Re: [FWDLK] Belvedere, Wilshire and Bruce McCall
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Re: [FWDLK] Belvedere, Wilshire and Bruce McCall



--- Chris Whalen <Yrapilje@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> Someone else may already have answered, I missed the
> original post:  Plymouth used the names Belvedere,
> Plaza, and Savoy.  The Plaza and Savoy also are the
> names of hotels, "exclusive" ones, in New York City
> -- both at the bottom right corner of Central Park
> (both approximately six blocks from where I work).
> For that reason, I've always believed the
> Belvedere to have been named after the hotel of
> that name too.

According to Chrysler stylist and historian Jeff
Godshall, what became the '59 non-sport Fury was
originally slated to be called the "Wilshire", a name
I also associate with a luxury hotel, although the one
I think of is in LA... ...apparently Chrysler got
advance word that the Impala was to be a full line in
'59 (it was only available as a convertible or 2drHt
in '58) and expanded the Fury line out to match it,
with what was to have been the Fury becoming the Sport
Fury. This probably also explains the lack of "Sport"
script on the outside of the '59 Sport Fury.

> About the Bruce McCall Bulgemobile -- I remember
> that VERY well, remember "Tap-A-Toe Futuroidic
> Brakes" from time to time for absolutely no reason
> at all at least once every three months, and it's
> been a good twenty or twenty-five years since I
> saw the spoof.

McCall came by this skill honestly! His first job when
just out of school (HS? college? not sure) was as an
illustrator for Chrysler Canada, where he described
his duties as "making Dodge Crusaders look like DeSoto
Firesweeps and making DeSoto Firesweeps look like the
Second Coming".

While working at the Lampoon, he also did fake
brochures for the 1934 Bulgemobiles and their apparent
predecessor the Bulge-Buggy (the slogan of which was
"Sawtooth Gearing on the Belgian Design!", a phrase
which I don't even think Vincent van H. could decipher
for us, but which pops into MY head once or twice a
week).

But I think the McCall NatLamp drawing that would be
most meaningful to us FwdLkers is probably the famous
"DeSoto Discovers The Mississippi", where what looks
like an ancient historical painting shows a '61 DeSoto
looking down at a riverbank...

> He has a book out now based on the same sort of
> thing as the old Bulgemobile "brochure," spoofing
> 1950s cars, "The Last Dream-O-Rama", it's at
> Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com --  you can see the
> cover illustration at Amazon.com at:
>
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0609608010.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

That's probably my next book purchase!...

=====
Mike Sealey, San Francisco CA
'57 Plymouth Sport Suburban
'64 Chrysler 300-K 2dr Hardtop

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