And These Are My Cars

The top picture is Baby, my '62 Plymouth that not only has an interesting and famous history in Detroit circles, but has quite a story with my having it in the first place. The lower picture is my '67 Chrysler Newport, or as we call it around here, Moneypit. And thanks Drew for enjoying the car show pics.

The history of the Plymouth is still, after all these years quite entertaining. Just before actual production was to begin a Plymouth executive overheard at a cocktail party that Chevy was producing a small more compact car. Misunderstanding the information, he then rushed to other execs on Monday morning claiming Chevy was downsizing for '62. Keep in mind all of the dyes had been cast, the long hours of designing a car has been 2 years in the making.

Well, when the president of Chrysler got wind of this he scrapped the previous design for Plymouth (and Dodge) and began to shorten the wheelbase. From what i understand, factories went around the clock for a couple of weeks re-engineering a small, shorter Plymouth.

This is the original version of the Plymouth before downsizing.

When the car was finished and the line was rolled out to dealerships, a collective shriek occurred at the short dumpy car. Many dealerships in fact quit Plymouth, and sales were one of the worst ever for the company. The Chrysler president claimed the car looked like a "plucked chicken".

And what about that Chevy rumor. The Chevy man was speaking not about downsizing all Chevys but rather introducing the Chevy II, a smaller more compact car.

Comments

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me, they came right from the MDH website. I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access. After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances. But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs. I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered. The original MDH at this site was just the front part. The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library. It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place. He passed away around 2002, I think. Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town. The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice. This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly. These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city. Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city. He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets. He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth. Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times. He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto. He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky. I wo...

Existing In BFE

Search This Blog