Poll: Which '61? (6/22/2026)

Nice match up! But, I gotta go with the cleanly styled Mercury on this one. I never settled with the unconventional fins and the large grille on the Dodge. 

No contest, MERCURY, my favorite Mercury '61, then '56, then '54. Dodge sucked for looks in the early '60's.

Both are wonderful early-60's full-size American convertibles. The big Dodge had those unique reverse fins and I think could be ordered with the powerful D-500 V-8 engine option. The sleek Mercury sure looked great in this convertible form and had some real power up front, too.

I can't say there is no interest in these two, but I'll say that I'm voting between the lesser evil. I'd rather own the Merc.

Not a fan of either, but I went with the Dodge for its weirdness factor. 

Close match here. Both a little over weight but overall, I like the Dodge.

For the sake of accuracy, that ram hood ornament does NOT belong on the '61 Polara.   Someone stuck it on there.

I voted a rare no interest in these 2. They hurt my eyes looking at them, lol. That's JMHO though. 😁

@jkuvakas +1  My thoughts as well JK.  I love the Mercury!

My vote is based on bias because my dad bought a 61 Polara which was totally unlike any car he had ever owned. When I first saw the car in the driveway, I was shocked with it's unorthodox appearance. In this case looks are not everything as one short drive will reveal. Dad's car was loaded with every option that was available but the most important was the drive train. That 383 coupled to the Torque Flight transmission was faster than I had ever experienced up to my time of 21 years. Up to that time I had never given Chrysler products even a nod but the driving experience with that car made me think in a whole different way. Looking at the comparison Mercury I see a nice conventionally styled car but from a performance standpoint the Polara wins hands down and over the years the style of the Dodge has grown on me that I now like it's looks. Polara.

I voted for the Dodge. I don't like Mercurys from 57 to 63.

I'll take the quirky Dodge. Not a fan of the '61 Mercury.

I don’t like to say no interest so I picked the Mercury. Design is the usual boxy Mercury body, the grill is uninspired but I give them credit for the tail lights

The Dodge is a total bust in my book although the 62 is even worse. They had three different tail lights configurations for all that years models.  The oyster shape on the Polara, the small circular ones for the Dart showed up in 62 again and I am not sure what model the flat wrap arounds were attached to. O and the grill is awful. Nuff said. 

I never liked that year Mercury so I choose the Dodge. 
Steve