Wagons in vintage Street scenes

I don't remember ever seeing one of these '62 Plymouth wagons with this kind of deluxe chrome trim on it. Unfortunately, my preferred brochure website doesn't have one for a '62 Plymouth , so I can't check it....

I'm specifically referring to the chrome spear on the fender and into the front door, and the door beltline trim.

 

That is the Fury trim. Savoy and Belvedere would not have this trim.
You need to go back and watch "Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" again.


There were alot more of the Belvedere and Savoy wagons than Furys, which is why you may not have seen any with the Fury trim.
Heres a couple more 62 Fury wagons.









But, there was also a change in the Fury trim very late in the model year which affected all body styles. In a desparate attempt to regain lost sales for the smaller Furys (compared to the Impalas and Galaxies), a change was made to the side trim to emphasize length.
Notice the late model year side trim on this 62 Fury wagon. The wide trim on the fender crease has been deleted in favor of a
narrow chrome strip. meanwhile, a wider chrome strip was added on the fender top crease extending back into the beltline. This is very rarely seen trim on a 62 Fury. The very narrow chrome trim on the fender crease was similar to the Savoy bottom of the line model (the mid range Belvedere fender line crease molding was a bit wider), but since it wraps all the way around the front of the car and across the leading edge of the hood, this narrow trim was likely borrowed from the Sport Fury.



Heres a better view of the comparative 62 Fury trims.

First a 62 Fury convertible with the late model year trim. Notice on the non wagon body style, the trim exends all the way from front to back.


Next, a 62 Fury convertible with the most commonly seen Fury side trim that was used for most of the model year. Notice no attempt at any full length body side molding to tie in the frontal design to the rear.


The same was done with the 62 Sport Fury. Early versions had no full length body side moldings, but the full length trim was added late in the year.

First an early 62 Sport Fury...


then a late 62 Sport Fury...


So, as you can see from the photos, the late model year change in side trim to emphasize length on the Fury and Sport Fury models, made more sense, or was at least slightly more effective, on the convertibles, hardtops and sedans then on the wagon where even the change didn't carry trim all the way from front to back.

Meanwhile, over at Dodge, the same thing happened late in the model year for the Dart 440 series. In the case of the Dart, the top line Polara (which shared its body with the Dart) already had full length body side molding. So, the Dart 440 series convertibles, hardtops and I assume wagons had the late model year change in side trim, which may have been borrowed directly from the Polara.

Heres the top of the line Dart 440 wagon showing trim as it would have appeared for most of the model year (possibly the full model year on the wagon). The 1962 Chrysler Corp family photo above also includes a 62 Dart 440 four door hardtop with the early (and most commonly seen) side trim.


and heres another 62 Dart 440 wagon showing the usual Dart 440 trim


Heres the 62 Polara showing the Polara's full length side trim with contrasting color insert...



And heres a late model year 62 Dart 440 with the full length trim borrowed from the Polara. Notice that it retains the full fender line crease trim front and back, while the Polara above has the short fender line crease trim on the front and none in back.



Now heres my question. I don't think they could have made the longer late model Dart 440 trim work on the wagon body style. Does anyone here know if this trim with the contrasting color insert was ever applied to late 62 Dart 440 wagon models???

 

I always woundered why this wagon wasn't sold in the U.S.?

 

Thanks for that information, Jim. I never knew anything about that mid-year trim change. You would think I would have seen one of those Fury wagons by now......All I remember seeing is the Belvedere models. In fact, a friend of mine's parents bought one.....rode in it a few times.

 

You and me both, spirit! That is a cool Maverick wagon. IIRC they were designed and built by a car dealer guy in Brazil. I think he did other cars as well. Hope I have that story right. Anyway...I love the style of this little wagon.

 

Mexican built 67 Plymouth Belvedere (trimmed a little differently than U.S. built Belvederes.

 

Larger, from a 1958 New York Life Insurance ad.


Larger, Dec. 7, 1956, putting the finishing touches on displays at the
1957 National Auto Show at the New York Coliseum.

TG