Dodge’s cars were all new for 1955-56 and would give the buying public a glimpse of what would soon follow – the “Forward Look” Chrysler products of the late 1950s. Bigger with a hint of tailfins, these automobiles were subdued compared to what was coming for 1957-59 and are an excellent representation of mid-1950s Americana. This Custom Royal Lancer, the top-line 2-door hardtop, was last on the road in 1990 and then squirreled away in a barn until last year. It will run but needs both mechanical and cosmetic attention to relive its glory days of the 20th Century. Located now in Santa Rosa, California, this Dodge is available here on Barn Finds Classifieds for $11,500 or here on eBay.
The seller’s 1955 Custom Royal Lancer is one of 30,499 that Dodge would build in 1955. It wears multi-color paint that would begin to be popular for many years. As the story goes, this car was owned by the same family for more than 65 years, having spent the last 30 tucked away in a barn in Oregon. We’re told it was started and driven regularly during its hibernation, which no doubt helped keep it viable. It’s still wearing the license plates from the last registration.
Some of the original Parisian Blue, Sapphire White, and Black paint are still on the car, although it has been touched up in a few places. The body looks straight and – though the floors are a bit flakey – there doesn’t appear to be any appreciable rust. The floors wear one patch which may have been necessitated by a leaky heater. The chrome is good although it has some pitting and the driver’s side front window is cracked.
The seller was able to get the car fired up by rebuilding the distributor, but that’s a quick fix for this Super Red Ram 270 cubic inch Hemi V8. It’s paired with a 2-speed PowerFlite automatic with in-dash controls. At a minimum, the car is going to need a new ignition coil, water pump, radiator, and fuel pump along with a flush of the fuel system, transmission service, carburetor rebuild, and some work done on the brakes. But it could need more once you get into it.
Interior pieces are original, and things are dirty, and the back seat may be stained. The odometer reads just 62,000 miles which may be accurate as per the previous owner. The trail of paperwork suggests the car was only driven 150 miles between 1984-90. The Dodge could be a dependable cruisier again with not much work but treating it to a restoration that would bring its 1955 qualities back to life might be in order. Of course, they’re only original once!
What a sweetheart. Now, before you get images of fire breathing monsters, the “hemi” in this configuration was an oily slug, but for ’55, this was one hot stick. Most Dodges or Plymouths, were stodgy grandpas cars, but someone went nuts with this one. They had intent to roll, in style, and roll this would. While it didn’t have the hp a modern hemi has, it had torque up the ying yang, and not much could beat it in it’s day. Chrysler was clearly on a mission in the 50’s, be the fastest. Beautiful classic, and will suck Kias through the air cleaner,,
Depends on what model Kia😉
The Stinger Is A Bad Ass
Exactly, their Stinger is very quick.
That’s a catalog seat cover on the front; I wonder how worn the original upholstery is? Looks fairly solid, no rust in the quarters I can see. This could be a fun straight-forward restoration for the right buyer!
The Oregon plate uses the same paint scheme as the NY plates of the ’60s and early ’70s.
Gramps had a 55 Dodge parked in his garage when he passed away. As I was only 15 at the time, my older sister inherited it. She loaned it to her brother-in-law, who totalled it in a drunken stupor. It was a two-tone white and yellow, I6 and three on the tree. It could have been my first classic car, but thanks to fate(?) it wasn’t meant to be. 😢
BTW you can see bare metal on top of the front driver-side fender.
My brother had one of these as his first car in high school, it was a 20 year old beater at the time. Still solid as a rock tho, you couldn’t kill the thing no matter what (and Lord knows he tried!) Eventually sold it to a guy who used it to win a demolition derby :(
“But it could need more once you get into it.”
Does this need further translation?
My grandmother had a black, pink and white one! Loved that car but she traded it for a ’63 Dodge Dart!😢😢
That’s the same color scheme of my brother’s car, the one I posted about earlier, though pretty faded by the time he got it. It must’ve been pretty sharp looking in its day!
Interesting. The secretary at the grade school I attended here in McMinnville Oregon drove one of these, in this color combo. I always found it quite striking, and attractive. I delivered papers to them and saw the car daily in their garage over many many years as I lived two blocks away. The husband was fanatically fussy about their vehicles, their home and yard too. In the mid 70’s she got a 74 Satellite, and I never really saw the car again. I later heard it had been purchased but was stored in a shop, had heard the shop was broken into and a bit of vandalism done. After seeing the Oregon plates, the license frames, and the oil change sticker(s) I wonder if this isn’t the car? What would be the odds……..
Lucky you living in McMinnville. I travelled half way around the world in 1989 to see the Spruce Goose when it was parked at Long Beach and now you have it parked in your own back yard! I followed the travels of the plane from LA to McM as I am fascinated by the plane, and of course, the builder. While there in LA I bought a model kit of it with the intention of one day building it with one of my grandsons. Well, I still have it sitting in a cupboard waiting for a great grandson now.
Chrysler was involved with Ghia when this car was designed, which may be indirectly related to why I see a lot of design similarity between this car and the Borgward Isabella Coupe of 1957.
A coil for the price should have been the very first thing they changed,
Drive with care, maintain with love, keep garage kept. This car must be preserved as an original as it is too nice for some bozo with a welding torch to cut up.
God bless America
I don’t get the omnipresent preoccupation over the shape of the combustion chambers. The ’55 Dodge Royal with the poly V8 has ten less HP than the complicated hemi.
Thank you, Lou, finally. The word “hemi” has become this buzz word for the ultimate in performance. Today, with that word plastered on every Dod,,oops, I mean, RAM pickup, it’s easy to think all hemis are fire breathers, when, if you came from that time period, I’ve said again and again, they were oily, gas hogs. The spark plug tubes often had those gaskets gone missing, and those oil lines in older highways? In part, from hemis. Everybody I knew with an older hemi had a big oil spot in their drive. They generated a ton of torque and made good truck motors and needed to schlep some Chrysler New Yawker around, but after NASCAR banned the hemi in ’65, I think the 426 wedge did just as well. It’s drag racing, which differs greatly from this motor, that made it famous.
Even with the wear and patina this car oozes high style.
On the driver,s back of cylinders, looks like three burnt spots on the bank. Also, the condenser wire,s not connected, and there,s a wire that was wrapped all the way in black electrical tape. Somebody please explain to me why 6 volt systems are not as desireable, I,m not a serious mechanic. I do love this car, it,s just beautiful, and tri-tone paint….WOW.
Almost got killed in one of these, so my grandmother told me … they had a red and white one and it died on the railroad crossing … train was coming and blowing whistle – no crossing guards in those days … people at the gas station saw what was happening and ran over to push it off the tracks … I was four years old … I sorta remember my grandmother shaking and crying … they traded it on a VW “Bug” not long after … it was the first one in the area and we kids loved rising in the little storage area in the back …