This is great! Really enjoyed it. If they had car shows like that now, I'd want all of those cars, but in reality, if I were to go to a car show in 2024, I probably wouldn't want any of them.
I miss the days when I could get excited about going to the car shows every year. There aren’t any cars to get excited about today. Wow - another look alike crossover/suv thing in black, white, silver, grey, or red. With a black interior of course. Oh. The price is what used to be the price of a house! Wanna buy one???? 🙄🥱🤮
Plus where are the gals all dressed up at the shows modeling with the cars. I always liked to chat with them about the cars and the various shows they’d done all over the country.
To look at this video, this is why I want to go back in time, look at how cars changed styling wise every year, what was under the hood, even the price of cars every year, not only was this from the Detroit show but also the Chicago Auto Show as well, but still very cool!!
Thanks for posting this. Even though I was only a two-year-old girl in 1961, I remember a lot of these cars. I always thought the 61 Rambler Ambassador was beautiful, and the 61 Caddy. I'ts sad that Pontiac, Olds, and Plymouth are no longer. And the general public dressed up for events like this. I remember noticing that when I watched footage of the 1964 World's Fair. Now you go to an auto show and everyone's in jeans or shorts!
Actually, '61 was not the greatest year for many makes, although admittedly this footage was from the very beginning of the '61 model year, so they did not know yet. Chrysler products were not very appealing, and it was only to get worse the next year. In the luxury class, Caddy and Imperial would suffer drops in sales from 1960 (which itself was not a good year for car sales in general). On the other hand, the '61 Lincoln experienced a significant sales *increase* from the prior year-a very unusual occurrence for the debut year of a total redesign, especially from a marque which had suffered an identity crisis the decade prior. Speaking of Lincoln, its redesign was the most radical departure from styling norms, nearly all other cars looking like post-'50s carryovers. Its debut caused all other designers to start with fresh drawing boards, making the Lincoln the most influential design in the car industry after WW2. Despite that, this footage dedicates only about 5 seconds to the most influential car design of that year, compared to more than twice as much for all others.
