Leaked memo: "Outrage" within Chrysler over Sebring, Nitro

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jun 15 2007, 03:41 PM) [snapback]462500[/snapback]</div>

Elwood P. Engel. He was Chrysler's design chief from November, 1961 (replacing Virgil Exner) until 1974.

Engel can almost single-handedly be credited for the timeless design of all of Chrysler's sixties' and early seventies' cars. He was the ultimate approving authority for everything that came out of Chrysler during that time frame, and there really wasn't a bad design in any of them. The 1965 Plymouth Fury had Engel written all over it. Then, the famous 'fuselage styling' of Chrysler's late sixties' cars was Engel-approved, as well. Although not very practical (with poor comfort and typical abysmal Chrysler quality control), the fact that extreme fuselage-styled '70-'71 Hemi-powered E-body 'Cudas and Challengers now command well over seven figures as the most valued cars of the era is surely a testament to his design instincts. Engel-approved designs are likely what most people think of when the topic of the best designed cars to ever come out Chrysler is discussed.

Engel can't be blamed for monstrosities like the 1961 Plymouth since those had been done by Exner long before Engel arrived from Ford. Engel did his best to salvage what he could from those designs until he was finally able to get Chrysler design back on track by 1964 with styling that was even half-way acceptable to consumers. Exner's bungled designs after his successful 'Forward-Look' cars of the late fifties had managed to put Chrysler styling behind GM and Ford by a couple of years (mainly because the expensive crash restyling of the 1961 line kept Chrysler from entering the lucrative intermediate market until 1965 when the aforementioned Fury was introduced and went from an intermediate to a full-size). GM and Ford already had came out with their intermediates (Chevelle and Fairlane) a full two years before Chrysler could get their own truly comparable versions (1966 Coronet and Belvedere) to market. Engel did remarkably well during his reign as Chrysler's styling chief, considering the cost-constraints he had to work under thanks to Exner.

Interestingly, Engel's 'masterpiece', the 1961 Continental, is supposedly a stretched four-door version of the design Engel had proposed for the 1958 Thunderbird. Engel's design for the 1958 Thunderbird lost out to the exceptionally ugly 'Square-bird' design of fellow Ford designer Joe Oros. Engel's concept for the 1958 Thunderbird would eventually be used later as the beautiful 1961-1966 Thunderbird. This is also the reason that the experimental 1963 Chrysler Turbine car looked stunningly similiar to the '61-'66 Thunderbird. Engel had designed them both.

What puzzles me, though, is how the slab-sided 1961 Continental could come out of the same design that ended up being the 1961 Thunderbird...

 

I always thought this was the ugliest car I ever saw: http://www.avonhill.com/thumbnails/sport_u..._VW_Thing1.jpeg

 

I think the Magnum is butt-ugly... makes me think of an overgrown AMC Pacer. It looks like an elephant sat on it and bowed the sides out.

 

Actually, I take it back. The Dodge Durango is pretty sharp. 19th century technology and lousy mileage but still, a rather attractive gas guzzler.

 

"New" idea for Chrysler commercial.

Fred Rogers in the same manner as Kennedy with Forrest Gump saying "Can you say Hemi?"

I rest my case...

 

The Nitro looks like a poor man's Hummer to me. Kind of a cheaper wannabe. Not sure what the Sebring's all about. I just has a rental car look to me.