I could not agree more about a high quality vs. low quality look of the stamped aluminum grilles, or the heavy use ofaluminum, period.
I would point out however, that this is largely a latter-day perspective, and that at the time, the idea behind this use was "new and modern", not like those heavy old-style grilles that were portrayed as ponderous, heavy, and out-of-date.
I think the use of aluminum just looks cheap, whether it is a square-bar 58 Plymouth grille or a stamped 60 Dart grille. Both would look so much more "substantial" of made of chromed steel or potmetal. But that wasn't the theme of the day in 1958 or 60. They were busy trying to make 56 Mercury's look "old" and part of that was the "light and airy" look of aluminum .
B.
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On Jan 5, 2014, at 10:35 AM, Jim wrote: The Matador/Polara also had the fins start in the rear door panel on the 4 doors unlike the Darts which did not start the fin until the rear quarter panel. As to Grills, it's of course a matter of taste and preference, but I always much prefered the Matador/Polar aluminum bar grille which to me looked much better integrated as well as looking more like "quality" than the stamped metal tin grill used for the Darts. IMHO one of the biggest trim design failings of the 61 Polara was that it used the same cheap looking stamped type grill as the low priced Darts. For years Chevy upscale models suffered from this same, IMHO, design failing where they used cheap looking stamped grills instead of something that said "quality". Jim
Delton
On Jan 5, 2014, at 8:01 AM, John Hagen
wrote: Trim level. Some exterior and interior trimming.
The only real body difference was the roof and back light in the two door hardtops where the Phoenix' roof panel was shorter and it's back light taller than in the Pioneer. If you look at each one you can easily note that the Phoenix' roof panel is wider than its length and on the Pioneer, with its longer roof panel is the opposite. I have to say that although the difference did not jump out at you it did make the Phoenix look airier. When sitting in the back seat of a Phoenix 2 dr hdt if you tilted your head back you could see through the window.
Wish I had taken photos of the red Phoenix and the white Polara 2 dr hdts dad had as field cars back when he was working for Dodge. Both were very good looking cars, albeit with somewhat difficult grilles. But from all other angles, they were beauties. The Dart was a 318 and the Polara had either a 361 or 383 four barrel engine but it was more the smooth, "torquer" motor as indicated by its single exhaust. Both had the flipper wheel cover and swivel seats. Sure looked nice when dad was home on weekends and they were both sitting in the driveway. Yes I did get to drive them as I was 16 at the time.
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J ~
What do you mean by "difficult grilles" ?
B.
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