Exner Imperials

A ’61. (Photo by Richard Lentinello.)

The January 2015 issue of my Hemmings Classic Car magazine has a giant treatment of what it calls “the Exner Imperials.”
That’s Chrysler’s Imperial, fielded to compete with GM’s Cadillac.
Virgil Exner was Chrysler’s chief stylist in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.
He was hired by Chrysler in 1949, and became Chrysler’s styling-director in 1953.
He was responsible for Chrysler’s “Forward-Look,” an attempt to make Chrysler styling competitive with GM and Ford.
The magazine says the “Forward-Look” began in the 1955 model-year, but to me it began in 1957.
The ’55 Chrysler products were a step beyond earlier Chryslers, but in 1957 the “Forward-Look” came into full-flower.
I also remember the “Forward-Look” as being trumpeted first in 1957.
The “Forward-Look” seemed to involve giant fins.
The 1957 Plymouth was much larger than previous Plymouths, and had giant fins.
My wife’s parents bought one, and my wife said it was worst car they ever owned.
It rusted out immediately.
It also was the car my wife learned to drive on, a gigantic barge.
My wife was intimidated, and her mother not least bit understanding.
Like her father, my wife was “automotively challenged.”
There is no way she could have learned standard-shift. Thankfully the Plymouth was automatic.
I didn’t understand her myself at first, but came to. I regret wanting to take over for her father early-on.
When my wife drove, I felt I was driving too.
“No, we got plenty of time. They’re not going to sideswipe us. You don’t need to back off.”
The “Imp” has been around since 1926, but always seemed to be a stepchild of the mighty Chrysler brand, especially in the ‘50s.
I became aware of Imperials because the Mayor of Erlton (“ERL-tin;” as in the name “Earl”), the suburb of Philadelphia in south Jersey I grew up in, who lived across the street from us, got one, a black ’55 model.
It was impressive, but shared body-panels with Chrysler.
Imperial didn’t start standing alone until they mounted the taillights atop the fender-fins, which began in 1956.
Imperial began using its own body-panels by 1957, and even moved into its own assembly-plant.
But shortly it moved back to Chrysler’s main plant in Detroit to take advantage of rust-fighting measures that began there.
To my mind, the standout Imperials are the 1961 model-year on, when the standalone headlights began.
At last the car looked as good as intended, a competitor to Cadillac.
As I recall, a fellow-student’s father had one while I was in college. It was a ’61, a grand car, and also pretty. The standalone headlights looked good — and there were four, as was the styling-custom at that time.
Of course now a ’61 Imperial looks ridiculously large, a giant land-barge.
And just about all of Chrysler’s offerings back then were as large. Only Valiant and Dart were small.
Exner lasted until replaced by Elwood Engle in 1961.
But the Exner Imperials lasted through the 1963 model-year.
And now, of course, Imperial is gone.

• RE: “automotively challenged........” —means difficulty driving, unable to do it confidently. The supposed antidote was to “take charge,” but my wife, and her father, couldn’t.
• My beloved wife of over 44 years is now gone. I miss her dearly.