Re: Rumor in '59/'60

In all the discussions about the 1962 Plymouth and Dart everyone seems to be overlooking the 3rd company in the Big Three - Ford. It was known in 1959 that Ford Motor Company was working on a new line of cars smaller than the Galaxie but larger than Falcon. And Ford used the Falcon as the base for this new car. The result was the Fairlane for Ford dealers and Meteor for Mercury. And I suspect the Fairlane was the source of Chrysler's initial reaction to base the new downsized cars on the Valiant. When the 1962 models came out in the fall of 1961, the big comparison test was Fairlane, Plymouth and Chevy II. But Chevy II was soon separated from that group as it was a compact. leaving Fairlane / Meteor vs Plymouth / Dart.

Also, Chrysler was not the only firm working on new mid-size line cars. Back in 1962 Ford and Chrysler both attracted attention for coming out with new "super" compacts. The term "intermediate" came a little later. Given the time line I suspect Ford and Chrysler knew GM was working on a new compact for Chevrolet by 1959. By then the Chevy II styling would have been pretty much tied up and ready to go. Just needed to have all the parts tooled.

What was probably not settled was GM's look at the new downsized cars, Fairlane and Meteor.. At that time GM was looking at the BOP compacts (Tempest, F-85 and Special) and what to do with them. They were on a 112" wheelbase which was 3.5" shorter than the Fairlane but sales were not as healthy as GM hoped. A more likely discussion in 1959 at GM would have been about the new intermediate cars and if Chevrolet should join the group.

Some figures to ponder :

Fairlane - wheelbase 115.5" / length 197" / width 71"

Plymouth - wheelbase 116" / length 202" / width 75.4"

Chevy II - wheelbase 110" / length 183" / width 70.8"

Valiant - wheelbase 106.5" / length 184.2" / width 70.4"

Falcon - wheelbase 109.5" / length 181" / width 70.6"

1964 Chevelle - wheelbase - 115" / length 193.9" / width 74.6"

Bill

Vancouver, BC

On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 at 18:20, Bill Parker <hemirr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

When I was just turning 17, summer of ‘68, I wrecked my ‘58 Savoy and was riding in the wrecker to our local junkyard, where my step dad was going to meet me to drive me around so I could find another car. When we arrived, the yard boss (oddly enough both my step dad and the yard boss were named “Junior”) climbed into my car and fired it up. He said he’d give me $75 on it. He asked me if I was a Plymouth fan. Yep I said. He pointed out a ‘62 Belvedere 2 door sedan in the row of complete, titled vehicles. He said it came in for unknown non-running condition. We walked over and he tried to start it but it just spun over fruitlessly. But it did sound like it was good on compression. He pulled the distributor cap and someone turned the engine over and the rotor didn’t turn at all. We pulled the distributor out and the tab was missing from the bottom of the shaft. He got a magnet probe and retrieved the tab from the slot in the oil pump drive. Someone grabbed him a distributor from another 318 and we stabbed it in and eyeballed the timing. That was enough to get it to run and of course a little ear-wise adjustment got the timing close enough. He took me for a ride and I was hooked. So it was by accident to begin with, literally, but I’ve loved ‘62 Plymouths ever since.

On Jan 23, 2021, at 5:59 PM, William Jordan <wajordan56@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Excellent read, (if lengthly), concerning the downsizing of Dodge & Plymouths in the early '60's. By the way, forty years ago I thought '62 B bodies, from an aesthetic standpoint, were horrendous. Now, if I had more garage space, they would be #1 on my list.

https://www.indieauto.org/2021/01/02/did-a-rumor-cause-the-downsized-1962-plymouth-and-dodge/

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