Yes, it’s true–in the history of CC (except for a photo of a ’60 Matador police car), there has never been a post featuring the “big Dodges” of 1960! So today I intend to “fill that terrible VAY-can-seee“, as W. C. Fields would say.
What a quantum leap a car like the ’60 Dodge was compared to what people were driving when Fields was making his hilarious movies (often involving car chases) just 25 or 30 years before. Who would dream of such a thing? Well, actually–some people did!
From the 1939 Dodge brochure.
Here we see one of the first examples of “futuristic” design themes, both in the streamlined styling of the car and the dramatic background with early Space Age artistic elements.
“To New Horizons”–1939 New York World’s Fair film.
1939 was also the year of the New York World’s Fair with all its optimistic predictions about The Wonder-World of 1960: “A future we are all tremendously interested in–because that is where we are going to spend–the rest of our lives!”
In the world of 1960, quarter-mile high skyscrapers tower. “By means of the ramped loops, cars make right and left turns at speeds of over 50 miles per hour!” New super-highways allow motorists to “avoid undesirable slum areas wherever possible!” To visitors at the Fair who had grown up in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, such concepts must have seemed like the most incredible kind of fantasy!
The hype leading up to the Magic Year 1960 was further built up in late 1956 with Chrysler Corporation’s SUDDENLY, IT’S 1960! ad campaign promoting their radically styled 1957 Forward Look line of cars.
Before anyone knew it, suddenly it was 1960. And Dodge, borrowing a slogan from the 1939 Fair, proclaimed: “It’s a new day at Dodge!” In the Mopar hierarchy, Dodge was always the longer, more powerful, flashier step UP from the low-priced Plymouth. But now Dodge offers two complete lines of cars: the traditional big, luxury Dodge (Matador and Polara) and the new Dart series (Seneca, Pioneer, Phoenix) which compete model-for-model in the low-priced field!
With this car, all the Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, World-of-Tomorrow, Jet-Age fantasies are now made manifest in steel and glass. Dodge advertising proudly states, “Certainly no other car in its class is styled with such faultless taste or built with such obvious care. Everything about it says, “This is the kind of car you have been waiting for!”
Big Dodge on the left (green); Dart Phoenix (red) on the right.
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the full-size Dodge from the Dart. Matador and Polara are 4″ longer in wheelbase and overall length than the Darts. The “senior” Dodges have a distinctive die-cast grille with chromium “gull wings”, bigger fins which end well ahead of the taillights, and other detail differences.
This comparison shot shows how the additional 4″ of wheelbase was all in the rear of the car, with the Matador & Polara (top) having longer rear doors and a set back rear axle. This is the same 122″ wb body shell also used by DeSoto and the Chrysler Windsor, with the New Yorker getting another 4″ wheelbase stretch in the form of a longer front end. The Dart (bottom) shared the same 118″ wb body shell with the Plymouth. But all the wagons used the 122″ body, except for the New Yorker, with its elongated front end.
Dodge had a bonanza sales year in 1960, with about 350,000 cars sold. However, 88% of them were Darts, making the full-size Dodges relatively rare. It’s easy to see why this occurred. For most people, the Dart had all the desirable Dodge virtues; it looked like a Dodge, but cost several hundred dollars less. With the Dart, you could buy a higher-status Dodge at Ford-Chevy-Plymouth prices. Get a Phoenix with all its flashy bright-metal trim, and people would think you bought the full-boat luxury Dodge, but you paid about $400 less!
1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix: “You can drive the Phoenix anywhere–park it next to anything–with the smuggest, most self-satisfied feeling in the world!”
However, if you park a Dart next to the Polara, the Dart (which I always thought was already quite florid) will now seem rather conservative and restrained by comparison. Maybe the Matador/Polara was just too over-the-top for most people?
I found a mostly-original 1960 Dodge Polara 4-door hardtop auctioned by Mecum in Kissimmee, Florida in 2022. It’s in a rare and rather exotic color combination of Fawn and Satin White. There are lots of good photos which show off the car in all its amazing glory:
Parabolic steering wheel features clear gold plastic sections with embedded “sparkles”. Outside light brightens translucent speedometer.
This example is equipped with the “Satellite-Styled” clock. Yes, even the clock on this car is Space Age, with an orbiting Sputnik-like red “satellite” second hand. I know of a present-day ’60 Dodge owner who paid $1000 just to acquire a Satellite Clock and install it on his car because he found it so fascinating!
Dodge was advertised as the world’s “First All-Pushbutton Car, with pushbutton control of driving and weather.”
The fighter-jet fender ornaments were mounted on thick bright metal “straps” which were unique to the Polara.
Ultra-thin taillights finish off the ends of the large, truncated fins.
Based on my ownership experience, I can say that these ’60 Dodges and Darts have as much or more luxury, smoothness, quietness, handling ease, and seating comfort as Cadillac or Imperial. Auto testing magazines of the time were unanimous in praising the Torsion-Aire ride now combined with Unibody construction, which produced a solid feeling, fine handling car. All the engine choices were excellent from the economy Slant Six standard on the Dart to the screaming D-500 Ram Induction 383 V-8 available in the senior models.
Of course, by 1970 or so, most of these ’60 Dodges had become worn-out eyesores. In a strange irony, their overwrought Space Age styling was now outdated and scorned. By the time I came along, a Dart was occasionally spotted, but a Matador or Polara was a rare sight indeed.
For ’61, there was only one senior Dodge model offered, the Polara. After the spectacular ’60, what do you do for an encore? Hit ’em with another radical Space Age design! But this one was not so well received, and sales dropped significantly. The ’61 Dodge Polara is another car never featured on CC. I guess I’ll start looking for one to show you!
Related CC reading:
My New Curbside Classic: 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix Sedan–Dodge Put a Dart In My Heart!
CC Transformation: 1960 Dodge Dart Gets a Completely New Paint Job!
CC Capsule: 1960 Dodge Dart Seneca – The Dart Goes Down Under
Curbside Classic: 1961 Dodge Dart Pioneer – The Anti-Impala
Curbside Classic: 1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix – How Did I Miss This?
I’ve noticed that in cars (and lots of other things), whatever is most emphasized tends to be what’s most lacking. It seems in retrospect that all these space-age future-cars of the late 50s and 60s are really quite basic machines past the styling with a lot of old technology under the hood. On the other hand you see the Dodges of the present day trying to evoke an image of old-school American simplicity, when they have a microcontroller in every door-handle.
I have known for a long time that there were significant differences between the Darts and the “real” Dodges in 1960, but I never really paid attention. But wow, is there ever a lot of chrome/stainless trim on the big one! I also never noticed the grille difference. Boy did Chrysler know how to spend money in ways that most people never noticed.
I think the senior Dodge may be about the only Mopar line in which I prefer the 61 to the 60. The 60’s fin that ends so far short of the rear of the car doesn’t work all that well for me, while I find the jet-tube taillight on the 61 just fascinating.
When I was a teenage car fanatic there was `61 Polara 4 door hardtop sedan on my block. We used to call it the ‘car from outer space’ for obvious reasons. We used to say that those ‘jet tube’ taillights were really rocket torpedo tubes that were able to fire at any car that was following you too closely or tailgating you! A cool set of wheels, this car really had presence.
WOW! Flashback here! My Dad bought a 1960 Matador 4 door sedan just like the black one. It was two toned, white top and pale yellow bottom. As a kid, I’d love it when he’d stomp the accelerator and the 361 c.i. V-8 would rock my head back! I remember especially washing those “jet exhaust” tail/reverse lights; and oh!, that space age dash with the pushbuttons and that steering wheel! Thanks for the memories! 🙂
Having been born in 1963, I don’t have a great memory of these cars. As I’ve said before, the first car in my baby life was a 1962 Buick Invicta which was mild by comparison.
My father in law, however, talks with great memories of his first brand new car-a 1961 Dart Pioneer! So these pictures help me put it into perspective.
I’ll be seeing him today (he’s now in an assisted living facility) and share this article. It’ll bring up positive memories.
Thanks you. The more I read, the more I learn about my first love- cars.
While it’s not shown in these pictures or the pictures from the auction listing, I believe this is a Windsor built car with a very low sequence number, so produced early in the model year run. It is an outstanding example.
I always found the Polara’s fascinating in 1960. So rare, particularly in Canada. No recollection of seeing a Matador at all.
I thought the senior Dodge’s were all imported to Canada from the US, and only the Darts were produced domestically. Was the full line produced in Windsor?
I also don’t remember ever seeing a full-size ’60 Dodge in Canada. And we lived across the street from a Dodge dealer. 🙂
But I think we rarely got the longer-wheelbase versions of the major makes (Pontiac comes to mind). Given the big Dodge’s relatively low sales numbers even in the US, the import tariff barriers at the time, and the Cheviac/Plodge-type model efficiencies common in the Canadian industry, I’d doubt it was seen as worthwhile creating an assembly line for these in Canada. My guess would be they weren’t even available here.
Interesting to note then from what I saw on Oldcarbrochures, only the Polara was available in the Great White North.
https://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/Chrysler-Canada/Dodge/1960%20Dodge%20Polara%20Brochure%20-%20Canada/index.html
And Canadian 1960-61 Dart continued the “Plodge” tradition with the 1960 Plymouth interior.
https://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/Chrysler-Canada/Dodge/1960-Dodge-Dart-Brochure/slides/1960_Dodge_Dart_Cdn-06-07.html
I remember an article from Collectible Automobile about the 1960-61 Dodge Polara/Dart/Matador showing a clay model of a proposed 1960 Dodge still keeping the 1957-59 4-door sedan roofline. I don’t have that issue but I scanned a long while ago, the pictures in question. https://imgur.com/x9Us3zM
If I were in the market fo a `60 Dodge today, I’d hunt down a Polara HARDTOP station wagon! That bodystyle was only shared with Chrysler New Yorkers, and boy are they scarce! A collector I met owns a restored black one with dual AC and power everything. I got my first and only ride in that car, and can attest to the solid comfort it had. Smooth and flat on corners, and not a rattle to be found. It felt like an Imperial!
I can say that I sat in one of these back in 1960. I would have been six. The car was blue and four doors. Had a strong new car smell inside. This was in Bogota, NJ. Since my father worked for the Carnation Milk Co. it was a company car. I never had a ride in it and the probable reason is that I do not recall seeing it after that one time. I draw a big blank on it. I’m afraid, that unlike some here who paid attention to cars at this age, I didn’t truly pay close attention till 15 when a car was just around the corner. Then I collected yearly summaries from Motor Trend on everything for 67, 68, and 69 cars
Seeing these big Darts back then was fairly common, but the bigger Matadors and Polaras were quite rare. 1960 was a watershed year for Dodge, as it jumped into the low-price field with the Dart and never looked back. When the big Polara came back in 1965, it too was a dud; Dodge never regained any traction in the low-cost full size field after this 1960 Dart petered out in 1961.
It seems strange to me seeing the Matador/Polara being referred to as the “full-sized Dodge” given the Dart looks pretty full-sized to me, actually not just full-size but outright BIG. The differences between them are far too subtle to subtle for most people to notice, especially from the rear doors forward. The most obvious difference – the clipped fins – just look weird. If I owned one by the mid-’60s or later, I’d be thinking about how I could slice those fins off every time I looked at them.
But the space-age details, inside and out, are incredible; the automotive equivalent of googie architecture. And then there’s that clock; I’d be tempted to pull over to the side of the road just so I could check the time safely, but I’d still love one of these for my desk.
The “everything on a touchscreen” ethos of modern cars makes me long for an “all-pushbutton car”.
Yes, I unironically love the dashboard and steering wheel, just as I loved the gaudy neon signs outside the mom-and-pop motels that were everywhere back then. Good taste be damned lol.
Yes those ’60 Darts were quite common but I never recall seeing a Polara and maybe if I did my kid awareness would have dismissed it as a Dart. I always liked the ’60 styling, you have to take it in context. The ’61 Dart however I always found hideous but I think the Polara isn’t half bad (Don Draper approved).
Chrysler should have just swam it’s lane, they spread themselves too thin.
Also, Dodge dropped the Royal, Custom Royal and Coronet names for 1960. But I guess Dodge realized their mistake for dropping the Coronet name to bring it back for 1965 for the “new” mid-size offering who was a fine reskinned 1962-64 “plucked chicken”.
I have fond memories of ’60 Dodge Dart. I was six years old when my cousin got married. They had a new white one and I admired it as it sat in front of the church.
The Polara fins were just plain weird, and I don’t recall ever seeing one. I only became aware of their existence in recent years in one of my car books. Harry Truman bought one and was pictured with it. Apparently he was a big time Dodge fan for years.
One small element I always liked about this era of full-size Mopar’s was the dash-mounted rear-view mirror. Way cool!
For seeing the back seat.
And getting loose and flopping over like a wilted flower. Constantly.
Although I have always liked the looks of it.
My Dad bought at 1960 Dart Senaca in early Oct 1959. One week before they were officially released. It was a basic 170 CID slant six with 3 on the tree. He drove that car 11 years and we’ll over 100,000 miles. His buddy had a Matador. Yellow with a black top. I always thought the Matador looked a little weird next to the Dart. I was 16 when Dad traded the Dart in 1971. My younger sister who was 12 cried when he traded in the Dodge. It was a nice car. What did he trade for……the new 1971 Pinto. Another story for another time.
We only got the Darts down here, as the Dodge Phoenix (aka Fiendish), and they seemed really way out to a little kid. When I discovered about fifteen years later there were even bigger Dodges, I was amazed. I hadn’t realized the Phoenix was ‘small’. It doesn’t look notably smaller, as borne out by your comments. MInd you, Plymouth-size was still a way big car down here.
Which brings me to the styling. I love it. It looks different from the smaller series without giving you the impression they made changes just for the sake of making changes. The 3/4 length fins are unusual but not repulsive; my mind imagines the car without them and I concede it needed something there. But how quickly tastes changed; GM and Ford were moving toward a more sharper-edged flat-panelled boxy look, leaving Chrysler with a new body which seemed to accent the curvature of the body sides. Time would tell this look wouldn’t age well, but who could tell in 1960?
That clock is just wonderful. Chrysler seemed to really embrace the spirit of the age and take it further than anyone else was doing!
I’m not convinced about the massive chrome plaques the fender top ornaments sit on; I’d have put a textured finish or black crackle finish there, something for some visual contrast. Chrome on chrome just gets lost in the dazzle, but I guess it had to out-dazzle the Dart!
We got the same confusing range from Canada Aussie and used imports from the US, I like em but it took a long time to figure out which was which,
By 1960 it was hard to take anything reminiscent of ‘The Forward Look’ seriously, and the cleanness of the original concepts had all but disappeared. To me the Dart looks dated and fussy – an incoherent muddle. The big Dodge arguably still had some drama and conviction to it, even if the basic styling ideas were living on borrowed time.
I’ve seen some pictures showing a black finish on the fender toppers. It probably wore off over time on most cars:
I was just 5 years old in 1960, but I was already a mini Gearhead. I was born in Detroit. My mom’s side of the family all worked for the Chrysler Corporation. My dad’s side all worked at the Ford Motor Company. That’s just the way it was in Detroit at the time. In 1958 my family packed up their kit and moved the entire Kaboodol to Southern California, We were still a Chrysler family. My dad bought a new 1958 Dodge Custom Sierra wagon with red and white two-tone paint and black and white interior, to make the trip to California. In 1960 or 61 one of my uncles still lived in Detroit, and he worked in the clay styling Dome at Chrysler’s Highland Park headquarters. He came to visit us in California driving a white with Light blue vinyl interior Dodge. I was about 5 or 6, so I can’t say if it was Polara or a Dart. It never occurred to me at the time the two cars were so much alike. I was young but very into cars. I do remember riding in the back seat seat of his Dodge, hanging over the front seat backs checking out the dash. As I said, I came from a Chrysler family, so I was kinda used to Chrysler’s space age styling. I do remember that George Jetsons steering wheel. It was daylight and I can still see that clear Lusite steering wheel sparkling in the sunlight. The clear part had little flexs of plastic floating around inside the clear part of the wheel. I also remember the shape of the wheel looked like an atom the way the design crossed over the hub of the wheel. The the instrument cluster was clear so you could see right through it. It sure seemed space age to me and I thought it was very cool. But then, in 1961, things got even more space age when Chrysler launched the new Astrodome instrumentation on all the full-size Chryslers. It was clearly the best instrument cluster of any car on the road. But it gets even better because at night with the headlights on, the cluster glowed in the most beautiful aqua blue color lighting. Chrysler called it Panelesent lighting. There were no light bulbs, it was electroluminescent like today’s watches and clocks. The aqua blue lighting was the best thing I had ever seen. At the time I had no idea how it worked, and I didn’t care, I thought all cars should have such a beautiful instrument cluster. I now know how complex it was and how expensive it was to install and service. In any event, I liked those Dodges. With all the excessive, over the top, heavily chromed cars of the era, to me those Dodges fit right in. However looking back all the real space age, Forward Look styling was really lead by the Chrysler Corporation thanks to the creative genius Virgil Exner. He definitely believed go all in, or go home. . Ford and GM were scrambling to follow Chrysler’s styling. You either loved it or you hated it. Clearly, it wasn’t for everyone. We needed Chrysler as part of the US Big Three. And it needed to be different. If I was old enough to drive in 1960, I would have had no problem driving the full-size Dodges or super fined, 61 Chryslers. I thought the clipped fins of the Dodge Polara worked fine.. I liked the little red reflectors at the trailing edge of the set back fins was a cool touch.
Terrific writeup on yeah, a scarcely-seen range of cars. I have to think that great big stainless cladding on the lower quarter panel probably invited rust, even despite the new seven-dips-and-sprays anticorrosion treatment. And I think you’re probably right; compared to the Dart, the big Dodge seems overmuch.
One thing:
Sortakinda, but the taillights are combined with the brake and turn signal functions in the upper big round red light. That light at the tail of the fin is, per Chrysler, an “ornament light”.
Wow ~ so much wretched excess .
-Nate