Tackling the Bel Air

Very few cars seem as popular today as they were nearly 60 years ago but the Chevy Bel Air, especially those ubiquitous "tri-5" models, are just such a car. As you wander through the various car shows it's almost impossible to not see a '55, '56' or '57 example of Chevy's classic automobile that has been restored.Despite how it may appear, the Bel Air wasn't the only car being turned out of Detroit during this time. Every automaker had something that was going head to head with Chevy. In the case of Plymouth, it was the Belevedere.

In 1951, as direct response to the Bel Air, Plymouth released the two door version of its Cranbrook, the Cranbrook Belevedere. Built on a 118.5 inch frame and thrust down the road by Plymouth's famed 218 cubic inch flahead straight six to ground out 97 horses with a 7.00:1 ratio, this car was competitively priced starting at $2,114.

The car sold well, well enough that in 1954 the Cranbrook was retired and replaced by a stand-alone Belevedere badge. With this came multiple trims including a four door, a convertible and even a station wagon. The Belevedere was now the top of the line of the Plymouth brand.

By 1955 when the "tri-5" Chevys were still sporting that post World War II look still worn by most of the cars in the country, Plymouth's chief designer, Virgil Exner, began creating his "forward look" design that included the Belevedere. Take a look at the 1958 example shown here to see exactly how forward looking his body styles were compared to most of the competitors. In fact, Exner's designs were so far ahead of the curve that in 1957 Plymouth began using the slogan "Suddenly it's 1960" to promote their cars.

Body design wasn't the only thing seeing improvements on the Belevedere. The 1958 example shown here featured a 318 cubic inch V 8 but several engines were available, ranging from a 230 cubic inch straight six to a 350 twin barrel V 8.

By 1962 the body design of the Belevedere wasn't quite as unique in the Detroit car world. Other manufacturers had caught up and Plymouth had stopped making their cars look so '50s futuristic. That didn't stop them from being innovative under the hood. The 1964 Belevedere remains famous as the car that introduced the 427 Hemi V 8. That year NASCAR versions of the Belevedere took the top three spots at Daytona. Yeah, Richard Petty was driving one of them.

Despite its success both on and off the track, in 1970 Plymouth dropped the Belevedere name in favor of the Satellite. Still, the legacy of this car that took on the Bel Air lives. With more and more MoPar cars being restored and shown perhaps we will begin to see more of these classic cars at shows and on the street.