The hideous Chrysler cars of 1961, in which was the last year of the Exener 1957 design. Remember in 1961 Ford came out with a new Galaxie, Thunderbird and the Continental. Chevy had the redesigned Impala and the Pontiac Tempest.
I remember seeing those, probably when we visited relations in the panhandle. Putting "NY" in a brand name was never a good strategy in this part of the country.
I was a MoPar fan since I had an uncle that was a dealer but those were just plain terrible. But if I had my choice today they might be my choice. You would get way more looks and questions driving one of those vs. a Ford or Chevy from the same years They are a lot more rare since almost all if them were crushed. Sumner
Hate to risk sounding picky, but if they had indeed been just plain, they wouldn't have looked that terrible. They would definitely be my choice. They had decent handling. With modern tires, they handle splendidly. Fords and Chevies handled like trucks. You had to come to a complete stop before attempting to turn the steering wheel. And don't even get me started on vintage Buicks. Besides, those MoPar dashboards made you feel like Buck Rogers. My dad had one of those stick-on accessory compasses much like that. Somehow it always thought North was in the general direction of the cast iron engine. Just exactly like that one is doing.
There was not enough room anywhere on the dash board to install a proper nautical binnacle that would compensate for all the steel and iron present in an automobile.
I had a 1969 Chrysler Newport (383 ci 2 bbl) from 1990 to 1999, and it was among the best cars I ever had. Right up there with my 1997 Crown Vic. Big, roomy, solid, reliable, a huge trunk, and a perfect road trip car. Solid handling, for the same reason as a dump truck: gravity. 4190 pounds of American steel! Most people couldn't get over the sheer size of that behemoth. I love that dashboard! With a pushbutton gear selector, what the locals here call a "Chrysler à pitons"... Just that dashboard would gather a gaggle of curious and befuddled onlookers.
Then why did it handle ten thousand times better than a dump truck? No, she handled that way because she had variable rate springs on all four corners. And because of a magical thing called "suspension geometry", which Chrysler engineers mastered. The '69 Chrysler dash was a wonderful place to do business, too. Less Flash Gordon, more floodlights.
I do love Brussel sprouts. I had them for supper today. And have them often. In Buicks I've had '55, '57, 58, '61 & '63. But then after military my wife demanded a VW Buggy. She grew up in Germany. So I had two Buggies and a '73 Ghia.
And a big shiny chrome front bumper that went all the way around the grille. It was fun to turn a corner and swing that big piece of chrome just inches away from a subcompact's driver door and watch the driver go white as a sheet... It was also a hit with the ladies at a retirement home where I was a security guard 30+ years ago. One exclaimed once, as I parked, "Oh, there's my boyfriend coming to pick me up to go out for dinner!". It sure helped pick up the ladies... twice my age at the time! Indeed a very good suspension. Still, it's pretty hard to move two tons of metal, suspension or not! Dang, I miss it...
Are cars really off topic? There were surprisingly few gas stations before the automobile was invented, for some reason...
For many years Texas had anti-trust laws that forbade the original Standard Oil from operating in Texas. After the 1911 breakup of Standard oil, the various regional Standard oil companies founded Texas-HQd subsidiaries (the same as with the RRs). Socal had Pasotex Oil, Socony founded Magnolia Petroleum, and Jersey Standard founded Humble Oil. Pasotex later became Standard Oil of Texas, based in El Paso, where it had an oil refinery. Indiana Standard used the American Oil brand in Texas.
