Ephemera - Dodge Matador * Polara Promotional Booklet (1960)

Detroit, MI: Chrysler Corporation. Very Good-. 1960. Booklet. Color Illustrations; This is an oblong promotional booklet for the Dodge Division of the Chrysler Corporation for 1960 featuring the Dodge Matador and Dodge Polar cars. The booklet is in Very Good- condition with illustrated covers and a stapled spine. The booklet covers have ground-in dirt, spots of rubbing, creasing to the corners and several patches of toning / discoloration, especially to the rear cover. The text pages are mostly clean and bright, with some occasional spots of foxing. "The Dodge Polara was an automobile introduced in the United States for the 1960 model year as Dodge's top-of-the-line full-size car; after the introduction of the Dodge Custom 880 in 1962, the Polara nameplate designated a step below the full sized best trimmed Dodge model; the Polara that year had been downsized to what was in effect intermediate, or mid-size status." "The Matador (and the similar, better-trimmed Polara) featured styling cues that were carried over from 1959 models, themselves an evolution of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" cars introduced in 1957. Now built on a new unibody chassis, the 1960 Matador continued the Dodge styling hallmarks of stacked "jet pod" taillights, however, the size of the lights was greatly exaggerated, with the lower light set into the rear bumper. The design also incorporated Dodge’s trademark (shortened) tailfins, which included small vertical taillight lenses placed on the vertical surface at the back of the fin; again. The purpose of the shortened fin was meant to exaggerate the length of the “jet pods” holding the taillights. The front end featured a small grille comprising six stacks of aluminum rectangles nested in a massive (and complex) front bumper assembly." .