Did 1963 ‘size shakeout’ really return US automakers to normalcy?

1963 Plymouth Fury 2-door hardtop

Popular Mechanics Oct. 1962 cover

“For the past three model years, the industry has been tossing trial balloons at the American car buyer in an effort to determine ‘how small is compact?’ or, in other terms, what sizes of automobiles and what performance levels could be sold and in which price categories.

After this feeling of the public’s pulse, the industry has come up with a series of size changes for ’63 that add up to a market realignment based on the truism that most people expect to pay more money for a bigger car. Or (if you flip the coin), that smaller cars should cost less money. Now, the lowest-priced cars will generally be, as in the past, the smallest. And all ‘Big Three’ cars are again full sized.”

Popular Mechanics (Whipple, 1962; pp. 92-93)

1963 Rambler Classic 770 four-door sedan

1963 Buick Riviera
The 1963 Plymouth was three inches longer than in 1962 but still shorter than the big Ford and Chevy. Meanwhile, the new Rambler shrunk an inch and the Riviera was the top Buick but 14 inches shorter than the Electra (Old Car Brochures).

RE:SOURCES

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Also see ‘Bigger, glitzier, more powerful: The auto industry’s holy trinity’

1 Comment

  1. Yes, overall, 1963 was a banner year, but 1964 was better with the G.M. intermediates with their 115-inch wheelbase. That said, the years 1965 and 1966 were the zenith of American auto manufacturing styling overall, in my not-so-humble opinion.

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