my first car was a 55 Plymouth Savoy 2 door sedan, turquoise with a white top, it was 13yrs old when I bought it for $175, and only 35k. it was a fabulous car in high school. v8,automatic, with after mkt a.c.
We had one of these when I was a kid. It was a very well used car when we had it in the early to mid seventies, but it was our dependable car. We also had a 1960 Porsche 356B, a Datsun 510, a 1941 Pontiac fastback, and a forties Plymouth pickup, which never ran and we had all of them at the same time. The Belvidere was the one we could always count on to run. I can attest to the dependability of the Hi-fyre V-8 and the powerflight transmission. I did not remember it not having park in the transmission, but I never got to shift it like I did the Porsche. The wipers always worked, but it didn't make much difference because the defrost never did, so you had to drive while wiping the windshield with your sleeve. Apparently there was a shut off in the coolant lines to keep hot coolant from circulating in the heater core in summer, which would corrode and not move in winter. I'm sure that as old as the car was when we had it, the front end was probably worn. That said, the comments about handling ability were bunk. My mother couldn't even keep it on the road and never drove it. Only my stepfather could handle it, and he was a 6'2" farm boy. I can remember stretching out on the back seat and falling asleep many times: it was a very comfortable seat. I was quite sad when we sold it, and if I could have any of them back, that would be the one. I always thought it looked like it had the cheerful face of a small boy, sort of like the Gerber baby.
I had a '55 Plymouth hardtop coupe, turquoise and white. It must have looked great when it was new. It was given to me for free in 1976 by a medical student at a local college. The car ran but had so many issues that he quit driving it. The landlord was threatening to have it towed away, so when I inquired about the car, he said I could have it, but I had to promise that I'd never let it go to a junkyard. First off, the driver's side rear leaf spring had collapsed. It was just drivable that way, barely. Next, the striker plate on the driver's side door was wore out, so if I made a quick right-hand turn the door would fly open. As it was, I had to rig a swing set chain from the rear window crank to the outside door handle to keep the door shut! I found a used leaf spring in a local junkyard, but finding that striker plate for the door was a trick. Dealers stock were long gone and I scoured all of the salvage yards for an 80 mile radius and never found one. That was back in the day before EBay Motors and all the restoration specialty parts stores we see today. On the plus side the drivetrain was solid. The Red Ram Hemi and two speed automatic ran well, but the car was slow. Eventually, I picked up another car and put the Plymouth up for sale. I beleive I got $300. for it . . . not bad for a free car. Thankfully, the guy who bought it stated he was a collector and he was going to restore it.
Yes. It was a rare bird way back when I had it, including in the salvage yards. The largest salvage yard I went to had two, heavily picked over at that. @@autochronicles8667
I RESPECT WHAT ALL THE AMERICAN CAR MANUFACTURERS HAVE CONTRIBUTED OVER THE DECADES , HOWEVER IN 57- 58 PLYMOUTH’S FURY WAS CHEVY AND FORDS EQUAL , DUAL CARBS WERE NOT UNCOMMON IN THOSE YEARS THE 350 COMMANDO RATED AT 305 HORSES WOULD WAX MOST OF THE COMPETITION AND HAD THE HANDLING OF A BIG ROAD CAR !!! THE 392 HEMI IN THE CHRYSLER IMPERIAL AND DESOTOS WERE POWERHOUSES IN 57-58 -59 !!!
Salesman: Plymouth is THE new car for 1955. Customer: wait a minute, Chevy is new too! Salesman: "Sure, but that's a Chevy." First interaction and the sales person gets caught in a lie
I like all 50s and 60s cars nowadays, even the ones that left me kind of cold when they were new - 49 - 52 Pontiacs, 55 - 56 Pontiacs, and 62 - 64 Chevys come to mind. They are all gorgeous compared to today's Japaniod tin cans.
I don't know, the movie made the car or the car made the movie? :) Could have used a variety of cars. The 55 Plymouth was a little more business though :)
Actually the film strip is right. Looked up the specs. Both have the same 115" wheelbase. The Plymouth is eight inches longer and a bit wider and lower - both close to 1960's and beyond intermediate sized. The Plymouth also has a bit more hip room and noticeably more leg room in front and rear.
I'm sure that is all true but the size and weight of the Tri Five Chevys made them perfect for racing, drag and oval track, Even Rapid Roy the Stock car Boy drove a 57 Chevrolet! 😀 Plus the availablity and price of Small block Chevy parts made it all just about perfect.
I find it humorous the key points that are made to sell the vehicles. Most are obviously either trivial or are disingenuous. Of course, dealers today just use other nonsense to get money out of you.
Roy Ross had some seriously dedicated people, super detailed paper analysis\comparisons also, i have quite a few of those... GM/Ford treated it as an after thought it seems...
Chrysler Corp. did indeed have some firsts and achievements with their engineering such as the Hemi engines,I think the first claim of 300 horsepower in a production American car was the 1955 Chrysler "300" but that caliber of engine was a little late arriving at Plymouth which was sort of a price leader I understand the Hemi (s) were heavy and cost more to manufacture and that Chrysler's competition simply figured out that they could match Hemi power by just making their engines a bit larger displacement (and eat a little more gasoline per horsepower) but the public didn't mind too much as gasoline was cheap in those days.
These dealer training films is like listening to "Mother Goose" stories! When the voice over said, " Plymouth does not need 12V starting system because it's ENGINEERED TO START INSTANTLY EVERYTIME ", that was ENOUGH for me to STOP watching! LOL
Got to love the voice over stuff :) The nostalgia gets me, and yes if the car starts runs and does everything you need it to, a 6 volt system is just fine.
Their defense was just said "does the car work?" and the answer is yes. And it's true, does a 6 volt system work on the 55 Plymouth? Yes it does everything it needs to.
It worked well with the six but I think cranked a bit slow with the V8 especially in winter. Better remember to change the oil to winter viscosity!@@autochronicles8667
@@matrox That happens on all cars with a generator, 6 or 12 volts, unless the engine is spinning at over 1800 RPM. Generators don't put out much at lower revs, unlike alternators, BUT, generators will fully charge up a low battery, whereas alternators may not.
@@autochronicles8667 They were, even in the 80s, but the luxury cars had thicker door skins and thicker, more sound-absorbent door panels, which made them sound more expensive and higher quality.
Really stretching things to say an overhead valve six is better than the flathead Plymouth engine. Powerflite is better than the Chevy Powerglide though. Both only two speeds but the higher multiplication from the Powerflite is because of having a two element torque converter stator. Chevy power steering was an add on, but integral with the steering box on the Plymouth.
Styling of the Plymouth is gorgeous...and, aside from the outdated 6V and sidevalve, the engineering is better. Chevrolet, while solid, is overrated IMHO...the main reason they sold better was good marketing and established sales success, and that they are more sought after today is purely due to _nostaligia_ - they are by no means a better car.
Ok..The future was not very kind to Plymouth..I've been to hundreds of car shows & yet to see one of these 1955 Plymouth Belvedere Yet I've seen Many Chevy 1955 1956 & 1957 Tri Years
Yeah , the Plymouth sounds good now but wait until Mr. Brenner gets into the finance guy’s office. He’ll be pitched the window etching, paint protection,wheel and tire package, ADM 🤣🤣👍
@@jamesbosworth4191 which Cars? Not the Big 3. The Brake pedals of my 50s and 60s Mopars are huge. And the Brake Pedal is left, next to the gas, just Like the left foot to the right, so there is no problem
@@bigblockjalopy The Cadillac and Buick before 56, the Chrysler products before 55 come to mind. The brake pedal on my 54 New Yorker is only slightly wider than the clutch pedal on a Plymouth. Ditto for my Dad's 55 Cad and my buddy's 54 Buick. Ironically, the 41 - 48 Chryslers, Imperials, and DeSotos with Fluid Drive DID have a wide brake pedal.
Plymouth,at least the station wagons had some nifty luggage compartments. I think overall I would have to vote for the Chev. especially with the V8 other than the first few months productions and I would avoid both of those horrid automatic transmissions. The salesman's claim about the "Powerflite" having more torque multiplication I think was false. Both torque converters probably could multiply torque by about a factor of 2 but the multiplication fell off rapidly as the car gained momentum. The same torque converters if used with V8 engines would probably multiply by a somewhat bigger factor (but would probably generate more heat) (V8 might have required sturdier heavier converters with inherent lower multiplication given the same maximum input)
I think they may be referring to the whole "gearing"... meaning the rear differential gearing and transmission etc. I don't think a car salesman wanted to go in depth into the whole drive train gear ratios with a customer and to say the torque converter did the job better was easier.
The Powerflite did have a greater converter multiplication factor, but none of the 2 speed automatics could match HydraMatic, or even Ford-O-Matic, for acceleration, nor could the late 50s Buick Flite Pitch DynaFlow and the Chevy Turboglide, both triple turbine automatics.
Because GM was #1, partly because GM cars didn't rust, Ford was #2. Chrysler was the underdog at #3. Before 1952, Chrysler cars were almost rust proof, but in 52 they started losing that, and by 57 they were made of rust.
@@saxongreen78 And it was the best looking by far. The 55 Chevy 150 and the 55 Ford Mainline were ultra plain, even plainer than their 54 predecessors, while the Plaza offered Savoy-style two-tone paint, which came with Savoy-style side trim, making for a much more attractive car.
well that comes to amount sold... they sold a lot more Chevys... People don't even know what a 55 Plymouth is. They are still pretty cool in their own right though.
This one just reeked of Plymouth's desperation. Look how many years the small block Chevy engine stuck around. The Hy Fire didn't stick around too long.
My favorite shifter was "all American" push button drive on our Chrysler products in the 50-60s. Learned to drive on a three-on-the-tree Ford Falcon. :)@@jamesbosworth4191
actually were have come full circle... we have push button shifting... and they were moving to 12 volt and the hemi/poly sphere engines... I have a 55 video were Chrysler was all crazy over the poly.
@@autochronicles8667 That was actually a fine engine. Cheaper to build than a true HEMI, only suffers on the exhaust side - the exhaust ports aren't as close to straight as they are on a true HEMI, but the intake ports are. The 54 Dodge trucks offered a Poly version of the 241 Dodge Red Ram V8, the first Chrysler Polyspheric engine. Shame that they didn't offer it on the 54 Plymouth. Dodge 1/2 ton pickups usually used Plymouth engines, and the 54 Dodge hardtops, convertibles, and 2 door station wagons were Plymouth-based cars, so it would have not cost Chrysler a thing. They would have had the hottest low-priced car by a long shot.
Who needs a 12 volt battery….until 1956 that is. Who needs a Park position until they did 4 years later. A lot of Bull in that video. How many 1955 Plymouths are still around? How man Chevys?
Don't know about the 2 speed Chev. but it is said that the Oldsmobile Hydramatic (at least by 1956) if shifted into reverse before the engine was shut off would provide a parking lock effect. (I don't remember whether my Grandfather's '56 had a parking detent on the shifter window.) 1960 Chrysler had a much improved 3 speed automatic as opposed to the '55 Plymouth but still had no park position feature.
@@davidpowell3347 The new for 56 Dual Coupling Hydramatic had a Park, but the 55 and older ones didn't. You, just like you say, shifted into Reverse, then shut it off.
THE CARS OF THE 50 ‘S HAD ALOT OF STYLING AND SIMILARITIES OFFERING BOTH 6, 8 CYLINDER ENGINES FOR ECONOMY & POWER , I CALL IT THE FAT BOY ERA OF CARS , BY 57 AMERICA 🇺🇸 WAS INTRODUCED TO A SLIMMER , SLEEKER , SWEEPING LONG LOOK !!
@@antoniohosino145 Put YOUR glasses on and look at the face of the car. Ford, Chevy, and Plymouth do NOT look similar. Plymouth's windshield doesn't look like the other two's windshield either. Today's Japaniod tin cans look much more alike between makes than cars of the 50s did.
@@antoniohosino145 What does that have to do with styling? NOTHING! If you want to talk about rusting, I will give it to GM. They seem to have been the most rust resistant, at least here in California, where we don't use salt on the roads.
Chevy didn't have a parking gear in 55 either I don't think. We had a 55' Rocket 88 Olds when I was young kid and it didn't have a parking gear. You leave it in drive or reverse and pull the parking brake. Drop it in neutral to start it.
Chevy Powerglile always had a Park, but HydraMatic didn't, until 56. For 55 and before, you were supposed to put it in Reverse then shut the engine off. That was supposed to have functioned the way Park on others did.
Good old Plymouth, go whipping around the corner and stay on the road! ROADABILITY!!!! Get up and GO! Put your foot to the floor and watch it burn rubber! Chev wont do that!!!!
Oh, knowing what I know about old cars.... Six volts is cheaper? 12 is the standard now... go figure... back then batteries had less amperage. But a 6 would have more amps because of bigger cells.... And that Chevy power assist steering? It worked so well that Corvettes were still using it 25 years later.....
6 volts costs MORE. That is the reason for the change-over to 12 volts. It was a big cost save, but because people see it as an upgrade, they could charge more for the car. A win-win for the automakers.
Batteries used to have thick partitions between cells,12 volts had more cells so wasted more space/volume on the partitions. Later batteries would use different case construction with thin partitions so less wasted volume. 12 volt saved on wiring which could be lighter gauge,less copper needed. Six volt cars with large engines need main battery/starter cables almost as thick as welding cable. Some cars used a large Group 27 battery size (12 volt such as Chrysler) and some old 6 volt cars had a larger long battery that was around 17 or 19 inches long if I remember. Such six volt cars as 1950 Buicks and Pontiac Eights which were hard to crank in cold weather.
@@davidpowell3347 You have to remember, multi-grade oil didn't exist before the mid 50s, and even as late as the 80s, there were people who wouldn't use it, such as myself. The reason being that early multi-grade wasn't very good and would shear.
I don't know if survivability, and sales number are the end all be all judge of a cars success :) I mean if that was the case Ferraris would be worthless? Plymouth had much smaller sales than Ford/GM... So they didnt get exposure. You have to admit Mopar had good performing cars. The Hemi was banned from racing it was so successful.
Wow! look at the styling difference. No wonder Plymouth went under as it is no longer made. Did I mention Chevy's V8 runs rings around the Plymouth V8?
The Plymouth's styling was a real dog's breakfast, while the Chevy's styling was simple and crisp...which means more classy. Proof is in the pudding...almost 70 years later, the 55 Belair is a sought after classic, while the Belvedere is a long forgotten, much uglier, pretender.
@@user-ke3tl7wq9o Styling is an opinion. What I think is ugly, such as most Japanese cars, you might like, and vice versa. Some of us like elaborate styling, some of us like simple styling, some of us don't care much about a car's looks, but care more about performance, room, riding comfort, handling, etc., especially with low-priced cars.
There were many less Plymouths made and most cars were disposable... I think you would find it's probably a similar disposal rate... They sold TONS of 55 Chevies and there is still only a handful of them left... You can find 55 Plymouths and obviously they don't have the following the tri-5's do but they are still out there.
@@autochronicles8667 The only 55 Plymouth I still see is one with flat tires in a used car lot that seems abandoned. Today, the gate was actually opened, but nobody was there, and the Oldsmobiles had been moved around, so I guess somebody at least checks on the place. There is a 56 a few blocks from me though.
I'm sorry but Chrysler products never appealed to me until the 65' Crown Imperial as a Luxury car, then I took notice of the 67 Barracuda after they dumped the ugly Valiant body style. The 65's only look good hopped up with fat tires. Then in 68' when they hit it out of the park with the 68' Dodge Charger. Ironically the first car I ever owned was a hand me down 65 Plymouth barracuda. The first car I bought was a 69' Ply Road Runner in the mid 70s right out of HS. My current car is a Chevy. 17' Super Sport Camaro with a 6 speed manual trans. Love it.
Plymouth was still the "little guy"... I think a 56 Fury is a great looking car. They were fighting "brand loyal" buyers.... they would steal a lot from GM in 57 though :)
Not that the Plymouth was a bad car- it was very modern looking for the time as opposed to the stodgy models that came before. But the clear winner for 55 by far was the chevy- many millions more were made, sold, and sought after, even today. Chevy essentially still makes the same engine,the small block, even today in crate engine form, although much different from the original 265. How many Plymouths are around today from that year? Not many. Most eaten by rust by the mid 60s. How long did Plymouth keep making the Hy-fire 277? Not long....
@@bradzimmerman3171 There is nothing wrong with pushrods. The heads are much cheaper, the timing chain is much shorter, which means less stretch and no need for all those guides that are made now of plastic and break up. In fact, with air-cooled engines, OHC is bad, as there is no way to properly fin the heads. With push rods, or even more so a flathead, that is no problem. The Chevy Silverado and it's GMC clone are among the safest vehicles on the road in all three areas - frontal crashes, side crashes, and roll-overs, all with a body bolted to a separate frame, and that is the 1/2 tons, the lightest duty versions. The 3/4 tons and the 1 tonners, which have thicker-gauge frames, are probably even better. And no, I do not own a late model. My GMC is a 73.
Thanks. Not familiar with kingpins. But I know ball joints are a pain, even with the special machine. And sooner or later, they will need replaced--not inexpensive.
55' Chevy a proven classic. Even when both these cars were seen every day on our roads I always felt the Chevy had that something special. The mopars of that era just looked like they were for old folks. When I was a tyke on my tricycle an old couple up the street had a 55' Ply.
Never cared for tri-five Chevy’s styling. To me what was special about them was under the hood. I think Plymouth and Studebaker both had better looking cars in ‘55.
@@seed_drill7135Ford blew them all out of the water in '56 ,then gM showed how bad style could become with the thrown together 57 and still horrible handling.....!
Think the Chev. had an option for 180 horsepower. (More next year but probably also so for Plymouth) Both automatics were about equally miserable,the claim that the Plymouth with the old fashioned L head six would outaccelerate the Chev. six is probably false. The L head six might indeed have had lower maintenance needs. By that year both cars' automatics had automatic shifting between low and high. The 1952 Chev. with powerglide may have functioned as a one speed in Drive with an "emergency low gear" that had to be manually selected. Habitual use of it to do "jackrabbit starts" would cause premature need for a transmission rebuild. The Plymouth's V8 engine,if the same as Dodge's "polysphere" engine indeed would have been a good feature,I think that might have been the first year that any Plymouth offered a V8 option.
You are correct for the most part, but the Powerflite was better than the Chevy Powerglide, enough so that a Powerflite Plymouth 6 would indeed out run a Powerglide Chevy 6 (by a little), but with stick shift, it was Chevy hands down. The 55 Plymouth V8 was a Dodge 241 with Polyspheric, instead of HEMI, heads, with a 260 option. The 56 had a 270 early on, which was a Poly version of the 55 Dodge 270, then later the 56 Plymouth had a new 277 engine. The early Chevy Powerglide operated just like the Buick Dynaflow, and was a scaled down version of it, always in High, unless you put it in Lo. If you wanted to use it that way, you were smart to lift off the gas when shifting to Drive, or else you would soon wear out the High clutch. Ditto with Dynaflow
The 55 Chevy was a very good car, and it was pretty rust resistant. Maybe not as much so as the pre 52 Chrysler products, but still very good in that respect. The 55 Ford was a beauty, but I don't think it was as rust resistant as the Chevy. Plus, if the center cam shaft bearing was not properly installed, you would not get oil to both rocker shafts. One or both would be dry. Not really hard to fix, but requires quite a bit of disassembly.
@@jamesbosworth4191 All cars rusted back then depending on your climate and exposure to the elements. No such thing rust preventable treated steel back then. All that was available was ziebart rust proof coating and that was an option that most people didn't even get.
![[Dealer Film] 55 Plymouth vs the Chevy aka the BLUNT NOSED BARGE?](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
