For 1958 the tagline at Plymouth was “The Star of the Forward Look,” and for once this was no idle ad agency boast.

The tagline for this 1958 Plymouth campaign (below) was “The Star of the Forward Look,”  and in this case we’re inclined to agree. As well as any single Chrysler product could, the ’58 Plymouth exemplified Virgil Exner’s Forward Look design theme, which began with the 1955 models but really took off in 1957. In that year the entire Chrysler Corporation product line sported low, sleek rooflines and the most dramatic tail fins in the industry, throwing the General Motors styling team into a panic. (See our feature on the 1957 Plymouths here.) For ’58, Plymouth received a minor facelift with quad headlamps—which the front end had clearly been designed for in the first place—and now the look was complete.

In watching the clip below, you could be forgiven for assuming that the Fury Hardtop Coupe was the only Plymouth offered that year. But actually there was a broad product lineup with the Plaza as the base model, the Savoy holding down the midrange, and the Belvedere (and Fury) at the top of the heap. Available engines included the trusty flathead six with 132 hp, a pair of 318 CID poly-head V8s, and the Golden Commando 350 CID V8, while the Powerflite (two-speed) and Torqueflite (three-speed) automatic transmissions included standard push-button controls.

Actually, in ’58 Plymouth was the star of the show at Chrysler Corporation from more than one angle. With model year production of almost 444,000 units, Plymouth continued to hold down the number three slot in the Motor City sales charts, trailing only Ford and Chevrolet. And meanwhile, Plymouth sold more cars than the rest of the Chrysler divisions combined, demonstrating the size and scale of the “low-priced three,” as the category was known in the U.S. auto industry at the time. Video follows.