Mortuary Mopar: 1955 Dodge Town Panel
This 1955 Dodge has been customized and upgraded in multiple ways, but appears to be a great runner and should be enjoyed by its next owner, whether they choose to keep the theme as-is or return it to a more stock-looking vehicle. Up for sale here on eBay, this Dodge is located in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania. Bidding at time of writing is at $5,000, with the reserve not yet met. The “Buy It Now” price is $20,000 with barely a day left to bid, so there is a chance it may remain unsold.
Too bad this one didn’t appear a couple weeks ago, just in time for Halloween! Although it’s likely the current owner wanted to get one more season out of it before parting ways. This Dodge is a 1955 Town Panel. The listing says it has a Volare front clip, but looking at the photos I’m not sure how true that is. It looks to be stock when it comes to the front clip. Perhaps the seller means suspension and brakes rather than the body panels. Speaking of which, the body appears to be in very good condition. It retains a patina look, which adds to its character. No major rust or damage is immediately visible. Really, the only flaw is the paint peeling on the leading edge of the hood. By the way, I like how the two hood halves are hinged in the middle, that’s pretty unique.
The next owner of this Dodge should have a very specific taste. A lot customization has been done to create this mortuary car. In addition to all the lettering and external embellishments, there are lots of touches throughout the interior like newer seats, Billet door and window handles, black interior panels with plenty of varnished wood accents, and even a coffin! Everything appears to have been done to high standards, and while the seats (to me) seem a bit out of place, the rest of the interior works well together.
The engine is a freshly-built 383 big block, and between the eBay listing and another one found here, it sounds like quite a bit of time and money has gone into the upgrades on this Dodge: aluminum heads, cam, and Edelbrock carb, 8 ¾” rear with rear airbags, new wiring, brakes, steering columns, radiator, tires, shocks, stereo with 2 10-inch subs, amps, touch screen Kenwood stereo, and 24-inch tv. I can imagine that not only will this Dodge turn heads, but it would actually be fun to drive. If this were yours, where is the first place you would show it off?
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Comments
Well, I have to give the builder credit for modernizing this and not going overboard. But I still cannot understand why so many have adopted the weathered look. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Brighten it up and still use it. Remember the old Indian word for patina…
I gotta agree. I was looking at the pin striping on the hood, just shaking my head looking at the flaking paint.
The reason “patina” caught on is because paint and body work is really expensive, especially in places like California.
I’d have no problem driving around in a car with faded paint, but can’t stand fake lettering or cars painted “hot rod” black, which is today’s equivalent of primer. The second you factor in the price of paint and body work many “affordable” cars that average Joe, raising a family and with mortgage, could have afforded instantly become unaffordable. If the owner is happy with what they are driving, that’s all that really matters. As long as the naysayers aren’t paying for new paint or purchasing the car for themselves their opinions are irrelevant.
Steve R
I don’t mind the mechanical upgrades, would have gone with something a little tamer under the hood. As for the funeral theme it would be gone ASAP. I agree with Geomechs what’s wrong with shiney.
Bingo! 1st thing, get a grinder and remove all that “death” crap. Oh sure, as youngsters, we had the world by the axx, death was the last thing on our minds. Today, as older people, it scares the hell out of most, and a vehicle promoting death is a poor choice. People take death so lightly, until, like these concert deaths, or shootings, not so funny now, eh?
Sorry, I like the Dodge panel, Dodge and Chevy were the most popular, and a little beefy in the power, but this is done right, just lose the graphics. Oh, the shifter is silly too. I see some semi trucks have those, IDK, PITA to me.
Words of wisdom Howard, as usual. The hobby does not need to be macabre. . Someday all the younger ones will understand, then they will lament on their poor choices, as they should. I speculate this never was a funeral home piece, just some young punks idea of a joke. ///// The van should have kept the original (I presume) flat head six and three speed. Those were some of the best engines Chrysler ever produced, and sounded nice too.
Thanks Gary, and to be clear, if it WAS a mortuary service truck, it was not a hearse. This truck probably specialized in digging the graves, and such. I hope my “last ride” isn’t in a old panel van,,,
Kind of a short bed for a coffin hauler.
Not if you have the corpse bend its knees. MUAH-HA-HA!
About the Volare front clip. The Aspen and Volare had transverse mounted torsion bars as opposed to the traditional longitudinal for most Chrysler products.
As for the 383 exhaust manifold below the master cylinder. Need to put a heat shield on the manifold and heat shield bottom of master cylinder. Very hot brake fluid is not cool.🙄
When I go, I wanna go Pappy’s!
Pappy’s Special: “Free large drink with every pickup order”.
Easily worth the 20k, but the motif is childish
When the auction ends, it should read ‘Pappy has left the building.’
Condition:Used
Ended:Nov 07, 2021 , 4:55PM
Current bid:US $9,367.00[ 14 bids ]
A bargain…I guess.
And did not meet the reserve.
“$5,000 dollars”. 5000 dollars dollars? Professional writer lingo? Or, the same type of mediocre reporter who says, ‘small little’ in tandem to describe something miniscule? In both cases it’s either but not both.
Relisted with a buy it now of $16,000.
Nice vehicle. Just an observation. Telephone numbers were not expressed like that in the 1950’s. You couldn’t call direct from your zone into another zone. Well, in some areas in suburbia you could. Most zones went through an exchange. These exchanges had names. Ours was: HAmilton. Before 1960 the phone number was written with the first 2 letters capitalized because those letters corresponded with 2 numbers on the phone dial. In this case the numbers 4 and 2. So, our phone number was: HAmilton 3-xxxx. By the early ’60s this was shortened to just HA instead of HAmilton, so, it now became HA 3-xxxx. By the mid1960’s even those letters were dropped and the phone number became just that, a series of numbers: 423-xxxx. By the late 60’s area codes were in use, but weren’t used unless you dialed out of the area. So, what the restorer needs to do is, find out where this “mortuary service” is supposed to be and do some research. Find out the name of the telephone exchange for the area at the time and paint that on the side of the truck, making sure to capitalize the first 2 letters.
Let’s just repaint the phone number to BR 549 and chill.
Let’s just change the phone number to BR 549, and chill.