VGMagazine

   The next car to impact Exner’s thinking was the most radical expression of the aerodynamic studies then germinating in Italian design and European competition. On the Alfa Romeo stand was a study on the chassis of a 1900 Sprint. Alfa’s coupe chassis had been transformed by Bertone’s visionary designer, Franco Scaglione. The car was appropriately named Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica number 5; forever to be known as BAT 5. This was not an exercise in self-indulgent excess, this was a dynamic study of fins as aerodynamic relevance, defining the wedge shape of an entire car.
   These were not three obscure Italian cars on display at an out-of-the-way autoshow. The Turin show, along with Paris, were the premier autoshows of the fifties. Harley Earl stood with Bill Mitchell over these cars. Virgil Exner and Serge were crosstown coachbuilders.
   These cars represented a dramatic new direction in body design. They also signaled the end of an era. The bulbous body panel shapes of the previous decade were being swept away. Sharper, cleaner, more dynamic contemporary designs were coming to the fore. Exner had not missed the point. He was presented with some unusual choices in the complete make over of the ’55 line-up. Primarily, how far could he take the company’s cars out of the box. Here was a company whose cars had been traditionally designed by body engineers, and had not changed appreciably since 1946. Whatever Exner chose to do would be a dramatic change, and with Ford having passed Chrysler in sales, of critical importance to the company.
   Exner and his team chose some basic tenets for the entire line. One was a complete re- proportion of the cars. As starting points the bodies were lowered while glass areas was increased. Then much like Pinin’s Lancia PF 200, the headlights formed the leading edge of the front fenders; this formed the basis for the clean, unified crest line that followed the front fender, to window sills, ending at the rear fenders. The contemporary proportions of the straight fender design were completed by the hood and trunk being on the same plane as the fenders. On the Chrysler and Dodge cars a split grill design was chosen, echoing the Scaglione designs. Plymouth and Desoto were given a single grill. It was the Plymouth that gave a suggestion of things to come from Chrysler. While the headlights were on the leading edge of the fender, they were slightly recessed beneath a sheet metal hood that formed a dynamic rearward angle leading to the bumper line. This arrow shape was echoed by the chrome and two-tone detailing on the side.

Chrysler’s Forward Look ad campaign was more than a good copy line. The cars themselves seemed to be angled forward into a new future for the company. Standing still they seemed to be moving. The impact was immediate. Showroom traffic increased immediately with their release, and the order books quickly filled.
Exner had peeled away the staid and boring sheet metal of Highland Park’s cars, to reveal the sheer performance of the hemi. More was to come.

IV

The ’55 Chrysler line-up had been a revelation. The engineers, who had been reticent about Exner’s influence, suddenly appreciated that the new contemporary body styles had transformed the company’s image. The previously staid bodywork having effectively hidden the engineering beneath. Now Exner’s bodies clearly portrayed the hemi’s performance engineering. One model in particular was to cement the company’s new performance reputation: the Chrysler 300. For this flagship model of the new line-up, the engineers had modified the hemi to produce 300hp, thus the name. With 300 horsepower it was hailed as the most powerful car built in America. It was about to prove it.
In February as part of speed week, all the major manufacturers converged on Ormond Beach Florida. Since 1903 this had been the site of many Land Speed Records. Now America’s 1955 models were about to go head to head to prove whose ‘stock’ products were indeed the fastest. In an official timed two way run the new 300 set the production car record at 127.58. Impressive numbers for a 4,340-pound coupe in stock trim.
Exner had been given a short window, eighteen months, for design & development of the ’55 model line up. This meant that Highland Park’s cars on the showroom floor for 55, and the basically unaltered 56 models, had come from designs penned in ’53. Though a dramatic change for the company and its dealers, Exner had actually held back on the changes he foresaw for the new Chryslers. While the new look Chryslers were rolling off the showroom floors and dealers lots in ‘55, Exner took the bold step of once again completely revamping the company’s cars. These cars, to appear as the ’57 models, would embody the full force of his vision.