“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)
RE:SOURCES
- Whipple, Jim; 1962. “The Longer, Livelier ’63s.” Popular Mechanics. Oct. issue: pp. 87-102, 238.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick Riviera (1963); Plymouth (1963); Rambler (1963)
Also see ‘Bigger, glitzier, more powerful: The auto industry’s holy trinity’
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.