Welcome to The Carchive, where we showcase the cars of yesterday in exactly the way their makers wanted, irrespective of whether or not all the flim-flam, the exaggerated positivity, the lifestyle BS and throwaway catchphrases held any relevance or truth whatsoever.

Last time around we visited a car that was decisively positioned towards the throwaway domestic appliance end of the motoring scale. I thought it appropriate, therefore, to head backwards through time fifty years to see something far more interesting. To whit: What Plymouth were doing in 1964.

“If this is the year you picked to buy a new car, you picked a beautiful year to Get up and Go Plymouth”

This gloriously presented brochure covers the whole line-up for that year, ranging through Sport Fury and Fury, the Belvedere, affordable Savoy and practical Station Wagons. And this time, by and large, I’m going to let the material do the talking.

“A car that brightens up the driveway the moment you pull in”

In this Limey’s opinion, mid ’60’s Plymouths were crisp looking cars, devoid of much Exner Excess and showing few signs of the morbid obesity that would strike a few years later. They certainly carry a lot of visual appeal to my eyes, particularly when compared the the grey porridge which clogged British tarmac arteries at that point in time.

“Performance is everything that happens when a car is moving. It’s how the car responds to the accelerator, answers to the wheel, behaves when you touch the brake pedal. “

The above is THE TRUTH. It’s why all of us enjoy driving and the love of cars. Note: this doesn’t imply “Good” performance, but “Any” performance. The way all cars drive differently is what provides the rich, vivid spectrum of colours that make up The Hooniverse.

 

 

There were Commando V8’s of 361, 383 or 426cid (with 365 quoted horsepower), a regular 318 (of course) as well as the “thrifty, peppy” Six, together with a whole host of available extra amenities to special-up your Plymouth.

 

In the view of this brochure, it’s doubly hard to accept Plymouth having slipped away into the night over ten years ago, considering that Roadrunners and GTX’s were still to come. But of course, come Sundance and Breeze and we knew the inevitable was striding inexorably towards us.

(Disclaimer: All images are of original manufacturer publicity materials, photographed by me. Plymouth as a brand doesn’t exist any more, so you can pretty much say what you like about them. They were great, and then, suddenly, they weren’t)