American Car - November 2015

(Steven Felgate) #1
ovie cars are great, aren't
they? We all love 'em, but
sometimes it can blind us to
the fact that there are many, many
other ways of doing things. For a start,
I think there are now quite enough
dark green '67 and '68 Mustang
fastbacks in the UK. Likewise General
Lee replicas – they look superb, but
you could paint a Lincoln Continental
orange with a Confederate flag on the
roof and that'd be good enough for
most of the general public. Sometimes,
you've got to look around the edges.
Like this handsome '57 Plymouth,
for instance. The new '57 Plymouths
were a real departure for the brand,
bang up to date and very stylish, a
leap forward in design. However, they

were still a bargain-basement brand,
and in their haste to look futuristic,
development and quality control
suffered. This Savoy hardtop may
have been spectacular in 1957, but a
few years later they were forgotten
cars. Forgotten, that is, until 1983
when Stephen King published the
novel Christine, rapidly followed by
John Carpenter's movie adaptation.
Christine herself was a '58 Fury, a
rather rare model, but suddenly any
Exner Plymouth was fair game and
they began to be saved. The book was
okay, and the movie was watchable
(notwithstanding the number of
classic Plymouths wrecked during
production), but the movie car replica
game was afoot. There have been

30 ACM

Red with a white
roof is great ... but
this version is
totally unique
(above). With a
pillarless coupe
roofline and
handsome Exner
fins, it's perfect for
a cool kustom
without any
reference to any
Stephen King
novels. Peep
mirrors (right) look
cool but are
probably pretty
useless. Note the
heavy tint on the
windows -
important in
Arizona when you
have no air
conditioning.

M


1957 Plymouth Savoy

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