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 Growing up Looking ForwardJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Forward Look NON-Technical Discussions -> 1955-1961 Forward Look MoPar General Discussion | Message format |
horace |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 471   Location: MN | I grew up as a Dodge - Ply salesman's son after World War ll with the stodgy peace time cars. Along comes 1955 V-8's across the industry complete with more stylish cars. The Dodges offered 3 tone paint with more exciting colors including purple, pink & yellow. White walls became more prevalent, spinner wheel covers, more colorful interiors. My dad & uncle were 40 year old guys so V8 performance meant something, they got it, the depression was gone, cars were available as well as vets & others who wanted more in their cars. I remember a Dodge pickup with powerflite automatic, imagine an auto trans back then. As 1956 came along, I remember a 56 Golden Lancer D500, a D500 station wagon gray & rose, a 2 tone gray Custom Royal D500 & a lilac 2dr Lancer D500 & maybe others I remembered when talking with Neil. An Oriental & white D500 4dr Royal was handed down to the sons in one year who won many trophies, eventually painted gray & louvered. & lowered. A lilac, garnet, & black D500 sedan showed up at our county fair for exposition that had set some sort of record. Along comes 57, can you imagine riding in demonstrator 2 tone green Royal 4dr D500 sedan with highway Hi Fi listening to the Bismarck, North to Alaska & New Orleans , MOVE OVER XM. The man with the 56 lilac D500 bought the same in a 57 D500. There were several converts, a gold & white Custom Royal and white & dark red Desoto. The young guys with the raced 56 bought a used 57 D501 red & white repainted black 2dr with a stick. It had a great deal of trans trouble. The younger brother had a ginger Belvedere convert. They also had a D200 pickup 315 V8 3spd which they raced against a J2 Olds(3-2 barrels) beating it 5 out of 5 times. Red & white & gold & white were the big colors sales wise. The truck that stood out was a 4x4 Dodge W100 1/2 pickup in Ecuador blue(dark) & Mohave beige. As a kid I fell in love with this truck sitting on display so much I bought it 20 years later. The cars had an advanced styling but trucks gained a stylish front end & colors. Can you imagine a truck available with push button auto even in a 4x4. They sold a Mohave beige & Coral push button Swept Side. Dad had a 58 Custom Royal 4dr hdtp all dark green spinners the whole bit. There weren't many used pickups around back then so, he threw a deer he shot into the trunk which lowered the car. He caught the nifty exhaust deflector on a rock bending the bumper. Soft ride, no weight carrying. I remember a white bronze fins top Regal, what a classy car at the winter all dealer car show. There were 3 Spring Specials(?), a lilac & white Coronet with the side trim, a turquoise & white side trim& white with bright red Coronet all sedans. A man bought a Swept side pickup for his son so he would stay on the farm. 60 brought sales hand over fist, lots of slant 6's, well lots of everything. I remember an odd car, a red white top Pheonix, swivel sets, sure grip but 2 speed auto. A Matador wagon had swivel seats. People traded 59 Olds, Pont, Ford, Chev for these cars great sellers. The oddest car was a factory rep car a D500 383 Ram no power steering, brakes or sure grip just keys & engine. I bought it used. 61 was a tough year but saved really by the Lancer & awakening of pickup sales. The factory reps next car was another D500 Ram but properly equipped. I learned to, tongue in cheek, drive in a black stick Lancer fun car to drive My cars of the past 57 black Coronet D500 2 dr Lancer, 57 Custom Royal 2dr red, 59 swivel seat 2 tone brown 4dr Lancer, Best 59 coral/pink Coronet 4dr Best car 60 Pheonix D500 still have 57 W100 still have | ||
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| Sonoramic60 |
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Expert Posts: 1287  | Horace -- Here's something similar from another old fudd. My dad was a Plymouth guy from way back and I learned to drive in a '51 Cranbrook 2-dr post. And while I still believe Dad was the smartest guy I ever knew, he did have a moment or two when he slipped up a little. One such occasion was in the spring of 1960 when he he decided it was time to trade his '56 Belvie 4-dr SEE-dan for a new car and thought it would be all right if this 17-year-old kid came along. Dad wasn't much for "big" cars so the regular Dodge was a no-no, but he liked the new Dart. One of my dad's friends as a salesman for the the Dodge dealer in my old home town of Pueblo, CO, and he had a medium blue/white Phoenix 2-dr H/T there that was absolutely gorgeous, but it had only a 318 and I had previously pointed out how "Mechanics Illustrated's" Uncle Tom McCahill thought the 305/361 in the Plymouth was the way to go. Since Dad really appreciated power in his cars, he thought he would check out the local Plymouth dealer. This guy not only had a couple of Golden Commando cars, but wonder of wonders, he even had an all-white Fury 2-dr H/T with a 383 SonoRamic Commando. Dad really wasn't that much of a gearhead for that kind of car, but it turned out that it got on the lot because it was a special order that fell though. Of course, the salesman had "real deal' since the car was all engine, with no options other than tinted glass. Thus with the sales guy twisting one arm and me the other, Dad signed on the dotted line (holding the pen with his teeth), provided a power brake booster and a radio were added. I didn't get to drive that car much that year, except a few evenings of "cruising the gut" (Main Street) a couple of evenings and for one Sunday jaunt for a drag meet at the local airport (they actually closed down the runway to general aviation for a couple of hours) where I learned that MoPar TorqueFlites were invincible in the stock automatic classes. By 1961, I was old enough to make fairly big bucks working summers in construction and also able to talk Pop into let me fool around with that Fury. He later told me he never figure out how I snookered him but ther car ended up with 4.10 rear end gears and Hedman Hedders. Those were great days indeed and I must admit that by the fall of 1964 it gave every appearance of being ridden hard and put away wet. It was my first automotive love affair and who can forget their first love? Joe Godec '57 Chrysler 300C, '60 Fury SonoRamic, '65 Fuelie Vette, '65 Sport Fury 426S/4-speed | ||
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| horace |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 471 Location: MN | As I think of our little town of 4-5000 in the 60's, a town of lakes, resorts, farms & logging how could there have been as many performance cars as there were. A lady bought her husband a cactus Ram Inducted 4dr hdtp 60 Polara. A young guy bought a former ambulance black Ram 61 Seneca wagon. As I drove over to the next town I spotted a 60 Fury white & black Sonoramic 4dr hdtp @ the mopar dealership. The owner of that dealership had bought a new 62 Polara 500 convert from my uncle which I coveted in sahara beige & red trim. Why were sooo many performance Mopars 4 drs?? The guys w/ the 57 D200, 57 Belv, 56 D500 & 57 D501 w3re going to get a 60 Ram wagon but after squabbling it got too late to order & bought a factory rep car. My cars 57 Blue & beige POWER WAGON W100 V8 315, 60 red Dart Peonis 4dr hdtp Ram, 62 Polara 500 beige & red trim, new 69 Super Bee coupe the color of your heart, 79 orange Macho Power Wagon, 60 high school, Dodge Coronet Edited by horace 2020-12-16 9:40 PM | ||
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| 1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7393   Location: northern germany | Thanks for sharing these storys, can't get enough of that! | ||
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