The Mopar & Orphans Class

Mopar is a term formed from MOtor PARts to name the automobile parts and service arm of the Chrysler Corporation, first used in the 1920’s.  Auto enthusiasts adopted it as a common reference to the Chrysler range of autos.

Orphan is a term used to describe an automobile which is no longer in production.  For the Salisbury Concours, orphans are joined to the Mopar class simply for the purpose of creating a well-sized class group.

With GM innovating the fin, it wasn’t long before other manufacturers saw its success as a design element and followed suit.  In 1957, Chrysler took fin design to new extremes.  Due to his bold exaggerated fin designs, Virgil Exner, Design Director for Chrysler, is known for his “Forward Look” design on the 1955 through 1961 Chrysler products and his fondness of  aesthetic and  aerodynamic reasons.  With a long hood and short deck, the wedge-like designs of the 300 series and revised 1957 models suddenly brought Chrysler to the forefront of design.

This decade also saw drive-in theaters flourish with drive-in movies increasing in number from just a few hundred to more than 3,000.  Another auto-oriented innovation was the advent of the drive-in bank.