Hemi Wagon: 1956 Dodge D500 Sierra
Station wagons have come in and out of popularity ever since they were introduced, and right now very few are made – the SUV is the hauler of choice for most people. But back in the 1950s and 1960s there were a huge variety of styles, sizes, and trim levels to choose from. They weren’t just people haulers either – you could get some serious performance if you wanted! This 1956 D500 Dodge Sierra Station Wagon is one of those high-performance examples, and you can find it up for sale here on eBay in Moorpark, California, with a “Buy It Now” price of $15,000.
1956 was the first year for the D500. It’s difficult to find production numbers, but one source stated that only 13 D500 Sierra Station Wagons were produced that year, which would make this a very rare and special Mopar. This package included beefed up suspension, upgraded brakes, and a 315 Hemi V8. The 3 speed manual was standard, but this example comes with the optional push-button automatic. It produced 260 hp and 330 lb ft of torque, quite a bit for a mid-50s wagon. Sports Car Illustrated said in August 1956, “It is designed from the ground up as a high performance road machine that can be used for commuting to work, for winning its class at the local Drag Strip or for making a top showing in a tough rally or race.”
This car is claimed to be an original survivor with 96,400 miles. The body itself is straight and the paint looks good for the most part, with only a few chips. With a little luck and some elbow grease, it should shine right up. The trim is all present, and has very minimal pitting. The roof rack is a cool touch! There are no photos of the underside of the car, but since it’s located in California I’m hopeful that the rust is minimal. There are a few places of visible rust on the body, however. The most noticeable is over the front driver’s fender, the seam around the roof, and the hinges for the tailgate. These alone shouldn’t be too hard to fix, but may be an indication of more rust in harder to reach locations.
The interior has held up well considering this wagon is 65 years old. There is a split where the driver sits, but if that could be fixed, then the seats just need a good cleaning. By the way, you can tell that all 3 rows have different fabric patterns – does anyone know which of them is from the factory? The headliner seems to be in good condition, and most of the door panels as well, although the lower portion of the driver door panel is missing and there is a section of loose fabric on the front passenger door. The dash looks to be perfect.
Who’s ready to take their family on a road trip in this vintage wagon?
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Comments
A nice car for the money. I would reupholster the seats and door panels and drive it. Interesting rear seat. Looks like the manufacturers attempt at a built in child seat. Interesting brake booster arrangement common on the 50’s cars. Rest assured you would be the only one at the car shows.
Maybe the seat pulls and tilts forward, ala Wrangler, for 3rd row access. Mom’s ’61 Plymouth wagon had the P-B auto., I wasn’t aware that it went back to ’56. Cool car.
That’s a factory third seat – something also rare about this one. I see it has the same kind of emergency brake mine has !
Love the car. Hate the air cleaner
In a perfect world , I would buy this car and give it a full restoration and I have never done a restored car. I can’t understand why in my younger days, I didn’t recognize these cars, I just didn’t get it. Can you imagine this car with a complete restoration ,it would definitely stop traffic.
I’d love to own this.
Great grocery getter!
Love it. When cars were cars and at 15k ish its a lot of car for a fair price. Sure im cheap but id buy this over many nasket cases for 10 times the buy in.
Nice old wagon. It has been for sale before on eBay I believe. It looks rust free except for the surface rust shown, be a nice cruiser for sure.
I LOVE the 50s, 60s, and ’70s station wagons! (and even some ’80s!)
In 1987, I was living in southern Oregon, and came nose-to-nose with one of these as we parked at a grocery store in a pouring rain storm. In 1987, this car was only 21 years old and not THAT unusual, but the D-500 tags caused me to ask the driver if it was indeed a D-500 car. He told a story of special ordering the car – he and the wife loved the new Dodge design, Ma wanted a wagon and a magenta and white paint job, he wanted the D-500 package. It was delivered and put out on the lot, where an unknowing salesman sold it to someone else ! When they arrived to pick it up, it was gone, and a 2nd car had to be ordered. What was odd, was the original car was ordered as a low model Sierra, but the 2nd car was mistakenly ordered as a Custom Sierra, with the fancy light surrounds, mylar door panel inserts, and ribbed seat upholstery. The buyer as not pleased by this upgrade, and had the light surrounds replaced with the all-chrome ones. Which it wore its whole life.
In 2007 I stumbled on the car again in Spokane, Washington. Just driving down a residential street, I saw a 56 Dodge nose poking out of a garage door and stopped to talk. It was the old man’s son who had the car, and he aggressively tried to get me to buy the car, which didn’t take much talking. I kept the car for about 10 years, but a chopper crash in AFG got me thinking about my own mortality, and I decided to sell off some the cars I would likely never get to. A local guy bought the car and did a nice job of restoring it. It is a real joy to see going down the road.
BTW – I have an extra roof rack for one of these, should anyone need one.
Thanks for the story. Wish you could have kept it but at least someone else got it back on the road.
I kept the 58 Plymouth and 58 DeSoto and 66 Coronet. I loved the 56 wagon, but all things considered, I am not going to live long enough to do them all !
Burger, the math is off in your story.
OK, 31 years !
Bad math, can’t type, …. you sure want a lot from me ! LOL
I’ve told ya’ll before my father was cheap. Spent the 50s and 60s in a lot of different used cars he would buy for $100.
This is one of them. He bought my mother a ’56 Dodge station wagon in two tone green. It wasn’t the performance one. Obviously. Not even sure of the engine, I was too young, but I think it was a 6 with a 3 on the tree.
Mom eventually crashed it, and we moved on to another $100 fixer upper
Dad retired around 1969 and out of boredom, frequented the local Police auctions.
He would often bring home cars that would be mildly repaired and then sold on.
One day he brought home a few, one of which was a 57 Plymouth which he had purchased for $12.
It was in very good nick and completely original and had that automatic box with a clutch.
My 11 year old self and 13 year old brother often drove it around the neighborhood, until Dad discovered it was a hemi, thereafter it was promptly sold to local dirt track racer.
I never understood that gearbox, but it worked fine.
Plymouth never built a Hemi car in the 50’s. I have seen plenty of Hemis stuffed into Plymouths by latter day owners. “Automatic box with a clutch” sounds like Fluid Drive. Those were ended before 1955. When and where was this ?
Hi Burger,
That was around 1970 in Cape Town, South Africa. It was a light green 4 door with right hand drive. Could have been a later conversion.
Dad’s personal car was a 59 Desoto with a 318 ci, so that Plymouth definitely had a Hemi in it, judging by the larger heads and centrally mounted spark plugs.
The upholstery on the third seat is the correct material for a 56 Dodge wagon.
I have this car and it is super sweet. I’ve owned it for about 20 years. I did not realize how rare it is but I knew there were not a lot of D500’s produced. If this car actually sold for $15,000, somebody got a killer deal. It is worth way more than that!