Nothing Fancy about Belvidere

[Eric <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Dictionary.com shows a couple of definitions.

Belvedere:
A roofed structure, especially a small pavilion or tower on top of a
building, situated so as to command a wide view.
There is no definition for 'Belvidere'.other than the town in Illinois.

Savoy:
A historical region and former duchy of southeast France, western
Switzerland, and northwest Italy. The region changed hands many times after
its conquest by Julius Caesar and became a duchy in the early 15th century.
In 1720 the duke of Savoy gained the title king of Sardinia, and in 1861 the
Savoyard Victor Emmanuel II ascended the throne of the newly formed kingdom
of Italy. Much of the original territory was ceded to France at the same
time.
                                                               _____

Chrysler owns an assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois. So, rather than
touting the 1962 Belvedere's creased windscreen's wide view, it would be
more apt that Plymouth used the name of the assembly plant. The whole Great
Lakes area has a historic French influence. Picking a French name would have
been more of an indication of the corporate's geographical positioning
rather than a trans-Atlantic tip of the hat, though the French influence was
more in vogue when these cars picked up the names in the 1950's, so the
argument could be made that the association with motels and things French
were considered in the namings.

There is also a Savoy, Illinois. I haven't found any info relating Chrysler
to this town. Perhaps our historians can illuminate this choice of name.
Savoy is a hundred miles or more from Belvidere, Illinois.

So Neal, I have an idea that neither Belvidere nor Savoy, Illinois, are what
one would call swanky towns. I'd bet the Plymouth Division boys were
picturing the sprawling assembly plant rather than ritzy motels when they
were kicking names around. The origins of the New Yorker is obvious, the
name Windsor would relate to the Ontario, Canada, Chrysler holdings. LeBaron
dates back to the LeBaron body works shop that was bought a time or two
before Chrysler ended up with it. Bill Watson has covered this in detail as
I recall. Imperial and Crown could link a connection to royalty, but I
prefer Dictionary.com's defiinition of Imperial as 'outstanding in size or
quality'. Not to be confused with the Crown Imperial which is the Italian
built limousine by Ghia body works. Saratoga is another geographical locale,
as is Newport. Cordoba is a monetary unit of Nicaragua, while Cordova is a
town in both Spain and Argentina.
Wow, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Nicaragua, New York and Rhode
Island, I guess if you're naming cars, you might as well name them as places
to drive to. Now, how do you get to Cirrus? Via Satellite?

Eric
1963 Belvedere Four-door sedan
1963 Crown Four-door
1972 Newport Custom sedan
____________________________________________________________________
Well, back in the '50s the base Plymouth was the Plaza. The next trim level
was the Savoy, and the next the Belvedere. The top trim level at that time
was the Fury.
Plaza, Savoy, and Belvedere are all names of well known hotels. Perhaps a
really stripped down Plaza was called a Bates.

And nother thing- what the heck is a BELVEDERE? Its sounds french as
does SAVOY

aha, so they were supposed to be swanky eh? So the theme might have been
uptown hotels: then there was the New Yorker, the Windsor, The LeBaron
and the Imperial, those also sound like swanky hotels. Dont forget the
"Crown Imperial" .
   neal zimmerman, eugene oregon

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