Chrysler’s low-cost Plymouth division did very well in the United States after the guns of World War II fell noiseless, noting mighty sales of low-cost and reasonable cars until the early 1950s. By 1954, however, Plymouth was slipping in the rankings, and its sales volume was surpassed that year by GM’s Oldsmobile and Buick divisions. This was largely due to the increasingly dated appearance of the 1954 Plymouths, which were not a lot has changed since 1949but still well over 400,000 cars left it showrooms in Plymouth like the 1954 models. Today Junkyard gem it’s one of those cars found in self-service plaza in the Denver area Lately.
The name Plymouth Belvedere began its life two-door hardtop Cranbrooks therefore for the 1951 model year became an independent model name in 1954.
For this year The Plaza was the cheapest Plymouth and the Savoy was the mid-range offering. By 1954, the Belvedere sat atop the pyramid in Plymouth and was priced slightly lower its cheapest Dodge sibling this year. A few years ago in this series we saw a discarded purple 1954 Savoy.
The suggested retail price for this car was $1,933, while the four-door Plaza started at $1,745 (in 2024, these prices would be $22,444 and $20,261, respectively). Meanwhile, up-to-date 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air four-door sedan listed for sale for $1,884 ($21,875 after inflation).
The Chevy had an overhead-valve inline-six under the hood, while the Plymouth made do with an old-fashioned flat straight six (To be fair, the Plymouth engine produced 110 horsepower, only five less than the Chevrolet Stovebolt engine).
Chrysler is stuck flathead six in American-market production cars until 1959, although production continued long afterward for exploit in military trucks and generators.
AND “Hy-Drive” automatic transmission. was available on 1954 Plymouths, but this car has a base manual with three-speed column shift.
This car has it optional automatic overdrivewhich added $97.55 ($1,133 in today’s money) to the car’s price.
It also has an optional single-speaker AM radio that costs $82.50 (currently $958). Note the Civil Defense symbols at 640 and 1240 kHz; these indicate CONELRAD alarm frequencies The Americans were to tune in to the approaching Soviet bombers with atomic bombs. These characters were required on radios sold in the US market from 1953 to 1964.
Originally the Plymouth Division took its name from a brand of rope popular among American farmersbut later the branding changed to emphasize the May flower and Plymouth Rock. In the mid-1950s, the Plymouth logo featured depictions of: Wampanoag people offering gifts to future conquerors.
This car is quite solid and complete, but regular sedans from this era are not worth much, even if they are in good condition.
AND I had a 100-year-old Ansco film camera with me when I found this car this is how it’s done.
