The new 1962 bodies were all but finalized in 1960 when Chrysler head Tex
Colbert overheard in the lockerroom of a Detroit athletic club that
Chevrolet was downsizing for 1962. The auto industry inner circle knew the
Ford was introducing a downsized Fairlane for 1962. Colbert thus ordered a
complete redoing of the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge Dart - down to the Fairlane
and 'new' Chevrolet size.
Millions of dollars were spent on overtime to get the 1962 Plymouth/Dart
designs down to size, including an attempt to share body pieces with the
Valiant/Lancer. Given the cost overuns, there was no money left for new
bodies for the Chrysler and Imperial, And as the Dart was shrunk to a 116"
wheelbase, Dodge no longer had a car to base its full-size Polara on.
So, the 122" wheebase Polara died (the 1960-61 models shared body structure
from the front doors forward with the Dart, its outer rear fenders with
Dodge wagons, and its rear doors with Plymouth/Dodge wagons). Given the
time frame, lack of tooling money, and the demand that the fins had to go,
the big question was what to do with Chrysler and Imperial.
The 1961 Chrysler fins started at the front doors. which would entail an
outlay of cash that just was not there. So, they took the 1961 Dodge
Polara, whose fins were only on the rear quarter panels, put the 1961
Chrysler dash and front clip onto it. Now the only problem was to design
a rear fender that matched the lower character line on the Polara's rear
door. The result was that reverse curve on the 1962 Chrysler rear fender.
The 1962 Chrysler used the 1961 Polara trunk lid, lower panel, trunk floor
and rear bumper.
And, when Chrysler decided to re-introduce a medium-priced Dodge after the
1962 models were introduced, the new "Polara" used the Newport body and put
the 1961 Dodge dash and front clip back on the car. Contrary to popular
belief, the Custom 880 was a replacement for the 1961 Polara, not DeSoto.
The DeSoto was replaced by the Chrysler Newport.
The Imperial, though, was the easiest one to change. The 1961 Imperials
fins were also only on the rear fenders, so the Mopar design people came up
with a finless rear fender along with an update of the 1955-56 taillights.
A new grille, and the car was ready to go.
The 1963 Chrysler, by the way, was based on the cancelled 1962 Exner
designs. But, instead of a totally new body, it was based on the 1960-62
cowl and floorpan. The front fenders, headlight, and grille treatments were
toned down, the body sides used flat glass instead of the original curved,
the rear fenders' 'chicken wings' were removed, but the roof line was
virtually identical.
The original 1962 Imperial proposal had the Imperial sharing the Chrysler
body, even its 126" wheelbase. The big difference was to have been in the
rear fenders, with the Imperial bringing back the 1955-56 taillights.
(Picture a 1963 Chrysler with curved side glass, 1964 Chrysler rear window,
1962-3 Plymouth/Dart windshield, 1963 Imperial grille, and 1955-6 taillights
on 1963 Newport fenders.) Fortunately, the lack of money gave the unique
Imperial body a reprieve. Instead, Chrysler gave Exner the go-ahead to
completrly redo the Imperial for 1964.
The 1964 Imperial shared the cowl and windshield with the 1963 Imperial, but
not the greenhouse. The greenhouse consists of the windows and roofline
above the beltline, and in the case of the 1964 Imperial, only the
windshield, front quarter panes and the 2-door front door glass was carried
over. The roof, rear windows and rear door/quarter glass were all new.
The 1964 Impeial was a rather major redesign of the 1957 body.
Bill
Vancouver, BC
----- Original Message -----
From: TWOinLIC@xxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: IML: 1963 Background and other Exner items
Hello All,
The photo of the '59 Plymouth XNR also shows the major theme Exner was
moving toward after the Forward Look, "the long hood and short deck". The
cowl of these new cars was designed to resemble the cowl on a speedboat.
1962 was supposed to be a complete overhaul for the entire Chrysler stable,
from Imperial to Plymouth. Almost all of the Forward Look design cues
were gone from these new designs.
Instead of a completely redesigned fleet, a recession hit ('60/61, I
believe) and the plans were scrapped in favor of cost cutting. Chrysler
also guessed wrong that Americans wanted smaller cars at this time. All
the full sized Plymouths and Dodges were downsized, DeSoto was retired and
the remaining full sized cars including Imperial were given face lifts.
The only mandatory thing the face lifts had to include was the removal of
fins. Exner departs in '61; he referred to the '62's as plucked chickens.
Collectible Automobile ran a great article titled "The '62's We Never Saw".
I'm not sure the issue as I do not have in front of me now, it's in my place
upstate.
1964 finally saw the redesign of Imperial, with the introduction of the
first Engel design. But, look closely and the '64 has more in common with
the Exner Imperials than not. ( I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here
guys.) '64 has the same cowl and greenhouse as the '57 thru '63's. The
first really all new Imperial wouldn't arrive until 1967, although the rest
of Chrysler got all new models in 1965. We all know the rest...
Happy New Year,
John
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