General Motors suffered a one-two punch in the late Fifties. First Virgil Exner's '57 Chrysler Corporation cars threatened GM's styling lead. Then a recession in '58 seemed to sour the public on the trend to bigger and more flamboyant cars that GM had promoted. Large ships are slow to turn. The 1959-60 Chevrolets were a response to Exner's exuberant styling, and the new cars were also bigger than the one-year-only '58. By 1961, Bill Mitchell was head of GM styling and the full-size Chevrolets had cleaner lines that would only get crisper as the decade progressed. Although the '61 Chevys retained the 119-inch wheelbase of the previous Chevy, the new bodies were shorter and narrower, but the 1961 car was roomier inside. Plus, the doors were wider and the seats higher. The trunk was larger too, and the decklid dropped to bumper height for easier loading.
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