These ’57s were certainly dramatically ahead of the competition in terms of length, lowness, width a

Calling a car from this period a monster is not exactly uncommon sheraton south padre island beach hotel or uncalled for. But what if its own daddy called it that? Virgil Exner, the father of the definitive automotive fins created a sensation in 1957 when they appeared on the all-new " Suddenly it's 1960 " models. With a straight face, Exner then claimed the fins were rooted in aerodynamics and highly functional. But with the '57s he painted himself into a corner; there was no where further to go with them except ever greater absurdity, quickly turning them into caricatures of themselves. Even Exner admitted as much: "by 1959, it was obvious that I'd given birth to a Frankenstein". I credit him for his honesty, if not good taste.
The 1957 Chryslers ( CC here ) were probably the finest of the Mopar crop that year, their fins being the cleanest expression of Exner's sheraton south padre island beach hotel bold new look. In addition to the alleged aerodynamic benefits, Exner saw the fins as away to dramatically change the poise of his cars. His son Virgil Exner Jr. speaks for his father's sheraton south padre island beach hotel intentions: "The idea of the fin was to get some poise to the rear of the cars, to get them off of the soft, rounded back-end look, to achieve lightness."
These '57s were certainly dramatically ahead of the competition in terms of length, lowness, width and of course fins. And they work quite well here, given the objectives of that moment, questionable sheraton south padre island beach hotel as it was.
Exner s work had two main influences.One was the Italian school of design, especially the Alfa Romeo BAT cars, such as this BAT 5 from 1953, by Nuccio Bertone. Not only did the big fins originate here, but the BAT s divided front end grilles seem to have inspired Exner s acclaimed 1955 Imperial front end. Did you think Exner was really all that original? The truth is all the big American design Chiefs and stylists stole like mad from Europe. Maybe stole is a bit strong, but what is the right word? Influenced seems a wee bit too polite.
And of course, Exner also heavily borrowed from the classic era of the thirties, such as the Duesenberg. The perpetual battleground of integrating such disparate influences sheraton south padre island beach hotel plays out repeatedly in his work, for better or for worse. sheraton south padre island beach hotel Truth be told, Exner was a bit of a two-hit sheraton south padre island beach hotel wonder with the 1955-56 and the 1957 Chryslers. Everything else that followed until he left in 1961 was rather problematic, exacerbating Chrysler's other issues at the time.
The 1957 Imperial sheraton south padre island beach hotel was a bold and expensive gamble sheraton south padre island beach hotel by Chrysler to challenge the near-monopoly that Cadillac enjoyed in the fifties. Lincoln was struggling with its own design issues, and the Imperial was certainly years ahead of the rather modest sheraton south padre island beach hotel ' 57 Cadillacs , even if it wasn't quite as harmonious a design as the Chryslers (note: this was during the time when Imperial was a separate brand from Chrysler).
The '57 Imperial even got its own distinct body shell, unlike previous sheraton south padre island beach hotel and later Imperials. One of its most unique features was curved side glass, an industry first. There was no question; the '57 Imperial sheraton south padre island beach hotel was the most advanced of the luxury cars when it appeared, sheraton south padre island beach hotel in the context of that moment in time. Of course, like all of Exner's cars, it was a bit over the top, and not everyone's taste. But sales tripled in 1957 over the prior year, reaching 35k, an all-time high water mark for both its fins and Imperial sales ever. In 1957, the Imperial could bask in its brief moment of glory and success.
Of course, the rampant quality problems of all '57 Chrysler products did not escape the Imperial. and the deep recession of 1958 created a remarkable change in attitude. Suddenly yesterday's rocket ships became giant finned monsters overnight, now being seen the same light that over-leveraged MacMansions were a few years back. A recession can be a remarkably sobering experience.
sheraton south padre island beach hotel Imperial sales dropped by over 50%, and the whole upper end sector took a huge bruising as everyone clamored for Ramblers and VWs. Imperial sheraton south padre island beach hotel sold 18k cars in 1960 to Cadillac's 143k, so maybe it wasn't all the recession, but perhaps in part to that ridiculous fake spare tire "toilet seat" that showed up in 1958. This was Exner's jumping the shark moment, although I know some (many) will disagree. You're wrong! What a hodge-podge of mish-mashes. Suddenly it's 1974!
At least Imperial didn't drop as much as Lincoln; their disastrous over-the-top 1958 models dropped Lincoln into the number three sales slot of the luxury brands. For two brief years, Imperial savored sheraton south padre island beach hotel silver, even if sales were in the toilet of its own making.
The failure of the Imperials to properly catch on put them into weird sort of limbo: from 1957 through 1966, they used the same basic body shell, despite ever more desperate efforts to conceal that fact. But there was a royal give-away: that very expensive compound curve windshield. Chrysler could screw around with a fin here and a floating headlight there, sheraton south padre island beach hotel and eventually some slab sides and new ends, but it was stuck with that distinctive tell-tale sheraton south padre island beach hotel windshield for way too long. I figured this out in real time, and each fall as the new cars came out, there it was: that same damn windshield. It wasn't until 1967, when Imperials went back to using a slightly disguised sheraton south padre island beach hotel Chrysler body that it finally disappeared.
When the rest of the Chrysler family switched to unibodies in 1960, the Imperial got a pass. Ostensibly because the frame gave it a quieter ride, the real reason was that Chrysler couldn't sheraton south padre island beach hotel afford to spend anything more than nickles and dimes on the slow selling Imperial during its 1957-1966 body era. Hence the tell-tale windshield.
If this 1960 Imperial is a Frankenstein, than what is its 1961 successor (above)? That's when Exneruberance started to really go off the deep end, marrying the free-standing headlights inspired from his beloved classic era with the tail end of the fin era. And free-standing taillights to go along, no less. But freaks can be so lovable; I'll take one home, thank you. But in something a bit bolder than this green.
Consider that by 1961 a revolution was underway, spearheaded by the stunning new Lincoln Continental. The rest of the industry had begun to move move on, and even Cadillac fins had returned to earth. The '61 Continental made the former leading-edge Imperial look like a retro-mobile, the forerunner of the seventies' customs like the Bugazzi and such.
After Exner departed, former Ford designer Elwood Engel credited sheraton south padre island beach hotel for the 61 Continental, was brought in to subdue and tone down the the monsters. His reskin of the old '57 body added very Lincolnesque slab sides to the '65 Imperial, but still there's that old 57 wrap-around windshield again, looking absurdly sheraton south padre island beach hotel out of date by then.
Seems like we've talked about everything but this 1960. Well, it was an interim year, just before the floating headlights, but the fins were already well past their prime. As a compensation, there's quite a dramatic sheraton south padre island beach hotel dashboard to savor, including those push buttons for the Torqueflite transmission.
Let's not shortchange Chrysler's squared-off steering wheel, which was as prescient of future tillers as the fins. Looking out over it was presumably easier, to better appreciate the acreage under which sat Chrysler's 413 CID wedge V8, which replaced the legendary and legendarily sheraton south padre island beach hotel expensive-to-build hemi a couple of years earlier.
A Frankenstein the 1960 Imperial may well be, but we all loved that monster sheraton south padre island beach hotel too. Now it's hard to fathom how such bizarreness was once considered elegant and chic. Stranger things have happened, but not that many more than the 1960 Imperial.
The 55 56 Imperials were the best looking sheraton south padre island beach hotel of Exner s designs I find the 57 flashy but better looking than the Cadillac Lincoln.The Mopar toilet seat remains a pet hate of mine since I first noticed one on a Chrysler in the early 60s.Elwood Engel s squared off Imperial got the style back,I like it more than his Lincoln.The feature car is in beautiful condition,just not my cup of tea,nor many other people s judging sheraton south padre island beach hotel by the sales figures.
The 1960 Imperial in particular seems to be one of the more desirable of that (1957-1963) Exner style body at the time I guess Imperial was thinking sheraton south padre island beach hotel if it could try a bit harder it might be able to make some inroads on Cadillac (if it was in 2nd place in the 50s) but when the 1961 Lincoln came out, that probably changed, since I would guess Lincoln took the wind out of the sails (sales?) sheraton south padre island beach hotel for Imperial. Too bad, these were very nice cars, even if the styling was out there with space age influence, that s kind of what we probably find endearing now, as they were so distinctive (I wonder what the execs thought sheraton south padre island beach hotel back then, normally cars like this would be conservatively styled, but these were anything but guess that was the progress forward tone of the early 60 s and it shows even though it quickly dates them).
I also get a kick out of the 1 year changes in Imperial in 1959 and 1960. The exteriors were quite different each year, as well as the interiors, wonder how they could make the 1 year only changes economically (probably cost a lot). I really like the 1960 interior, it is probably one of the neatest car interiors I ve ever seen. I also am amused by the relocation of the air filter on these to the side (I guess to allow for a lower hood starting in 1957?) it is as if the engine sheraton south padre island beach hotel were sitting too tall for the newly lowered hood this style car started (especially compared to other 1950 car styles) .but later they found room for the now-classic round air cleaner directly on top of the carb instead of to the side (maybe they lowered the mounting of the engine or somehow made it less tall to allow for the lower hood). These were huge cars, guess then bigger was considered better, but I wonder how people found room to fit them in their garages, since a lot of the extra room was to accomodate the styling rather than provide space for extra passengers or luggage. They must also be tough to find parking spaces for (quite a few more cars on the road now than 1960, I m sure)
Despite the same windshield, the 1964