The choice: 1959 Buick vs. 1960 Dodge

I get asked a lot of car questions.  Some via email, some by phone and some by folks on the street.  Yesterday a bride-to-be emailed me to ask if I could help her locate a vintage car to transport her and the groom from the church to the reception hall.  No stretch limo for her, she wants a 1965 Mustang like the one her husband once owned.

Unless I know the owner of a specific requested model, I usually forward the request on to Ned Wollengslegel, president of the local Southwestern Michigan Car Collectors car club, hoping that he can be of assistance.

Another often-asked question is to name my favorite vintage car.  Over the many decades since I became enamored with automotive design, the answer to that question changes by the week, sometimes by the day! 

For the longest time my favorite cars were the 1957 Chrysler Corporation finned cars created under the direction of designer Virgil Exner, Sr.  One week my favorite would be the Desoto, only to be replaced by the Swept-wing Dodge.  And the 1957 Imperial has appeared at the top of the list many times. 

I’m also a huge fan of the dramatically new1959 GM models that were rushed to market in response to the overwhelming success of the 1957 Chrysler Corporation models.  All five GM models were redone that year with the wild bat-wing Chevy at the bottom of the rung and the iconic “spaceship” finned Cadillac at the top.  I like them all but my favorites have always been the Delta-winged Buick and Linear Look Oldsmobile.  Pontiac with its all-new split grille was easy on the eyes too.

The car that ultimately bumped the 1957 Chrysler Corporation offerings from the top of my Mopar list was another Exner effort that came out in 1960 to replace the by-then dated 1957 Chrysler models.  As I wrote a few weeks back in this column, I was never a big fan of the 1960 Plymouth until recent years, but I really loved the 1960 Chrysler and especially the Dodge Polara/Matador offerings from the get-go.

One only has to attend a vintage car auction to discover the fact that American-built cars from the mid-fifties to the early 70s are favorites of collectors.  And why not?  During that brief 15 years some of the most flamboyant and powerful autos ever to grace a dealership showroom were designed, produced and sold.

Not before and not since have the automakers produced a more varied assortment of models that delighted the eyes with stylistic features (fins, retractable hardtops, tri-tone colors, etc.) and affordable performance (GTO, Roadrunner, etc.)  It certainly is my favorite era of automotive design, bar none.

On my recent Great Smoky Mountains family vacation my daughter asked me to name my favorite car.  Brain freeze prevented me from picking a favorite from my top two picks:  the 1959 Buick and the 1960 Dodge Polara/Matador.  To me, they are both automotive perfection.

It is very rare that a new car comes along that is designed so perfectly (to my eyes) that I wouldn’t change a thing.  I saw the Buick months before its introduction in a summer parade in downtown Flint.  GM held a parade to commemorate it’s golden anniversary. 

The 1959 Buick was on a float and my eyes couldn’t believe that this beautiful car with the canted headlights in front and delta-wing fins in back belonged to a Buick. It look nothing like the bulbous and chromey 1958 model.  I was ecstatic when later that fall my uncle who resided across the road bought a 4-door Special.

Designer Virgil Exner, Sr. had his work cut out for him when he had to replace his successful 1957-59 Chrysler Corporation models.  By 1959 his highly recognized finned look had become passe.  What do you do for an encore?

Exner stuck with the fin look one more year and again produced some spectacular vehicles.  I’ve always loved the Chrysler and DeSotos of that year and I’ve grown to appreciate the Plymouth but I’ve always been gaga over the premium large Dodge Matador and Polara.

Dodge also built a full-size Dodge Dart in 1960 but on a slightly shorter wheelbase.  It shared the Polara/Matador front fenders, roofline and doors but received smaller fins out back and had a cheaper looking grille and was built on the Plymouth platform.  By the way, a nice 1960 red Dart convertible will be in this summer’s Concours d’Elegance in Lake Bluff Park.

The Dart is nice but its bigger brothers, the Matador and Polara, are way better.  That’s because Exner attached two beautifully proportioned and integrated fins on the car’s rear quarters.  Then he topped the new look off by putting gorgeous rocket-like taillights at the rear and a rich-looking grille at the front. A perfect looking car.

I simply can’t decide which I like best.  Guess I’ll have to buy both and get rid of my Neon…after winning the lottery.