1961 Chrysler Turbofright

Yeah - I'm on a concept car kick again.

This time I'm featuring the 1961 Chrysler TurboFlight concept. Another in a string of collaberations between Chrysler and Ghia, although Virgil Exner is to blame for it's looks. Where his cars in the 40's and 50's were attractive and groundbreaking, he seemed to be losing his mind coming into the 60's. This - his final concept car - is proof if where things were going were his imagination not restrained. Still - even dumbed down for the masses is work still looked odd.

Back to the subject of the post, this car's claim to fame - other than it's looks - was that the entire canopy would lift up and down in sync with the doors opening and closing. It's unknown would neck issues you would suffer if you can to contort yourself under the canopy of a regular basis. But then again this is wacky 1950's - early 1960's concept car stuff. Up to this point all of Ford's concepts looked as if they could fly and claimed to be nuclear powered. All of which I'd feature here, but there's so many (and so bizarre they're almost in a realm above fugliness). In due time I suppose.

Fug-Masters - 60's Chrysler Group

Something was in the water at Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge in the early 60's. Nothing else can explain the strange designs from that period.

One such vehicle is the '62 Dodge Dart (top pic). Only was produced one year, it was the last full-size Dodge Dart. However, with it's double headlights and strangely swooping body it seemed like two cars in one. It almost seems Virgil Exner-ish, but it doesn't actually seem cohesive enough.

Next down is a Dodge Lancer, which going from pictures seems to be basically a more attractive re-skin of the same design. Dart wagons looked like this but with the front from the top pic (all Dart wagons I could find images of were abandoned).

Last up is the 1960 Plymouth Valiant, which again uses a similar blobby bodystyle, but this time with a large, angry looking grille (most likely inspired by the 300 series).

Virgil Exner - Fug's Company

Already having a partial Exner post about the Stutz, I might as well complete the Exner Neoclassic Fug story with the 3 other entries.

On top is his 1966 "Duesenburg revival", an attempt to slap a bunch of chrome and swoopy lines on an otherwise boxey modern American sedan. Neoclassics are ironic in that way - old school Duesenburg's were at the height of style and mechanical excellence in their prime. Their revivals are basically stylistic appliques overtop a cheap modern body, with about as much mechanical excellent as a New York taxi.

Second is the 1976 Duesenburg revival revival, which is the same concept but more boring and with an uglier bumper. Even the chrome looks cheap, and although it has swoopier bodywork than the other two, that's not necessarily a good thing.

The third is his take on a modern Bugatti.

Stutz

Stutz - the king of the neoclassics. Arguably the best looking and best built of the neoclassics that were all the rage in the 70's. The quintessential "pimp ride". Because of it's from the factory pimpability, I will now refer to it solely as the "Slutz".

Slutz started out as a Virgil M. Exner design. Mr. Exner was a chief stylist at both GM and Chrysler, and penned such classics as the 300C through 300G, and the 1961 Chrysler Imperial. Unfortunetly he also had a passion for penning "revival cars". In other words, classic cars redesigns to modern times - like the neoclassic or current "retro" trend. The Slutz was one of these - Stutz being a classic but then defunct car company.

James D. O'Donnell was so smitten with the design he had a prototype built by Ghia in 1969. Production cars were produced in Cavallermaggiore, Italy. The first car was bought by none other than Elvis Presley, and subsequently had a relatively large celebrity following included owners such as Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Isaac Hayes, Lucille Ball, Robert Goulet, Evil Knievel, Elton John, Wayne Newton, Muhammed Ali and the Sultan of Brunei.

The first car was a coupe, the Slutz Bearcat, which was based on a Pontiac Grand Prix (which itself heralded back to a past era). Although it was updated when the Grand Prix was, the car basically looked similar with each new iteration. However as it aged it looked more awkward as it seemed more and more chrome was added. Another model called the Blackhawk was a convertable adaptation of this car.

The next car they were to produce was a sedan. The sedan was sold under various names, such as the Duplex, IV-Porte and Victoria. The Duplex was the first 4 door, but it's unsure if it made it past the prototype stage. The IV-Porte (4 window - get it?!?) started production in 1977 based on the Pontiac Bonneville (and later the Oldsmobile 88 Royal). In 1981 the sedan was stretched 10 inches and lost the side tailpipes (I think that's neoclassic heresy) and renamed the Victoria.

A mini-limo was introduced after this called the Diplomatica and was based on the Cadillac DeVille (judging by the windows, it was post 1978). This was not a stretch limo, but it was still huge. 7 were produced, and only one of which did NOT go to the Middle East.

The Royale was the super-Stutz. 2 Royale's were made, both of which went to the Middle East (the King of Saudi Arabia, and the President of Gabon). One of these was sent back as the owner didn't want to sit on leather - the rear seats were replaced with velour.

The very last Stutz (a Blackhawk) was made in 1995 (although it was believed to have been around since 1987), and sold on Ebay. Currently I have not been able to track down a value for the car.