Fabulous Fifties Fins! 1957 Dodge Coronet
Chrysler Corp. redesigned its products in 1957 and set the industry on its ear with its “Forward Look” styling. The fins and the rest of the cars carried a Space Age look, befitting the development of technology during the 1950s and 1960s. Dodge had a range of vehicles that carried Coronet badging and the seller’s 4-hardtop is the basic or “standard” model. It’s been in the same family for 45 years and runs despite it previously being a “barn find”. It will need restoring, beginning with the non-working brakes.
These cars were longer and wider than their predecessors and helped Chrysler post some respectable sales numbers in 1957. The standard Coronet accounted for more than 143,000 units of which about 10% were pillarless 4-door sedans. The base engine was the 325 cubic inch “Poly-head” V8 engine and the one in the seller’s car is paired with Chrysler’s 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission with push-button controls.
This Dodge is a fairly plain edition, not even equipped with a radio when new. It did have carpeting, but that’s been removed and only the padding remains. The upholstery and door panels are tired as well after 67 years on Planet Earth. We don’t know what’s going on in the trunk as it’s stuck shut and won’t free up (maybe some ancient treasures are waiting to be unearthed!). The unseen engine works but the car won’t stop unless you use the emergency brake.
The Coronet appears to be a two-owner transport with a history from the first owner. It has 75,000 miles on the odometer after living in the barn for many years. Located in Lebanon, Oregon, this relic from yesteryears is available here on eBay. The current bid is $3,900 and the reserve is unmet, but you can crack open the safe with a payment of $5,500.
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Comments
That is a Coronet Lancer 4-door hardtop, of which there were 13,619 V-8 models built.
Note the Lancer badges on the rear fenders.
(Custom Royal Lancer and Royal Lancer also had 4-door hardtop models, with lower production numbers.)
The “Get-Away” SIX, 231 6 cylinder was standard on Coronet 2-door Club Sedans and 4-door Sedan models.
Those 6 cylinder Coronet sedans would have been considered the standard or base models, as Coronet was the lowest priced series by Dodge then, with the 6 cylinder models being the least expensive.
The 143,321 production numbers were (D66) Coronet V-8 models only.
Coronet (D72) 6 cylinder production was 17,658.
In this case, standard is a made up term by the seller to likely explain the lack of options and research.
Looks a little like the “Batmobile”.
Don’t insult bats. They eat mosquitoes . The front looks like a droopy faced bloodhound and the jury is still out on the rear end. I failed to find anything appealing about this car.
Broderick Crawford drove one in certain episodes of “Highway Patrol”.
God Bless America
Headquarters to 2150 …..
….. 2150 by
Takes me back to my sophomore year in high school when my father traded in the ’53 Kaiser for a ’57 Dodge Coronet 4 door sedan. It had the V-8 option and that funky push button automatic transmission that I was able to jam 2 of the buttons. Worked up a sweat trying to get ’em unjammed before Pop came outta the hardware store and I’d get my rear end beat. When I finally got my license 2 years later, he actually let me drive the thing and for a heavy car, if’n ya put the trans in neutral, left foot on the brake, right on the gas pedal and pushed that drive button, that monster would move like it was shot out of a cannon! Not long after I HAD to buy my own car in ’59 – a very used ’54 Ford Customline, whose V-8 didn’t quite measure up to that Dodge, though.
If it had the 230 flat 6, last year, could have been most unusual and easy to work on. V-8 more desirable though.
It’s going to Europe across the big pond.