Here’s a great color video that showcases all the neat and novel features offered on the 1960 Plymouth.
The big story at Plymouth for 1960 was the switch from body-on-frame to unitized body/frame construction, as adopted by all the Chrysler divisions that year except Imperial. Chrysler coined the trade name Unibody for the development, which soon achieved the Kleenex effect and became the generic term for unit construction regardless of manufacturer. (See our feature on Chrysler Unibody here.) With an extra flourish, Plymouth labeled its version “Dura-Quiet Unibody,” and the feature is the focus of the video we’re sharing here. “The solid Plymouth for 1960,” the announcer declares. “Built a new solid way to give you solid satisfaction.”
Unibody was a genuine advance, but we’re not too sure about the next claim, that the ’60 Plymouth’s towering tailfin design “increases road stability.” (Maybe at 150 mph.) It made a styling statement, no arguing that. The model shown here is a top-of-the-line Fury four-door pillarless hardtop in Twlight Blue, listing for $2,656. Typical of Chrysler products of its time, it was loaded with novel and clever features, both standard and optional, designed to make them stand out among the Detroit three. Some of them might be considered gimmicks, but nonetheless, they are fascinating to look over today.
Check out the swing-out bucket seats, the Aero steering wheel with rectangular, clear-sparkle plastic rim, and the floating instrument panel atop the dash with a thermometer-style speedometer readout. Signature Chrysler features also included a dash-mounted rear-view mirror, push-button controls for the Torqueflite automatic transmission, and of course, design chief Virgil Exner’s daring Forward Look styling theme. Chrysler was marching to a different drummer in these years, that’s for certain. Video below.
Funny how the Chrysler Corporation proclaimed, “Suddenly It’s 1960!” when the ‘57s were introduced, because the actual 1960 models didn’t look that much different from the ‘57s. And they definitely didn’t look like something that would be introduced three years later, in 1963.
One of the car magazines previewed the 1961 Plymouth with the tag line, “Suddenly, it’s 1957…” 😆
I think the tailfins had a stabilizing effect much sooner than 150 mph. In many light airplanes, such as single-engine Cessnas, on takeoff you initially steer with the brakes and nose wheel until the rudder becomes effective at about 35 mph or so.
Granted, the Cessna’s fin is considerably taller and the Plymouth didn’t have a moveable rudder.
Never got a chance to drive a car with fina, but did own a ’63 Dodge Dart with the pushbutton Torqueflite. Miss those buttons and the transmission.
Interesting comment on the fins, Randy. I had a 1960 Buick and on the highway driving south of Lake superior there was a strong north wind. Every time we got a break in the trees, the wind on the side of the car’s fins would push us toward the centre line. Those canted Buick fins also provided some lift and on one stretch that was open to the lake a gust pushed the car over the centre line. It was 1967 and we were on our honeymoon. Very scary.
Solid, yeah at the time it was built maybe. Didn’t take the tin worms long to eat them up though. Can’t remember the last time I saw one anywhere other than a junkyard. Those steering wheels though were a favorite of customizers in the mid 60’s. I think the Imperial also used a square design IIRC. People talk about the malaise period of the late 70’s, I think about all of them went through a similar period from about 1958 to 1963. With a few exceptions, most cars built during that time period were kinda quirky.