The ’65 Mustang was a seminal car for many reasons. But 1965 was an uncommonly rich year for new designs, and not everyone bought (or wanted) a Mustang. With CCers being the varied (and sometimes contrary) lot that we are, there are surely some other nominations. Like the 1965 Pontiac? Motor Trend Magazine thought so, as the entire 1965 Pontiac line won its Car of the Year award.
Lovers of big American cars have their pick here. The new Impala was a very nice car as well. The 1965 GM lineup of new full sized cars was certainly important.
Paul Niedermeyer made the case for the importance of the 1965 LTD some time back (here).
Mopar fans could celebrate Chrysler getting sober and finally entering the realm of attractive, mainstream cars with the new C body cars, including the final Letter Series 300, the 300L.
In perhaps a surprising turn, I will not be nominating a Studebaker for the running. The 1965 models were trim jobs of the final attractive ’64, except for the Chevrolet engines. Thinking about it, this may have been the first decent Stude six in several years. Had they employed the 327, the Canadian Stude might give me something to think about, eh? But with only the 283, well, no thanks.
Anyone who has votes for or against any of today’s nominations, or if you have anything to nominate in addition, well now is the time.
Yup, I’ll take one please. I vote it as CCOTY also.
I’ll take a Bonneville sport coupe, 421 tri-power, turbo400, buckets, dark blue/green, black vinyl top and black interior.
The 1965 Pontiac gets my vote.
My Father bought two new Pontiac Catalinas; a 1959 Sport Coupe, and a 1965 four door sedan. These were both Motor Trend COTYs.
I remember going for a test drive in a 1965 Bonneville two door fastback. It was Iris Mist with a black vinyl top, like the GP in the first pic. After also driving a 1965 Mercury, Dad ordered the Catalina sedan with the Ventura option, air, and am radio with rear speaker. It had the high compression 389 with 2 barrel carb, auto trans, power steering, the heavy duty suspension option, stainless window trim, and deluxe wheel covers. It was Cameo Ivory (actually white), with the beautiful dark red Ventura interior.
This car was smooth, fast, very comfortable, and handled well. I think 1965 was about the last year before GM starting making a lot of parts out of plastic. Everything had a solid, high quality feel. Even as it aged, I don’t remember any rattles or squeaks. This car became mine in 1973, and my brother’s a few years later. My bother drove it to it’s grave. It actually lasted almost 200,000 miles, even with my brother’s total neglect of routine maintenance. With a little TLC, it would still be on the road today.
Pontiac. No question. Dad had a 65 Bonnie Safari. He claimed it was the best car he ever had.
While it’s hard to argue against the Mustang for ’65 on the basis of its lasting impact on the automotive market, it’s not my kind of car.
I would be remiss if I failed to nominate the 1965 Chryslers. The ’65 Dodge Polara/Monaco are also sharp-looking with their dumbell-shaped grilles and twin-pod instrument clusters, and mechanically pretty much the same as the Chryslers.
I am saving the bulk of my enthusiasm for the 1966 Chrysler though. 🙂
Cap’n Obvious has to second that motion. 🙂
That 300 sent me off to find my all-time favorite image at Old Parked Cars.
http://www.oldparkedcars.com/2012/02/1965-chrysler-300l-300-l-three-hundred.html
On a contrarian note, I choose the new 1965 Corvair.
Yes! We killed the problematic swing axles this year!
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/04/curbside-classic-the-best-european-car-ever-made-in-american-car-1965-corvair-monza/
No doubt, the 65 Corvair made the platform what it should have been to begin with. That would make for an interesting CCOTY subseries: what GM car finally got enough of its problems fixed to make it a good car. 🙂
Seriously, though, my only problem with Corvair as a legitimate CCOTY is that by 1965, the whole rear-engine concept as the way of the future was dead. The market had moved elsewhere, and more power was what ruled. Cars like the Corvette and the Sunbeam Tiger (and even the Mustang) proved that you could make a good handling rwd car that had lots of power. The Corvair had become a footnote that would dribble off into the sunset with few visible changes in its final 6 model years. What is maddening to me is to wonder how influential the car might have come if the 1960-61 Corvairs had been as good as the 65 was.
I didn’t think the Tiger had a great reputation for handling — I recall that Motor Trend‘s review of the early 260-powered version had some harsh words about the accuracy of the steering, for one. The Alpine had never really excelled in that area to begin with, and nearly doubling its power didn’t necessarily help.
The topic of GM killing models once they are refined and “good” cars would probably be better as a multi-part sub-series (How Hard Can It Be To Build A Minivan?, COAL, CCCCC, Auto-Biography, and _____ Deadly Sins as examples) or a history.
Yes Corvair +1.
Okay- sure rear engines were dead, and even the Beetle had only another 35 short years to live. However, it not really just the improvements to the Corvair concept that made it groundbraking- rather, it was that it was quite possibly the most beautiful design to come out of the ’60s. In coupe form, it was perfectly balanced, with a modest coke bottle profile and a milimetre thin hardtop roof. The ’65 Corvair was not only prettier than its replacement Camaro, but prettier than the Mustang and just about anything else. The greatest irony was that Nader’s book came out around the same time, and the general buying public didn’t know the difference between the early Vairs with swing axles and the myriad of penny pinching, and the far, far superior ’65- a car designed and engineered by those who loved and believed in the concept. In many ways, the ’65 Corvair was the last car made by GM in which it seemed they really cared how the finished product turned out.
… of course a ’65 500 coupe was my first car when I was 16, so I’m a bit biased.
This year (and this page) contains two of the primary objects of my youthful automotive lust. As a young child, my friend Tommy’s mother drove a purplish/maroon Bonneville four door. It was a stripper, but it still had those voluptuous lines. From every angle, the big ’65 and ’66 Pontiacs were interesting to look at. Not like our dowdy ’69 stripper Cutlass sedan.
Then in high school, my friend Kevin’s father had a ’65 300 convertible. By then it was nearly a 20-year-old car, but it was a one-owner car that had been babied. Kevin was only allowed to drive it on special occasions, and he feared his father too much to let me take it for a spin when his father did give him the keys. But every time I went to his house, I would pour over every inch of the car. I still consider the Engel Chryslers to be the ultimate expression of long, low, wide cruising in style.
As a kid, Mustangs never grabbed me. I was born 18 months after their introduction, and by the time I was sentient of the automotive world around me, they were as common as grey squirrels. We had a neighbor who fixed up Mustangs and resold them. Their front yard was always littered with a half-dozen Mustang carcasses. Made it hard for me to appreciate their virtues.
But that said, the Mustang is the hands down winner of the ’65 CCOTY, no dispute about that.
Worthy of note: In 1965 Toyota started the Japanese Car Invasion with their new Corona. The JDM Toyopet had been a big flop over here, too small and slow for freeways, so they dropped out. All they sold in America for several years were Land Cruisers.
The ’65 Corona was the first Japanese car developed with the American market in mind: more room, better styling, larger engine, automatic transmission and factory A/C.
A number of dealers left empty-handed by Studebaker’s demise picked up this little-known import for lack of anything else to sell. They eventually became wealthy beyond their dreams.
Oh, what a feeling!
A very good point. We here in the mid sections of the country did not start to see these in any numbers until maybe 1968-69. You coastal-types undoubtedly saw them sooner. On a tangent, I always wondered why the Corona name went away. “Toyota Corona” still rolls off of my tongue with great ease.
I agree! Maybe it sounded too much like a cigar. 😉
I think a lot of people couldn’t keep the Corona and Corolla straight.
Well, they both are cigars…
1965 may have been the hugest year for styling for American Auto Manufacturing, the Mustang, Corvair and all the standard size cars for the big 3. May be leaving off something. In 1965 and still today I believe the standard size Chevy is and was the best looking of them all. So many modern looking features and the sweep of both the front and rear always made it seem to be in motion. Not blocky looking like the 64, though it is a great looking car also. Even though the Pontiac is also a great looker the Chevy seemed to bring it all together, and that style could be had for a price most commoners could afford. I nominate the Full Size Chevy.
At one point my folks had two ’65 Bonnevilles simultaneously (they had a friend who was a Pontiac sales manager): an air-conditioned wagon, white with blue interior and cargo-area carpeting, and a gray-blue convertible with bucket seat option. I wish I had either one today.
Should be mentioned that the 1965 full-size GM convertibles introduced the glass rear window on a mass-production basis.
Second generation Corvair, especially the Corsa models. Real driver’s cars, not stoplight dragsters.
1965 marked the beginning of the end of America’s “Golden Age”–the 25 years of post-war American dominance in world industry and trade, the pinnacle of its foreign influence and the unprecedented rise, domestically, of the middle class. All of this ended by 1970.
Not surprisingly American automobile manufacture peaked towards the end of this Golden Age. 1965 was a VERY good year. A good case can be made that the 1962-1969 cars, from all the manufacturers, offered the best all around value and performance in American vehicles, before or since.
Are we likely soon to run out of candidates as this CCOTY parade marches along? Especially candidates that feature style and power, cars that made statements about our personal status and our place in the world.
Post-1970, a vehicle had to serve purposes other than a smart or powerful suit of clothes. It had to begin to pay its way. Pickup trucks emerged from the commercial domain to occupy a place in every country driveway. Four door sedans gave way to minivans. Sporty cars and high status cars implausibly merged into SUVs. Sports cars almost disappeared.
It will be interesting to see what gets nominated as the years keep rolling by.
I think that I would be tempted to nominate the whole 1965 Chrysler Corporation line. I had a new 1965 Barracuda, and about twenty years later I had a 300L hardtop. Even later than that I owned a 1965 Signet hardtop that had every factory option to make it a Formula S clone, plus a 4-speed, power steering, power brakes, and a vinyl top. Each one was a great car in its own way.
I’ll add a pic of my old 300L as it sat in the LeMay Museum in 2009. That’s the original paint, vinyl top, and exterior and interior trim.
Here’s a rear view of my old car. Dark blue with black and white interior. I should add that it still had the tricolor ring around the L emblem in the grille, and the original red paint in the side trim. Iirc it had about 120,000 miles on it when I sold it to Harold.
I think the Mustang is CCOTY, but I’d rather have a ’65 Bonneville or GP. Aqua, burgundy or even the mauve shown above, black top and white bucket seat interior. I love the ’65 full-size Pontiacs!
It’s the same to me ! A GP and even a Catalina 2+2 with those lovely 8-lug wheels would definitely be my dream boat !
As the car that launched a thousand imitators of various sizes (let’s see – Camaro, Firebird, Cougar, Barracuda once they gave it a unique body, Challenger, Javelin, Celica, Capri, 200SX, Prelude), the Mustang was it for ’65. There are lots of ’65 models I’d rather have if I had unlimited funds, but the Mustang changed the automotive world and is (I’m guessing) the 2nd longest-lived continuously-produced model name in the history of the car industry, after the Corvette.
Only a few nominations from me for this year:
Lancia Fulvia coupe, lauded as one of the all-time best handling front wheel drive cars. I’ve driven one and it is fantastic, so light and communicative.
Mercedes Benz W108/109 250SE-300SEL, the point of origin for the modern S-class.
And an Australian nomination, which was actually awarded Wheels car of the year in 1965 –
Ford Falcon XP, the car that got the Falcon properly in the game in the local scene. The body strengthening that had been implemented through the XM model production run was complete so it was now a very solid car, which was proved in a 70,000 mile durability run at the Ford proving grounds with the distance covered by 5 cars in 8-1/2 days. The thing that made this a real feat was it was run on the ride and handling circuit, not any sort of high speed track despite the >70mph average speed. It was a 2-1/4 mile course with up to 1 in 4 gradient, and so demanding that the entire output of the local Dunlop tire factory was being sent to the track to keep tires on the cars. The pace was so hot that all but one of the cars were crashed, but even the car that rolled was repaired and made the finish. It also debuted the Fairmont name as the top of the line trim. The model is very popular as a collector car today.
The Chrysler Valiant AP6 was a very good car too, with the first V8 in this class of car (273) that maintained its premium edge over the other two. Compared to the US Valiant, only the doors, windshield and fenders are shared.
+2 on the Fulvia Coupe and W108/109, I’m a huge fan of both of these. Somebody nominated the Fulvia for 1963, but for the first two years only the somewhat dowdy sedan was available. The coupe was a technological marvel and one of the best looking European cars of the era, IMO.
That was me also. A friend of mine has owned a Fulvia sedan for years and I suppose the extra weight and wheelbase (12″?) over the coupe take the edge off in terms of dynamics it is still a great car, and full of all the ‘extras’ that I suppose you would say sent Lancia broke. Very thoughtfully designed in terms of layout and practicality too (at least if you have access to the special tools required for some jobs).
Porsche 911 is my nomination. Derivatives of that rear engine platform are still in production proving that rear engines are still not completely dead.
Runner up would be the GM B-bodies, especially the Pontiac for looks alone. I took my drivers license test in a ’65 Impala. An uncle bought a Buick Wildcat that year. Grandpa also bought his last car in 1965, a Plymouth Belvedere, his first and as it turned out, last, Mopar.
Late to the party as always… just wanna get these in before I forget:
Aside from the Lancia Fulvia Coupe, M-B W108/109 and second generation Corvair which were already mentioned, I’d like to add the ’65 Corvette to the nominations.
Why ’65? The original split-window ’63 Sting Ray body was cooler, yes – but all years of the C2 looked amazing. This was the best looking and most compelling body style, in my opinion. 1965 was the last year for the incredible fuel-injected 327 and also the first year for the big-block V8, and it was also the first year that four-wheel discs were available. If I could have any Corvette, it would be either a ’63 or ’65 327FI 4-speed (wide ratio) coupe, all black in and out.
I’m not a Corvette dude at all, in fact this is the only time you’ll see me nominate one in this entire series and I think everything from the emissions-era C3 to the present day has been gross (despite being fairly amazing vehicles at many points) – but the C2 Sting Ray still blows me away.
Obviously I have to give the Mustang it’s props too.
Was it 1965 when the L88 was first available?