I stumbled into these by accident, but they do make a nice follow-up to my “Who Killed the Big American Car” article the other day. As I’m sure you all know, Chrysler responded to the sharp drop in big car sales starting in 1958 with a massive project to right-size the full-size car. The result was objectively the best American car since the 1955 Chevy: taut, lithe, efficient, powerful, and yet roomy. But it was not a big success; too small and too exotic to the typical buyer. So in response to its screaming dealers, Dodge cobbled up a borrowed ’62 Chrysler body with an old ’61 Dodge front end and rushed it into production, and its target demographic was all-too obvious.
No hinting around or subtlety here.
Not surprisingly, it was a very big dud; all of 18k sold in the second half of 1962, 28k in 1963, and 32k in 1964.
I was hoping to find a ’62 Dodge Dart ad targeted to women. No such luck, but the body language dynamics in this one are decidedly different than the 880 images: he’s now passively laying down in her lap. Wouldn’t see a Dodge 880 BIG car man doing that, eh?
The 880 was a place holder after the mistake in bringing the downsized fullsize Dodge and Plymouth was realized. Dodge, being the more upscale brand of the two, got this parts bin large car. Plymouth had to soldier on with what they had. In 63, More middle of the road design language was used on the Dodge and Plymouth but the 880 was kept as it did offer an option to Dodge customers, even with it’s now own fresh front clip. ^5 saw further move away form Exner’s look and Engel’s fill the box designs, The 64 Plymouth actually looking almost Chevrolet in front. but all this was to keep sales afloat until the new larger full size Dodges and Plymouths could be brought out for 65. and the older smaller “full size, became de facto intermediates. the Dodge Coronet and Plymouth Belvedere/Satellite, respectively.
Around 1990 I purchased a ’66 Dodge Coronet 440 2 door. It was longer than my parents 80’s station wagon at the time and the trunk could easily hold a loveseat. Loved that car- and it wasn’t until 2003 before I had another car with all the convenience features it had, like lighted ignition switch, ‘fade out’ interior lighting, fully adjustable wiper intermittent speed, and the like.
“Not surprisingly, it was a very big dud; all of 18k sold in the second half of 1962, 28k in 1963, and 32k in 1964.”
In the words of Monty Python, “I’m getting better!” 🙂
A big car for a big car man? Sign me up! I think the debate will rage forever about what hurt the 62 Dodge and Plymouth more – it’s reduced size or its bizarre looks. I vote “B”.
And for every rule there is an exception – The 1967 Mercury line was hawked as “The Man’s Car”. Although they backed away from that tagline on the new Cougar, it was still out there.
IIRM, Ford had a Mustang campaign focused on women drivers at the same time as the introduction of the Cougar. The Mustang program had something to do with a frugal 6 cylinder for the frugal lady.
Maybe the above Cougar campaign (Man’s Car) was an attempt to distinguish the two since they both came from the same assembly line.
I think of the ’62-’64 Dodge 880 and Custom 880 as the continuation of the DeSoto with another name. Conceptually, they were the same as the Firesweep but at the other end of the price spectrum for Dodge. Intended to placate dealers uncomfortable with the down-sized ’62 and still snag “THE BIG CAR MAN” before he headed to the Chrysler-Plymouth dealer for a Newport. It also served those who had bought Custom Royals, Matadors and Polaras over the prior few seasons, same reason AMC fielded the Ambassador, to keep their prior big car customers in the fold.
Ongoing dealer loyalty was also a big factor for a major part of the buying public. Who consistently stayed with the dealer who they felt gave them the best deal in price and trade-in plus service after the sale, even when he might not be the lowest priced on the car they wanted. Dealer loyalty now is an old-fashioned idea
Agree with what you’ve said, but Mopar dealers were more than “uncomfortable” with the downsized 1962 Dodges and Plymouths. They were downright apoplectic. Supposedly several Mopar dealers immediately turned in their franchises when the new 1962 models were unveiled to the dealers.
Chrysler-Plymouth dealers were in better shape, as they had the more conventionally sized and styled Newport, which sold well in 1962. But Dodge dealers had no such “back up,” which is why they began screaming for relief at headquarters almost as soon as the 1962 model year got underway.
I remember reading in a book about Plymouth that one Midwestern Chrysler-Plymouth dealer, upon returning home from the unveiling of the 1962 models,told his staff that they would not be selling many 1962 full-size Plymouths that year. He turned out to be correct. The dealership survived on sales of the Valiant and Chrysler.
Yet the ’62 Plymouth sold only 25k less than the ’61, although that’s not saying much. I’m sure the dealers were hoping to improve on the poor sales of the ’60 and ’61.
Was the 880 really a failure? While the big 1960 Matadors sold 23,600; Polara 11,600, their sole large series the ‘61 Polara only 14,032. The name was different but the price segment was the same. Late model year introduction notwithstanding, 1962: 17,505; 1963: 28,266; 1964: 31,760. For the corporation, it was just plus volume on tooling largely amortized, being a parts bin assemblage. What little new tooling for 1963-’64 had to be offset by the increase volumes.
A ‘62 Dodge Custom 880 convertible, one of 684 turned up on Cleveland, OH Craigslist in the last year. For the Mopar enthusiast who appreciates the oddballs, it was a real find.
I might add to my above comments, Intended to placate dealers uncomfortable with the down-sized ’62, perhaps also some smarting from the loss of their DeSoto franchises in the dealership realignment, the parts-bin 880 served perfectly.
As a kid of the 50s, I saw the “normal” sized Dodge as an alternative to the Plymouth. They were bizarre enough looking that ChrysCo had to know that there was no cross shopping among Ford and Chevy owners with that car. The 880 was Dodge’s bridge to the buyer of a higher priced car. Sort of like Ford offering a Ford badged car, on a longer wheelbase, to compete with an upper range Mercury.
Perhaps the guy lying on the dock has to lie down from hyperventilating after looking at the front end of that Dart.
I can only imagine the Big Car Man bringing his new Dodge home. Wow honey, our new car sure…is…big… 🙁
I’ve come to like the ’62 Dodge more and more, including its front end. It was just a few decades ahead of its time.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I quite like all the 1962 downsized Mopars, but as I understand it I am in the minority.
I’ve grown fond of the 62 Dart and would love to own a nice bare bones one.
Me too!
Perhaps, in homage to a car Dodge tried to sell late in the previous decade, they should have called this car Le Homme. Or maybe, Le Grand Homme…..
!!!!!! So many !!! Exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!
But!! There can always ! be more!!!!! Strident = better!!!!!! And big!!!!!
I’m a big car man. I like a big car with big power, big brakes, man-sized seats, room for my offspring, comfort for my wife and lets me hang with my buddies driving big Impalas, Galaxies, Dynamic 88s, who are also big car men with big families.
I like man-sized things. I stand up tall. I have big feet. I am loud. I like meat.
I am quite flattered that Dodge knows that guys like me exist. That 880 during its first abbreviated year, sold well. Then, in the next two years, that 880 increased in popularity. To me, that justifies Dodge’s big 1965 man sized cars.
Big rocks!
I hear ya!
One of most curious things is just how abysmally bad the sales for the all-new 1965 big Dodges (Polara, Custom 880 and Monaco) were: 70k! I keep thinking there must be a mistake in the stats.
The new and rather similar 1965 Plymouth Fury line sold 329k in 1965.
Meanwhile, the 1965 Coronet, essentially the previous big ’62-64 Dodge with rather obsolete styling sold 207k times. Maybe folks weren’t so keen on big Dodges after all?
What’s even more baffling about the performance of the 1965 Dodge and Plymouth C-bodies is that the Plymouth was sold in the same showroom as the Chrysler Newport. The Newport wasn’t that much more expensive than the Fury.
In those days, the Chrysler name still held a fair measure of prestige. The Chrysler Division set a sales record for 1965.
One would think that Plymouth C-body would have suffered in comparison to the Chrysler C-body sold at the same dealer, while the Dodge would have sold better being free of such a handicap (and, in my opinion, the full-size 1965 Dodge is better looking than that year’s Plymouth). But that was not the case.
The 65 Newport was a $250 bump over the Fury III (Impala level); Newport included standard 383 V8 power instead of /6. AT, PS, PB, AC, radio, etc were extra cost on both.
If the customer borrowed money to buy the car, that difference could be spread out over two years.
And in 1965, the Chrysler brand was still more prestigious than Plymouth.
That would seem to make the Plymouth Fury a tough sell, but apparently that wasn’t the case in 1965.
And it cost $153 to put that 383 in a Fury. That price gap relative to the Chrysler’s prestige is starting to look awfully small.
A loaded Plymouth Fury was a tough sell against the Newport in the same showroom. But you had to actually want the 383, and want to pay for it, and want to buy the gas for it.
There was still a retail market for modest big cars with small V8s in 1965. My family bought a 318 Fury III in 1970, and I think my parents wouldn’t have wanted to be seen in a Chrysler in a working class neighborhood, the same way an Impala would be acceptable but a new LeSabre would raise eyebrows. Also, I’m sure that the new Fury III with A/C already was stretching their budget.
The Pontiac Catalina had a similar relationship to the Impala in 65, and they both sold well. Maybe the Impala wouldn’t have sold as well in the same store as the Catalina.
For whatever reason, the 65 full sized Dodges were sales duds (perhaps the 65 Chevy and Ford captured a lot of potential sales?) as the identical 66 Dodge full sized cars rebounded fairly well, sales wise.
Of course, it’s possible that the migration of model designations from full sized to Coronet didn’t help either?
In 64 a Dodge 440 was the full sized car and in 65 it was moved to the Coronet line.
I’m sure any confusion over the 440 was cleared up in the showroom.
It could be interesting to wonder what if the 1965 Dodge C-bodies got the Coronet name instead of Polara?
My “Encyclopedia of American Cars” shows 1965 Polara production as 12,705 with no body style breakdown. I suspect there’s a digit missing and it should be 127,050 or something similar.
My “Encyclopedia of American Cars” shows 12,705 Polaras which I can’t believe is right – it’s less than either the Custom 880 or Monaco totals. Allpar has conflicting figures but shows a total of 134,771 1965 Dodge C-bodies.
I just checked the Standard Catalog of American Cars, and it has a completely different set of figures.
Encyclopedia:
Polara – 12,705
880 – 44,496
Monaco – 13,096
Standard Catalog (rounded to nearest hundred, separate breakout for wagons):
Polara – 75,100
880 – 23,700
Monaco – 13,200
Station Wagons – 22,800
The Standard Catalog numbers add up to 134,800. The Allpar number matches this if rounded to the nearest hundred,
It looks like these two sources have inconsistent numbers like this for most Dodge models around this time period – I had never noticed that before.
The Standard Catalog number look a whole lot more realistic to me. I’m going to use them in my spreadsheet that I’m building.
Another Dart ad with a youngish couple & different body language:
And a slightly-off-topic ad for the new ’63:
Nice one!
Paul, I’m not certain that my 9-1/2-year-old eyes saw that one in print in late ’62, but it somehow jogs my memory….
> Another Dart ad with a youngish couple & different body language:
Guy is probably saying, “honey, I know it’s ugly, but it’s lighter and it handles soooo much better!”
I like that ’63 ad! Works well for either gender.
From a distance, that profile shot of a 63 Dodge looks awfully similar to a 61 Chevy in profile.
Police liked the big cars, too. California Highwsy Patrol had a minimum wheelbase requirement. Its 1962 patrol cars were Chrysler Newports, since the Dodge 880 was announced too late to be included in the bid process. For 1963 the Dodge 880 won .
In at least one year, Dodge made a pursuit car with a special one inch wheelbase stretch to meet the CHP specification.
Which of course was just simply stupid. The ’62 smaller cars were universally praised for their superb handling and speed, thanks to their lighter and more aerodynamic bodies.
It took awhile, but the CHP (and other PDs) eventually got its head out of its ass in that regard. The 1970s Coronet 440 went down as their all-time favorite car.
Can’t disagree. My own favorite that I drove on duty was the “compact” 1978 Plymouth Volaré with the 360 4-barrel. It was nearly as quick as the Plymouth Fury/Dodge Monaco with the 440 4-barrel and handled better. The only problem some officers had was fitting into the smaller car once it was equipped with all the STUFF that the departments put into them, but it wasn’t long before they HAD to adapt to the smaller car, when the Dodge Diplomat (same body as the Volare) became the “standard” patrol car in the early 1980s…but by then, with the 318 engine.
Give me the Chrysler any day over that Dodge.
And over the decades, the ’62 Plymouth has become my favorite car of that year. Chevrolet second, and while I’m a bit nebulous about third and fourth, Dodge definitely in fifth.
Magazines and writers always focus on the downsizing in ’62. That wasn’t the problem. Unspeakable ugliness was the problem. We’ve seen many pix of the original “full-size” ’62 prototypes, and they’re no better. Scale doesn’t help or hurt when every single shape and proportion is grotesquely monstrous and mismatched.
The 880 wasn’t for ‘big men’, it was for men and women with eyes.
I would disagree that the 1962 S-series cars, as originally envisioned by Exner, were not better-looking than what ultimately rolled off the production line.
The curved side glass, longer wheelbases, greater width and “deeper” windshields helped pull off the overall effect – particularly for the full-size Plymouth. The Fury hardtop coupe, with a roofline that looks like the one used on the 1965 full-size Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe, is a handsome car, in my opinion.
The last issue of Collectible Automobile featured full-size, finished styling clays of the original 1962 Dodge hardtop sedan, and it does look better than what did reach the market. It is not, however, a beauty queen.
Whether they would have ultimately succeeded is another question – they were still definitely out of the styling mainstream for 1962.
This was the car that Wally Cleaver was driven in to his prom by his girlfriend in a “Leave it to Beaver” episode. I may be wrong but didn’t it have a “see through” speedometer above the dash and a part of the steering wheel was clear plastic like Lucite?
I think the speedo was a see-through, but from what I can tell the steering wheel was either solid color or white on the upper half. It was the Chrysler that had the clear part of the wheel.
Quite different advertising than the huffing puffing growling sweaty-dew-rag wearing angry scowling “brotherhood of muscle” stuff I see nowadays. Did men really wear hats all the time? Did they shower in them? They wore vests? What is this magical mystery land?
The past is a foreign country complete with different cultures, customs, laws, music, cars, clothes, food, etc.
I’m vastly more appreciative of the styling and proportions of the downsized 62 Plymouth and Dodge compared to when they were introduced nearly 60 years ago. But I still don’t like the Dodge’s grille and headlight treatment. However, I have to say the big 880 wears such a sad face.
All this big reminds me of the Harvey’s Beer ad concept from the opening of the excellent Putney Swope:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/275847/Putney-Swope-Movie-Clip-Open-Dr-Weasley.html