(EXPANDED FROM 5/4/2022) One of my stylistic pet peeves is the 1963-65 Plymouth Valiant’s front fenders, which had weird, hairpin-shaped character lines. They undercut what in many respects was one of the cleaner compact designs of the mid-1960s. Jim Benjaminson (2020) noted that the “bent ridge was stamped into the upper edge of the fender to provide some character to an otherwise rather plain design.” Well, okay. And I do like how the character line helped to make possible a relatively flat hood. However, the size of the hairpin — particularly on 1963-64 [...]