Hot Rods What Year and Model Dodge Convertible is This?

Yep - it's worth than most would pay and yes that is a continental kit on the back. You'd get a better honest price on it if you posted it on "The Forward Look " site.

 

According to the book "Standard Catalog of Chrysler 1924-1990" the Dodge Royal was first introduced in 1954 and the converts had a production run of 2,000 cars. The Royal was the top of the line Dodge in 1954.
The 1955 production numbers for the Royal convert also include the numbers for the Lancer convert, the total number of converts built was 3,302, but they are not broken down between the two body lines, the Royal was also the top of the line Dodge in 1955 as well. Gene

 

The pink convertible is a Royal, not a Coronet. It has the thicker Royal headlight rings and the add-on Royal tail fins
Here is a factory brochure rendering of a Royal convertible

In the spring of '54, in an effort to increase falling sales, Dodge came out with the Royal Sport Coupe with custom trim, as seen in post #17 above and here



Dodge made 50 Coronet convertibles for the 1954 model year and 2,000 Royal convertibles, of which 701 were Indy "500" pace car replicas. They had similar custom trim but it did not extend as far back as the OP car in post #1 or the Sport coupe seen above.

Here is a photo of a "500"


The Indy pace car replicas had the standard Royal side trim with "500" added on quarter panel and the custom belt line trim was much shorter than on the Sport coupe. The "500" also came with 5 Kelsey-Hays wire wheels, one of which was mounted as a continental spare.
Looking at the OP's convertible, I would suggest it is a regular Royal convertible that someone was converting to a "500" pace car replica using trim off a Sport coupe. The continental spare parts are yellow, which would indicate they possibly came off an actual pace car replica.

 

The previous two pics (before the latest one, look like the same paint scheme and trim to my phone

 

I didn't know about the Forward Look Site, great site, I checked it out to find that the site is for 1955 to 1961 MoPar. I am afraid thy would give me the cold shoulder posting about a 1954. Thank you, though great idea and info.

 

Haha !! What @Moriarity said 100 !!!

Also, if worried about Forward Look site, just post that you found a '55 Imperial convertible, and wait for the flaming ( intel' ) to flow in.

 

I had a 1954 D500 Convertible, bought for $500 sold in a week for $800 in 1964. Wish I had it back, wheels are probably worth that much each

 

I did get some more pictures.

 

If your into restoration projects it would be a fun one. As many can tell you it will never ever be worth what you will put in it. The guy second or third behind you will profit from it. To me it would fun to get it back on the road cleaned up making every thing as nice as you can including under the hood. Don’t expect much performance in stock trim. A typical 2 barrel 241with a power flight was pretty much a slug. In JC auto tech I rebuilt one for a “customer” one semester and it was fun to do.
On the road and at a few cruise ins someone will make an offer you won’t refuse… good luck.

 

WOW ! What a step back in time, a local dirt track racer here in the Omaha area race prepped a 500 Dodge for special a event then put it all back together afterwards. A neighborhood friends father purchased it & drove it for several years, recall it slowly rusting away. Not certain where it might have gone & it was infact equipped with the wires, cont. kit etc.

 

That car doesn’t need restored, it needs cleaned up and to be driven

 

I think that is the route I lean towards

 

Yes!
You probably won't be impressed with the power that original 4bbl Hemi has. My son had a 54 Chrysler with the factory 4bbl, it was suppose to be the fastest production car available in 1954. Couldn't keep up with my 160K mile efi V6 leaving a traffic light. It was a great road car though.
He put a for sale sign in it at a car show and sold the car that day. He made some money on it after enjoying it for over a year.

 

If I read correctly - the owner is very ill and the family wants to sell it - but guess it never hurts to ask any way.

 

The information I've been able to find on the internet for the "spring special" trim on Dodges mentions only the hardtop coupe, not convertibles. But Plymouth also offered the "spring special" trim and it was available on both the hardtop coupe and convertibles. So it is possible and likely that the OP car is a Royal convertible that was ordered with the "spring special" trim. At any rate, it is a rare car, made even rarer with the special trim.

 

Thank you I find that very interesting and had not come across that.

 

Yes you did. I do you recall you mentioning that. The term “Spring Special” is what I never had heard of. Most of my information to this point has been secondhand. I’m planning to leave at 5 AM in the morning to go look at the car. I hope to have a conversation with the fella that owns the car and drove it in the late 60s and early 70s.

 

The biggest thing with this car is”where are you going to find another one”. It’s not a high value collectable but the lack of this era Dodges and Plymouths make it desired by MOPAR guys. I hope it all works out for you..

 

I started my adventure yesterday morning at 5:15 a.m. Arrived at 9:00 a.m. It was quite the challenge to get the car out of the barn and loaded. First obstacle was a pickup sitting in front of the OHD, no keys! So, I got the backhoe running, took the tailgate off of the pickup so I wouldn't damage it. I picked the back of the pickup up with the loader and towed it out of the way, a hydraulic hose blew on the loader! Then I had to move a lot of stuff to get to the car. Then the car had to be moved 20 feet and turned 1/4 a turn to line up with the door, all on two tires that wouldn't take air and rear wheels locked (brake shoes bonded to drums) So I stuck the backhoe in the door and used the swing to drag, re-hook, drag, re-hook until the car was in front of the door. Then I had the task of turning it a 1/4 turn after which I use the hoe again to drag it out. Once out I had to come along it onto the trailer which was very difficult. Made it home at 7:45 PM showered and straight to bed!

 

I’m jealous of that car…I love it.

 

Wow, this thread is like reading a book with 3 pages torn out; it jumped from what is it and how much is the car worth to it sitting in your yard! Fantastic! Glad to see you were able to pick it up!
Tell us about the car. Looks to possibly be original paint? How many miles? You mentioned owner drove it in 60's. Original owner? How bout some interior pics?

 

I agree ^^^^^^^^^

Pat

 

It's a fantastic car, and I hope you were able to get some history on the car from the guy you bought it from and share it with us. I like it a lot and I think it'll be well worth the effort you have to put into it, a great candidate for careful preservation.

 

“The Missing Pages” Sorry I didn’t give more of the story to start with. I’m a very slow typer and I’ve been hooked up! A Little more info from the start. The owner of the car is a friend of my brother-in-law and through the years has become a friend of mine. My brother-in-law and three other Guys got to be good friends going to college in the mid-70s and always stay in touch. We, they have included me, “I am the 60-year-old younger Brother In-Law”. Anyway, we all go to the mountains camping and driving mountain backroads together every year. That is how I got acquainted with the Bill, who owns the car. We all live in Western Oklahoma except for Bill; he lives in eastern Oklahoma. Bill got very sick and was in intensive care in the hospital. He owns property in a rural area, 30 or 40 acres. While in the hospital Bill assigned his brother Power of Attorney to handle his affairs. It didn’t look like Bill was going to survive! Bills brother sold about five vehicles, all old, that set outside on Bill’s property for scrap iron.

Well, praise be to God, Bill got better; he is now in a special care facility in intensive health rehabilitation which makes conversations difficult. That’s why a lot of my information was secondhand, through one of the close friends. I knew about the Dodge Convertible in the shed, saw it years ago when I visited, I even took a couple pictures of the car back then.

When visiting with one of the friends recently, I ask how Bill is doing and he said, he’s doing much better now. This is the point I was told about the brother selling Bill’s stuff. I ask what was going to happen with the cars in the shed. He said he wants to sell them before his brother does something stupid with them. Being interested in the Dodge convertible I wanted to learn all I could about its make and model and value. All I had was pictures taken years before. Before I made an offer and yes, I wanted to make him a fair offer and pay him what the car was worth but not overpay either, hence my post “WHAT YEAR AND MODEL DODGE CONVERTIBLE IS THIS?” (I probably overpaid, so what! It helps a friend; He is happy where the car ended up and I wanted the car). What I knew about the car was Bill and his close friends in collage all had fond memories and stories about running around in the car back in the day. I did not know exactly what it was, year, options, etc. I started googling trying to find one like it, I could not, the trim is very unique. Anyway, an agreement was reached when I got to talk to Bill on the phone. I went to get it quickly before the brother invited the scrap iron dealer back!

The group of friends had told me about a 68 Chevy big block pickup that Bill had, they asked me if I would get it running for him. I'm retired and have more time than they do, everyone agreed that it would give him hope inspiration and something for to look forward to, a reason to get better. They thought it would give him a positive outlook on life. it may help him to get better and be able to come home.

We thought the 68 big block Chevy truck would still be there since it was in a shed. Very sad that it was gone when I open the door to the shed. There were marks on the floor where the pickup had been drug out. Must be one happy scrap iron dealer! I hated to break that news to Bill and the group. I'm sure at some point when bill gets better, he will have an intense conversation with his brother!

Now back to the Dodge Convertible. The car was very difficult to get! There was a pickup out in front of the OHD. Bill told me to use the backhoe and tow it out of the way. I did not want to damage his pickup, so I took the end gate off and used the loader on the backhoe and a chain around the ball to lift the back of the pickup up to move it. It picked it up enough to move it but, in the process, a hydraulic hose blew on loader!

The old Dodge was not in line with the overhead door and three of the four brakes were locked, shoes seized to drums. The tires sat flat long enough they would not take air. I started a backhoe and stuck the backhoe in the door and inched the car closer to the door, then turned it a quarter of a turn and drug it outside.

Did I mention it was extremely difficult to load a car on a trailer with flat tires and three locked wheels!

Thanks to help from a nephew living in the area we got it done.

I got the car home put some roller tires on it, freed up the brakes while setting on the trailer. I plan to unload today and move into my shop. I plan to work on it this winter. My thought is to make it run and drive reliably. Clean gas tank fuel system, kit carburetor etc. replace belts, hoses, brakes, seals as required, etc. new wide white wall radials, detail clean and drive back to Bill’s. and take him and a few gang cruising. I hope he gets well enough to do that! That is pretty much the whole story without any missing pages. Hope you all enjoy the read! This is three of typing.

 

A really interesting car with a nice story behind it, and it sounds like the right guy got it so glad to hear that.

 

Great car and a great story!!! So glad your going to get it cleaned up and running. Give Bill a ride, make his year! Be sure and keep us updated on this great car and your adventure with it! Lippy.

 

I think you really hit the mark here with "preservation" rather than restoration.

Most people don't think of these mid 50s Mopars as stylish, but that doesn't really matter here. It is a seldom scene model though that does deserve to be preserved and maintained. It will turn folks' heads, but not those of serious investors or collectors.

Who cares. After all, this thing's got a Hemi under the hood.