. Even so it took him 3 or 4 years to kill this old Dodge. One of the reasons I now love the older Chryslers is their reliability. I was only 10 when they came out and took them for granted.  No longer. Now the "odd" styling is exciting to me. Not only that year but all the Forward Look cars. Especially DeSotos.  Of course in the same vein, I also really like the old 30's AirFlows.

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

I'm 55 years old, 

I ;love the '61 Dodge Chrysler, Plymouth line-up

I agree, the higher end Dodges look better than their lower end brothers. That is as it should be.

[TG57Roadmaster]

Several years ago at Hershey I bought this press photo of a show car done for the 1961 circuit. Thinking ever since that naturally, it was a Polara, turns out it was a Phoenix. The experts at the Forward Look Forum even provided me a color image on a show stand, location unknown. 

 

I like '60 Polaras better but the '61 is so funky, I have to admire it.

 

TG

[hullinger]

I feel the '61 Dodge is a fantastic design.  It wasn't about being balanced, elegant or sophisticated.   It wasn't about fitting in and conforming to what the other brands were doing.  Dodge and the whole Chrysler line-up stepped out of the box when the Forwardlook concept came out in '55 and the design evolution culminated in the '61 Mopar brands.  If you want to blend in and follow what everyone else is doing then there are plenty of other car brands for that.  If you want the epitome of what that era represented - wild styling, space-age gadgets, push button controls, torsion-aire ride and so on, then this is the car for you.

 

Chris  

[hullinger]

26 minutes ago, TG57Roadmaster said:

Several years ago at Hershey I bought this press photo of a show car done for the 1961 circuit. Thinking ever since that naturally, it was a Polara, turns out it was a Phoenix. The experts at the Forward Look Forum even provided me a color image on a show stand, location unknown. 

 

I like '60 Polaras better but the '61 is so funky, I have to admire it.

 

TG

 

In that color car show photo it looks like there's quite a big crowd over that the Chevrolet display while the Dodge has only three couples hovering around.   Oh, by the way, that car show beauty in white can certainly hop in and take a ride with me.

 

Chris

[TG57Roadmaster]

It's always a pleasure to see any '61 Dodge at a show, and this Polara sedan was spied at the Fall 2016 Charlotte AutoFair last September. Owned by an acquaintance of Polara61, the young Forward Look enthusiast plans on making the mostly-original sedan even more correct.

Edited November 1, 2016 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts. For my part, I was actually kind of repulsed by most of the '60 and '61 Dodges and Plymouths from the beginning. It was just the other night when I came across this particular car in the Buy/Sell forum that I studied it more closely than I ever did before. I like cars, as I said earlier, and I like quirky cars, as well, but as I studied this one closely I came to realize how incredibly "other worldly" it appears to me. I can't find a single design detail on it that I find appealing, or even acceptable.  I generally have a fairly flexible aesthetic, but this poor, homely Dodge is just about the opposite of my tastes on every level. It's ironic to me because I'm a fan of Chrysler products in general and there are numerous '50s and '60s Chrysler products that I find very attractive. Of further irony is the fact that I owned a '61 Dart briefly in the early '70s. It was a great car mechanically and I enjoyed driving it for a time. Needless to say, I didn't buy it because of it's appearance. It was just one of many that I bought and sold to make a buck on for many years.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Hudsy Wudsy (see edit history)

[Xander Wildeisen]

Chrysler over the years has had some of the best roof lines. 55-56 Chryslers\Desoto are great looking cars, 56 300 being one of the best balanced Chrysler designs. I do not know who was smoking what when the design of the 55 300 tail lights went into production. My father had a 1960 Chrysler hard top. Great looking car, drove like a dream. Where Chrysler lost me as a fan in those years, was in the design of the windshield. Bringing it so high up on to the roof line, through the top half out of proportion and killed the great roof lines that Chrysler had. Pictures above showing the two door hard top, with some custom touches, would make a outstanding custom car.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

When I see cars of this era, particularly Chrysler products, but all of them really, I can only imagine how dated they all looked when the '61 Lincoln Continental came out.  In some ways conservative and somewhat formal, but in others it seems years past the highly sculpted, finned and decorated era of the late 50s based competition.  When Engel went to Chrysler you can see the entire direction change - especially with the Imperials.  I would put the Riviera in that category as well, from a GM perspective.  I think those cars pulled the industry forward quite a bit in subsequent designs across the board.

 

That said, Mopars of that era can be interesting, I will agree the Dodge is actually pretty cool - the pic from the rear in post #9 conveys size and speed to me, makes it look like it was designed to move out..

Edited November 1, 2016 by Steve_Mack_CT (see edit history)

[28 Chrysler]

I am amazed of the number of 1961's and 62's that are still around.

The styling was out dated by 1963 and were not popular in the used car market by 1965.

I bought a 1962  Plymouth 4 door with almost 50,000 miles in 1969 for $75 from a back lot. The styling and the color (turd brown) were the reason for the cheap price. Other than the looks it was a great car.

[JACK M]

I like em, Always have.

[Dosmo]

I'm not sure why, but I thought this might be a good time to post this photo.