1961 Dodge Dart Seneca Sedan Walkaround

My post "Dodge's Odd 1961 Facelift" featured hardtop coupes.  Now I'm following up with a walkaround of a 1961 Dodge Dart Seneca sedan.  I selected this base-model Dart because it has almost no ornamentation.  That lets us see the basic body shaping better.

In the post linked above, I noted:

"It seems that Chrysler Corporation's sales were not going well.  The highly successful 1957 line with its prominent tailfin theme was becoming stale in the eyes of potential buyers.  The corporation's 1960 line was based on unit-body construction, replacing traditional body-on-frame assembly.  This made drastic facelifting more difficult and costly than before."

The facelift involved the front end (hood, front fenders, gille, headlight assemblies, etc.) and rear (revised tailfins, trunk lid, etc.).  The passenger compartment zone was essentially untouched, as it was most affected by expensive-to-retool unit body construction.

The basic body was shared with various Chrysler models, and an example is provided below.

Gallery

1962 Chrysler Newport - Mecum Auctions photo
Model year 1962 saw the disappearance of tailfins on most Chrysler Corporation cars.  This image shows the basic body's design essentially at its best for 4-door sedans following the cleanup of the styling shown in the walkaround below.

1961 Dodge Dart Seneca - car-for-sale photo set.
Yes, that paint color (or something close to it) was available for Dodges in 1961.  As I mentioned in the post linked above, "But that taut, hood / front fender shaping for 1960 was reduced to a flabby frontal theme for '61.  The front fender line is soft, having no character.  The concave grille also lacks character, though 1962 Plymouths featured similar shaping.  Those little horizontal slots along the upper and lower framing of the Dodge grille might be echoes of similar shapes on early 1950s Dodge grilles -- though that link's probably way too subtle for most folks, I suspect."

1961 was still a tailfin model year for Chrysler Corporation.  In the previous post, I noted: "Besides the flabby front end, we find that the tailfin profile has been reversed, the high point being forward instead of aft.  That reduces the fin's prominence.  But now the fin seems odd because it has no aerodynamic stability functionality.  It's simply an odd shape."

The trunk lid folds under in conjunction with the after ends of the tailfins.

Tail lights are set low, squeezed between the fold mentioned above and the bumper.

Side from the end pieces, the rear bumper doesn't seem to offer much protection for the sheet metal.

In summary, the front end seems too soft and the fin seems unnecessary.

A better view of those slots that remind me of early-1950s Dodge grilles.

A visually busy dashboard.  Egonomically, there seems to be too many similar buttons and dials placed too closely together.