American Luxury in 1961

[HarleyEarl]

American luxury cars in 1961. Cadillac and Imperial still had the futuristic, jet finned look while Lincoln went completely minimalistic. That Lincoln design signalled the end of unique, dynamic, futuristic, in your face, American automotive design.

Edited December 22, 2008 by HarleyEarl

[balthazar]

Not a huge fan of the '61 & up Lincs- too bland in profile, tho the grille texture is wonderful.

Both GM & ChryCo hiccuped in '61-62 IMO, tho the Impy was in the '57 vein body-wise, I've never been sure what happened in the Cadillac studio, where the graceful smoothness of the '60 disappeared to. '61-62 Cadillacs have a plethora of creases and the front end is relatively 'mid-priced' in design. They're not bad designs, just not up to period Cadillac standards.

What's not to love about the over-the-top Impy: free-standing headlights, huge shark fins w/ gunsight taillights, push-button trans & a square steering wheel. Fantastic.

I would have to rank them purposely:

1. Imperial

3. Cadillac

7. Lincoln

[HarleyEarl]

Cadillac, Imperial & Lincoln interiors:

[HarleyEarl]

That Caddy interior design still holds up amazingly well some 47 years later.

[HarleyEarl]

[HarleyEarl]

What's not to love about the over-the-top Impy: free-standing headlights, huge shark fins w/ gunsight taillights, push-button trans & a square steering wheel. Fantastic.

I would have to rank them purposely:

1. Imperial

3. Cadillac

7. Lincoln

Have to agree with you on the Imperial. What other country or culture would design and actually produce something so wonderful? So uplifting. Only in America. Someone actually thought of those crazy headlights and it was greenlighted. Love it.

Imperial Le Baron

Edited December 20, 2008 by HarleyEarl

[A Horse With No Name]

I agree on the Imperial...it's a great design.

Chris

[HarleyEarl]

Here's a stunning example of the '61 Imperial. Wow.

[CARBIZ]

Cadillac, Imperial & Lincoln interiors:

Nice hat, lady - hope you win!

[CARBIZ]

Imperial, please! Too bad they went kind of bland & boring after '64. Well, at least until '68. Not a big fan of the Imperial dash, though. Somebody was trying too hard at symmetry, IMO. The Caddy dash aged better.

[Robert Hall]

I'd rank 'em

1 Lincoln

2 Cadillac

3 Imperial

To me, the '61 Imperial looks too '50s with the fins and the free standing headlights are over the top in wierd, IMHO. Interesting nonetheless, though. But I just love the clean, crisp design of the Lincoln..very understated with minimal brightwork, a break from the '50s and the beginning of an uniquely '60s design trend...the Caddy is very crisp and angular, also an improvement over the '50s looking '60, IMHO.

Styling was pretty diverse back then--no one would ever confuse an Imperial for a Cadillac or a Lincoln or vice versa...

Edited December 20, 2008 by moltar

[A Horse With No Name]

Here's a stunning example of the '61 Imperial. Wow.

That takes my breath away...wonderful.

Thanks for posting these pics...

Chris

[Oracle of Delphi]

Here's a stunning example of the '61 Imperial. Wow.

Why does it have the NATO logo on the trunk?

[Robert Hall]

Why does it have the NATO logo on the trunk?

Interesting..it was a product of its times...cool space age cold war design..

[ocnblu]

I am going to repeat moltie's ranking of these three, when seen together. What a startling contrast between the three. The Lincoln defines the word elegance and conveys a quiet, confident, wealthy air with no trace of pretense. The Cadillac comes in at #2 for me, as it appears to be a car in transition. The Imperial, as imposing as it is, just looks outdated when viewed next to its contemporaries.

[HarleyEarl]

It is interesting the very different design themes given they came out in the same year. The Cadillac and Imperial sharing only fins and Cadillac's were quite small by this time. Blu you are right, the Imperial does date when put up against the other two. On it's own, I like it alot. The Lincoln is really quite 'radical', completely stripped down design, in complete opposition to it's recent past. I tend to like clean design so I like the Lincoln but I still like the traditional, brash, American approach to car design better. It created some very memorable cars over many years.

[XP715]

In an age where we're now forced to choose what color jellybean we like the best, I would argue that all three of these cars are equally cool for different reasons. There was no mistaking any of them for one another, which can't be said for hardly anything today. What I wouldn't give to have lived in a time when these cars were on the road in daily use.

PCS: that photo of the Packard factory in your signature makes me sad

[Oracle of Delphi]

PCS: that photo of the Packard factory in your signature makes me sad

It pains me as well, but if we don't wake up as a nation and fight to keep our car industry and manufacturing base healthy, there will be many cities with buildings that look like this. In Delaware our Chrysler plant closed down for good on Friday 12/19/08. During the Korean war, that plant built tanks for the US Army, and was currently building the Dodge Durango & Chrysler Aspen. How long before the GM's Wilmington Delaware plant joins them?

Our local Philadelphia ABC news outlet Channel 6 reported on the event, check out who is sponsoring the report when you view it, she should pop up on the screen.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=...&id=6564059

Here's another pic of it.

And what it looked like circa 1956.

Edited December 21, 2008 by Pontiac Custom-S

[XP715]

At least that doorway you posted gets to be saved: the Packard museum in Ohio bought it at auction earlier this year for $161,000 and will be on display in the future. Another similar doorway was also recently purchased by the Packard Proving Grounds association and will be displayed there. It's a shame that area is just so completely devastated that all the old automobile factories can't be retrofitted for offices and apartments (I come from a city full of cotton mills from the Industrial Revolution that have been retrofitted as such with great success) and will eventually be torn down.

I also still remember hearing the news back in 1989 that the General Motors/Fisher Body plant in Framingham, Massachusetts would be closed. Now it's just a huge warehouse for ADESA, the auction giant.

As a lifelong New England resident, I still dream of happening upon a numbers-matching Framingham-built GTO in a barn/backyard/garage.

Edited December 21, 2008 by XP715

[A Horse With No Name]

As a fan of architecture, the destruction of Detroit as a city is the rape of the century in terms of destroying our heritage.

Sad, really.

Chris

[Oracle of Delphi]

Here is a pic of the Main Lobby, it requires some imagination to picture how it looked in Packard's glory days.

[A Horse With No Name]

Thanks for the pic, keep posting....

Chris

[Oracle of Delphi]

Here is the same entrance - from the inside

Here's the best part: the Packard factory/corporate headquarters - all 3,500,000 square feet of it - can be yours for just $13,000,000!

[A Horse With No Name]

We don't build buildings like that anymore. Wow, that must have been so...elegant and classy in its day.

I wish I had $13 mil to blow, plus the rahab costs...

Chris

[HarleyEarl]

As a fan of architecture, the destruction of Detroit as a city is the rape of the century in terms of destroying our heritage.

Sad, really.

Chris

Chris, I've never been to Detroit and I'm Canadian, but I have read enough to be equally sad.

We are seeing the shift in eras. Historical times. Most people don't give it enough importance.

When I see photos of industrial areas empty and crumbling, it gives me painful melancholy.

I think its dangerous in the longterm for a country to lose manufacturing capabilities.

[ocnblu]

Ew, Harley, what is that pathetic excuse of a car doing in your sig?

[HarleyEarl]

I know!!....what a contrast hey?.....which would anyone really rather have? No contest. That puke of car in the background is anti-car.

Blu?...is that a shirtless man walking in front of hedge?

Edited December 22, 2008 by HarleyEarl

[ocnblu]

Looks like he's wearing a flesh-coloured tee shirt with nips painted on it, but I'm not sure.

[Robert Hall]

There is kind of a neat 'past in the foreground, future in the background' contrast to yer sig...

[HarleyEarl]

There is kind of a neat 'past in the foreground, future in the background' contrast to yer sig...

I noticed that too...I'm probably being too hard on that 'future' car, but something about it just riles me to no end.

Huge contrasts here...I don't have to have a '57 Pontiac replicar, but man, I want a little sexy style when I buy a new car.

I never want to resort to

'that' other car. I'll walk first.

Edited December 22, 2008 by HarleyEarl

[HarleyEarl]

Looks like he's wearing a flesh-coloured tee shirt with nips painted on it, but I'm not sure.

omg...thats funny!

[Robert Hall]

I noticed that too...I'm probably being too hard on that 'future' car, but something about it just riles me to no end.

Huge contrasts here...I don't have to have a '57 Pontiac replicar, but man, I want a little sexy style when I buy a new car.

I never want to resort to

'that' other car. I'll walk first.

I'm sure with a little effort the other car can be made flashier--maybe chrome spinner hubcaps, a big rear wing, bodykit... I don't think I've seen one customized (besides the convertible on Autolog a while back).

[HarleyEarl]

Moltar, I got thinking, what a hoot it would be to drop a GM hybrid in a car like this '57 Pontiac. The future and past melding, becoming one.

[Robert Hall]

Moltar, I got thinking, what a hoot it would be to drop a GM hybrid in a car like this '57 Pontiac. The future and past melding, becoming one.

Yeah, kind of something like Neil Young's electric Contintental.

[HarleyEarl]

I hadn't heard of this variation of the '61 Cadillac before. As it reads, it's a 'short deck Sixy-Two Sedan'.

[Robert Hall]

I seem to recall reading about that somewhere years ago..a google turned a bit more info (not sure if it's accurate):

Cadillac thought that people who lived in the city would want a smaller Cadillac for parking. The Park Avenue was outsold by the hardtop Sedan DeVille by a wide margin. I guess the buyers wanted the longest car they could afford in the early 60's. ..have seen them with buckets in the front, as well as a bench.

'61 the car was a Series 62 six-window model (no deVille version), and was called the Short-Deck Sixty Two Sedan. In '62 the car was referred to as the Town Sedan, but was a four-window model. The deVille version was called the Park Avenue Sedan deVille. In '63 there was a deVille version only, and it was once again called the Park Avenue Sedan deVille.

I'd never heard of a Cadillac Park Avenue before.

[HarleyEarl]

Very interesting...thanks for that great information. I was surprised about the 'Park Avenue' too.

[Robert Hall]

Here's a site w/ pics of the '63 DeVille Park Avenue:

63 Park Avenue

[HarleyEarl]

Here's a site w/ pics of the '63 DeVille Park Avenue:

63 Park Avenue

Great link....you really see what Cadillac used to be. It was something special.

[vonVeezelsnider]

There really is little that Equals this... one of my Fav cars ever along with the 1956 Cadillacs and Imperials, the 1965 Cadillac and the 1961-63 Continentals.

[HarleyEarl]

Love that crazy oblong steering wheel!....

[ocnblu]

Oh man, that Imperial is large and in charge, yes sir.

[knightfan26917]

We don't build buildings like that anymore. Wow, that must have been so...elegant and classy in its day.

Just like the automobiles of those days, imho.....

I love looking at pics of older buildings and cars, regardless of the current condition. It always seems to set my imagination wild, trying to picture the building or car as "brand new".....

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