Hemi Powered Royalty

By the mid 1950s Detroit's car industry was back in full swing. The Big Three had learned a lot about the buying public by the time the Baby Boom was in full swing. People were moving out of the cities and into the suburbs in droves and they needed cars to get around. Not every car was for everyone. Potential customers had their own needs as well as their own limitations when it came to buying a car. So each of the Big Three, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, tried to fill as many steps in the buying ladder as they could.

Similar their two main competitors, Chrysler used different badges to denote different levels of luxury and economy. For them, the Dodge division was a solid working man's car, a mid level marquee that was a step above Plymouth and a step below Chrysler cars.

Like the middle child it was, Dodge produced its own version of the middle child in 1955, the Royal. The base model Coronet came in five trims but the mid range Royal was available in only three. There was a four door sedan, a two door hardtop coupe and a four door wagon. Like all of Dodge's two door coupes, the Royal got to wear the Lancer badge.

Each of the Royals came standard with a 270 cubic inch Red Ram V 8 as well as standard items, such as turn signals, that were optional accessories on the base Coronets. Three larger Hemi V 8 engines were optional for the Royal, ranging from 325 cubic inch to 361 cubes. There were other appointments that buyers in this price range expected but there were also some options that they probably weren't expecting. The 1955 models saw the second year of the company's fully automatic PowerFlite transmission. A three speed manual was standard but a two speed and a three speed version of the PowerFlite could be ordered. The automatics had dash mounted levers that were used to change gears.

The Royal also benefited from the work of corporate design chief Virgil Exner who introduced a whole new concept in styling he called "Forward Look." It introduced a futuristic, jet aged look to the car, including fins that would be copied by Detroit competitors.

Royals were manufactured through 1959 though the Lancer name would be used in both the early 1960s and the late 1980s.

The car shown here is a pristine 1955 Royal Lancer with the upgraded V 8 Hemi.