Golden Lancer or not?
dreaser
Posted 2021-09-07 4:12 PM (#614815)
Subject: Golden Lancer or not?


Member

Posts: 8

Hi, I am new here and hope this is in the right place, apologies if not and guidance appreciated!

We purchased a 1956 Dodge Royal Lancer. I have a title and the fender tag. I am trying to "decode" the vin and/or the body, paint and trim codes. In decoding, hoping to find out if this car is a Golden Lancer.

I have googled and googled and not finding answers. Any help is appreciated!

Pictures attached.



(IMG_5622.jpg)



(IMG_5629.jpg)



(IMG_5625.jpg)



(IMG_5626.jpg)



(IMG_5627.jpg)



(IMG_5624.jpg)



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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-07 4:26 PM (#614816 - in reply to #614815)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?



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I don't see any pictures but a Golden Lancer will a) be a 2 dr hardtop with the body code 816 (Coronet), 826 (Royal) or 836 (Custom Royal) and b) have the paint code 077 on the cowl data tag.

Trim code will likely be one of the black and white options, e.g. 545 for an 836 Custom Royal.

56 Dodge Body code info:

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=69565&...

56 Dodge Paint code info:

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=63553&...

56 Dodge Trim Code:

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=65230&...










Edited by 56D500boy 2021-09-07 4:28 PM
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dreaser
Posted 2021-09-07 4:36 PM (#614817 - in reply to #614816)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?


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Posts: 8

Thanks for your quick response! Pictures are up now!
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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-07 6:18 PM (#614818 - in reply to #614817)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?



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dreaser - 2021-09-07 1:36 PM
Thanks for your quick response! Pictures are up now!


Based on your cowl data tag with AUG 10 (08 10) 56 build date and BDY 826, PNT 077 and TRM 538, your car was originally a 56 Dodge Royal Golden Lancer. Not sure which engine it had.

Your tag:



What it should have looked like when it left the factory:



Edited by 56D500boy 2021-09-07 6:23 PM




(1956DodgeRoyalGoldenLancer_1.jpg)



(1956DodgeRoyalGoldenLancer_2.jpg)



(1956DodgeRoyalGoldenLancer_3_With538Interior.jpg)



(1956DodgeRoyalGoldenLancer_4_With2bbl315SuperRedRamPoly.jpg)



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Attachments 1956DodgeRoyalGoldenLancer_2.jpg (138KB - 94 downloads)
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Attachments 1956DodgeRoyalGoldenLancer_4_With2bbl315SuperRedRamPoly.jpg (166KB - 102 downloads)
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dreaser
Posted 2021-09-08 2:23 PM (#614837 - in reply to #614818)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?


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Posts: 8

Thank you! Beautiful car!
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dreaser
Posted 2021-09-08 2:27 PM (#614838 - in reply to #614818)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?


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Posts: 8

Do yo have an estimation on how many of these there may still be?
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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-09 9:18 PM (#614887 - in reply to #614838)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?



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dreaser - 2021-09-08 11:27 AM
Do you have an estimation on how many of these there may still be?


Personally, I do not and I doubt that any one does. The first question, not asked, would be how many 1956 Dodge Golden Lancers were made? I am sure that at some point in the past, that might have been possible via Chrysler Historical but there was a fire and many records were lost. So now no one knows how many were made.

I might have asked that question about the various 56 Dodges with the D500 option. I can sort of answer that one based on what I have found out about the number of D500 engines that were made. As far as I know there were about 7256 D500s made.

REFERENCE: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=71896&...

Since the Golden Lancers could have any engine, including the D500 engine, the 270 2 bbl base Coronet engine, the 218 hp 2bbl 315 Super Red Ram poly and the 230 hp 4 bbl 315 Poly Super-powered Super Red Ram engine, there is no way to track down the numbers.

So bottomline: I don't think that you will ever find out how many 56 Golden Lancers were made or how many are still out there in drive-able shape.

Some Golden Lancer stuff:



Edited by 56D500boy 2021-09-09 9:21 PM




(56GoldenLancerAdvert.jpg)



(1956-dodge-Royal_GoldenLancer_315Poly_BlackAndWhiteFlyingDucks_small.jpg)



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dreaser
Posted 2021-09-10 4:07 PM (#614906 - in reply to #614887)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?


Member

Posts: 8

Certainly appreciate your responses and info. My husband thought he read somewhere there were only 500 of the Golden Lancer made. There may be some confusion there with the D500 engines in some. Not sure. Also not certain but I believe ours was the 218. Still digging! Thanks!
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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-10 8:39 PM (#614918 - in reply to #614906)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?



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dreaser - 2021-09-10 1:07 PM Certainly appreciate your responses and info. My husband thought he read somewhere there were only 500 of the Golden Lancer made. There may be some confusion there with the D500 engines in some. Not sure. Also not certain but I believe ours was the 218. Still digging! Thanks!


If it had a 2 bbl carb it was the 218 hp 315 Poly (in a Royal - a 270 poly was available in the Coronet).

Various stories abound. Probably very few have believable references to back statements up. Here is one unsubstantiated "claim":

" The Golden Lancer was a special edition Custom Royal that was available in California only. It came specially equipped with custom two-tone paint, unique Gold trim, special badging, exclusive interior accents including dash and upholstery and other unique features. "

Reference (Barrett-Jackson - which doesn't always get their stories 100% correct): https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1956-DODGE-CUST...

If the California thing was true, I would have to guess that all of the Golden Lancers would have VINs that start with "42" (because they were build in the Los Angeles plant). That doesn't explain why I have images of Golden Lancer cowl data tags and/or VINs that indicated that they were made in Detroit (VINs that start with "35" and cowl data tags that are a different format than the LA plant tags).

Yes it would be great to find out how many were made but that will be difficult to substantiate.

Here is a good thread to read:

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=23442&...

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dreaser
Posted 2021-09-13 11:28 AM (#615011 - in reply to #614918)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?


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Posts: 8

Thank you for your response. We actually read the thread you referenced. So now on the plant location - 42 being LA and 35 being Detroit - indicating it not being a California Golden Lancer. Is there a site or chart or something you can reference on decoding the VIN? I have had trouble finding any decoding info for this car.
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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-13 12:01 PM (#615012 - in reply to #615011)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?



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dreaser - 2021-09-13 8:28 AM
Thank you for your response. We actually read the thread you referenced. So now on the plant location - 42 being LA and 35 being Detroit - indicating it not being a California Golden Lancer. Is there a site or chart or something you can reference on decoding the VIN? I have had trouble finding any decoding info for this car.


At that point in time (1956), the Dodge VINs dud not contain anything other than the plant (35 = Detroit and 42 = LA) and the production sequence number. There is a bit more info on the cowl data tag. Most of the information is on the IBM card which is held (as a microfiche image) by Fiat Chrysler (Stellantis) Historical who are currently shut down due to Covid.

If you have photo of the cowl data tag and the VIN tag, post them up here and a few of us will try to determine if there is more info to be found.



A typical Detroit 56 Dodge IBM card that I annotated a while back:





(Generic56DodgeIBMCard_Annotated_small.jpg)



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dreaser
Posted 2021-09-13 5:58 PM (#615025 - in reply to #615012)
Subject: RE: Golden Lancer or not?


Member

Posts: 8

Thank you for your response!

If I am understanding correctly, I do have a Golden Lancer, but unsure if it is a California Golden Lancer. My husband seems to think it is based on his research and the car has a CA tag. We know that just means that is the last state it was tagged in, but...

A previous reply stated the first two digits of VIN/serial number for CA are 42 and for MI they are 35. Ours starts with 35. So this leaves us still lost.

Something we read was the Golden Lancer only being made in CA...

"The Golden Lancer was a special edition Custom Royal that was available in California only. It came specially equipped with custom two-tone paint, unique Gold trim, special badging, exclusive interior accents including dash and upholstery and other unique features.....With production numbers originally slated for 100, actual production was closer to 50."

Not sure how accurate this is.

We are going to attempt the IBM record but hearing they are closed currently for COVID.

The DATA plate is attached!

Thank you so much for all the info!

Edited by dreaser 2021-09-13 6:10 PM




(IMG_5622.jpg)



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