It’s interesting to revisit brands now disappeared, and see them at a point when they were full of life and potential. Such is the case of Plymouth. For most of my life, the nameplate was rather moribund; one had to look at the past to see the brand when it meant something. And looking at these owners of yore, that something was rather varied.
Plymouth buyers of the Exner years seem very pleased with their flashy rides. In a few other shots, Plymouths appear to be at the hands of school and college folks. Finally, there are those from the performance age. And being an entry-level brand, it’s no surprise that more than a few look like no-nonsense blue-collar types.
Through it all, it’s clear Plymouth meant a lot of desirable things. Something easy to see with the help of these images.
Mom should have been a little more careful taking the picture of her 4 men next to their 57 Plymouth. She left her purse on the ground in the picture making it look like it belongs to Junior. I like the dog under the back window of the Barracuda.
Perhaps it’s an early version of a “man bag?”
Tom ;
there’s NO SUCH THING ~ if it hangs from your shoulder on a long strap and isn’t a commercially made gas mask or courier’s bag it’s a _PURSE_ .
Those ‘fanny pack’ things look useful but I’ll pass .
-Nate
The second photo of the ‘56? green Plymouth is a real time capsule of the pre-SUV or Subaru and REI/Patagonia/NorthFace outdoorsman. A two door car with a small boat on the roof, a big bedroll in the back seat, three-on-the-tree and wide whitewalls. And he’s wearing a hat and a cardigan. No all-wheel drive, fleece, down, or rip stop nylon anywhere in that photo. And what looks like a roadmap on the front seat; no GPS navigation either.
That is a ’56 because prominent fins, and he’s got a V8 because trunklid vee, so he didn’t do too badly.
Right, but he managed to have the rear quarter bashed in, so that’s why it is missing the side spear as seen on the front fender. Unless this is a base model Savoy or something.
This is the Plaza 2 door model, the lowest priced model of them all.
I can buy that. On the Plaza, the side spear (molding) only went as far as the driver’s door. And he is standing right in front of the side emblem, which is just barely visible.
That 1953 in the 2nd photo is I believe the same year as what my dad always said was his first car. Purchased as 7 or 8 year old used car shortly after his arrival in this country, he always claimed to love that car…despite the fact that he said it looked like a turtle (it was green). I came home from the hospital as a newborn in that car, but of course don’t remember it.
I love the 1964 Barracuda with the dog.
1965 Barracuda, with single exhaust, just the cold air causing exhaust vapors to linger longer.
Dual exhaust ‘Cuda… momma was sporty!
or maybe a single? hard to tell. Either way, the dog likes that big rear window,
bet she bought it just for him!
So many thoughts and questions come to mind…
What’s the occasion of those six guys stopping for that first picture?
The ’53 Plymouth shows the first use of Exner’s “side fins”, which would be such a significant feature of his ’60 Valiant and ’62 Dodge and Plymouth.
That older guy in #3 looks like he knows how to spend his retirement years.
I’m guessing that’s four brothers in #4. They all have the same distinctive nose. And that’s mom’s purse she set down while she took the shot of her dear boys.
Love the shot of the black ‘Cuda.
Valiants were the perfect student’s car.
The ’66 Satellite coupe with the beautiful young woman on the hood reminds me very much of the mechanic at the little gas station I used to work at when I was 15-16 on weekends. He’d drop in to do a bit of work on his ’66 383 Satellite coupe, and his blond GF would just sit in the passenger seat the whole time. I don’t know what she was doing…there weren’t cell phones back then.
The kid with the blue RR must be in hog heaven, if it’s his.
That’s a Sport Satellite with a Roadrunner/GTX hood added, note the fender emblem placement and grille, roadrunners have their emblem on top of the doors and use the basic Belvedere grille style, Where Sport Satellites used a more stylized grille, similar to the GTX
oops pic was probably too big
Aha; I fell for his deception.
For #4, I suspect the Dad is the second gent from the left (holding a camera in his right hand). The others are My Three Sons.
I agree. You can also tell by where they wear their belt lines. The older men wore them higher as was the fashion when they were in high school. My father’s uncles were men’s haberdashers and both thought the lowering the belt line to the hips made young men look fatter. They were Chicago businessmen until 1955, then moved into a big store in Colorado where I attended university until they retired and closed the store in 1986.
I, as my father before me, worked for them learning how to measure for bespoken men’s wear, and sold excellent business and casual attire. I often wish that business wear was still worn at my office today. I was probably the last guy wearing a suit and tie in computer programming until I finally gave up to fit in with the slob look, complete with a bottle of Mountain Dew.
The black and white 57 is a bit puzzling. The guy acts like he’s ready to go somewhere, but if he goes forward he’s on the grass, and if he backs up he’ll hit the ’58 Merc.
Love the Bassetcuda.
It’s a ’57 Mercury with quad headlights. First car I ever bought was a ’57 Turnpike Cruiser which has them.
Styl Other than its Studebaker-like rear door, styling of that ’53 Plymouth has a ’49-’51 Ford look to it. Less stodgy looking as the ’49-52 Plymouths, but still a ways to go to match up with Fords and Chevys of that time.
The Roadrunner (1969?) reminds me that I saw a same style Roadrunner driving in town yesterday. Though it was yellow, not blue, it looked to have the same amount of road grime and signs of daily use as the one in the photo. It was the first RR or even Satellite of that generation that I’ve seen on the road for years.
Wonderful time warp. I’m always amazed how skinny people were back then. Granted, most men and quite a few women smoked which keeps the weight off, but still. Americans have all put on at least 50 lbs. since then.
Driver bears a solid resemblance to cult ’80s actor, and dance pioneer Adolfo ‘Shabba-Doo’ Quiñones. Who played ‘Ozone’, in the movie ‘Breakin’.
Also impressed those are steel-belted radials. Though, this pic could date from later into the 1970s, as radials became more popular.
Given his hair style and the sleeveless shirt, that photo was taken in the late 1970s…maybe even the early 1980s.
Great photos, Rich, and great imaginations & stories we’ve been telling.
5th photo from top: Happy weekend guy in his black ’57 4-dr. sedan, in front of a white house.
A ’57 Merc is behind the Plymouth, and i gotta know more about it! That was Gramps’ car, in which 4-yr old Me spent hours pressing every button & lever in sight.
I think the 6 guys in the lede photo are co-workers or perhaps members of some kind of farm-related professional association. Like, the county dairy board or meat-producers’ association. Or maybe even a soil and water conservation board. I get the sense that since the photo is professionally shot and background is important, that they have something to do with farming at a management level.
I think that’s a Minnesota license plate?
The guys in the baby blue 59 Plymouth up top look like they may be headed off for a weekend at Daytona Beach for the races, or something like that.
And I remember so many ladies driving Dusters – was this a 1970 with those double whitewalls?
I’m impressed by the large scale, and excellent upkeep of the farm in the first pic. Barn and fence posts, all appear stained, and well-maintained. Grass is well-trimmed. Road appears to be crushed stone.Trees planted in a row. I’ve seen appraisers work in pairs. And auctioneers, will have a small team. Would be nice to have some background on these pics.
The design of the brick home in the second pic, almost looks like an ex-school house.
I like the photo of the blonde on the hood of the Sport Satellite, but being a fan of AMC, my eyes wonder towards the left to the ’57 Rambler Cross Country which looks to be in very good shape for an almost ten year old station wagon.
Lovely images .
I didn’t like the later ‘Forward Look’ cars when I was young but then had a ’58 Plaza two door and learned to love them .
GOBS of space inside and out handled Ford & GM’s easily .
-Nate
Roland LeBay in the third photo ?!?!
My dad drove a 55 Plymouth with Powerflite. Big powerful v8 and roomy car. Well it became my first car. Couple years back I found a lookalike in that fabulous “forward look” in original “Tampa turquoise” color. Mine is a time capsule that gets a lot of conversations at cruise ins from Plymouth lovers.
I’m getting a California vive with the gent holding his school books.
The bungalow houses in the background say west coast 30’s and 40’s.
The clothes he’s wearing and the car say mid-60’s.
Photo #6, could this be a new or used car lot? In the background are two cars (Plymouths) with window stickers. Also, the clarity of the photo would say a better than amateur photographer with a slightly upward angle (down on his knee) to highlight the car.
My parents bought a new 57 Plymouth Belvedere sport coupe in 1957. It was black with a white top and white sport tone insert on the side. It also was a v8 with 4 bbl. Carb and dual exhaust ( Power Pac) and 3 speed torque flute. Not sure of the engine size as I was only 4 at the time. My uncle had a 56 Crown Vic with 292 engine and manual 3 speed with over drive. Dad could stay with him through the quarter mile but top end was another experience as the overdrive gave the Ford an edge.
318 CI the largest displacement engine in 1957 Plymouths.
In ’58, the 350 CI ‘B’ engine was introduced in the FURY models with 2x4barrel carbs or the optional Bendix Fuel Injection which didn’t work out.
Nice Plymouth tribute. I come from a family living in Detroit up until 1958. Up until that time my mom’s side of the family worked at the Chrysler Corporation, my dad’s side at Ford. That’s just how it was in Detroit since the US auto industry was born. That said the family all drove cars made by the Ford Motor Company, and the Chrysler Corporation. I remember my grandfather owning nothing but Plymouths. My favorite was his 1958 Belvedere. It was Dark gold metallic with black and white interior. It was a great looking car and although I was young, I can remember how cool it sounded. My uncle had a 56 2 door hardtop Belvedere. it was 2 shades of blue, and I think it was also a great looking car. It had fins, but they were contained within the rear fenders. The taillights were very cool and somewhat iconic. My dad had a 55 Desoto, it was salmon and black, weird combination, but he loved it. My aunt had a 55 Belvedere, it too was 2 shades of blue. In 1958 we moved to Southern California, my dad bought a new 58 Dodge Custom Sierra wagon, it was white over red. I remember that wagon was huge. Of them all, my favorite were my uncle’s 56 Belvedere, and my Grandfather’s 58, also a Belvedere. Once in California, they all moved up to Chryslers. There was a white 1961, Newport, we had a 62 300, a 63 white Newport, a 64 blue 300, a 66 silver metallic Imperial, a 68 dark blue Sport Fury, dark metallic blue 2 door with the Sport back vinyl roof. There were various Valients, and the last Chrysler was a 69, 300 white with blue vinyl top and matching interior. That turned out to be our last car built by the Chrysler Corporation. From the early 70s, we switched to the Ford Motor Company. We had Mustangs, Mavericks, a Mercury Marquis Colony Park wagon, and various Lincoln Town Cars and Marks. Today we have Explorers and F-series trucks. The take away here is we always had Chryslers and Fords. We NEVER bought foreign cars. We have always took umbrage with those that did. The family motto was ” buy a foreign car, lose your job.