Poor Plymouth. Despite several unique models and astounding successes, most Plymouths were little more than lesser trimmed and slightly restyled Chryslers and Dodges. Especially during its later years, Plymouth had little more to show for than a lineup virtually identical to those brands, albeit smaller and blander. The fall of this lamented make is a sad story, but it’s time to give it the spotlight here at Curbside Classic.
Plymouth was introduced, in 1928, as a low-priced companion make to the premium Chrysler brand. Later that year, Chrysler also introduced DeSoto and purchased Dodge, both of which covered the mid-price ground between Plymouth and Chrysler. Through pure coincidence, the timing for Plymouth couldn’t have been better; the Great Depression hit the following year, and as higher-priced brands suffered, Plymouth’s low price point actually turned out to be a blessing, with Plymouth sales ensuring the survival of the entire Chrysler Corporation.
It may be hard to believe, but Plymouth was once the third-best selling brand in the U.S. Outsold only by Chevrolet and Ford, Plymouth took the #3 spot nearly every year from 1932 to 1960 (only in 1955 and 1956 did Buick take third place, bumping Plymouth to fourth). But during the ’60s and ’70s, various missteps would start eating away at Plymouth’s success.
The downsized 1962 “full-size” Plymouths were a huge sales disaster that sent Plymouth from fourth to eighth place in sales. Plymouth would recover, especially with the debut of the attractive, “upsized” ’65s, but the renaissance would be short-lived.
Despite Chrysler’s cost-cutting measures and mounting financial woes, the Fuselage years were particularly good for Plymouth sales. Cars like the muscle-car Barracuda, the old-reliable compact Valiant, and sporty-yet-affordable Duster were enough to keep Plymouth flying high. Despite the less-than-stellar Buick-knockoff ’74 Furys, strong sales of other models once again boosted Plymouth up to #3 in sales (for what would be the final time)–and then the Oil Crisis hit.
Muscle cars all but died, sales of full-size cars plummeted, and Chrysler, with precious few compact offerings, was again in financial turmoil. Chrysler was quicker than GM and Ford to standardize the practice of badge engineering, with little to no sheet metal differences between Chryslers, Dodges, and Plymouths. Soon enough, the Big Two would also make this a common practice, but not to Chrysler’s extent.
The 1974 death of the Barracuda spelled an end to anything interesting (or even remotely unique) in Plymouth’s lineup. While Dodge and Chrysler could at least salvage some of their historically sporty and luxurious identities, respectively, Plymouth was left with no real selling point besides value–and by this point, Dodge was selling all the same cars as Plymouth at the same prices. The K-car may have saved Chrysler, but it killed Plymouth.
Plymouth was consistently denied variants of more interesting cars given to Chrysler and Dodge. With a shrinking lineup, Plymouth’s overall sales began to slip, and they never recovered. Dodge permanently supplanted Plymouth as Chrysler Corp’s best-selling brand starting in 1983; now the latter’s only real value to the Corporation lay in the company’s separate Chrysler-Plymouth and Dodge franchises. Since Chrysler hadn’t yet started selling stripper models across the board, lower-priced Plymouth models were needed in Chrysler-Plymouth showrooms.
By 1995, Plymouth was down to only three models: the compact Neon, midsize Acclaim and Voyager minivan. This 1995 brochure tries to inflate Plymouth’s offerings by presenting as separate models the Neon coupe and sedan, and the Voyager & Grand Voyager. Sorry, Chrysler, we’re not that gullible.
The 1997 Prowler brought some much needed excitement to Plymouth, but as a halo model, the $30,000 two-seat roadster did little for the brand in terms of increasing sales or profit. The Prowler did, however, influence future Plymouth styling. Unfortunately, the end result never came into fruition; various Prowler-influenced “Plymouth Pronto” concepts were in development, with an upcoming production model planned, when the Daimler-Chrysler merger occurred. The Daimler takeover merger was the final nail in the coffin.
The official death announcement was made in November 1999. Plymouth would be phased out by 2001, with current and future models to be either discontinued or integrated into the Chrysler lineup. The Breeze ended production within two months, while the redesigned Neon lasted a bit longer, into June 2001. The Prowler and Voyager were rebadged as Chryslers.
Among Plymouth’s lasting legacies was the PT Cruiser. Originally planned as a Plymouth, the orphaned PT Cruiser would be launched as a Chrysler in 2001, and would live on until decade’s end. Plymouth’s Voyager minivan–largely responsible for both creating the entire minivan market and keeping Plymouth alive throughout the ’90s–continues to live overseas as a Chrysler (and, in some markets, as a Lancia!). Also, it’s highly likely the Barracuda will make a return, this time not as a Plymouth but an SRT.
Though few people miss (or even remember) Plymouth today, I will always have a soft spot for this tragic figure in automotive history. So much more could be said about Plymouth, and its highs and lows; thankfully, though, we know Plymouth always will have a place here at Curbside Classic. For us Plymouth fans, even better news is that it’s Mopar Mania Week at CC, and Plymouth will not be ignored!
I always enjoyed my Plymouths, from a ’56 stripper Plaza, to a ’62 Fury III (fire-engine red), and a ’73 Satellite hardtop. Handled well, reliable..maybe a bit rust-prone to be sure! I was sorry to see them go.
Dodge did everything it could to kill off Plymouth. The Dodge executives saw what was happening at DeSoto when Chrysler put out their Newport stripper and DeSoto sales began to tank. When Tex Colbert got caught with his hands in the cookie jar and buried his best buddy, Newburg to cover it all up and buy himself some time, a whole lot of crap came down on the Corporation at this time. Corporate hijinks seemed to have overruled common sense and within Chrysler it was every man for himself. Coupled with the disasterous 1957 quality problems, the 1958 recession and no place to go after their renaissance, the men at Chrysler seemed to have decided to shanghai one another.
DeSoto was the first to get shafted. Chrysler and Dodge picked over any bones left. Dodge then decided to go after Plymouth by launching the Dodge Dart, which was direct competition against Plymouth. Luckily for Plymouth, the new Valiant became their escape hatch and the brand lived on while it sold like crazy. But remember the Valiant wasn’t originally created to be a Plymouth, it was to be a stand alone brand. So as Dodge cannibalized Plymouth’s sales with the Dart, Plymouth found a savior with the Valiant.
The Valiant spawned the Barracuda, which gave the brand some life in 1965.
But Dodge continued to smother Plymouth, searching for sales to stay afloat. Chrysler had no problems with Dodge doing this because many of the the top Corporation executives came from Dodge and did what they could to protect their fraternity.
Plymouth was left to starve by 1966. What the brand had to do was take the budget allotted for a facelifted Valiant and sink it into a new vehicle without Corporate approval – all behind the scenes. This car became a huge hit called the Duster. The Duster gave Plymouth new life.
But Dodge, which wanted their version of the Valiant, then wanted their version of the Duster as well. Instead of telling Dodge to stick with their own version of the compacts they had, Chrysler kept allowing Dodge to grab whatever looked good from Plymouth.
Naturally Plymouth sales would start to suffer. If the Corporation protected Plymouth from Dodge pilfering, Plymouth would have had different cars from Dodge and it’s own identity. Chyrsler saw the Plymouth sales successes as neverending and assumed Plymouth could be pilfered and continue to be successful.
As the Corporation suffered over the past decade, it is now Dodge’s turn to try escaping the automobile graveyard they helped send DeSoto and Plymouth into.
Good. I call that karma.
My parents had good luck with their 87 Plymouth Voyager. It had 390,000 miles on it before it went to that great junkyard in the sky. The body and interior were perfect too.
My father had a 71 Duster. I still remember banging my head into the shiny chrome headrest pillars during a rear end accident. Dad and grandpa pounded out the dents and it was good for another 4 years of service until cleveland road salt rusted out the brake lines (amongst other things). I have never seen another green one, ever….
I agree that after 74 they stopped making anything exciting or interesting,At one time there was a Plymouth for everyone from Valiant to Fury and all cars in between.
Afraid I was another one of those who let Plymouth die. Although a heavy Chrysler Corporation customer during the 80’s and 90’s, my purchases were invariably Dodges. Partially due to the Dodge dealer in Johnstown being a close friend of the family (the father was my dad’s used car manager back in the 60’s, the son was my best friend in high school, and we were all Slovak); and partially because I was always in the market for something a bit fancier than a plain-Jane four door sedan. Which, by the time I was buying, was all that Plymouth had left.
Syke,
Ako se mate from another Slovak (I’m only half Slovak, both my mother’s parents came over from the old country in the twenties to eastern PA).
I was brought home from the hospital when I was born in my Dad’s ’56 Plymouth Plaza (no options, flathead 6 and manual transmission not too different from the ’33 model). My Grandfather (on my Mother’s side) had a ’51 Chrysler Windsor (with fluid drive), but other than those, unfortunately we had no other Chrysler cars (other than my Father buying a ’86 Dodge 600 which my sister totaled in an accident 3 years later)..but that ’51 Windsor stayed in the family 18 years.
Of course the heyday of Plymouth was in the 30’s, I think even in the ’50s they were starting to see problems…the production war between GM and Ford in the early 50’s hurt the independents, but I think Plymouth also slipped from 3rd spot then (they came back several times after). Plymouth seemed to do well during tough times since they were the low cost Chrysler models, but I think starting with the 1960 Dodge Dart, they were increasingly in trouble since they were losing any distinguishing models (Dodge seemed to be moving both down-market to Plymouth and upmarket to cover the soon to be defunct DeSoto). Fortunately, Valiant was combined in with Plymouth, which proved to be very helpful in terms of volume, I guess you could say even Plymouth was moving down-market to cover the previously pretty much ignored compact market…otherwise, Plymouth might have ended closer to the time of DeSoto….but Dodge also moved further down market, so in the ’60s there really wasn’t much to distinguish Plymouth from Dodge models. In ’75 Chrysler brand itself moved down in size to the “mid” size from previous “large” size, likely due to the gas shortages, which likely pushed Dodge farther down market as sales of small cars were taking off, but Plymouth didn’t seem to have anywhere to go (other than maybe micro-cars?) in terms of unique models. Add the takeover of small car market by the imports (I guess Plymouth also saw this adding Simca and then Mitsubishi models to the lineup, but this really didn’t stem the tide of non-Chrysler branded imports) and it seems that Plymouth was boxed in. Horizon was a good seller for awhile, but Plymouth never seemed to have a unique high-volume small car (I guess Neon sold well, but it was also branded as Dodge).
Too bad…though Dodge (and Fiat) now cover the low end, I think Plymouth could have persisted if it had more successes on smaller cars, and if it could have had some more unique models that sold well.
Damn, those ’62’s were good looking, too, even the four door sedan models. I’ll never understand why the slagging on the downsized cars back then . . . . . . . . other than back in 60’s America, real ‘Muricans didn’t buy little cars.
Thank you! I totally agree. Though the four-door sedan shown above is a bit awkward, the coupes and convertibles were smashing. My favorite ’62.
American cars bloated like crazy the previous five years, Chrysler offered something a little more sensible and stylish, and they’re forever hammered for it. Sometimes you just can’t win.
I’m coming around.
Agree completely!
We still don’t.
I think we are in the minority but I’ve always liked the 62 Plymouths. I still think they are handsome cars.
We had exactly one in our small midwestern town and the owners had traded in a beautiful 59 white Fury four door hardtop for a new 62 two door sedan – I seem to recall it was a metallic color like dark champagne. From this one example – for what it’s worth – stemmed an end to the family’s Mopar buying. They found the car to be too small and it had some problems. The following year it was traded for a new Ford Galaxy. That too, was perceived to be a lemon and the family went Buick for decades thereafter.
If you wanted an intermediate car there were plenty to choose from in 62 and the Chevy IIs and Ford Fairlanes were flying out the door. But my recollection is that these were not perceived to be family sized cars (well, except for Paul’s Dad:-). And families bought a lot of Plymouths (my uncle with five kids being a good example) and they wanted a bigger car than this down-sized model.
“…even the Buick-knockoff ’74 Furies were enough to push Plymouth to #3 again (in what would be the final time). But then the Oil Crisis hit…”
But didn’t Duster/Valiant sales in 1974 actually help Plymouth stay at #3? The C bodies were DOA that year. And the 1st Oil Crisis hit right when the ‘all new’ 74 tanks were unveiled in Oct. 1973. Not a year after as inferred.
Other than fleets, only the big 1974-77 Chryslers sold OK. Even the Bluemobile is a Dodge! Fury/Gran Fury was a flop.
Yes, I spoke too soon. Went back and fact checked my Encyclopedia of American Cars…
I fixed the article.
The first oil crisis began in the fall of 1973, around the time the 1974 model year began. In the short term I think it helped Plymouth more than it hurt them, and actually played a big role in Plymouth regaining #3 in ’74. The oil crisis caused a run on small cars, and to American carbuyers of that era, the Mopar A-bodies qualified as “small cars”. The other brands that had been jockeying for #3 in recent years relied much more heavily on sales of large cars than Plymouth did, and those vehicles took a big blow from the oil crisis and accompanying recession. Plymouth had a popular small car, and the fact that its competitors were much stronger in the fullsize and intermeidate classes suddenly (at least temporarily) didn’t matter as much. I don’t have any numbers in front of me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of Plymouth’s 1974 model year sales were A-bodies.
This didn’t really carry over into ’75, though, when A-body sales were still decent but not at the levels they had been in 1974. The ongoing recession was causing more consumers to either delay buying a new car entirely, or look at something smaller than the A-bodies (which often meant something foreign); GM and Ford both had newly restyled cars in this size class (X-bodies, Granada/Monarch); and due to #1 and #2, the age of the A-body design finally caught up to it.
Another Plymouth fan here. 59 Fury, 71 Scamp, 66 Fury III (in order of appearance) represent between 10 and 11 years of (mostly) happy motoring in my life. My mother had an 80 Horizon for 5 years as well. For some strange reason (nothing intentional) I have never had a Dodge.
Really, Chrysler was the only one following the playbook with Plymouth in its later years. It was supposed to be the “value brand” that shared showrooms space with up-market Chryslers. Ford and Chevrolet dumped so much product into those brands to the detriment of models further up the chain. It is too bad that Chrysler couldn’t see keeping a value brand around.
There really isn’t a need for a “value” brand anymore, given that Ford, and to a lesser extent, Chevrolet and Toyota, have proven that it is possible to sell low-line strippers and expensive trucks, cars and specialty models under the same brand umbrella.
Chrysler already has had an equivalent to Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota – Dodge.
The bizarre part is that Chrysler’s new Italian management seems to be doing its best to undermine Dodge, when it should be rebuilding that brand. Those who don’t learn from history…
I think there’s the same fundamental problem that killed cars like the Henry J years ago — even people who have little money to spend don’t usually want to be seen as cheap, and these days, even fewer people want to be associated with a brand that instantly marks them as either cheap or poor.
You can count me among the people who would have never bought a new Plymouth for much that reason. I think the last (and possibly only — I’d have to ask) Plymouth my family had was the Horizon we had when I was a kid. I wasn’t old enough to drive, so the only memory I have of it was my parents trading it in on a Rabbit and being told that the only part of the Horizon that had any trade-in value whatsoever was the radio.
After that, the Plymouth name acquired a stigma in my head that it’s never really overcome. I remember feeling conflicted in the ’90s because I rather liked the looks and the idea of the Plymouth Pronto show car, which was on the cover of Car and Driver at one point not all that long before DCX killed the brand; I would have felt significantly less conflicted if it had worn Dodge or Chrysler badges, silly as that is.
While Fiat continues to deny it, I still can’t help wondering if they’re gearing up to phase out the Dodge brand entirely. The decisions they’ve made keep seeming like a prelude to putting it to sleep.
I can see why Plymouths have no connection to anyone born past the boomer years. Theres nothing sexy about a Sundance.
I was born in 74 and as a result, am a Gen Xer, but I have a brother who is 10 years older than me and his first 2 cars were a pair of Road Runners-a white 68 Hemi 4 speed car and then a bright yellow 73 440 car when he couldn’t handle the repairs and upkeep of the Hemi anymore (he later broke the 440 as well.) Imagine, as a 6 year old kid already hooked on the Dukes of Hazzard, seeing and hearing those monsters in the driveway in 1980 at the height of the street machine era. We also had a guy up the street that had a 70 Cuda pseudo-racecar. So I was lucky enough to have lived on the legacy of the Dusters, RRs, GTXs and Cudas. They were special cars and todays prices for those cars reflect it.
It was hard being a Mopar fan growing up in the 80s; no matter how fast they were or how good they looked, a K car is still a K car, but I wouldn’t consider any other new car than a Challenger, they got that one right.
But for Plymouths, unless youre a musclecar-era fan, there really is nothing to hold on to.
There are times when I’ve thought something like a ’66 Satellite 383 or E-body Barracuda would be fun, but by the point that idea occurred to me, the prices for every drivable, half-decent V8 Mopar of that vintage had already climbed from “fun second car” to “new Mazda3.”
Dan illustrates the problem well; although I’m sixteen years older than he is. The Plymouths that were around when I entered into prime auto-buying age were just blanded-down me-too Dodges. Yes, in my childhood there were interesting and hot Plymouths; but insurance costs were always a consideration to me. Those were in the background; and as we adjusted to 75-cent-a-gallon gasoline in the late 1970s, I admired the hot MoPars – but never envied their owners.
Plymouth was born as a contrivance, unlike Dodge or Oldsmobile…a “value” brand for the new Chrysler-Dodge combination. It was a wild ride; with many memorable offerings over the years…but it went out like it came in, unremarkable.
The saddest part of the death of Plymouth was not that it happened, but that it began a trend which has been speeding up since.
Other than the Road Runner and Barracuda, I always associated Plymouth with frumpy. Recently, my girlfriend and I stopped at a classic car dealer near Portland, and back in the corner gathering dust was a tan ’67 Belvedere, which I dubbed the Spinster Librarian Special. It’s not a bad car, and it’s nice to see a mostly original survivor than yet another Road Runner clone, but I wouldn’t have called it stylish in 1967.
http://www.affordableclassicsinc.com/ClassicsPgs/1967_Plymouth_Belvedere.htm
“One Adam-12, One Adam-12, see the man . . . “
I wish I had the time and money for it,the type of car I called a Dadmobile as a kid interest me now.As a kid the only Plymouths I was interested in were Barracudas and Roadrunne though I thought Dad’s Aussie Valiant as it looked like a scaled down American.
There used to be an ad campaign with 2 muppet style junkfood eating chickens who drove across the country getting into trouble. Their dream was to be selected as “Zacky Farms” chickens but of course they were too low quality. Their car was a junked up Plymouth(maybe it was a Dodge) the squarish, mid-60’s midsizer just like this one, only in rusty blue. So everytime I point out a nice mid sixties Chrysler product to my wife, she says “Is that one of the Chicken cars? It looks like a Chicken car….”
Foster Farms Chicken commercial – 67 Plymouth Belvedere. Great commercial.
Foster Farms- thanks…I mis-remembered it as Zacky….I always remember when they shout at the tatoo artist “Your mongoose looks like a dog!”, or the xray with the giant slice of pizza in their stomach. Great comercials.
I already asked this question in the Fuselage thread, but I’ll ask it here too.
In its later years, just what was the point of the Chrysler Newport ( basically a de-contented New Yorker ) when the Fury already had Mopar’s low-end fullsize market segment covered?
See my answer on the fuselage thread.
Don’t forget the 1960 Dodge Dart, which was a full-size car competing directly with Plymouth…
I thought it was odd that Daimler dusted off Maybach just after they pulled the plug on Plymouth. Either you have too many brands or you don’t – and as it turned out, if a Plymouth was a Dodge with a different grille, the Maybach was Mercedes’ Edsel.
Chrysler has always been confused on brands, much like Ford (and later GM) but worse.
During Chrysler’s history we’ve had Chrysler, Imperial, DeSoto, Dodge, Plymouth, Eagle, Jeep, & Ram. Jeep had its 4×4 rugged war proven history to fall back on. Eagle was a by product of the purchase of AMC. Chrysler didn’t seem to know what to do with DeSoto or Imperial at various times during its history (ultimately leading to the death of those brands) but at least when Chrysler had those brands they didn’t have to dilute the others to cover gaps.
Also, Chrysler’s brands always had a lot more in common with one another than was the case with GM and even Ford, going back to the very beginning. “Floating Power” engine mounts graced everything from Plymouth to the Chrysler Imperial.
At least GM had the discipline (once upon a time) to give Cadillac a feature and then keep it exclusive long enough to develop some new exclusive feature before letting it percolate down to the rest of the brands.
Now there is almost no Cadillac feature that you can’t get on a Buick or a GMC if you’re willing to pay.
As I ended up telling someone else recently, the important thing to remember is that for decades, GM didn’t give the divisions a whole lot other than the A/B/C body shell. The divisions had their own engineering staffs, including advanced R&D, and did most of their own development work. Occasionally the corporation would make the divisions share development on some project (the Super Turbine 300 two-speed automatic was one example, the Unitized Power Package for the Toronado and Eldorado was another), one division would end up buying some component from another, or a division would decide to take something from the central Engineering Staff and develop it for production (Turboglide and the Flight-Pitch/Triple Turbine Dynaflow are examples of that), but usually the impetus came from the individual division.
The corporation did have a general guideline that a division that came up with some innovation would have a year of exclusivity with it, but that rule doesn’t appear to have been enforced very rigorously. If senior management kiboshed some plan that seemed to step too much on another division’s toes, it was as often as not because the other division’s leadership screamed bloody murder (Buick’s semi-custom Brunn-bodied Limiteds before the war being one example) rather than that the corporation was determined to avoid overlap or preserve each division’s turf.
The top-down planning really didn’t become the standard at GM until the Roger Smith era, although the divisions’ autonomy was already eroding in the ’70s.
Not only that, but since GM was so vast and had so many other smaller ancillary divisions that would “pitch” items/ideas to the car divisions, Guide’s AutronicEye-Guide-Matic for example, or in other cases, a division would come up with an idea on their own and work with another GM component divsion on it.
…Don’t forget Fargo trucks. 🙂
I recall reading that they at least mocked up Plymouth versions of the Dynasty/New Yorker and a Plymouth LH. The PT Cruiser could almost have been enough to save Plymouth for a little while, but when there really was no difference other than being a cheaper Dodge, why bother?
They probably should have never tried to sell cars as Eagle and just figured out a way to prop Plymouth up with some of those cars, most Chysler-Plymouth shops also became Jeep-Eagle places by the early 90’s anyway, further adding to the confusion. Maybe if Plymouth could have still offered some light trucks and SUV’s at Chrysler dealers, but again, you already had Jeep in most Chrysler-Plymouth stores.
I think a big part of the rationale for Eagle as a brand was that Chrysler was hoping for some unfamiliar nameplate that might lure in the import buyers and customers who’d either been burned by the domestics (and their children who, like me, grew up with a distinctly jaundiced view of domestic cars). It was the same reasoning as Saturn or Geo at GM.
For the most part, that strategy didn’t work out, but I do understand the rationale. I wasn’t in the market for a new car when the LHs came out (and even if I had been, they would have been much bigger than I would have contemplated), but I can say quite definitely that if I were, I might have been persuaded to look at an Eagle, but would have shied well away from the Plymouth brand.
They did sort of push Eagle as an import fighting division. It was like a new DeSoto for Chrysler, it was supposed to be in the mid-price mid luxury market, the Vision was a pretty good looking car. The Eagle Talon robbed Plymouth of its exclusive little sport coupe, the Lazer.
Great job Brendan! I’m sure you could have gone on for pages and pages on Plymouth’s history.
IIRC, Chryco was one of the first to integrate all their lines with similar engines and generalized parts sharing, unlike GM until much later.
My Dad’s first new car was a ’57 Fury, and he subsequently bought 3 Mopars after that.
My first car was a telco-spec ’66 Belvidere I 2 door sedan – no options. I got it for $15. It lasted two months but hey it was an experience.
Thank you!
Trust me I could have gone on for pages! I’d love to write a complete Plymouth history with my commentary/opinions. If only I had the time 🙁
Plymouth ultimately suffered the same fate as Mercury and Pontiac in their final years- the lack of a distinct enough brand identity and glaringly obvious platform sharing / badge engineering eventually made them pointless and redundant. Thus, they were doomed.
Chrysler Corp started allowing C-P and Dodge stores to merge in 90’s. Then they ‘forced’ the idea.
With Dodge and Plymouth products overlapping, why bother? And ‘value brand’ doesnt sell these days. Hyundai and Kia added content to their cars to get away from ‘cheap’ image, and viola higher sales. So, no ‘value brand’ would not have made it as some Mopar fans wanted.
Very insightful! I never thought about that with Hyundai and Kia. That’s very true though. Even 5 years ago I’d never look twice at a car from either of them. Their recent upmarket pushes, along with attractive styling have certainly boosted their sales as well as brand perception. I’d actually consider an Optima or Sonata before I’d look at a Camry.
In my youth and young adulthood I drove Plymouths. I started with a 1966 Sport Fury two door hardtop in a creamy yellow with black and silver bucket seat interior. From there I moved on to a 1970 Plymouth Satellite convertible in bright yellow, followed by a orange and white Barracuda.
My final Plymouth was a 1980 Volare. (Curiously it was one of the most trouble free, long lived Chrysler products I’ve ever owned)
These cars were purchased for their sporty good looks, youthful image, and affordability. For me, they hit that bullseye.
The Daimler takeover merger was the final blow in the coffin.
Looks like someones really matched their meat….
What is a “final blow in the coffin”?
Is that what happens at a hookers funeral?
Nasty! Who’s got a dirty mind?
Necrophilia is a terrible thing.
Plymouth was essentially dead by then, thus already in the coffin. With the Daimler takeover Plymouth sealed its fate for good. I probably could have phrased that better.
Put the final nail in the coffin is what you were thinking.
Yes. Nail in the coffin is the desired cliché here. What Brendan did was to commit the very common and fairly minor sin of Mixed Metaphor. The rule is, once you start with an analogy (e.g. Plymouth is doing so badly it’s ready for a coffin), you need to stick with that analogy (e.g. the nail for the coffin), and not introduce other analogies (e.g. a “death blow”). I was cured of the tendency to mix metaphors by an English teacher who told our class, “Memorize this sentence and you’ll never use a mixed metaphor again: The hand that rocks the cradle has kicked the bucket.”
Thus concludes the pedantic portion of today’s post. Now, cars:
No personal Plymouth ownership experience, although I always liked them. Before my time but my father’s first-ever auto was a blue ’52 (totally strippo and spartan, or so goes the legend) that would’ve looked a lot like the attached photo. Then, when I was around 10, Dad brought home from work one day a ’66 or ’67 Fury III (also blue but that “III” trim level meant the opposite of strippo) that was a company car coming up for sale, that he was test-driving for a few days. He liked this Fury quite a bit, and decided he’d buy it, as his ’59 Dynamic 88 was starting to look a bit like a museum piece, and could be used by my mother as our first-ever second car. But between Dad’s decision to buy the Plymouth (not dissimilar to the red one in top photo in this article) and taking delivery, some other employee at the firm apparently took it out for a spin and totaled the poor thing!
So rather than returning to Plymouth, Dad instead returned to The General picking up a lightly-used ’66 Buick Wildcat, black/grey, chromed B-pillars, just like his old Olds. Because of this, I consider us “a GM family,” though only Fate prevented us from being equally “a Plymouth family.” Who knows how the wrecking of that Fury III may have affected my later automotive life. Is that why there’s a Camaro in my driveway and not a ‘Cuda or a Roadrunner?
Somewhat related: A eulogy for Plymouth seems to me as good an occasion as any to ask something I’ve been wanting to ask you fellas for a while now. Does anybody else remember an auto daredevil troupe of the ’60s called Jack Kochman’s Hell Drivers? I loved that act when I was a kid, saw them every summer. The Hell Drivers used Mopars exclusively the times I saw, and I still vividly remember sights like a ’70 Coronet driving the entire oval track on two wheels. I’ve googled around for Jack Kochman’s Hell Drivers, but precious little has turned up. Any Curbsiders know anything on these guys?
They were similar to the “all Chevy” Joey Chitwood stunt driving team.
It’s the stake through the heart.
For a nice long while, Plymouth represented good, no-nonsense transportation. To steal from a later ad campaign for another brand, Plymouth was “inexpensive and built to stay that way.” My fairly limited exposure to Chrysler products as a child came from 2 of my great aunts, who represented the opposite ends of the Chrysler spectrum. My father’s aunt drove Chrysler New Yorkers. One of my mother’s aunts drove Plymouths. Both had married men who respected Chrysler engineering and were loyal customers, and the aunts stuck with the products even after their husbands had passed on. My “Plymouth Great Aunt” lived in Western Massachusetts and was eminently practical. I still vaguely remember her 1968 Satellite, and more clearly remember her 1971 Satellite and 1976 Volare. She drove them until they rusted, usually about 4 to 5 years. I know from my “car grilling” (relatives and friends learned to tolerate my incessant questions about what they drove, used to drive, etc.), that she also had driven Plymouths starting in the 1930s, including a 1939 that was nursed all the way through WWII, replaced by a 1949 Special Deluxe, 1954 Savoy, 1958 Belvedere and a 1963 Fury. All 4 door sedans. She swore by them, until the Volare, that is. She defected the domestics after that one, and went to, drumroll please, Subaru! Many years of happy motoring ensued with the seemingly official car of New England, and she owned 2 more before she passed away.
Another old time Plymouth sentimentalist here! Mom’s first car was a 1952 Cambridge, a ’65 Fury II took the Old Man to work for 5 years before it was handed down to my older sister, and my first car was a ’68 Fury II. Dad also had a ’74 Gold Duster after the Fury and I had several more full-sizers and a Valiant before the real Plymouths disappeared. All were really good, dependable rides although the Duster suffered from having really cheap front-end components.
As I said before, my father’s 1st car was a 1968 Barracuda. With that & childhood memories of Road Runners, Dusters, GTXs, etc., I’m a Plymouth man
Both my grandparents lived near a large USAF base,the first American car I can remember was a white Plymouth Belvedere with a toilet seat that an airman from the base used to drive.
I must say I am a HUGE Plymouth fan still. I miss it greatly. Please bear with me on this, as I had to carefully think about how best to communicate my Plymouth love…
Mom and dad bought a six-month-old 1950 gray Plymouth two door sedan right after they got me. 6 cylinder stick, with radio.
Plymouth memories:
Riding with mom and dad, listening to KMOX radio with Harry Carey & Jack Buck broadcasting Cardinal baseball games on hot summer Sunday afternoons taking our weekly ride, hanging my head out the back window like a dog, fighting for breath – now you know one reason I hate fixed glass! Would I still do that? You betcha – it’s fun! I am an old kid, after all…
That was the car I almost fell out of one day while riding with mom to the doctor – I almost needed a hospital! She told me to lock the door by pushing the handle. Dummy me, I pulled it and the door flew open as she was coming to a stop at an intersection. She grabbed me at the last second! The door was sprung, but as there was a convenient gas station, the attendant roped it closed. Dad got it fixed.
One evening after supper, I was hungry – I believe I was 5 years old – I grabbed a box of Baker’s coconut from the pantry and went out front to dad’s car. I crawled in the back seat, kneeling on the seat, gazing out the rear window eating that coconut. All of the sudden, I felt somewhat sick, so I got out of the car quick, fearing I would throw up. I didn’t. Put the almost-empty box away and I haven’t been able to eat coconut since!
By the time he had to get rid of it ten years later because the front seat began falling through the floor due to rust, a nice rust hole developed right in front of the back seat behind dad. I was seriously wanting to pee through that hole, but was scared I’d get caught!
Mom and dad spoke highly of that car forever., and my recollections are the same…
My first ride in a “hot rod” was in a 1965 blue on blue Plymouth Barracuda with that potent little 273 cu. in engine and Hurst 4 speed. What a car! What a ride for a 14-year-old kid!
Me? I always thought Plymouth, while being regulated as a poor sister to Chrysler and Dodge, had a quiet elegance and class the others lacked.
Even if badge-engineered, that explains why we bought a 1981 Reliant, NOT an Aries. It also explains why we bought a 1990 Acclaim, NOT a Spirit.
Wifey and I owned our beloved Acclaim 10+1/2 years, and we talk fondly of it, as I have gone on ad nauseum about it on here and over on TTAC. I considered our gray – ahem – Dark Quartz Acclaim as the spiritual successor to dad’s 1950 Plymouth. It did have a certain physical resemblance to it!
Of course, our cars since are worlds better, but at the time, our two decades of K- and K-related cars served us well.
My goodness, how I still miss Plymouth… They were good to me!
Richard Petty and Ronnie Sox drove Plymouths. Anyone have anything to add?
For me, when it comes to musclecar-era Mopars, I like Plymouth A-and C-Bodies, and Dodge B-and E-Bodies.
My Dad had a couple of Plymouths as I was growing up, a 68 Valiant and a 71 Satellite plus he was cop from the 60s through the 80s all he drove at work was Plymouth police cars. So since my badass, prior-Marine Dad drove Plymouths, they work for me too. I have a 71 Road Runner, a 71 Duster 340, a 72 Virginia State Police Fury and a 71 Satellite just like my father had.
The late Don Carlton drove the famous Motown Missile Cuda Pro Stocker. Much like the earlier Ramchargers race team, it consisted of Chrysler engineers bringing their knowledge and technical tricks to the quarter mile. In this same era, Don Schumacher piloted his Stardust Cuda AA/FC Funny Car to some significant victories. That 70 Cuda body was a popular choice during the first 3 years of NHRA Funny Car racing. For me, the Stardust Cuda (in metallic blue, not the bright yellow as seen on the later version of this racer) was simply a stunningly beautiful racer.
But the most famous Plymouths were the ones piloted by Richard Petty, who put the #43 RoadRunner and SuperBird Nascar racers into the American conscience. Time has blunted the impact Plymouth once had on American motorsport, but they were big time players in Nascar, the NHRA, AHRA and IHRA.
The Plymouth Rapid Transit System, indeed! 🙂
Tragic is the right word when talking about that first gen Neon.
I think a big signal that Plymouth was destined to get the ax was when they couldn’t be bothered to come up with a unique name for their subcompacts. I understand that the Mitsu sourced Colt was miles ahead of the Hillman based Cricket but was it really too expensive to tool up some badges and maybe a slightly changed grille or taillights for the Plymouth version and some how making some differentiation that justified a bit of a price difference between the Plymouth and Dodge versions. Then they sealed the fate by repeating that mistake with the Neon.
At least for a few years there (1979-83, I think), they did give the Plymouth version its own name. The Plymouth Champ might have even had a few detail differences besides the badges. I think the grilles were slightly different.
The only time I’ve ever been in a Chrysler-Plymouth showroom was at the moment when the variety of offerings was at its greatest. This was during July or August 1970 in San Francisco; I was on a 7-week camping trip (about 15 teenagers and 5 or 6 high school teachers, originating in eastern PA) and we had a free day so I was able to explore on my own, age 13. This was a large showroom, and the variety on display included a 440 six-pack Barracuda – of course it was very vividly painted and striped, which makes it easy to remember – as well as a paisley-roofed Fury formal coupe and a Simca hatchback, the only one I’ve ever seen.
My family bled Plymouth, having owned both an ’84 Voyager and ’88 Reliant K. My mother owned a PT Cruiser for nearly 10 years.
We were all sad to see Plymouth go like it did.
It should be brought back.
Despite growing up in New Zealand in the 1970s/80s, I was taught about Plymouth from a very early age, as a 1959 Belvedere sedan was my maternal Grandparents’ first new car. It replaced a Standard Vanguard Phase I – the difference must have felt remarkable. Most NZ cars at the time were small and British, but American makes were available here in RHD in limited quantities until the late 60s/early 70s, and they really stood out. Plymouths were one of those available makes (in Canadian-built Plodge form), and were sold here until the mid-late 60s. Being in a car-loving family I was made aware from an early age that Plymouth was part of the Chrysler family, and that the Chryslers were the ultimate models but that Plymouth contributed an important part of Chrysler success. My grandparents traded their Plymouth on a 1973 Volvo 164E just before I was born, also in 1973, so I didn’t get to experience it first hand – although we did see it in the district occasionally until the early 80s.
There were so many family stories about ‘The Plymouth’ as I grew up – the times it carried my grandparents and 6-8 kids on holiday, when they were coming back from the beach and a live crab hoisted itself out of a bucket and clambered up the back of the front seat, the time it got a puncture on the most narrow part of the ‘Blackjack’ (a challenging coastal road here), the comparisons between it and my Grandmother’s brother’s 1959 Simca Vedette (and later his Wolseley 6/110). The best story is when Mum’s older brother went to sit his driver’s licence test when he turned 15 in 1962. He had had serious health problems growing up and was consequently quite small for his age at 15. He and the testing officer walked out of the police station over to the parallel-parked Plymouth. The officer took one look at the Belvedere, looked back at my Uncle and said “If you managed to drive that huge thing here and park it there we don’t need to go for the test, you’ve already passed.”
Growing up with so many family stories and memories about the Plymouth meant I grew up believing Plymouth to be an amazing make. Reading Christine in my early teens reinforced my belief that Plymouth was almost mythically awesome. As I began to read car magazines I began to understand the motor industry a lot more, and understood where Plymouth fitted in the overall scheme of things. But regardless of where it ultimately ended for Plymouth, all the family stories and memories are happy and positive ones, and they’re how I remember Plymouth.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m not sure why Iacocca’s Chrysler Corp went to the money and expense in establishing the Eagle Division when the Premier could have been badged as a “full sized” replacement for the M-Body Gran Fury. There would not have been the unneeded expense of R/D and marketing costs for an untested make. The Premier may have sold better as an “Plymouth Fury” and the ES Limited model could have been a “Sport Fury.” Though much maligned today, the Premier could have been the catalyst that would have eventually saved the Plymouth division.
The theory behind Eagle was that since Jeep buyers had one of the highest income and education demographics in the business, a car was needed to share the Jeep showrooms and appeal to those smart rich people who would never, ever buy a Plymouth. Eagle ended up being a mishmash of Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Renault built cars and the plug was pulled after a few years. The Chrysler 300M was originally conceived as the next-generation Eagle Vision.
It was more than that. It was a running change; the Premier was already hitting AMC dealer floors as a Renault. And there wasn’t a coherent plan of how to quickly get AMC dealers in the C-P fold. Plus the devalued inventory…all those new Renaults, suddenly orphans.
Add to that, there’s a Renault drivetrain in there that Chrysler-Plymouth has no knowledge of and was well to be wary of. The potential for damage to the Plymouth brand was very real. AND add to that, AMC and its successors were locked into a contract to CONTINUE using Renault engines. So the problem wasn’t going to go away.
The most logical way, in the end, was to do what they did. Find a way to market the former Renault Premier without elaborate badge-engineering and without paying Renault for the continued use of their brand.
Create a new brand. And since it was already stuffed with cars with exotic, foreign parts…move all the “captive imports” over there.
It actually was a smart approach, on paper; why it didn’t work, I don’t know. Unless it was that the Premier did so much damage to the new brand it was unsalvageable.
My first new car was my second car, I had a chooce of any new car for $2, 500 or less. I really wanted to like the Vega hatchback, but even at 17 I did not like the aluminum nonsleeved engine.
Plus some of the cars on the dealers lot were showing pimples in the paint on the C piller. I just did not like the Pinto, it screamed CHEAP CAR. Then I daw the Plymouth Cricket, power disc brakes, nice hi backed bucket seats, AC and it was built n
By the folks who built the Sumbeam Tiger, what could go wrong? At one week old the shift
Iinkage broke, at 3 months the engine threw a rod through the block, took the dealer week’s to get a mew short block.. Should have bought a Gremlin.
My family’s first car, bought in 1946, was a ’35 Plymouth 2 door sedan similar to the copper color one in the second photo.
In that seller’s market they had to pay $400 for this 11 year old veteran (real money in those days). 35 miles per hour was about that car’s limit or a tire would blow. I remember my mother painting the fabric roof insert with thinned down tar to keep the rain out. Nevertheless, we had that car for about 5 years and it usually got us where we needed to go.
Once of age to drive, I defected to a Chevy, then several Fords and then to a slew of European makes. It wasn’t until the early 70s that I discovered the hidden charms of 1960’s Valiants. The Plymouth name resurfaced in my life and stayed there for quite a while.
For the past 25 plus years I have been completely in the Asian camp.
Nevertheless, one of those old Valiants, even today, survives in my side yard.
Comfort food, I guess.
Mom and Dad had several,Darts, a Gold Duster… all with slant sixes, boring and very taxi like, then a Horizon, pleasant enough…..then in the mid 80’s a 1968 Chevy Impala ????..Then a brand new 1987 Ford Escort …what a disaster of a car….Then a used 1991 Thunderbird purchased in the mid 90’s. Dad was not a car guy…. but I think the Plymouths served him well….
I just found this article so I’m late to the love of Plymouth party. I come from a family of Plymouth owners going as far back as my dad’s 1956 Savoy and my mom’s father’s 1959 Custom Suburban. Through the 60’s and 70’s we went through a succession of Savoys, Belvederes, Valiants, Dusters, Furys, one Sport Fury and a VIP, the latter two which became mine at some point. I still have the VIP. My dad still has a 1993 Acclaim he drives and it was the second Acclaim after the first one did quite well protecting my mom in a wreck. When there wasn’t a Plymouth in the driveway, there was usually a Dodge or a Chrysler, but we tended to prefer Plymouths on the whole because they all served us very well, were good looking and you felt like you were driving something substantial even when it was an economy car. I much rather drive my ’68 VIP fast top than my 2002 Concorde Lxi even though the newer car gets better gas mileage and has more power and equal interior space. There’s something that was in the Plymouth that felt missing in the later Chryslers. I don’t know, something akin to an automotive soul perhaps.
I just came across this excellent piece on CC. Lots of Plymouth history here, starting with my Dad. He had a ’50 Plymouth followed by a 55 Dodge (more accurately a Plodge – a Canadian version of a Plymouth with a Dodge front clip). Then he got a ’66 Plymouth Valiant. When I got my license, the family car became a ’74 Dodge Dart (although we started out in search of a Duster). By then my Dad’s driving days were over and my purchases are listed now. After a brief detour to an 81 Chevy that I got a great deal on, i returned to the fold with an ’85 Reliant that we got over 300,000 kms out of. Concurrently, starting in ’89 we got an ’87 Plymouth Voyager. All excellent vehicles, and generally very reliable. The one that had the most frequent problems with rust was the 74 Dart, but it was rustproofed and had a lifetime warranty on it so we kept getting the rust fixed. It was only ever the front fenders that had the rust issues.
The 87 Voyager was replaced with a ’99 Voyager, and that ended our Plymouth vehicles. An ’01 Caravan lasted us ten solid years, and now I have a 300C. Along the way, a Cavalier, some Hondas, and some of my sons’ cars have also lived at our home, including a Ford Escape.
Lots of memories with these cars, being a new driver in the Dart, bringing our kids home as newborns in the Reliant, family vacations in the Voyagers. I believe that my Dad’s 55 Dodge ingrained the Chrysler preference in me the most. One of my earliest memories is going with my folks to niagara falls as a little tyke in that car. The radio grille was my own steering wheel!