Sept 6: Model with a back story

Personal taste. Everything is personal taste, unless of course, it isn't. Take for example that fifty year old car on the left. This is the 1965 Plymouth Satellite, top model of the "new" intermediate Belvedere line. One of my favorite designs ever. To me, this car is beautifully proportioned. To us in Canada, it was forbidden fruit, since it was a US only model. My thoughts aside, what makes this car interesting is where it came from and how it got to be the mid-sized Satellite of the new for 1965 Plymouth line. Stay awake, as this is mildly interesting.

Let's use my models as an educational tool here and go back to 1962 and 1963.......

The turquoise convertible (no cabrio back in the day) is the new, full sized Plymouth for 1962. Downsized due to incorrect information, when every other new car had stayed the same or gotten bigger. Also, the design was bastardized, as originally it was meant for a full sized car. A last minute panic attack, based on this incorrect info, led the big Plymouth to be shrunk. And as you can see, it just didn't work with this car. Even a bigger version might not have worked, but the design certainly looked awkward on the smaller body.

Having realized their error, when the other car companies unveiled their '62's, Plymouth had to hustle to redo their '63's (like the buttercup yellow Fury hardtop in these pics) to give it a buyer friendly, acceptable bigger car look, even though it was still smaller than the competition. You can easily see the more acceptable and more conventional looking redesign.

Now this is where it gets interesting (yes, I appreciate your patience). New, full sized Plymouths were planned for 1965, but Plymouth wouldn't have an intermediate car until the next year, so presto and the smaller full size Fury model of previous years, now became the new Belvedere/Satellite intermediate. One year a "big" car, the next year a demotion to intermediate. Oh, the shame! But with the tweaks given this design, it came out very well and as I said, I really liked the result (and I still do)...........

Now compare it to the origin and strange looking 1962 car from whence it came.......

Every line made better and more appealing. So from a strange looking "big" car, it evolved into a great looking intermediate. Remember through all of this, the sixties were a time when the designs changed every couple of years and usually had major updates every year, so not surprising to see how Plymouth was able to evolve this design over three years.

A favorite design, now a favorite new model (I bought three of them), that the CMC (Car Modeling Cat) and I completed on the weekend. As usual, she is a willing helper and always has ideas of how to inject herself into our builds (sometimes aggravatingly so).........

So there you have it, the CMC and I bring to life an interesting story from the distant (gee, it doesn't seem that long ago) past. Who said these blogs weren't interesting and informative? And those of you who did, can leave the room now.

Until next time.......