"The Automobile is the Art"

The Fabulous Fury - Plymouth Introduces the Future in 1961   Have you ever paused to appreciate that “future” and “change” are both 6-letter words that wound up on opposite ends of the universe when factoring in human emotion? We pop up each day pointed toward a bright future, which instinctively requires change, but the only “change” most of us cheerfully embrace is the kind we find rustling around in our pockets when held hostage by a parking meter.

Rarely has change influenced the future more than the day Virgil Exner arrived at Chrysler Corporation in 1949 via Studebaker. Prior to Exner, Chrysler had the reputation of producing “heavy hoofed haulers” geared at Grandpa. As he demonstrated at Studebaker with the innovative Champion and Starlight models, fortune tellers had nothing on Exner when it came to seeing the future. As early as 1952, Exner’s C-200 concept car was a double dose of dessert for Americans craving a sweet ride. Like his cross-town competitor, GM genius Harley Earl, Exner introduced automobiles to the Jet Age!

Pictured Above: Virgil Exner

Pictured Above: 1952 Chrysler C-200

Within a year, Exner’s creative juices were flowing like a tidal wave and the “Forward Look” was in full swing. Exner’s “Fin-tastic 50s” lineup lit up showrooms across the country featuring lower and longer cars with elegant tailfins slicing through the air. Market leaders GM and Ford scrambled to adjust as every Chrysler division, including Dodge, Plymouth, De Soto, and Imperial went “full fin” with the plush and polished Plymouth Fury stealing hearts and market share in equal abundance. The public fell in love with fins and Chrysler Corporation’s market share jumped from 15–19 percent overnight.

Later on, the Fabulous Fury would go down in history…..Back then, it nearly went down in flames. Anticipating the “Fin-tastic 50s” were headed for a “tailspin” as they slid into the more sensible 60s, Exner planned a radical design change for 1961…..clear back in 1956! Forward Looking gave way to Forward Thinking. Excited buyers poured into showrooms in 1961 expecting fins and instead were shocked to see a grille frowning back at them with furrowed brow.

The U.S. may have been in an all-out space race with Russia in 1961, but a space age design was too much, too soon prompting Motor Trend Magazine to compare the ’61 Fury to a “generation of Japanese sci-fi monsters”. Exner and his design team at Chrysler had created a monster for certain but it was under the hood! The stately and stunning Coral colored Fury in our collection at The Automobile Gallery & Event Center features a dealer installed aluminum ram induction system with twin 4-barrel carburetors boosting this Fury’s horsepower to 360, astronomical for that era.

Virgil Exner definitely saw the future. His downfall was that he saw it long before anyone else. Sales of the 1961 Fury plummeted to just 54,215 units. Before public tastes could catch up with the Fury’s breathtaking beauty, Chrysler panicked and put Exner out to pasture with a pension prior to the 1962 model year. For the record, Chrysler’s sawed off 1962 models sold even less than 1961. It’s a shame someone who saw the future so clearly wouldn’t be around to see much of it. Virgil Exner succumbed to heart failure on December 22, 1973 at the age of just 64. All these years later, Exner’s masterpiece 1961 Fury which was once considered “Lost in Space” is an enduring reminder of just how beautiful the future can be!

See this “Fabulous Fury” Saturday at our 6th Cars & Guitars Car Show!

See over 100 other great Gallery classics and impeccable guest vehicles at these upcoming events! June 17: Cars & Guitars Car Show; more info and to register follow THIS September 14: Cruisin' the Classics, Daddy D's Production September 30: AUTOberfest (German Car Show) November 9: Patriotic Salute, Daddy D's Production December 2: Old Fashion Chrismas, Daddy D's Production ...Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details on each!

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Contemporary Automobile Gallery and Event Venue "The Automobile is the Art"

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