1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix Two-Door Hardtop

bjburnout · Uber Guru

1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix Two-Door Hardtop

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Very nice!

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

Yup, so ugly its cool.

bjburnout · Uber Guru

73SC wrote:
Yup, so ugly its cool.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder..... biggrin

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

Whoever approved that for production was drinking more than beer!

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

73SC wrote:
Whoever approved that for production was drinking more than beer!

Back in the day they may have said the same thing about a 59 Chevy. The Chevy got much better looking with age, this one is still ugly.

CdnGMfan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I like it. It is a very nice example, and one could still afford to run it to all the cruises with the slant six.
That is what they would have referred to as standard steering, standard brakes, plus it's a 'standard'. People used to ask, "can you drive a standard?" It is a different rhythm to driving but it isn't difficult.
Heave-ho steering is eye-opening to go back to now. My wife drove my Chevelle with manual steering and actually liked it. And she's tiny.

The 1960 & 61 Dodges are interesting, always thought that. On the other hand, the '61 Plymouths are UGLY, yet I saw one recently in Collectible Automobile, Oct '22 that was particularly nice, a stock convertible. I can never forgive Chrysler for the 1961 DeSoto. The '60 was nice, but the only changes for '61 made it a miss.

Chrysler Corp with their influential Forward styling courtesy of Virgil Exner made GM change horses in mid-stream for the '59s. They relented for '61 while Chrysler kept cranking out bizarre but solid cars in the early 60's.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

I love everything Virgil Exner designed for Chrysler no matter how bizzare the styling. To me the epitome of an Exner era car was the 1960 Chrysler 300. I wonder if that Pheonix is Canadian built?

a421cat · Guru

Many years ago there was a wrecking yard in Azilda Ontario outside of Sudbury that had a 61 Dodge Matador wagon in the back corner of the lot. Lots of neat 50s and 60s cars. I imagine they are long gone to the crusher.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

There's a fellow in Williams California who owns a yard called "Big M". He originally started out selling Mercury parts (hence the name "Big M"") but soon after swtiched to Forward Look Mopars. He's a great source of parts for these cars. I bought a complete rust free floor pan for my 59 Dodge from him. Anyway he just posted on Facebook that he saved a few cars from an old yard in the hills of Northern California. Unfortunately he can't save them all and all the rest pictured are going to the crusher. So sad to see.

Here's three cars he saved (among others):

And here's some that are going to be crushed. Folks have tried to buy some of these cars but apparently the contract to the crusher is signed. Something like 200000 tons of cars being crushed.

bjburnout · Uber Guru

And here's some that are going to be crushed. Folks have tried to buy some of these cars but apparently the contract to the crusher is signed. Something like 200000 tons of cars being crushed.

Oh the humanity........... disbelief

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Oh god. And basically just surface rust.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Maybe a yard old car attraction? Costs a lot of money for a day at Disney, why not charge $50 for a day touring this place? And make an offer sales on what you see.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

This 1960 Dodge Seneca is right up my alley- A wierdly designed Mopar, a two door sedan and the only option is reverse lights! I'd love to now where this car originally came from. It's for sale in Brantford and I'd be really tempted if closer. Apparently it needs floor and front frame work. Notice it's even heater delete!

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Canadian Poncho wrote:
I love everything Virgil Exner designed for Chrysler no matter how bizzare the styling. To me the epitome of an Exner era car was the 1960 Chrysler 300. I wonder if that Pheonix is Canadian built?

I'm with you on that, Todd. I think Exner's designs were very polarizing, but one has to appreciate how he advanced the free form of the automobile. I think 1961 Plymouths are really cool, with their bold, expressive front fascia, and their sculptured rear quarters, fitted with 'rocket pods' that house the taillights. Some hate it, for sure, but there's the subjectivity of art.