Chances are pretty good that if you pick a random weekend, somewhere in America there is a collector car auction. These events range anywhere from a piece by piece outdoor sale of an old Midwestern junkyard to the bright lights and ultra high dollar insanity of a Barrett-Jackson event. More »
My dad had a dark blue 58 Belevdere 4 dr w/318 and pushbutton torqueflite. As a young lad I remember sitting on the fender helping him do a valve job on it. One time one of the rear shackles broke and the car had a jacked up appearence. He sold it when it was about 10yrs old to a neighbor. My gramps had a 59 Fury also with a 318 and torqueflite. He traded it in in 67 for a new Fury III 4dr hdtp.
What I always though was interesting was the design of the headlights. Chrysler and Exner must have thought ahead aka Forward look by designing a wider light bucket. The 57 had single lights within the dual bezels with the signal in the other bucket but like most US 58 models had quads added and the signals moved to the bumper.
M664
Their new name say it all!
RedBooty is the Danger
Their new name says it all!
RedBooty is the Danger
There can’t be many DeSotos still around either, nice to see that this one found a home. How about the white ’62 Olds convertible? Any word on whether that sold?
thepassenger
$25,000 seems like a really good price for a presentable 50s convertible, let alone one as rare as a Forward Look Plymouth. Not everything needs to be a concours queen, that car looks like a serviceable driver.
ranwhenparked
Those Plymouths are one of those cars that you never want to put the top up on. Cruise slowly down the old town main street on a Sunday afternoon. Grab a chocolate egg cream at the local ice cream parlor. I’m dating myself here…
baconstrips
“My 95 Voyager will never be this rare nor as collectible.”
Oh, I don’t know. It, like my own minivan, escaped Cash for Clunkers. Maybe one day car shows will have a special area for large family haulers which somehow escaped death by government injunction. Stranger things have happened.
ThirdPedalGirl
I appreciate that there’s another Forward Look fan here. Kudos, Tom.
Ford Tempo Fanatic
What lovely cars! Great lines, great styling. The fifties were a great decade for beautiful looking cars. Such a shame these beauties didn’t find new homes.
Acts of Swine
I would say it probably took until the Fuselage cars of the late 60s/early 70s before Chrysler really worked the kinks out of unitized construction and the quality of their full-size cars recovered somewhat, but by then the damage had pretty much been done. Chrysler was still a respected upscale brand, but Plymouths and Dodges were never to be perceived as being as reliable or as smart of a buy as an equivalent Ford, Chevy, or Pontiac.
ranwhenparked
Same here. Great book, better car.
What Floors?
Damn. I’d love to have a Belvedere. Too bad…. Just too bad….
Troll is English for Troll
To this day, that’s the only Stephen King book I’ve ever read. It was the car. lol
Eltigro
I owned a 1975 Plymouth Duster 360 for six years in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and it showed perfectly the problems with Chrysler. The car was mechanically reliable and tough. The 360 was a strong engine for deep Malaise (235 hp net) and the Torqueflite was a fine automatic – crisp-shifting with no slop. The car was pretty damn fast for a Malaise stocker and handling was good at low-to-moderate speeds. However, the quality of the body and interior was terrible. Nothing fit very well and the car felt noisy, rough, and crude. Then the rampant rust began to take hold. I’m glad I owned the Duster but I was glad to see it go too.
tonyola
I do recall and hear about how their engines were pretty tough, but why didn’t Chrysler put a Torqueflite in my Voyager? Right now the most trust worthy part of my drivetrain is the Mitsubishi engine since that Tranny is a joke. The Mitsubishi engine combined with the lack electronic gizmos is the main reason my Voyager is still going or so I assume. I definitely understand why Chryslers have a reputation.
87CE 95PV Type Я
Chrysler products generally had very sturdy drivetrains all along – at least into the 1980s. Engines like the Slant Sixes and small-block 273/318/340s are almost impossible to kill, and the Chrysler Torqueflite was probably the best automatic of its time. However, starting in 1957, assembly quality and fit/finish took a huge nosedive and the cars became more rustprone. The rust became an even bigger issue once Mopar began adopting unitized bodies in 1960. Those are among the reasons why Chrysler has a bad reputation to this day.
tonyola
So the buried Belvedere was bound for blazes from the beginning, sad.
Nice little piece, thanks Tom
McPherson
Oh man, so much beauty. I want very very badly.
horai
Why thank you for the insight. I thought Plymouths were over-engineered and built like tanks into the early/mid 1970s. I know that is not the case with my Plymouth and it shows.
I do remember being told about my grandparents who in 1957 drove a 37 Dodge from Long Island to California and on the return trip something went wrong with the motor in Navajo territory causing them to not be able to drive over 40 MPH unless they wanted to kill the engine.
87CE 95PV Type Я
I think you’ll have a better chance of seeing early-’50s Plymouth being driven around rather than the ’57s and later. The earlier cars were still over-engineered and built like tanks – basically unbreakable.
tonyola
Body by Plymouth
Soul by Satan
87CE 95PV Type Я
Christine approves.
I love the fins of the fifties!!
$kaycog
Wow, what a bunch of sexy looking beasts! Sure the hood is askew or popped open on the red one, but could you be specific about its paint flaws? Does anyone daily driver 1950s Plymouths anymore or have the all becoming trailer queens, summer cruisers, rusted out heaps, or soup cans?
My 95 Voyager will never be this rare nor as collectible.
87CE 95PV Type Я
(insert a topless Christine joke here)
stuntdriver