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Then there were the smells; paint, rubber, leather...! On unveiling day it was strong enough to make me wonder if they were dry yet. The Mopars smelled different than the GM's...... etc.

Starters sounded different too. You could always tell a Mopar product when it was cranking!

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Guest Skyking
Starters sounded different too. You could always tell a Mopar product when it was cranking!

They still do. My 2000 Dodge Ram sounds the same as an old Valiant.:D

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When the 1957 cars came out quad headlights were not legal in a couple of states. Lincoln chose to ignore the situation and offered only quad headlights. Others, including Chrysler and Mercury made them optional.

As for Pittsburgh, that word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In early January of 1968 I ordered a Chrysler 300 convertible. It didn't come and didn't come and the dealer could not find out why. I was going on vacation in April and I was getting worried. Finally early in April it was delivered. Come to find out the carriers (truck drivers) went on strike and the car got parked in a lot in Pittsburgh.

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Yeah, you used to go to church and the men were wearing suits and ties and the ladies were wearing dresses and hats. How long has it been since you've seen a lady wearing a hat. I went to a funeral today and people looked absolutely awful. The women were in pants and probably less than 5% of the men were wearing a tie.

In the sixties you could buy a new car and expect it to be near faultless. By the end of the '70's quality control had flown out the window. I bought a '79 Dodge Omni to drive to work because gas prices were escalating. That car got more mpg and cost me more per mile to drive than any other vehicle I ever owned. If something could happen to a car, it happened to that one. With about 20,000 miles on it, a vibration showed up in the front end when you got on gravel that would just about drive you crazy. Took it to the shop and both front A-frames were loose and about ready to fall off. I sat down in th showroom while they worked on the Omni and I started looking around at the cars in the showroom. I soon noticed a large dent in the side of one of them, then on another one. I got up and started walking around looking and EVERY car in the showroom had at least one dent in it. Brand new cars. No wonder foreign cars selling.

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When the 1957 cars came out quad headlights were not legal in a couple of states. Lincoln chose to ignore the situation and offered only quad headlights. Others, including Chrysler and Mercury made them optional.

As for Pittsburgh, that word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In early January of 1968 I ordered a Chrysler 300 convertible. It didn't come and didn't come and the dealer could not find out why. I was going on vacation in April and I was getting worried. Finally early in April it was delivered. Come to find out the carriers (truck drivers) went on strike and the car got parked in a lot in Pittsburgh.

I think as a kid I even remembered that different color front park lights were not legal. And later on the 3rd brake light in the back window was also illegal for a while in some areas. You had to disconnect them.

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Yes it is over the convertible and although the cars shown are Checkers, these must have been what could be considered concept cars because although Checker did make a retractable landau top years ago, they never made a convertible. It also looks like suicide door on the car.

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When I was a kid, there was a Ford dealership at the end of our street and I clearly remember new car introduction time. For a car kid, it was an exciting time. Then on Washington's Birthday weekend, all of the dealers had open houses. My father or my uncle used to take me around to all of them - I had the route all planned out - so I could look at all the cars and get my sales catalogs.

Edited by John_Maine (see edit history)
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