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| Forward Look NON-Technical Discussions -> 1955-1961 Forward Look MoPar General Discussion | Message format |
JT Vincent |
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Expert Posts: 1493    Location: Jamaica Plain, MA | No, my friends, the black and white pics aren't of the 1963 Chrysler Turbine... They are of the Typhoon. "The car itself was designed in the Chrysler studios under the direction of Elwood Engel, who had worked for the Ford Motor Company before his move to Chrysler. The designer credited with the actual look of the car was Charles Mashigan, who designed a two-seat show car called the Typhoon, which was displayed at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. Engel used many older Ford styling themes. The rear taillight/bumper assembly was copied directly (with revisions) from a 1958 Ford styling study called the "La Galaxie". He used none of the themes associated with his 1964 Imperial. As Engel incorporated many of the design themes from the 1961 Thunderbird, and because the car was a four seater of similar size and appointment, many enthusiasts call the Ghia Turbine the 'Englebird.'" One must have wondered at this point is Elwood was a one-trick pony. (typhoon.jpg) (typhoon1.jpg) (ChryslerTurbine.jpg) (1958_Ford_La Galaxie1.jpg) (1958_Ford_La_Galaxi.jpg) (Englebird.jpg) Attachments ----------------  typhoon.jpg (43KB - 111 downloads) typhoon1.jpg (70KB - 113 downloads) ChryslerTurbine.jpg (103KB - 105 downloads) 1958_Ford_La Galaxie1.jpg (60KB - 107 downloads) 1958_Ford_La_Galaxi.jpg (116KB - 117 downloads) Englebird.jpg (69KB - 108 downloads) | ||
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| grunau |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 444 Location: North of the 49th | |||
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| firedome |
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Expert Posts: 3156  Location: NY & VT | |||
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| wizard |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 13062  Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | |||
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| Doctor DeSoto |
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 Location: Parts Unknown | el Wood Engle .....  I hate what this guy brought to the table.  Is it just me, or does anyone else see giant, cartoonish "bug eyes" and nothing else ? His "gingerbread" around the headlights reminds me of a kid I knew that was unfamiliar with bathing and always had what looked like "pie crust" around his eyes. What I don't find "offensive" in Engle's design/s, I don't find attractive either ..... either neutral or just plain ugly. I am probably prejudiced a bit by these being what kicked fin design out the back door, but all the same, to my eye, auto design (in the main) did not get back on track until after 1965. I have always referred to the 1961-64 period as "the lost years" where auto design seemed to be adrift and without any clear theme or goals. Maybe that was the point ? It HAD been so clear when fins were the theme that a scattered, discordant look was the actual theme ? Fins were going to be an impossibly hard act to follow. But giant headlight surrounds and tail lights, flat panels with pointlessly rounded edges, with large expanses of "nothing" in between just don't work for me. Engle gets a major "thumbs down" from this observer. No cookie for el Wood ! | ||
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| jimntempe |
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Expert Posts: 2312 Location: Arizona | |||
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| Chrycoman |
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Expert Posts: 1819 Location: Vancouver, BC | Doctor DeSoto - 2014-04-04 11:59 AM el Wood Engle ..... I hate what this guy brought to the table. Is it just me, or does anyone else see giant, cartoonish "bug eyes" and nothing else ? His "gingerbread" around the headlights reminds me of a kid I knew that was unfamiliar with bathing and always had what looked like "pie crust" around his eyes. What I don't find "offensive" in Engle's design/s, I don't find attractive either ..... either neutral or just plain ugly. I am probably prejudiced a bit by these being what kicked fin design out the back door, but all the same, to my eye, auto design (in the main) did not get back on track until after 1965. I have always referred to the 1961-64 period as "the lost years" where auto design seemed to be adrift and without any clear theme or goals. Maybe that was the point ? It HAD been so clear when fins were the theme that a scattered, discordant look was the actual theme ? Fins were going to be an impossibly hard act to follow. But giant headlight surrounds and tail lights, flat panels with pointlessly rounded edges, with large expanses of "nothing" in between just don't work for me. Engle gets a major "thumbs down" from this observer. No cookie for el Wood ! Virgil Exner had a heart attack in 1956, and Chrysler management was not sure when he would be returning. So, Chrysler hired a replacement, William Schmidt, who became head of Chrysler Styling, at least while Exner was away. However, no one knew when Schmidt's contract was to end. Exner returned to work in 1957 and basically shared responsibilities with Schmidt. Thus early in 1959, with Schmidt still at Chrysler, Exner and his staff worked to develop a replacement for the fins, the S series, for1962. It was Exner's way of trying to hang onto his job as head of styling. William Schmidt left sometime in 1959. With that scenario it is not surprising the fins lasted longer than they should have, and that some cars seemed to have been styled with one group doing the front and another the rear. Exner and his S series were sabotaged by Chrysler's President when Colbert overheard part of a conversation by some GM management people on the new, small Chevrolet. Chrysler management first wanted the new downsized Plymouth and Dodge to be based on the Valiant body, but that was far too small. So, Exner took his S series Plymouth and Dart and shrunk them, with shorter wheelbase and length as well less width. The 1962 Plymouth and Dart were approved for production in early 1960, leaving Engineering a little over a year to get a completely new body tooled and ready for production. And by July, a little over a year before the 1962 models were to go into production, management realized they had a marketing disaster on their hands. They ordered Exner to redo the front clips for 1963 with a more "normal" look. Chrysler management liked what they saw and decided to approve the redesign of the rear ends. The 1963 models were Exner's last project for Chrysler, and used the S series Imperial as the basis for the 1963 Chrysler. So, the headlights on the 1963 Dodge and Dart were done under Exner. Elwood Engel arrived at Chrysler in the fall of 1961 with the 1964 models being the main project. He apparently did some minor work on the 1963 models. Hanging over his head at that time were the 1964 Imperial and the Turbine cars. Given that he had a little more than one year to go from a blank sheet of paper to fifty-some cars in steel arriving in Detroit, it's not surprising Engel started with something he knew for the Turbine cars. The final product was a vast improvement over his work at Ford that also set out the general styling theme to come in future production Mopar products. The 1964 Imperial definitely has Engel's touch, although has only a subtle resemblance to his 1961 Lincoln Continental. Given the situation at Chrysler it is not surprising things were in a turmoil. And I, for one, have a great deal of admiration for Elwood Engel. To look at the styling of the 1966 Chrysler Corporation cars you would never guess the 1962 models were built by the same firm. | ||
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