Suicide doors / Engel designs

[Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 3/23/04 5:09 pm, RandalPark@xxxxxxx (RandalPark@xxxxxxx) wrote:

> Also, the original Lincoln was executed coincidentally with a significant
> reduction in size, while the Imperial remained as large as ever. Early '60s
> Lincolns were criticized for this so the '64 was larger all around. Even
> though they look similar, the '64 Lincoln was a totally different car from its
> predecessors.

What's even more interesting to me is how much aesthetic damage Ford did to
Engel's '61-63 Lincoln with the '64 redesign. Gone were the almost
European-sized proportions, and in their place was a larger, less graceful
design with a corporate-looking dash and, in a huge step backwards, flat
side glass that, to me, absolutely ruins the car. (It's amusing to note that
curved side glass was introduced to the industry by the '57 Imperial.)

That Engel was able to take an existing platform (that same '57 Imperial)
and essentially facelift it, not completely redesign it from a clean sheet,
and come up with a car as elegant and cohesive as the '64 Imperial is a
credit to his genius.

As for carrying design ideas from Ford to Chrysler, I submit that this is
true (and true of many designers). He had a certain sense of detail and
proportion that became his signature. But with the exception of the '61
Lincoln and same-era Thunderbird (which were designed as sister cars, in a
sense), his work at Ford was far less noteworthy, and has aged far less
well, than his efforts across the Chrysler Corporation line. Compare a '60
Falcon (dumpy) to a '63 Dart (elegant). Or a '60 Ford (awkward, especially
in 2-door form) to the '63 and '65 C-bodies. And throughout the end of his
creased-and-folded period, he produced (or supervised) styling for all four
Chrysler Corp divisions that were crisp, elegant and still handsome today.

By the way, there are some studio shots from Ford Styling from the late
1950s that show a design study that's clearly an early draft of the '67
Imperial. In the Ford shot, it looks remarkably ahead of its time.

It's to Engel's further credit that he could produce a completely different
design language in the fuselage cars (not just the '69 C-bodies but also the
'71 B-bodies, the stunning '70 Challenger/Barracuda, and the swoopy
Duster/Demon variants of the crisp and boxy Valiant/Dart... and using the
same front clip!) that still looked like Chryslers.

OK, I'm clearly an Engel fan (I have three of his efforts), but I have been
able to recognize his design signature since I was a child and still love it
today. It's all just my humble opinion, but to me Engel really hit his
stride under the Pentastar. I kinda wish Chrysler would recognize today what
good DNA they have and have some fun with it... maybe the new Charger sedan
that's supposed to appear within a year on the 300/Magnum platform but with
all new sheetmetal.

Chris in LA
67 Crown
78 NYB Salon