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Auto Detailing and AppearanceShare tips and tricks on how to make your Third Gen shine! Get opinions on products or how something tasteful looks on your Chevrolet Camaro or Pontiac Firebird.
I have an old car magazine from the 1950’s that talked about these. They had actually worked most of the bugs out then to make them last longer. The late 50’s and early 60’s were an amazing time. We will never see that level of imagination put into car design (or anything) ever again. That was a time when we were obsessed with the future and had an optimistic vision of tomorrow. Everything looked like it was from the Jetsons. The 57-61 Chrysler cars are masterpieces in my opinion. The 59 Buick is my favorite General Motors car. I hate modern cars for the most part. The third gens are the exception and one of the very few good designs made after that time
Last edited by JimRockford; Mar 30, 2020 at 08:52 AM.
We just need another influx of German technology, the fruits of hard fought technological warfare, and captured alien technology, to fuel another explosion of creativity.
HaHa! Those times are never to be duplicated or equaled again. The people and culture that made those cars and that society possible are gone now.Plus with all the government interference you couldn’t even get something like that off the drawing board and into production these days and we’ve long passed the stage where car makers even care about creating anything with that level of design. It’s all about savings as much money as possible and changing as little as you can each year. They don’t even give cars their own separate platforms for the most part these days.
If you put a third gen Camaro next to a new one,the 30 year old one looks much more
sporty and sleeker than the new one.
Last edited by JimRockford; Mar 30, 2020 at 09:45 AM.
My next project...been searching for the right car for about 5 years now. You think thirdgens are rare? Just try to find one of these.
I have a 58 and a 57 that I’ve owned for decades. (No,they aren’t for sale) Four finned Mopars in total. As I stated previously,those cars are my first love.
The 57-58 cars are next to impossible to find in decent shape because they suffered from terrible quality control when new from the factory,they leaked and rusted out like crazy. The 57’s and 58’s are often cited as the cars that cost Chrysler their reputation for quality.
Then because their designs were more radical than GM or Ford they went out of style quickly and in the 60’s and 70’s were cars nobody wanted to be seen in. Most wound up on junkyards.
Now you have to factor in the “movie car” people. The ones who only go after a car because it was in a movie or tv show and has a “mythology” built up around it,e.g.,1982 Trans Am because of Knight Rider,The Delorean because of Back to the Future,Dodge turbo interceptor because of the Wraith,1977 Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit,the 74 Monaco from Blues Brothers,etc.
If Christine would have been an evil Edsel or a Córdoba,then that would be the car they would be going after. Hell,people are paying hundreds of dollars now for an ugly brown Panasonic clock radio because it was used in back to the future. Lol.
Anyway,all these factors make them hard to find and expensive. Good luck finding a 57-58 Belvedere 2 door hardtop in decent shape these days.
Because of the movie “Christine” a rusty non running 2dr car starts above 10k. Then you have to dump a ton into it.
Parts are also very difficult to find and there isn’t much in the way of aftermarket parts for any of the 57-61 Chrysler vehicles due to the fact that there are not that many out there.
Ironically Stephen King said he chose that car because it was forgotten and didn’t have a mythology built up around it like the 57 Chevy did.
I would drive those cars daily but unfortunately with the direction societies gone and the value of the vehicles it would asking for trouble. It’s not like you can park something like that and walk away from it for 20 minutes.
It’s what’s terms as an “attractive Nuisance”. Lol. You’d have idiots trying to sit on it and take pictures,pry emblems off or steal it.
Anyway,since this is a third gen site and this entire thread isn’t related to third gen f-bodies in anyway,I now return you to your regular programming. Lol.
