Suicide doors / Engel designs

[<tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hugh,

Normally I agree with you but I have to take issue with you on this one!

A designer as talented as Elwood Engel almost certainly could have come up with 
a 
totally different design for the '64-68 Imperials if he chose to-- or if his 
corporate bosses 
wanted him to.  I find the notion that he simply fell back on his work for Ford 
and "couldn't 
think of anything better" when he came to Chrysler an implausible theory.

I think he was stolen, if you will, from Ford, precisely because Chrysler 
leadership 
wanted to take their Imperial in a direction similar to what Engel had already 
done for 
Lincoln, and who better to take them there than the very man who created the 
look?  It 
was a way of hurting Ford by taking one of their top men and also updating your 
look at 
the same time.

Second, the resemblance to Lincoln was, in my opinion, no accident.  I don't 
like this 
trend, but it is common practice in the auto industry to copy the look of your 
competition.  
Today you have Japanese luxury cars imitating the styling of BMW and Mercedes.  
The 
perceived leader, or the next one up the ladder, is always copied in an effort 
to lure 
buyers from the competitor.

For Imperial, their closest competition was Lincoln.  Conceivably, Imperial 
could take 
buyers away from Lincoln and eventually beat Lincoln out of the #2 slot.  It 
wouldn't make 
sense to copy Cadillac, I believe their thinking went, because Cadillac's sales 
figures 
were so far above Imperial's as to be unreachable.  But they could put a dent 
in Lincoln, 
so that's who they targeted by imitating their styling.

So I don't think it was an accident or a case of Engel lacking the imagination; 
if you look 
at the fuselage cars you can see he was quite capable of coming up with a 
totally new 
look-- when he was directed to do so.  I think it was a decision made at the 
corporate 
level to take the styling in that direction.

Just my opinion!  :)

Mark M
 
> From: "Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>
> Date: 2004/03/22 Mon PM 01:38:32 EST
> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: IML: Suicide doors / Engel designs
> 
I am no Engel fan, and it speaks to a timidity on both his part and that of 
Chrysler 
Corporation that his designs for Imperial were so similar to the Lincoln.  
While the 
underpinning chassis and engine were pure Mopar, not being able to come up with 
something different from his work with Ford, is not the mark of genius.  No 
wonder after 
almost forty years, the casual observer has difficulties.  "My" museum has a 63 
Lincoln 
convertible.  It is an unreliable money pit.  I'd love to unload it, but, on 
the other hand, it is 
one of the nicest cars we have and the public seems to enjoy seeing it.  It is 
a pig on the 
road.  Give me an Imperial any day.
> 
> Hugh
> 
>