Re: [FWDLK] 1954 Plymouth Belmont

["Mike Sealey" <mopar2ya@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 ---- Richard Main wrote:

> I was looking at a fully restored immaculate 1954 Plymouth Belmont at the
> Blackhawk Car Museum near here today, and the guy next to me said Chrysler
> only made one of these.  Is that true?

It is indeed.  The Belmont was unusual in that it was
(AFAIK) the only Chrysler show car of that era done by
a coachbuilder other than Ghia.  (Briggs Body, which was
taken over by Chrysler in late `53 and had prior to that
supplied bodies not only to Chrysler but to Packard and
some Hudson bodies as well, turned the Belmont out in
their Advanced Design facitities.  The Belmont,
therefore, just about has to be the last car to come out
of Briggs AD.)

Not sure if it was the Belmont or the Explorer, but one
of the two was powered by what was described as "a Dodge
V8"; this was later discovered to be a pre-production
'55 Plymouth 241 or 260...

While typing this, I did remember another Chrysler show
car from the '50s not done by Ghia.  There was a 2-seater
Dodge (may have been called "Granada"?) which I believe
was done by Creative Industries.  I've only seen pics of
this one in its unrestored state, but it doesn't look
like any of the Ghia showcars, altho a case could be
made for some Maury Baldwin influence.  This car was part
of the Joe Bortz collection when I saw a picture of it,
and may still be there.

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