Monthly newsletter published by McLellan's Automotive History 

Dedicated to literature collectors, restorers, museums, publishers,
manufacturers and investors who collect and preserve automotive literature
HOME | share your story | media | use of content | subscribe | letters to the editor | contact us  
Ask a Question
Name: State / Country: *Question:
*E-mail: Tel: Subscribe: Yes No                     
 L I T E R A T U R E
I N D E X
Click here
 
Editor-in-Chief
Mona Nath
Technical Editor
Robert McLellan
Photo Editor
Anil Nath
:: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
  LITERATURE INVESTMENTS
:: Personal Insights
:: Literature Life
:: Looking Both Ways
:: Golden Eras
:: Good Investment? - Yes!
:: Buying For Tomorrow
:: Good Investment?
:: Profitable Portfolio!
:: Unanticipated Investment
:: Tomorrow's Treasure
:: What Is It Worth?
  CONCEPTS & RUMORS
:: GM Concepts
:: The Future: 70 years ago
:: Annual Concepts
:: Concepts — 1930s
:: Fisher Body Craftsman
:: GM Probes The Future
:: Book review: Frank Lockhart: American Speed King
:: Good Customer Appreciation
:: 1928 International
:: The Playboy of Buffalo!
:: Hottest Collectibles
:: Auto designer Earl created the look of GM's glory days...
:: Book review: Phil Berg's
Ultimate Garages III
:: The Salesman's Office
:: From Nash to AMC
:: Book review: Dr. Frederick Simeone's The Spirit Of Competition
:: Automotive Advertising
:: Sports Vehicles
:: Book review: John Jacobus' Inside the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild
:: Winter Reading
:: Maserati: The Panini Collection
:: Bridgehampton Racing: From The Streets To The Bridge
:: Small Cars
:: Duntov's Secret - Corvette Gulf Oil Race Car
:: Sports Cars Then and Now
:: Press Kits - 1997 & Newer
:: They Started in MGs
:: The American Automotive Assembly Line
:: Peugeot in Review
:: Big Rigs Rolling
:: Damn Few Died In Bed
:: Auto Paint History and Chips
:: Bill Horton's 'Jezebelle'
:: Chevrolet Trucks
:: Coachbuilder's Renderings
:: British Quality
:: Book review: American Road Racing: 1948 - 1950, The Sport Revived
:: Something Different
:: Teaching Kids about the Hobby
:: Restorations Literature
:: Chrysler Corporation in the 1970s
:: Renault 1939 - 1971
:: Book review: American Road Racing - The 1930s
:: The War Years: 1940s
:: The Serious Collector
:: Mercury's Cool Cat
:: Build It Yourself
:: Tell your story
:: Memorabilia by Make
:: Citroen - Introducing Front Wheel Drive
:: The Memorable 1950s
:: Book: Caribbean Capers
:: Hidden Literature
:: 1965 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
:: Checker Motors
:: Porsche 911 Evolution
:: Technical Automotive Literature
:: Jaguar's Racing Heritage
:: Special Cars: 1975-1995
:: GMC Trucks
:: Vauxhall in England - GM Overseas - 1
:: Opel in Germany - GM Overseas - 2
:: Packard: Ask the Man Who Owns One
:: 1901 Ford Sweepstakes - The Race Car That Changed Everything
:: School Bus Literature
:: Concept Cars
:: Popular Pickups
:: Family Firebird
:: The Winners Book
:: American Postwar Dropouts
:: Japanese Literature of The 1960s
:: Favorite Press Kits
:: Selecting your literature
:: Cars for professionals
:: Collectible Automobile Literature
:: From Airplanes to Super Cars
:: The British Contribution
:: Press Kit
:: American Light Trucks in Literature
:: GM in the 1950s
:: Octavia and Felicia
:: English Ford
:: Maintaining the MGB in the 21th Century, Barrie Jones, 2009
:: Leader Card Racers - A Dynasty of Speed, Gordon Eliot White, 2009
:: Fun on Wheels
:: Prestige, Status & Works of Art, Selling The Luxury Car 1888 - 1942
:: Chassis 141: The Story of the First LeMans Bentley
:: German Luxury: Two Thoroughbreds & Their Lifestyle
:: Top 10 Collector Cars for 2010-2020
:: An Introduction to Collecting Car Brochures
:: Subcompact automobile: Ford Fiesta
:: Out-of-print-book: A Century of Automotive Style
:: My Auto Literature Collection
:: Automotive Magazines
:: Plymouth 1935-1936
:: History of the Corvette
:: Preservation of literature
:: Z. Taylor Vinson - An era ends
:: Hendrick Motorsports Museum
:: Happy 50th Birthday Corvair!
:: Diamond T
:: Rolls-Royce for India's royalty
:: Original Paint Chips
:: Pontiac Dream Cars of 1953, 1954 & 1955
:: Wallace Wyss - Artist Profile
:: America's Packard Museum
:: Ford's Road Leads To Mustang
:: My Super Beetle
:: Citroen SM (1970)
:: Unanticipated Investment
:: Quality Control
:: How To Decide Which Car You Should Restore
:: The End of the Affair
:: Printed brochures soon to be a memory?
:: Don't Forget Dealer Literature
:: Automotive Books
:: The Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild — An Illustrated History
:: GM Concepts
:: Change Creates Nostalgia
:: Racing (Part 1)
:: Collecting Automotive Literature
:: Investing in Literature
:: Pre-World War II Brochures
:: Showroom Postcards — 1930s through 1950s
:: Ferrari SP1. More Than Unique
:: Fiat
:: The Making of Shelby Cars in Detail
:: Unusual Postcards
:: German Press Kits
:: Everything Cadillac
:: Plymouth Nostalgia
:: Loving Mercedes-Benz Quality
:: Dealer Posters
:: Mercury's Glory Years
:: Racing & Show Programs
:: Buyer's Guide To Brochures
:: 356 Porsche Literature FAKES!
:: Ford Trucks
:: Books And Magazines
:: The Best Increase in Value the Most
:: The Making of a Ford Collection
:: Austins
:: Cars and Literature of the 1970s
:: First Impressions
:: Electric Vehicles
:: Goodbye Viper
:: Land Rover
:: Collectibles vs. Recession
:: See a Classic Car Show, Take a Nostalgia Trip
:: Times Are Changing...
:: Lamborghini's
:: Collectible Tractors
:: From Boxy to Fins
:: How I Met John Conlon
:: One Historian Mourns the Passing of the Black and White Glossy
:: Thanks Dad!
:: My Story
:: Review: Two Press booklets on the Rolls Phantom Drophead coupe
:: Collecting for Fun and Relaxation
:: Rolls-Royce and Bentley
:: Packing for Shipping
:: Dodge Trucks
:: The Family Station Wagon
:: Collecting 'Down Under'
:: Owner's Manuals
:: Press Kit Review
:: "Buy Me a Ferrari"
:: Your Literature
:: MG in America
:: Dealer Stamps
:: Commercial Vehicles
:: Ask the Man Who Owns One
:: Enhance Your Collection
:: The Early Books
:: Triumph
:: Coachbuilder's Literature
:: Wolseley
:: International Opportunities
:: The Innovative Hudson
:: Chevrolet Literature
:: Buses/Engines/Fire Trucks/Tractors/Trains...
:: The Schödel Collection
:: Beyond the Mustang II
:: Kaiser-Frazer
:: Sunbeam & Sunbeam-Talbot
:: The Dawn of the Auto
:: Taxi Cabs, Police Cars & Emergency Vehicles
:: U.S. Postwar Econocars
:: Jaguar in the 1950s
:: Inquiring Minds
:: Exotic Dropouts
:: Rare Maserati Find
:: The Beautiful Brute
:: Dune Buggy/ATV Escapes
:: Remembering Oldsmobile
:: Original Paint Chips
:: Vintage Bentleys
:: Trucks of the 1930s and 1940s
:: BMW
:: Collecting Memories
:: Auto Books - 50 Years
:: Imperial is Back
:: Mitchel DeFrancis: Automobilia Enthusiast
:: Lincoln As Art
:: The Golden Age of Press Kits
:: Iron Curtain Literature
:: Toyota Sports
:: Planning an Advertising Campaign
:: Happy Halloween
:: Styled — For — Tomorrow
:: Automotive Archeology
:: Paint, Upholstery, Data & More
:: 14 Steps: From Our Shop To Your Maildrop
:: Cadillac Memories
:: British Luxury
:: My IHC Fever
:: A Collector's Story - Fifty Years and Counting
:: 1907 "Washington Times" Race
:: Postwar Studebaker
:: The Popularity of AMC / Nash / Rambler
:: Mazda Miata Memories
:: 2020 'Think Tank' Results
:: Letteratura Di Automobile
:: Magazines Are Literature
:: Camaro Fever
:: Grandad's Cars
:: Star Cars — Year 2020
:: Australian Auto Literature
:: Jeep History
:: Porsche on Parade
:: David Greeney: Automobilia Collector
:: Building Dreams
:: Flathead V-8 Fords
:: The Japanese Invasion
:: Touring India
:: Auto Shows
:: The Buick Flashback
:: Meeting Tarun Thakral
:: The Mysterious Dale
:: Ford Overseas
:: Swedish Brothers
:: Pre-War Orphans
:: Pinto or Corvette?
:: Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild
:: Rick Lenz - 10 Years Later
:: Best of Buick
:: Comments on Packing
:: Diamond T
:: 1959+
:: AC In The News — AAA
:: Getting Home Alive!
:: Motorizing The Army
:: Posters & Transparencies as Automotive Art
:: Contemporary Automotive Photographs
:: Convertible Fever
:: French Auto Literature
:: MoPaR
:: Automobile Quarterly Collections
:: History of the Ambulance
:: Oddities
:: The Traveling Salesman
:: Ultra Luxury
:: Finnish Brochures
:: Postcard Paradise
:: Limited Editions
:: German Thoroughbreds
:: Auto Galleria LUCE
:: Fisher Guild Reunion
:: Them VS. Us
:: The Corvair Legend
:: RR - World's Best Car
:: Recreational Vehicles
:: Datsun Z Literature
:: Ford Flower Power
:: News You Can Use
:: Connoisseurs' Choice
:: Automotive Books
:: Pate's Hidden Treasure
:: Every Boy's Dream
:: Jeep Literature As Art
:: My Beloved Hillman
:: Adios Cuba
:: Reprint News
:: British Sports Cars
:: International Customers
:: Corvette: A Legend
:: Automotology
:: Literature In Norway
:: Salvage Literature
:: Volkswagen As Art
:: Brass Era Literature
:: Society: Auto Historians
:: Pontiac Art: Insights
:: Truck Literature?
:: Quality Control
:: Bentley
:: The Exotics
:: Kit Cars & Replica Cars
:: Pontiacs as Art
:: High Speed Pursuits
:: Robert's Tips
:: Honest Reprint Lit
:: Literature on Lincoln
:: Dealer Stamps
:: Original or Fake?
:: The Rolls-Royce
:: Counterfeit Literature
:: World of Auto Literature
:: Z. Taylor Vinson
:: Junichiro Hiramatsu
:: Ed Whitt
 
 
 
January 2009 Issue
 
ARTICLE
 
Plymouth Nostalgia
By Robert McLellan
 
 
For 1957 the '1960-New Plymouth'

Back in the early 1950s, Ford and Chevrolet pretty much monopolized American car sales between them. Plymouth did not stand out until 'performance and styling' became central to Chrysler Corporation's sales theme. Performance began with the hemi and that captured customer-attention like never before. Styling improved in 1955, but in 1957... WOW! In that year, most all American cars had excellent styling, but the outrageous fins of the 1957 Plymouth were more than a showstopper. People simply stopped and stared at the car in disbelief.

Plymouth began its reign in my family with my grandmother's 1933 Plymouth coupe, a car she owned from new until the late 1950s. It was the car my mother used, to learn to drive. On my father's side, it was DeSotos that were popular in the 1930s through the 1950s. My father started with Pontiacs but switched to Plymouths in 1958 and drove them until his death in 2001. My first new car was a 1966 Plymouth Valiant and later I had a 1971 Duster.

The loss of Plymouth to the world was a sad event, but the cars left millions of wonderful, nostalgic memories behind. Looking back through the Plymouth literature, it is easy to pick out those models which you saw on the road and wished you had owned — or maybe you were lucky enough to own, or still do. Here is a chance to now have those brochures.

These are my personal favorites. I tried for a list of the 10 best and ended up with over 30. After a lot of whittling away at the list, I got it down to 18. I think you will agree that there are just too many really nice brochures.

Click for larger view
 
     
     
     
     
     
     


To view the hundreds of brochures available on all the
Plymouths built from 1930 to 1999, click
here
 
 
 
The Automotive Chronicles, January 2009
 
 
 
 
 
Your car
horoscope
Automotive astrology
for your zodiac sign.
www.astrokismet.com
Literature for
OVER 600 MAKES