Plymouth had a new selling story for 1957, with Forward Look styling, torsion-bar front suspension, and a catchy slogan: “Suddenly, it’s 1960!”
Introduced on October 25, 1956, the 1957 Plymouth line was a winner for the Chrysler Corporation, allowing the Plymouth brand to retake third place behind Ford and Chevy in the annual sales wars. (Buick had managed to temporarily swipe Plymouth’s traditional perch.) We can probably credit Virgil Exner’s bold Forward Look styling, with the tallest fins and the lowest roofline in industry that year, for the boost in sales. The advanced, almost futuristic sheet metal inspired a new slogan from the Plymouth ad team: “Suddenly, it’s 1960!” The Plymouth tagline briefly became a pop culture catchphrase, much like “Where’s the beef?” or “Don’t squeeze the Charmin.”
A little curiously, perhaps, the slogan doesn’t feature in this original 1957 commercial spot. Instead, the pitch is focused on potential resale value, the new Torsion-Aire front suspension, economy of operation, and low price (a direct stab at Buick, possibly). The well-equipped Belvedere was actually the most popular model in ’57, accounting for more than a third of the sales volume over the more basic Plaza and Savoy models. Popular options included power steering ($84) and whitewall tires ($33). One no-extra-cost feature wasn’t on the option list: rust. Chrysler suffered quality problems that year after moving its body production in-house with the closing of its traditional supplier, Briggs. Video below.
My father had a 1957 Plymouth Fury. He said it was already rusting out when he bought it!
My brother had a ’57 Savoy in 1961. Dad had a 1958 Dodge Royal wagon. One day my brother was standing next to his car which had just broken a torsion bar and was listing to the right. Dad who was sitting in his car said something like. :”well it serves you right..driving the way that you do..” Then all of a sudden “snap” a torsion bar on the Dodge broke and Dad’s car tilted to the left..