What were the last year and model cars sold in the US that had no plastic body parts?

Question

I just had my car smogged and there was a 1955 Plymouth Savoy in the lot. I looked at that sucker and it looked so solid and substantial. The bumpers were heavy chrome plated steel, and the grille bar was the same. You could see how the sheet metal was designed to look as though there were compound curves, but they were really simple folds with the slightest curl at the edges to imply roundedness, with chrome strips hiding the joints. All the trim and flash was chrome plated metal. Not a hint of a moulded plastic fascia, modesty panel, or side moulding.

http://www.battlebornmopars.com/1955_Plymouth_Savoy.jpg

It got me to thinking. When was the last time manufacturers made cars that had no plastic body parts on them? What year, and what models were they? I'm guessing around 1970, but give me some examples.

Answer 1

I found pix of a 1969 Lincoln Continental that shows no plastic modesty panels (The bumpers are massive and go all the way down.) and no plastic fender caps.  The fenders have a chrome strip along the top (like all Lincolns up to that time since 1961) to hide the seam, so they didn't need end caps like the Cadillacs.

The following year they went to hidden headlights, and that piece that holds them and surrounds the grille could be metal or plastic.  If it isn't plastic, I'd bet the headlight blanks are.

Answer 2

73 camaro was the last year with a metal nose even tho they didn't get rid of the chrome bumpers till 76/ 73 mustang was the last year it had a chrome bumpers/ dodge i think went on to about 75 on there's

Answer 3

If you do not count fiberglass as plastic, which has been used for body panels for some cars since the 50's, or the dozens of Bakelite and polymer parts used since the beginning, or the small scale manufactures who experimented with making body panels out of cardboard, press board and even leather, the highway safety laws that took effect in 71 (I think) really is what started the use of plastic in bumpers, front grilles, and trim pieces. By the mid-70s all major manufactures used plastic pieces around the bumpers and fenders.

But the last US car w/ no plastic body parts was most likely a 1982 Checker, ya know, the old NYC cabs.

Checker did not change its design or body since about 1960, it couldn't afford to. When the highway safety laws changed how bumpers had to be made and attached to cars, checker couldn't afford to make custom panels to hide the bumper mounts or change the design to make it pretty, so they didn't , they basically just welded a piece of guard rail to the car and called it a day.

Last Checker rolled off the assembly line in 1982, last one in service as a NYC taxi was decommissioned just a few years ago.

Answer 4

I remember my grandmothers 76 De ville had plastic coverings around the bumpers so there were no open gaps and the bumpers could move in and out during minor impacts. They only lasted 10 years and then cracked and fell apart.