Plymouth Valiant

The Plymouth Valiant (first appearing in 1959 as simply the Valiant) is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give the company an entry in the compact car market emerging in the late 1950s. The Valiant was also built and marketed, without the Plymouth brand, worldwide in countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as other countries in South America and Western Europe. It became well known for its excellent durability and reliability, and was one of Chrysler's best-selling automobiles during the 1960s and 1970s, helping to keep the company solvent during an economic downturn. Road & Track magazine considered the Valiant to be "one of the best all-around domestic cars". In May 1957, Chrysler president Lester Lum "Tex" Colbert established a committee to develop a competitor in the burgeoning compact car market which included the popular VW Beetle, the new American Motors Rambler and upcoming entries from GM, Ford and Studebaker. Design chief Virgil Exner created a car that was smaller and lighter than a full-size car without sacrificing passenger and luggage space. Originally named the "Falcon" after Exner's 1955 Chrysler Falcon concept car, the vehicle was renamed the "Valiant" (which means "having or showing courage or valor") honoring Henry Ford II's request to use the name for the Ford Falcon. The Valiant debuted at the 44th British International Motor Show in London on October 26, 1959. It was introduced as a 1960 model and was officially considered a distinct brand, advertised with the tagline "Nobody's kid brother, this one stands on its own four tires." For the 1961 model year, the Valiant was classified as a Plymouth model. The 1961–62 Dodge Lancer was essentially a rebadged Valiant with different trim and styling details.

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Virgil Exner

Virgil Max "Ex" Exner Sr. (September 24, 1909 – December 22, 1973) was an automobile designer for several American automobile companies, most notably Chrysler and Studebaker. Exner is widely known for the "Forward Look" he created for the 1955–1963 Chrysler products and his fondness of tailfins on cars for both aesthetics and aerodynamics. Exner introduced the Forward Look at Chrysler, which was copied even before the designs hit the road.

Chrysler 300 letter series

The Chrysler 300 "letter series" are high-performance personal luxury cars that were built by Chrysler in the U.S. from 1955 to 1965 and were a sub-model from the Chrysler New Yorker. After the initial year, which was named C-300 for its standard FirePower V8, the 1956 cars were designated 300B. Successive model years were given the next letter of the alphabet as a suffix (skipping "i"), reaching the 300L by 1965, after which the model sequence was discontinued while the "300" remained.

Dodge

Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis North America, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above Plymouth. Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company machine shop by brothers Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge in the early 1900s, Dodge was originally a supplier of parts and assemblies to Detroit-based automakers like Ford.