Plymouth had a new selling story for 1957, with Forward Look styling, torsion-bar front suspension, and a catchy slogan: “Suddenly, it’s 1960!”

Introduced on October 25, 1956, the 1957 Plymouth line was a winner for the Chrysler Corporation, allowing the Plymouth brand to retake third place behind Ford and Chevy in the annual sales wars. (Buick had managed to temporarily swipe Plymouth’s traditional perch.) We can probably credit Virgil Exner’s bold Forward Look styling, with the tallest fins and the lowest roofline in industry that year, for the boost in sales. The advanced, almost futuristic sheet metal inspired a new slogan from the Plymouth ad team: “Suddenly, it’s 1960!” The Plymouth tagline briefly became a pop culture catchphrase, much like “Where’s the beef?” or “Don’t squeeze the Charmin.”
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A little curiously, perhaps, the slogan doesn’t feature in this original 1957 commercial spot. Instead, the pitch is focused on potential resale value, the new Torsion-Aire front suspension, economy of operation, and low price (a direct stab at Buick, possibly). The well-equipped Belvedere was actually the most popular model in ’57, accounting for more than a third of the sales volume over the more basic Plaza and Savoy models. Popular options included power steering ($84) and whitewall tires ($33). One no-extra-cost feature wasn’t on the option list: rust. Chrysler suffered quality problems that year after moving its body production in-house with the closing of its traditional supplier, Briggs. Video below.

​The Motor City’s automakers produced a fascinating variety of low-production, factory-lightweight race cars for drag strip competition throughout the 1960s, but the best known of them all might be the 427-powered Ford Fairlane sedans specially constructed for the ’64 season. That may be due in part to the memorable name Ford chose to give these special cars: Thunderbolt.

​The Thunderbolt headed for B-J Scottsdale  is reportedly number 35 of the 100 cars built for Ford by Dearborn Steel Tubing, a Dearborn contractor just a stone’s throw from Ford world headquarters. (The company also built 427-powered Comets, Falcons, and Mustangs that year for a production total of 127.) The only visible non-stock items on this example are the five-spoke cast racing wheels, an appropriate, period-correct addition. Except for the first 11 cars, which were finished in Vintage Burgundy, all Thunderbolts originally wore Wimbledon White paint like this one.
Dearborn Steel Tubing was operated by Andy Hotton, a gearhead entrepreneur with close ties to Ford’s racing programs. To create Thunderbolts from production Fairlane two-door sedans, his outfit performed a long list of modifications, guided by a prototype developed by Ford factory racer Dick Brannan. They replaced the front fenders, hood, and deck lid with lightweight factory pieces, partially gutted the interiors, modified the rear suspension with big, beefy traction bars, and rearranged the front suspension to allow the big 427 High Riser V8 to fit in the engine compartment, among other changes.

​Originally developed for NASCAR, the 427 High-Riser V8 sported a radical high-flow intake manifold and cylinder heads, generating somewhere north of 500 hp. Note the classic Thunderbolt fresh air system with its cast aluminum airbox for the dual Holley four-barrel carbs, fed by a pair of giant black hoses routed through the (former) inner headlamp bezels. The tall intake setup required an equally tall blister in the hood for clearance, just visible in the photo above—the trademark Thunderbolt teardrop hood bubble.

​Finished in Medium Beige Poly paint and trim, Thunderbolt cabins featured lightweight Bostrom truck seats, thin rubber floor mats, and an 8,000 Rotunda tach bolted to the top of the instrument panel. All Thunderbolts also sported a metal tag riveted to the inside of the glove box door warning that the vehicle was intended for competition use only. Forty-nine of the Thunderbolts were built with four-speed transmissions for NHRA Super/Stock competition, while 51 were produced with modified Lincoln Turbo-Drive automatics for the Super/Stock Automatic category.
Campaigned by Mefford Ford, a Springfield, Ohio dealer with an active racing program that included USAC star Jack Bowsher, this particular Thunderbolt was not terribly successful, and at some point the troublesome automatic transmission was swapped out in favor of a four-speed. While Thunderbolts were capable of mid-11 second times at more than 120 mph, this one reportedly never met its potential, and that may well be what saved it. Instead of being campaigned to death like so many race cars, it was tucked away in storage for decades, then treated to a complete restoration, emerging in 2017 to collect several major show awards. Barrett-Jackson has not declared a price estimate for the upcoming no-reserve sale in January, but authentically restored Thunderbolts typically sell in the multiple six-figure range. Photos by Barrett-Jackson.

​By the early 1960s, Studebaker was rapidly fading from the automotive scene, but the car maker continued to offer distinctive and memorable features, including the convertible-roof Wagonaire.

​The Wagonaire story actually starts here, with the Scimitar experimental cars created for the Olin Corporation in 1959 by noted industrial designer Brooks Stevens (read about the Scimitar project here). One of the three Scimitars, a pillarless hardtop station wagon (above) that Stevens called the All-Purpose Sedan, used a sliding roof to create an open-air cargo space for tall items.
Stevens also had an ongoing relationship with the Studebaker Corporation, where he designed the 1962-64 Gran Turismo Hawk and a series of facelifts on the familiar Lark platform. His friend, Studebaker president Sherwood Egbert, was always on the hunt for clever, low-cost ways to update and broaden the company’s product line, and at some point it was decided to adapt the Scimitar’s sliding-roof concept to the 1963 Lark Station Wagon, where it would be called the Wagonaire.

Stevens, who also redesigned the Lark’s exterior sheet metal for 1963, seamlessly integrated the sliding roof panel into the four-door wagon body shell, which rode on the South Bend automaker’s longer 113-inch wheelbase chassis. The Wagonaire was available in three trim levels that first season—Standard, Regal, and Daytona—and more than 11,000 units were sold, the Wagonaire’s best year as things turned out.
As you might guess, the sliding panel proved to be nearly impossible to seal against rain and snow, and instead the setup relied mainly on a series of drain tubes to carry water away from the cabin area. A handy folding step was built into the tailgate’s interior panel for improved access to the cargo area. While we can think of a few potential customers for the sliding roof, maybe the most glamorous was Movietone News, which operated a fleet of 30 Daytona Wagonaires as mobile camera platforms.

​When Chevrolet introduced its new Chevelle in 1964, the initial plan was for the mid-sized car to take sales away from Ford’s Fairlane. But, 1964 would also find automotive sales placing more emphasis on performance vehicles than ever before. The sensible Chevelle was in a position that it could have been left behind. Fortunately, certain folks at Chevrolet were not about to let that happen.

​Chevrolet immediately placed its potent little 327ci small-block engine on the Chevelle option list. But, since the folks at Pontiac already offered a 389 cubic-inch engine in its mid-sized cars — like the GTO — Chevrolet knew something “big” was needed to make an impression. The Chevelle was a very versatile platform, and the buying public had the choice of a sedan, coupe, convertible, several different forms of station wagons, and even the El Camino. But, versatility aside, the Chevelle needed more attitude, and attitude it would get. Enter the now iconic 396 cubic-inch big-block, and the Z16 package.

​In 1965, the Z16 option was much more than just a larger engine being stuffed under the hood of Chevelle. It started with a foundation of using the reinforced frame typically reserved for a convertible. This frame featured several chassis reinforcements, and utilized unique chassis components like the biggest brakes available, which were taken from the full-sized-car line up. The exterior of Z16-equipped Malibus feature only subtle differences from other Chevelle SS coupes. These differences were special black and chrome trim, mag-wheel-looking wheel covers, and small 396 Turbo Jet badges. What’s more, unlike standard non-Z16-quipped cars that could be purchased in any of the 15 available exterior colors, Z16-optioned cars were only available in three – Tuxedo Black, Regal Red, and Crocus Yellow.

​When peering through the window and inside the car, Z16-optioned cars looked much like any Malibu SS. Front seat passengers got comfortable in bucket seats behind a padded dash that featured a dash-mounted pedestal clock, and a unique speedometer that let the driver think they could reach 160 mph in the car. The Malibu SS also included a center console for manually-shifted cars, and those equipped with a Powerglide (a column shifter was also available with the Powerglide and Turbo three speed transmissions). The information we found, states the Turbo three-speed manual transmission was not available with a floor shifter and console. If a column shifter was ordered, bucket seats were still standard fare, but could be swapped for a bench seat. The Z16’s standard-issue tachometer (RPO U14) was also optional on any V8-powered Chevelle.

​The engine in all Z16-optioned cars was an L37 396 big block, rated at 375 horsepower. The L37 big block 396 used a hydraulic-lifter camshaft, and featured forged pistons and crankshaft, four-bolt mains, ported closed-chamber cylinder heads, and an aluminum intake with a Holley 3310 four-barrel carburetor. In a strange twist, Z16-spec cars were not available with Positraction.

Chevy only built 201 of these specially-equipped Chevelles with the Z16 package, and the car was never marketed to the public. It wasn’t even listed on any dealer order forms, so buying this car meant you knew the secret handshake.

What are they worth now? At the Mecum 2015 auction in Anaheim, California, a freshly-restored example was a no sale at $220,000. Not a bad investment since they sold new for slightly more than $4,500.

Article courtesy of Chevy Hardcore, written by Randy Bolig.

Catch Dodge Fever with this famous advertising campaign for the sleek new 1968 Charger.
What a difference a year makes—and a new set of body stampings.
The first-generation Dodge Charger of 1966-67 was a perfectly fine car, generously equipped and attractively priced. But the public never warmed to it, nor to its quirky fastback styling. Sales amounted to barely 37,000 units in ’66 and fewer than 16,000 in ’67. Rising to the challenge, the Dodge styling team led by Bill Brownlie created all-new sheet metal for the B-body based package that boasted a sleek coke-bottle profile. The fresh new look was a winner, moving nearly 100,000 cars in 1968. And in hindsight, they created one of the more memorable designs in Mopar history.

Dodge was sporting a new ad campaign for ’68 as well, crafted by the automaker’s longtime agency BBDO, the same firm that invented the Pepsi Generation and Ring Around the Collar. A rework of the ’66-’67 Dodge Rebellion campaign, Dodge Fever was fronted by a spunky spokesmodel with a white cowboy hat and miles of personality, Joan Parker. She would serve in this role through 1970 when the Dodge Material campaign was launched.
There was no shortage of muscle in the extensive powertrain catalog for the ’68 Charger, which included the 440 Magnum V8 and the mighty 426 Street Hemi. Naturally, either engine could be coupled to the famed Torqueflite automatic or Chrysler’s beefy A-883 New Process four-speed. But in this original commercial spot the humble 318 CID V8 gets all the glory, while the messaging is focused on the bold styling. Video follows.

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