The Five Most Beautiful cars of the early 1960s

1961 Cadillac flattop is pretty darn sweet, it doesn't have the previous year's roof, it's a really clean design, the Buicks had the same roof too.

 

American cars

 

I love the m***ive rear gl*** on those...
.

 

1961 Pontiac Bonneville:


1960 Cadillac Coupe Deville


1962 Cadillac Deville/Series 62/Eldorado


1960 Buick Electra/Invicta/LeSabre


1963 Ford Galaxie 500XL


Runners up:

1964 Ford Fairlane 500


1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk


...and that is just my short list.....

 

I have to say these are eye catching. First is a 1962 Chrysler 300H and second is a 1964 Dodge Polara and 3rd is a 1963 Plymouth Fury Golden Comando.

 

Heres my list, the 61 PONTIAC takes top billing in my book, the rest can be shuffled anywhich way you want:
61 bubble top Catalina Ventura/Chevy Impala SS, 63 Galaxie(with a teardrop hood), 64 Dodge Polara/Plymouth Fury, 63 Buick Wildcat, and a 61 Studebaker Hawk

 

Like the original picks but would swap the pontiac for the 60 bonneville or catalina.

 

The early 60s Rivs and the split window Stingrays are givens, so here are my 5 not counting them.....60 Ford Starliner, 60 Chrysler Imperial, 61 Plymouth Fury. 61 Pontiac Catalina/Bonnevile (to me the flat tops and bubble tops are a toss up), and finally the 61 Studebaker GT Hawk.

 

im glad somebody had a better shot of this rig.

 

Thanks for posting this one. I was beginning to think no one loved this car's lines as much as I do. This was my number one, followed by '60 Ford, '62 Pontiac, '63 Dodge 880 and I'm wavering on "64 fullsize Chevrolet or Chevelle.

 

MY favorite......

 

Try this one instead

 

I'll stick by the rules and stay pre-1965 (which is tough because there are several later ones I really love). Here's my top 5....

1963 Chevrolet Corvette coupe
1963 Buick Riviera
1961 Pontiac Ventura 2dr HT
1962 Pontiac Grand Prix
1961 Chrysler 300G (HT or CV)

All rolling artwork, all cars I could sit and study for hours.

 

..Ironically, I thought I was the only one

How could the 1960 Buick NOT be on this list. The '59s were okay, but the 1960 models just had this....refinement that just looked so much better...such nice, clean and sweeping lines.

 

Yup what he said..... its right there if you took the time to look at the whole thread opening....

 

Almost- kinda partial to these...

 

You proably already know this but this is a 1961 Chrysler not a 62. 62 s didnt have fins.

 

wow.. any 1960 GM 4-door flat-top, 1960 Dodge Polara, 1961 Ford Sunliner (but I like the obscure 1960 also), 1961 Plymouth Fury, 1961 Studebaker Hawk? too many to decide..

 

For the record, I would put the 1960 Buick way up high on my list of all time great designs.
A neighbor of mine had a stunning, all original, white sedan with very low milage on it.
I was always apprehensive about asking if he'd sell it until I broke down one day.
Unfortunately, I waited too long as he'd just sold it to a guy out of state for 6K. A very good buy.
I really blew it there...

 

61 300 G

 

the 1958-1960 T-Bird!! Starbird won the car show with one!!!

 

Sorry to single you out, as there are lots of people guilty on this thread, but according to the original guidelines of the "Five Most Beautiful" blog entries, if a design originated in a decade, it's considered "of" that decade.

Thus, the '40 Ford is a '30s car; the '50 Ford is a '40s car; the '60 Buick is a '50s car; etc.

Did some of the later refinements dramatically improve some of these designs? Yes, but they still belong with the decade in which the design originated.

 

Corvette


Riviera




One that will throw some, 61 Lancer Wagon


lincoln convert

60 Pontiac

 

This is an arbitrary distinction that you've made up. Jay didn't say that in the original post; in fact, he chose the '60 Ford as one of his '60s best.

It's unworkable to generalize about car designs by decade; it only works as a convenient framework for discussion. The GM designs that originated in 1948 (Cadillac, Oldsmobile) carried over as the standard for body styles through 1954 (Chev & Pontiac, particularly). Does it make sense to call a '54 model a "car of the '40s"? Hardly.

 

You are correct, sir.

 

xlnt point.. 1960 was really a "50s" car especially when you consider how many models lost their fins for 1961..

 

Wow, hard choices, soooo many fine looking cars in the early 60's. Glad to see I'm not the only one here fond of the big 60 Dodge though personally I always liked the Matador over the Polara even though it was a lesser model. Guess I think sometime less is more, the Matador just seemed cleaner with a little less chrome and fluff the Polara had. Maybe too because our family car back then was a Matador.
61 Starliner, about any 61 bubbletop GM and the Rivi I agree with as well.

 

I like all the early 60's cars, but if were to pick a couple favs, they would be:
1.60 Olds
2.60 Buick

 

The usual photo I post on this subject …. One of my most favorite 60’s cars.
Id love to have my all white 421 powered one back

 

You are right in that it's not from Jay's writing. I misremembered. I got it from here.

Apologies.

I don't understand what that has to do with anything, as the '60 Ford is unquestionably a new visual design when compared with the '59. Unless you're technically including 1960 in the 1950s decade, which was not my intent.

I still think the bathtub styling that prevailed as late as '54 really is a '40s design, so yes. It has its origins in published dream designs from the war years, and quickly gave way to what is the true 1950s design of sculptured sides and fins. The 1960s style is best characterized by slab sides and minimal ornamentation like the Lincolns and '63 Pontiac.