Mike Sealey's info on Bill Schmidt and Ex rang a bell so I did some digging
and sure nuf - in the January 1959 issue of Popular Mechanics there is an
article entitled "Why Do Our Cars Look The Way They Do?". PM does a fairly
lengthy interview with Bill Schmidt and Ex on that subject. Anyone out
there who doesn't have this copy should try and obtain one because the
interview is pretty neat. E-Bay is a good source. John Z
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Sealey <mopar2ya@xxxxxxxxx>
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, October 25, 2001 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] gahhhhh!!
>--- David Charles Gedraitis <dcg@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> The UPS man just delivered the new gas tank for my
>> recently inherited toyota, and as he was looking at
>> my '61 newport sitting in the garage, he told me
>> "nice thunderbird" *sigh* I always thought the
>> "Chrysler" spelt out across the grill was fairly
>> obvious, especially since sometime ago I painted
>> those letters black for the purpose of making
>> them stand out.
>
>Know what you mean. I had a Chevy guy pull up next to
>me in the 300-K (Nick Nichols was actually riding
>shotgun for this) and ask what it had in it. When I
>said "a 413", he asked "what kinda oddball engine is
>that?" (I thought about telling him he needed to go
>home and listen to some Beach Boys records,
>particularly "Shut Down"...)
>
>Getting back to the "nice T-bird" '61 Chryslers,
>there's a closer connection than most of us like to
>admit there. The '61s were done in '58 while Ex was
>recuperating from a heart attack, and Chrysler hired
>Wm. Schmidt and Associates as outside consultants.
>Short version of the story, Bill Schmidt was in charge
>of Lincoln-Mercury styling in the mid-50s, having done
>the Lincoln Futura showcar, (later the TV Batmobile)
>and '56 and '57 Lincolns before jumping to Packard,
>opening his independent firm after S-P's Detroit
>operations folded. He was undoubtedly still at Ford
>when the earliest incarnations of the canted '58-'60
>Lincoln headlights (which later reappeared on the
>'61-'62 Chrysler and '61 DeSoto) were on the drawing
>board.
>
>There was about a year where Chrysler basically had
>two styling staffs coexisting with each other, with
>the Schmidt people (including Dick Teague, also
>formerly of Packard and later VP of AMC styling)
>expecting Ex to retire for health reasons (there was
>about an eight-month period where he wasn't around
>much), and it's not really clear today who supervised
>what in '61, although the Valiant and Lancer look like
>Exner-supervised restyles of the '60 Valiant, and
>there seems to be little question that Ex supervised
>the '61 Imperial (who else would've dared do the
>freestanding headlights?). The similarities to earlier
>Schmidt-designed Lincolns in the '61 Chrysler & DeSoto
>suggests that, although Ex was back in charge when
>final details were scrutinized, the Schmidt people may
>have had their strongest influence here. One could
>also make a case for '50s Mercury influence on the '61
>Plymouths and Dodges, particularly the Plymouth and
>Polara taillights.
>
>History does not record Schmidt's reaction when his
>former underling at Ford, Elwood Engel, took over
>Exner's job...
>
>> ah well-at least that doesn't happen with my
>> kaiser-no one even ventures a guess....
>
>What? Nobody's ever asked where you got a
>flat-windshield Wagoneer? (rotflmao)
>
>=====
>Mike Sealey, San Francisco CA
>'57 Plymouth Sport Suburban
>'64 Chrysler 300-K 2dr Hardtop
>
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