Yeah, the '61 DeSoto has the slanted headlights. The effect makes me think a bit of a '58-60 Lincoln, just attached to a sleeker, less hulking body.
Also, helpful hint...if you specify your '61 DeSoto in white, don't take a picture of it facing the sun!
For only having 3034 built, the '61 DeSoto isn't all that rare nowadays, it seems. I've seen tons of pics of them over the years, and seen them more often than you'd think at car shows. But in this particular pic, it's the first time I ever noticed how much of the inner workings of the car show up through the lower and upper grilles, when the sun hits it!
Still, it's what I'd call "ugly", but cool. As in, I wouldn't mind having one. If I was a new car buyer at the time, I think I'd still prefer it to a Chrysler Newport or a Dodge Polara. Among competing makes, I don't find the '61 Mercury particularly compelling, although I think it definitely looks more modern. If I was a die-hard Mopar fan I probably would've stuck it out with the DeSoto, but if I was more open minded, I like the GM offerings. The Buick is nice, and for some reason I find the Olds particularly attractive. I've heard the '61 Olds wasn't that popular, because its styling was a bit trim compared to years before. It just didn't have enough "presence" (i.e., "bulk") for its intended market. Or, going down a slight step, I REALLY like the '61 Pontiacs. A Bonneville wouldn't really be a step down; those were actually pretty nice. I guess a Catalina would be considered a bit of a step down in prestige, but still, a nice car.
Who are we to say I guess--Lexus must've been impressed with the '61 Plymouth all these years later!
The fellow on the far-left is still with us at age 88. He owned a new supercharged '64 Cruiser four-door sedan in black with red cloth buckets and floor-mounted Powershift (PRND21) automatic.
I used to theorize that they made the '60 Plymouth a bit extra ugly on purpose, to get people to pay a few extra bucks for a Dodge Dart. And in a similar vein, that was how I reasoned out that the '61 DeSoto got approved.
But, realistically, I don't think they put that much deviousness into it. In the case of the '60 Plymouth, it actually took quite a bit of effort to come up with that look, love it or hate it. The end result might be questionable, but you have to give them credit for trying, and letting their imaginations run wild.
With the '61 DeSoto, I think they just did the bare minimum to differentiate it from a Chrysler, in an attempt to use up some DeSoto-unique trim, badges, etc. And while that upper grille-bulge seems pretty awkward, they probably made it like that so it could share the same hood with a Chrysler.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. In the case of Chrysler back then, I believe the latter is the case. You had Exner sidelined, you had people vying for his job in case he never came back, and at the corporate level you had intrigue in the executive suite that led to lots of problems, including some of these designs going into production.
This article tells you how bad things were at Chrysler back then:
I didn't think the '61 Dodge looked bad up front. A bit nondescript, but nothing really outlandish. But the reverse-slant fins were kind of odd, as was the taillight treatment. Oddly, the videogame "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" played a bit of homage to the '61 Dodge.
They had one car, called a "Glendale" (which I think is cool because my home town is Glenn Dale, MD) that from the rear looked like a '61 Dodge Polara:
And they had another one called an "Oceanic", with a front-end that looked like a '61 Dodge, but oddly, had 50's Oldsmobile-looking two-toning.
Wow, looking at those two pics shows just how far video games have come! To be fair though, this was like 2003, and for the Playstation 2!
I vaguely remember reading something about the taillights on the '61 Dodge being smallish and low on the car, that mid-year they added round taillights higher up on the body.
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They also came in two different flavors. On the Polara, which was the only lineup still on the longer 122" wheelbase, they were mounted outboard of the fin...
Here's a Dart rear, for comparison: This one has the extra lights.
Here's one without them...
At first I was thinking, maybe the extra round lights mounted high up were just on the higher trim levels. But, this one's a Dart Phoenix, which was the top version of the Dart during those years it was a full-sized alternative to Plymouth, rather than the compact it became more famous for in later years.
I couldn't recall what the rear view of that 61 Desoto looks like. Now I'm not sure I've seen one then or in car shows/cruise-ins now. Rare in this part of the country.
I forgot that there were two levels of '61 Dodge with different taillight versions. The ones I most remember in-person, now that I think about it, were the Polara.
In '60 and maybe '61, I remember seeing 'Seneca' and 'Phoenix' nameplates, but I don't remember seeing 'Dart' nameplates on them.
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Chrysler went through a big shakeup in 1960. In earlier years, their dealership network was set up mostly as Plymouth-Dodge, Plymouth-DeSoto, and Plymouth-Chrysler/Imperial. So while Chevy and Ford were usually stand-alone dealers, Plymouth was sold through the others, and often used as an excuse to lure buyers in, and then up-sell them to a nicer car. Although in the case of Plymouth-Dodge, I'd think that would have been a bit difficult, as they were really close in many years.
But, in 1960, they left Dodge to soldier on, by itself, and merged Plymouth-DeSoto-Chrysler/Imperial together. To sort of even things out, they let Dodge have the Dart lineup, which pretty much matched Plymouth model-for-model. In fact, they even alluded to that in their advertising!
I always thought this was a bit odd, that they'd actually go after Plymouth in their advertising!
The Dart lineup replaced the old Coronet, which had been Dodge's volume line. The more upscale models, the Royal and Custom Royal, were replaced for '60 with the Matador and Polara. They pretty much matched up to the 1960 DeSoto Fireflite and Adventurer, although the DeSotos were slightly more expensive.
For 1961, the Dart Seneca, Pioneer, and Phoenix returned. The Matador was dropped, leaving just the Polara.
For 1962, when they shrunk them to the 116" wb, they changed the lineup to Dart (plus a "Dart fleet special"), Dart 330, and Dart 440. The Polara was also put down onto the small 116" wb, but kept its medium-car price. Not surprisingly, it was a sales flop. However, it also came standard with a 305 hp 361-4bbl, so it was a bit of a musclecar, before the term was even coined.
Part way through the 1962 model year, Dodge realized they made a mistake in dumping full-sized cars, so they conjured up the Custom 880, which was essentially a 1962 Newport with a 1961 Dodge front clip. It wasn't a huge seller, but did outsell the Polara, even with its abbreviated model year run.
For 1963, with the Dart becoming a compact, they played the name game shuffle, and launched a 330/440/Polara series, while the Polara 500 filled in the price bracket for the '62 Polara. They also stretched the wheelbase out, from 116" to 119", in an attempt to make the cars look bigger. I don't know if buyers fell for it, though. They also expanded the 122" wb cars to an 880/Custom 880 series.
I saw the Merkur again today, out in the nice fluffy snow we had earlier this afternoon. Not a museum piece, someone is DDing this obscure probably maintenance intensive nearly 35 year old car:
The 4 door was the Scorpio - both of these cars are examples of the funny American idea to get mainstream Euro cars (these were simple Fords in Germany) and try to sell them as premium products, due to their origin.
The Scorpio is probably an order or two more rare than a XR4Ti - sold for a shorter period, less sporty appeal - nicely trimmed, but I think they had harsh depreciation, and probably could be a maintenance chore.
We had a Scorpio. In Europe it was a Granada; the Scorpio was the top trim level. The Brit magazines of the era did lump it in with similar sized European cars from Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Saab, and Volvo. I thought that it competed pretty well with the lesser E28 5ers, but it was primarily let down by how Ford priced parts.. At the same time we had the Scorpio I had a 535is, and it was less expensive to run.
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Merkurs--no shock here, but the styling struck me as odd at the time, in and out. I seem to vaguely remember a lot of monotone black inside, and that the radio was different than I was accustomed to (I still wish for a knob for tuning, sigh). I really don't remember the driving experience one way or the other. But I had the Scorpio a few times and an XR4Ti (who names a car that? LOL) at least once. I used to travel with work 26 weeks a year so drove about everything that was out there, from about every rental agency. Of course at the time I liked National best, as they used GM cars and at some point they had 'pick your own car' out of the row, which I liked.
The only car that ever left me stranded was a Fairmont, but one that was poorly prepared for rental to say the least, was an otherwise-beautiful '80 Grand Prix. It had one interior light working--the courtesy light on the RF floor. The radio would go off on bumps, and the engine ticked (V6). I checked the oil and had to add a couple quarts. When I complained about all that when I returned the car, the twenty-something girl at the counter just smiled and acted like I was kidding.
For all I have heard about Camrys, about eight or nine years ago I was in Minneapolis with work and rented one. It had 14K miles. The "Check Engine" light was on the whole time I drove it, and it clearly had the rattle sounds up front of needing control arm bushings. Of course, being a rental, nobody cared about it when they drove it I'm sure.
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I had a FWD Monte Carlo as a rental one time that didn't even get off the lot. When I closed the drivers door a bank of switches fell out of the door panel.
Another bad rental that comes to mind was an early '00s Impala I got at SeaTac airport in '04 that was in bad need of a wheel alignment. Wasn't fun driving for a few hundred miles on the Interstate. It seemed that every Impala I got as a rental after that (the later redesign) had an alignment problem.
I guess rentals aren't necessarily representative, but when you drive them a lot, it's not hard to form an opinion on the models you drove.
The cars I absolutely hated to get the most, and I got my share, was Renault Alliance and Encores. Talk about not being able to get out of their own way. I had an Encore once--the Encore was the hatch--where the right 'arm' holding the hatch up was laying in the channel on that side of the car.
I remember getting a lot of Celebritys/6000's/Centurys/Cieras. Not exciting, but usually comfortable at least.
My memory of FWD Monte Carlos was that the headroom was a bit tight, especially compared to the sedan variants (Lumina, Impala).
I always thought I could've liked a 2002 Monte Carlo LS in that one-year deep green metallic with the very light beige cloth interior. The spoke-style aluminum wheels those cars got in 2000 (along with Impala), at some point in the 2002 model year, got the entire face of the wheel polished, instead of just the center like earlier ones. At some point in 2002 also they removed the 'knights head' emblem on the C-pillar. For a short period our local dealer was getting cars with both the better wheels and the knights head--but not for long.
I liked the looks of the next Impala, but didn't really like driving or riding in them. I thought that generation Malibu drove nicer, and the upper model had perforated suede upholstery which I liked. The 2012 Impala got the 300 hp 3.6 V6 and six-speed automatic, which made the car a lot nicer to drive, but the RF seat was still too low. They must have been field-testing that powertrain before the new '14 came out.
One small choice thing I liked about the '06 and later Impalas, was you could choose the instrument panel applique--brushed metal or woodgrain. Not dependent on interior color I'm pretty sure. Nice, small thing when most choices had been taken away from the buyer, outside of option groups which require you to buy other stuff you don't care about just to get something you do.
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Got stuck with a Cavalier station wagon rental one time and thought it would be the worst ever. Turned out to be a pretty good little car. At least for a 1 day rental. Similar experience with a Dodge Omni for 1 week. Maybe because expectations are so low when you pick up the keys?
I once rented a Chrysler Sebring which had a loud transmission whine as soon as I drove away so I turned it back to the rental office immediately. But the worst rental car I recall which had no obvious mechanical defect was a Bonneville SSE sedan. Kept it for a long weekend and it was easily the worst handling/braking rental car at highway speeds I ever had.
I can't remember what the SSE trim included but to me it was a Seriously Shoddy Experience.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
I wanted to buy my wife a new Cavalier wagon, which seemed to be a good overall compromise car at a price point. She preferred the Corsica at about the same price. We had it for over 100K trouble-free miles, but I think I'd have liked a Cavalier wagon better.
I remember a whole lot of buttons inside those Bonnevilles, not good when you're not accustomed to driving one.
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My B-I-L, who is 18 years younger than me, borrowed my '97 Cavalier with 105K miles.
He returned it and said, "I expected it to be a POS but it wasn't bad at all", LOL.
I never bought a car for the prestige factor; in fact I usually goof on that a bit. But as a result I've probably missed out on some good driving experiences.
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My favorite rental car story was from 1984. I was visiting a college buddy who lived in Windsor Ontario before heading out for a road trip on my own through Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. Got a Chevy Citation hatchback at a rental car place in Windsor, I forget which company I used. That night me and my buddy go to a Tigers game in Detroit (the 1984 Tigers, one of the best teams ever). Tiger Stadium is in a tough part of town, we're a couple of dumb Canadians, so for safety we decide to park close to the stadium in a private lot (there were lots of empty lots that used to have buildings on them that put out signs saying "Tigers parking" with the price going up the closer you got to the stadium). We picked the expensive lot right across the street, I think it cost $10.
We go to the game, the Tigers win, we leave with the crowd. My buddy sees this little dive bar right across the street from where we parked, he wants to go in to get the full experience. It was packed with Tigers fans, we each have a beer, I don't like the place much and convince him we need to go. When we go outside the streets are now deserted and dark. We cross over to where we parked, we're the only car there now. I unlock the drivers door, get in, do the routine where I reach across to unlock his side (no power locks then) as I'm closing my door. He opens his side and gets in just as my door slams shut. We hear the tinkle of broken glass behind us. We look behind us and there is no longer any glass in the hatchback. Get out, look around, see a brick in the cargo area. Welcome to Detroit.
We have to cross the Ambassador Bridge and go thru Canada Customs to get back to his place. We pull into Customs on the Canadian side and the guy asks the purpose of our trip. We tell him we'd gone to the game and he asks "Anything to declare?" My buddy says, "Yeah, just a brick that someone threw thru the back window" and points behind him. The agent looks and waves us through like it happened all the time. When I returned the car the next day they didn't seem surprised either and gave me a Plymouth Horizon with the 2.2 engine to replace it, which wasn't a bad little car at all to tour around in for the next week.
I had to return one car before leaving the garage it reeked of smoke so bad. And in Orlando got a tempo that was so out of alignment it wouldn’t even drive straight. Had to turn around and go back with that one.
Probably three years ago I rented something to help move a daughter out of Miami U. I can't even recall what it was. But...it smelled like cheap French perfume. I drove it a block and took it back. It was nauseating and my wife would not have stood for that smell.
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Never had a really bad rental car, worst incident was a Sixt E-class in FL that threw a CEL, so I took it back (and got a nearly identical car - Sixt had a boatload of late pre-facelift W212 in the fleet) - didn't want to risk anything. That and the Jeep that got smashed up in Milwaukee are the incidents in my mind. I remember a friend rented a Malibu in the early 00s, and it had gauges that didn't work right, I want to say some didn't work at all, and the temp gauge was always pegged.
I recall getting an Impala in 2011 that had 4 miles on the clock. I was seriously unimpressed by the gas mileage (maybe needed a break in period? had a hard time exceeding 25 mpg even in smooth highway cruising) and I'd often hit my head on the A-pillar near where it meets the roof. Otherwise it was as OK, I recall no build quality issues etc.
I had to return one car before leaving the garage it reeked of smoke so bad. And in Orlando got a tempo that was so out of alignment it wouldn’t even drive straight. Had to turn around and go back with that one.
That was my experience (the smoke) with my very first rental. It was the holidays, and there was no way I was going to take that car. Of course, I'm just a young kid at the time as well, so I had to argue with the guy at the counter for several minutes before they finally relented and let me take an alternate vehicle. I honestly cannot remember what it was now.... a silver Dodge sedan of some sort (year was 2001).
However, I'll never forget the trip itself because we took a drive up to Buffalo to see Niagara Falls for the first time (on 12/21/01), and we arrived at the front end of a major snow storm that ended up dumping something like seven feet of snow over five days. It was a wonderful experience (both the drive and the falls).
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Likely not a mystery car to many on here, but I would like to know what it is. It's from a video of a coffee cruise-in down Cincy way. Mostly exotic vehicles at the cruises there from what I've seen.
That's the one I tend to hit up, as it's only 12 minutes away. Have you been to that one?
I've not been there. That's one is too early, too far for that early, and from pictures seems to be mostly exotics and some classic foreign cars that are of interest. But my interest is more 50's -60's common classics. I think the Cars and Coffee at Austin Landing south of Dayton is like the one at Ta'bago.
Last night I saw one I didn't remember ever seeing.
1964, based on the Ford patrol car, and B&W episode.
Barney found an old file where Floyd had punched the owner of the supermarket in 1946, but it had never gone to trial so he got to bugging both of them about their recollections of the event and by the end several characters in town were getting punched in the nose. Andy was grumpy in it, as he should've been! Even my wife was laughing and she normally rolls her eyes at any old sitcom.
I like Andy the best starting in this season...reasonable authority-figure. Helen is in the show by then, and Goober. The final season with Barney as a regular.
The first color season, the next year, they had 'Warren' (Jack Burns) as the deputy. He didn't last the rest of the season and was never mentioned again, LOL.
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The first color season, the next year, they had 'Warren' (Jack Burns) as the deputy. He didn't last the rest of the season and was never mentioned again, LOL.
I watched the show some as a kid but wasn't a devoted fan. I only remember Don Knotts playing the deputy role. Surprised to read that he left after '64 as that seems early from my memory. Did they ever bring in someone other than Burns as a deputy?
I first remember color episodes by seeing a '65 Ford police car, but I'm not sure if that was the '65-66 season. Barney came back in a few episodes. They wrote him out by his accepting a detective job in Raleigh, but showed him being a glorified 'gopher' there. He'd come back to Mayberry for some event or just to visit, a few times.
After 'Warren', occasionally Goober would fill in as a deputy, but thankfully, not full-time!
First episode of Mayberry R.F.D., Andy and Helen married and moved away.
There were screwball characters in Mayberry for sure, but one thing I always appreciated about the show is by the end of an episode, the general goodness/kindness of small-town people usually came through.
Few weeks back, saw the classic fairly-early episode "Man In A Hurry". His '61 or '62 Continental breaks down outside of town on a Sunday, and he couldn't find anyone in Mayberry to work on it on a Sunday. Finally, Goober does, "blows out a fuel line", and doesn't charge him. He ends up spending another night in Mayberry just because the people treat him nicely.
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Here's the Continental in a hurry - IMCDB is really comprehensive for this show:
I seem to recall the episodes with 63-64 Ford patrol cars most, not sure if those were used more in 1980s-90s syndication, or if the cars just stuck with me.
I never minded the show, it could be funny, but the one from that era syndicated when I was a kid that still amuses me is Dennis the Menace - it too was obviously sponsored by Ford.
Those Continentals have a lot going for them - the clean smooth design that hides the size even more, Kennedy/Camelot era mystique, "suicide" doors, etc. Even non-car people see them as something special. Ford played their cards right with that one.
I remember looking at a convertible version for sale locally maybe in the early 90s. I seem to recall it was a facelift model, it seemed immaculate to me anyway, and I recall they wanted $12.5K for it then. I thought it was pretty impressive.
I always think of a '64 Ford first and foremost whenever think of "The Andy Griffith Show", but that might be because we had a '64 Galaxie when I was a kid, so that might have just made me remember it more. I guess it could be possible that in some seasons, they did more outdoor/backlot filming than others, so in those seasons the patrol cars were featured more prominently?
Oh, here's a little blast from the past. 5 years ago today, was the last time we had anything resembling a really serious snow storm. Got about 19 inches...
Boy, that just reminds me how timeless those Continentals are, in shape and restrained decoration and size.
Gomer tells Mr. Tucker, owner of the Lincoln, that Goober says "no charge..it was an honor just to work on a machine like that!".
I remember that episode because Gomer keeps talking about his cousin Goober. Goober thinks you need a new set of spark plugs. Goober says "hey." Funny part was Goober was never seen on the show until a year or two later!
After Goober joins the regular cast he's the one who sells a 1955 Ford Sunliner to Aunt Bee and teaches her to drive.
I found the pic above from a later episode called "Dinner At Eight," along with some pretty funny dialogue between Andy and Goober. Maybe the best of the later episodes before turning into Mayberry RFD.
ANDY: Now I'm going over to Helen's and eat my 3rd supper. And then I'm coming back. And I'm gonna kill you.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Back to those Continentals--that's what I was looking to rent for my daughter's wedding car. No place rented those (shocker!), but a place did rent us a '61 Bentley, a nice-looking white car. I asked the driver how reliable it was. He said "350, Turbo-Hydramatic"! But it looked nice and my daughter was suitably impressed (her husband knew but we kept it a secret from her as she'd have probably fussed about an old car--she ended up enjoying the ride).
It seems to me on Andy Griffith, there were a lot of senior-citizen characters--Aunt Bee, Floyd, Clara, Emmett, and other peripheral characters.
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Frances Bavier actually moved to Siler City, NC after 'Mayberry R.F.D.' ended (talk about life imitating art!), and she had the '66 Studebaker until she died in 1989.
She actually joined the Studebaker Drivers' Club for one year, in 1972 at the urging of a member from Winston-Salem, who said her return letter to him said this, quote:
''I`ve driven Studebakers for 40 years-all kinds, all models and no other car,'' Bavier wrote. ''Watching the pictures of the closing of the factory, I did indeed weep!''
And of her own, she wrote: ''I`ll shed real tears when this one passes on.''
She had a hired driver in her later years who supposedly suggested she buy a newer car, and she never did.
The car, banged up in the front, sold for $20,000 (!) in 1990 and is supposedly on display at a farm park near Siler City.
Those Continentals have a lot going for them - the clean smooth design that hides the size even more, Kennedy/Camelot era mystique, "suicide" doors, etc. Even non-car people see them as something special. Ford played their cards right with that one.
I remember looking at a convertible version for sale locally maybe in the early 90s. I seem to recall it was a facelift model, it seemed immaculate to me anyway, and I recall they wanted $12.5K for it then. I thought it was pretty impressive.
My wife saw one in a movie and asked what was up with the doors? Lol. She never saw one before.
Those Continentals have a lot going for them - the clean smooth design that hides the size even more, Kennedy/Camelot era mystique, "suicide" doors, etc. Even non-car people see them as something special. Ford played their cards right with that one.
I remember looking at a convertible version for sale locally maybe in the early 90s. I seem to recall it was a facelift model, it seemed immaculate to me anyway, and I recall they wanted $12.5K for it then. I thought it was pretty impressive.
In '64 they made the car longer and went to flat side windows for some reason. The basic good looks were still there, but to me the '66 reskin didn't look as nice, even though they began offering a coupe. The instrument panel of the '66 didn't appeal to me nearly as much either.
I'd happily take a '61-63 sedan or convertible.
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The later ones seemed to be more Ford/Mercury "looking", to me anyway. I remember in that same small town, a mint looking 66 Continental coupe could often be spotted, dark blue.
I think my dad said something to the effect of "these eat front end parts" when looking at the convertible, probably trying to make me not look at it (not that he would have spent nearly so much on an old car anyway).
In '64 they made the car longer and went to flat side windows for some reason. The basic good looks were still there, but to me the '66 reskin didn't look as nice, even though they began offering a coupe. The instrument panel of the '66 didn't appeal to me nearly as much either.
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EDIT: I guess it does have canted headlights, doesn't it? Oh well. The remaining styling strikes me as conservative.
Also, helpful hint...if you specify your '61 DeSoto in white, don't take a picture of it facing the sun!
For only having 3034 built, the '61 DeSoto isn't all that rare nowadays, it seems. I've seen tons of pics of them over the years, and seen them more often than you'd think at car shows. But in this particular pic, it's the first time I ever noticed how much of the inner workings of the car show up through the lower and upper grilles, when the sun hits it!
Still, it's what I'd call "ugly", but cool. As in, I wouldn't mind having one. If I was a new car buyer at the time, I think I'd still prefer it to a Chrysler Newport or a Dodge Polara. Among competing makes, I don't find the '61 Mercury particularly compelling, although I think it definitely looks more modern. If I was a die-hard Mopar fan I probably would've stuck it out with the DeSoto, but if I was more open minded, I like the GM offerings. The Buick is nice, and for some reason I find the Olds particularly attractive. I've heard the '61 Olds wasn't that popular, because its styling was a bit trim compared to years before. It just didn't have enough "presence" (i.e., "bulk") for its intended market. Or, going down a slight step, I REALLY like the '61 Pontiacs. A Bonneville wouldn't really be a step down; those were actually pretty nice. I guess a Catalina would be considered a bit of a step down in prestige, but still, a nice car.
This article tells you how bad things were at Chrysler back then:
https://www.allpar.com/threads/inside-chrysler-corruption-topples-the-president.227954/
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Still looks nicer than the Plymouth and Dodge I think, although the canted headlights....
They had one car, called a "Glendale" (which I think is cool because my home town is Glenn Dale, MD) that from the rear looked like a '61 Dodge Polara:
And they had another one called an "Oceanic", with a front-end that looked like a '61 Dodge, but oddly, had 50's Oldsmobile-looking two-toning.
Wow, looking at those two pics shows just how far video games have come! To be fair though, this was like 2003, and for the Playstation 2!
Here's a Dart rear, for comparison:
This one has the extra lights.
Here's one without them...
At first I was thinking, maybe the extra round lights mounted high up were just on the higher trim levels. But, this one's a Dart Phoenix, which was the top version of the Dart during those years it was a full-sized alternative to Plymouth, rather than the compact it became more famous for in later years.
I've seen one then or in car shows/cruise-ins now. Rare in this part of the country.
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In '60 and maybe '61, I remember seeing 'Seneca' and 'Phoenix' nameplates, but I don't remember seeing 'Dart' nameplates on them.
But, in 1960, they left Dodge to soldier on, by itself, and merged Plymouth-DeSoto-Chrysler/Imperial together. To sort of even things out, they let Dodge have the Dart lineup, which pretty much matched Plymouth model-for-model. In fact, they even alluded to that in their advertising!
I always thought this was a bit odd, that they'd actually go after Plymouth in their advertising!
The Dart lineup replaced the old Coronet, which had been Dodge's volume line. The more upscale models, the Royal and Custom Royal, were replaced for '60 with the Matador and Polara. They pretty much matched up to the 1960 DeSoto Fireflite and Adventurer, although the DeSotos were slightly more expensive.
For 1961, the Dart Seneca, Pioneer, and Phoenix returned. The Matador was dropped, leaving just the Polara.
For 1962, when they shrunk them to the 116" wb, they changed the lineup to Dart (plus a "Dart fleet special"), Dart 330, and Dart 440. The Polara was also put down onto the small 116" wb, but kept its medium-car price. Not surprisingly, it was a sales flop. However, it also came standard with a 305 hp 361-4bbl, so it was a bit of a musclecar, before the term was even coined.
Part way through the 1962 model year, Dodge realized they made a mistake in dumping full-sized cars, so they conjured up the Custom 880, which was essentially a 1962 Newport with a 1961 Dodge front clip. It wasn't a huge seller, but did outsell the Polara, even with its abbreviated model year run.
For 1963, with the Dart becoming a compact, they played the name game shuffle, and launched a 330/440/Polara series, while the Polara 500 filled in the price bracket for the '62 Polara. They also stretched the wheelbase out, from 116" to 119", in an attempt to make the cars look bigger. I don't know if buyers fell for it, though. They also expanded the 122" wb cars to an 880/Custom 880 series.
Merkur--I used to get the 4-door version as rental cars in the mid-and-late eighties.
The Scorpio is probably an order or two more rare than a XR4Ti - sold for a shorter period, less sporty appeal - nicely trimmed, but I think they had harsh depreciation, and probably could be a maintenance chore.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
The only car that ever left me stranded was a Fairmont, but one that was poorly prepared for rental to say the least, was an otherwise-beautiful '80 Grand Prix. It had one interior light working--the courtesy light on the RF floor. The radio would go off on bumps, and the engine ticked (V6). I checked the oil and had to add a couple quarts. When I complained about all that when I returned the car, the twenty-something girl at the counter just smiled and acted like I was kidding.
For all I have heard about Camrys, about eight or nine years ago I was in Minneapolis with work and rented one. It had 14K miles. The "Check Engine" light was on the whole time I drove it, and it clearly had the rattle sounds up front of needing control arm bushings. Of course, being a rental, nobody cared about it when they drove it I'm sure.
Another bad rental that comes to mind was an early '00s Impala I got at SeaTac airport in '04 that was in bad need of a wheel alignment. Wasn't fun driving for a few hundred miles on the Interstate. It seemed that every Impala I got as a rental after that (the later redesign) had an alignment problem.
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The cars I absolutely hated to get the most, and I got my share, was Renault Alliance and Encores. Talk about not being able to get out of their own way. I had an Encore once--the Encore was the hatch--where the right 'arm' holding the hatch up was laying in the channel on that side of the car.
I remember getting a lot of Celebritys/6000's/Centurys/Cieras. Not exciting, but usually comfortable at least.
My memory of FWD Monte Carlos was that the headroom was a bit tight, especially compared to the sedan variants (Lumina, Impala).
I always thought I could've liked a 2002 Monte Carlo LS in that one-year deep green metallic with the very light beige cloth interior. The spoke-style aluminum wheels those cars got in 2000 (along with Impala), at some point in the 2002 model year, got the entire face of the wheel polished, instead of just the center like earlier ones. At some point in 2002 also they removed the 'knights head' emblem on the C-pillar. For a short period our local dealer was getting cars with both the better wheels and the knights head--but not for long.
I liked the looks of the next Impala, but didn't really like driving or riding in them. I thought that generation Malibu drove nicer, and the upper model had perforated suede upholstery which I liked. The 2012 Impala got the 300 hp 3.6 V6 and six-speed automatic, which made the car a lot nicer to drive, but the RF seat was still too low. They must have been field-testing that powertrain before the new '14 came out.
One small choice thing I liked about the '06 and later Impalas, was you could choose the instrument panel applique--brushed metal or woodgrain. Not dependent on interior color I'm pretty sure. Nice, small thing when most choices had been taken away from the buyer, outside of option groups which require you to buy other stuff you don't care about just to get something you do.
I once rented a Chrysler Sebring which had a loud transmission whine as soon as I drove away so I turned it back to the rental office immediately. But the worst rental car I recall which had no obvious mechanical defect was a Bonneville SSE sedan. Kept it for a long weekend and it was easily the worst handling/braking rental car at highway speeds I ever had.
I can't remember what the SSE trim included but to me it was a Seriously Shoddy Experience.
I remember a whole lot of buttons inside those Bonnevilles, not good when you're not accustomed to driving one.
My B-I-L, who is 18 years younger than me, borrowed my '97 Cavalier with 105K miles.
He returned it and said, "I expected it to be a POS but it wasn't bad at all", LOL.
I never bought a car for the prestige factor; in fact I usually goof on that a bit. But as a result I've probably missed out on some good driving experiences.
We go to the game, the Tigers win, we leave with the crowd. My buddy sees this little dive bar right across the street from where we parked, he wants to go in to get the full experience. It was packed with Tigers fans, we each have a beer, I don't like the place much and convince him we need to go. When we go outside the streets are now deserted and dark. We cross over to where we parked, we're the only car there now. I unlock the drivers door, get in, do the routine where I reach across to unlock his side (no power locks then) as I'm closing my door. He opens his side and gets in just as my door slams shut. We hear the tinkle of broken glass behind us. We look behind us and there is no longer any glass in the hatchback. Get out, look around, see a brick in the cargo area. Welcome to Detroit.
We have to cross the Ambassador Bridge and go thru Canada Customs to get back to his place. We pull into Customs on the Canadian side and the guy asks the purpose of our trip. We tell him we'd gone to the game and he asks "Anything to declare?" My buddy says, "Yeah, just a brick that someone threw thru the back window" and points behind him. The agent looks and waves us through like it happened all the time. When I returned the car the next day they didn't seem surprised either and gave me a Plymouth Horizon with the 2.2 engine to replace it, which wasn't a bad little car at all to tour around in for the next week.
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As much as those Horizons and Omnis got knocked, I never minded them at all as rentals.
And I had many X-cars....as fairly-new cars, I thought there were a lot worse cars out there to drive.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I recall getting an Impala in 2011 that had 4 miles on the clock. I was seriously unimpressed by the gas mileage (maybe needed a break in period? had a hard time exceeding 25 mpg even in smooth highway cruising) and I'd often hit my head on the A-pillar near where it meets the roof. Otherwise it was as OK, I recall no build quality issues etc.
However, I'll never forget the trip itself because we took a drive up to Buffalo to see Niagara Falls for the first time (on 12/21/01), and we arrived at the front end of a major snow storm that ended up dumping something like seven feet of snow over five days. It was a wonderful experience (both the drive and the falls).
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Last night I saw one I didn't remember ever seeing.
1964, based on the Ford patrol car, and B&W episode.
Barney found an old file where Floyd had punched the owner of the supermarket in 1946, but it had never gone to trial so he got to bugging both of them about their recollections of the event and by the end several characters in town were getting punched in the nose. Andy was grumpy in it, as he should've been! Even my wife was laughing and she normally rolls her eyes at any old sitcom.
I like Andy the best starting in this season...reasonable authority-figure. Helen is in the show by then, and Goober. The final season with Barney as a regular.
The first color season, the next year, they had 'Warren' (Jack Burns) as the deputy. He didn't last the rest of the season and was never mentioned again, LOL.
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After 'Warren', occasionally Goober would fill in as a deputy, but thankfully, not full-time!
First episode of Mayberry R.F.D., Andy and Helen married and moved away.
There were screwball characters in Mayberry for sure, but one thing I always appreciated about the show is by the end of an episode, the general goodness/kindness of small-town people usually came through.
Few weeks back, saw the classic fairly-early episode "Man In A Hurry". His '61 or '62 Continental breaks down outside of town on a Sunday, and he couldn't find anyone in Mayberry to work on it on a Sunday. Finally, Goober does, "blows out a fuel line", and doesn't charge him. He ends up spending another night in Mayberry just because the people treat him nicely.
I seem to recall the episodes with 63-64 Ford patrol cars most, not sure if those were used more in 1980s-90s syndication, or if the cars just stuck with me.
I never minded the show, it could be funny, but the one from that era syndicated when I was a kid that still amuses me is Dennis the Menace - it too was obviously sponsored by Ford.
Gomer tells Mr. Tucker, owner of the Lincoln, that Goober says "no charge..it was an honor just to work on a machine like that!".
I remember looking at a convertible version for sale locally maybe in the early 90s. I seem to recall it was a facelift model, it seemed immaculate to me anyway, and I recall they wanted $12.5K for it then. I thought it was pretty impressive.
Oh, here's a little blast from the past. 5 years ago today, was the last time we had anything resembling a really serious snow storm. Got about 19 inches...
a new set of spark plugs. Goober says "hey." Funny part was Goober was never seen on the show until a year or two later!
After Goober joins the regular cast he's the one who sells a 1955 Ford Sunliner to Aunt Bee and teaches her to drive.
I found the pic above from a later episode called "Dinner At Eight," along with some pretty funny dialogue between Andy and Goober. Maybe the best of the later episodes before turning into Mayberry RFD.
ANDY: Now I'm going over to Helen's and eat my 3rd supper. And then I'm coming back. And I'm gonna kill you.
Back to those Continentals--that's what I was looking to rent for my daughter's wedding car. No place rented those (shocker!), but a place did rent us a '61 Bentley, a nice-looking white car. I asked the driver how reliable it was. He said "350, Turbo-Hydramatic"! But it looked nice and my daughter was suitably impressed (her husband knew but we kept it a secret from her as she'd have probably fussed about an old car--she ended up enjoying the ride).
It seems to me on Andy Griffith, there were a lot of senior-citizen characters--Aunt Bee, Floyd, Clara, Emmett, and other peripheral characters.
She actually joined the Studebaker Drivers' Club for one year, in 1972 at the urging of a member from Winston-Salem, who said her return letter to him said this, quote:
''I`ve driven Studebakers for 40 years-all kinds, all models and no other car,'' Bavier wrote. ''Watching the pictures of the closing of the factory, I did indeed weep!''
And of her own, she wrote: ''I`ll shed real tears when this one passes on.''
She had a hired driver in her later years who supposedly suggested she buy a newer car, and she never did.
The car, banged up in the front, sold for $20,000 (!) in 1990 and is supposedly on display at a farm park near Siler City.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-05-27-9002130114-story.html
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Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Eugene Levy sure did a spot-on 'Floyd'.
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I remember looking at a convertible version for sale locally maybe in the early 90s. I seem to recall it was a facelift model, it seemed immaculate to me anyway, and I recall they wanted $12.5K for it then. I thought it was pretty impressive.
In '64 they made the car longer and went to flat side windows for some reason. The basic good looks were still there, but to me the '66 reskin didn't look as nice, even though they began offering a coupe. The instrument panel of the '66 didn't appeal to me nearly as much either.
I'd happily take a '61-63 sedan or convertible.
I think my dad said something to the effect of "these eat front end parts" when looking at the convertible, probably trying to make me not look at it (not that he would have spent nearly so much on an old car anyway).