An Insider's History of Plymouth - Part III
by Curtis Redgap
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An Insider's History of Plymouth - Part III by Curtis Redgap |
Hello Plymouth Fans! Been getting some wonderful comments from some of you about the articles. THANK YOU! I am not an expert, and make no claims as such. In some cases the material that I am working with is 50 years old. If you like what you are reading please contact webmaster at allpar.com or the author at e-mail: plymouth4ever@msn.com. Now on to Installment THREE.
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1955 was a defining year. Not only for Plymouth and all the Chrysler lines, but for the entire automobile industry in the United States. The markings of the beginning of the end for some of the independents started with the 1955 models. Soon to pass were Hudson, Rambler, Nash, DeSoto, Packard, Studebaker, although some of them didn't know it, yet.
Had the "striped pants boys" at the ChryCo Board Room acted with decisiveness, DeSoto might have never had to pass. Plymouth would have been able to take off on its own, and Dodge would have become larger than it was, without diluting its own image, and certainly not at the expense of Plymouth and DeSoto. However, it was not to be. Chaos rules at ChryCo!
My Dad went to one of the distributor meetings that was held in Chicago during August 1955. At the time, the factories were in transition, switching over for production of the 1956 models. Plymouth had done a very careful job of its planned model out, since there just seemed to be no stopping the demand for the 1955 models! They built up a huge parts inventory. It was programmed so that the maximum amount of car assembly line would still be able to operate while the switch out was going on. The 1955 models would stop when they either ran out of parts, or the demand for keeping on the time line for the 1956 models came out, whichever occurred first.
[Should be noted that in '55 Chrysler introduced a new V-8 for its lower priced line this year. It was the 188 horsepower 301 cubic inch "spitfire" polysphere head V-8 cylinder. It had a square bore and stroke of 3 5/8" x 3 5/8". This engine would have portent for Plymouth in the upcoming year.]
As my Dad noted, "this has been the best year ever for the entire corporation. But Plymouth just seems to keep going. I have never seen anything like it. No matter how many I get in, the demand for them still exceeds the amount I have. I got a back log now of over 100 customers. I hope they will take 1956 models, or I may get skinned alive. What a business! Last year I couldn't seem to give 1954 Plymouths away. Now, I don't have enough 1955s to make everyone happy. I just hope Exner [Virgil Exner, hired by K. T. Keller in 1953, was now hailed as a hero and would soon be Vice-president of Style and Design for ChryCo] keeps his head and doesn't go the way of those other striped pants boys in Highland Park. I swear they seem to forget who they were building cars for!"
The Forward Look Plymouth, along with Dodge, were restyled by Exner protege Maury Baldwin. There was no resemblance to the cars that the '55 models replaced. Again, there were three models, the Plaza, being the least expensive, the Savoy, and the top of the line Belvedere. However, even the least expensive Plaza, the two door coupe with no heater or radio, looked better than the '54 models. Base price of the Plaza 2 door was $1,688, FOB Detroit. With the heater/defroster and radio, it cost a bit more at $1,729.
[This was the first year that I can remember how heavy the competition was for fleet sales! Here my Dad's long experience, since the early 1930s, with Fleet put him in the forefront of delivering Chrysler Products to the various Fleet buyers. Our State Police had solicited for bids for new Patrol Cars. Basically, it was a request for lowest cost sedan with the largest performance engine. Chrysler shipped three Plymouth's down to Dad's for scrutiny by the Troopers. I don't remember too much about them except that Ford got the bid. I know one of the Plymouths had the V-8 package with dual exhausts, however, Dad didn't note anything about the bid process in the books. The cars were gone for a week, and were trashed when they got back, because I had to try to clean them as best as I could, so I remember! My Uncle Hurley, Dad's oldest brother, came around, of course, being Chief of Police, his department needed cars too. He preferred the Plymouth models, especially after trying out the V-8 car for a week, but the City Council accepted the bids from Chevrolet. They were the model 150, 2 door sedan, all black inside and out, equipped with a heater/defroster, stick shift, and the power pak 265 ci 4-barrel, dual exhaust V-8. Cost per unit was $1,537.00. Dad had bid the Plymouth, only far better equipped, with the Powerflite, radio, heater/defroster, 2 door, red interior, black exterior to a total of $1618.00! Had he bid out exactly the same car as the Chevrolet, the bid would have been $1498.00! The Chevrolets turned out to be a nickel and dime nightmare. The distributor had dual points on the Chevrolet, and within 4,000 miles they burned out, just like shutting the engine down. Had to change the spark plugs right along with the ignition points. They just did not like the prolonged idle periods experienced by police cars.]
The County Sheriff took a look at the Plymouth too, and accepted the bid against the Chevrolet due to the automatic transmission. He bought 80 of them just like I described above, except he had the doors painted white. Most of them gave over 100,000 miles service without problems.
Plymouth had long ago established a solid reputation for fleet (taxi) operations. Chrysler itself had a solid engineering background into fleet operations, particularly in the early 1930s when DeSoto was Taxi king in the biggest cities, such as New York. A change in wheelbase requirement regulations allowed Plymouth to compete after World War II. A lot of Plymouth's success was based on it's ability to fit DeSoto components, such as brakes, clutch, engine (!), shocks, and running gear virtually direct. It was one of Detroit's best kept secrets for years. Finally, in 1955, when Plymouth's fleet sales zoomed, GM and Ford took note of that area.
When Dad got home from that trip, he was a little unsettled. The sales group was less than forth coming about the 1956 models. There was a rumor that the ChryCo Board had shot Plymouth down on a performance model, although a real performance model oriented DeSoto was on the boards, or possibly another 2 seater, such as the now dead Belmont, to compete with the Ford Thunderbird. Even my Dad's inside contact, people that he had known and dealt with at the Corporate level for years, were mum and reticent. The meeting was not entirely without facts. Apparently, Virgil Exner, who was driven far beyond just a take charge individual, used the corporate chaos to swiftly move into his own designs. He had completely scrapped three years of design work that had been spent on the entire line of the planned 1957 models, instead going right to designs that were said to be planned for the 1960 model year. The dealers were told to be ready for the most powerful set of car model designs that Detroit had ever seen. The dealers were assured that each line was a strong, separate identity, and would not cut into the position of another line. The ChryCo leaders assured them that they had a strong purpose for doing this. That was when the real bombshell hit.
The sales group had advanced the proposal that if Plymouth regained its coveted number three spot in production in 1955, beginning in 1957, Plymouth would have it's own stand alone stores. My Dad wrote: It was like having the local whorehouse girls visit the Holy Roman Catholic Cathedral on High Sunday! It stunned the entire group, myself included. Jesus, marketing has finally come alive at Chrysler. But, there were those big dealers crying "foul". Especially those whiney assed guys with the Dodge franchises. Lord, they give me a pain in the ass! They got all the models they need, plus trucks, and they don't want Plymouth to have a damned thing. A bunch of us managed to shout them down, but it won't stop with a voice vote with those guys."
So, finally the long needed independence for Plymouth had been set out publicly. It caused quite a stir, since Plymouth had always been attached to all the other car lines. As it was proposed, there were 3,400 Dodge dealers across the country. They were to stand alone, in that they would no longer sell Plymouths. Those dealers were welcome to buy a Plymouth franchise, as long as it was totally separate and far away from their Dodge franchise. However, the decision to let Plymouth have over 3,000 available new franchises for sale to anyone that wanted to set up a Plymouth store, was firm, and would not be rescinded.
[Such great bravado should have been rewarded but as we know Plymouth did not reach 3rd place in 1955, having been beaten by Buick by 1,800 units. However, Roger Smith when he was GM Chairman, paid the price when he closed down the Flint Michigan Buick plant in the 1980s, and some very unhappy Buick employees produced memos and letters showing how GM had fudged their records way back to 1950! Using their corporate spies (and they had plenty of them) GM knew just how many units they needed. Allegedly, the 1,800 cars that beat Plymouth were in actuality parts of cars set aside for the 1956 model run! Talk about shades of Henry Ford II, GM neither explained or apologized, nor did it stop it's shutdown of the Flint Buick plant.]
I can remember Dad praising the new idea up and down to anyone that would listen. I was a favorite target, since just about anything my Dad said about cars was next to gospel for me. "bout time those market guys got with it. I been saying it for years that Plymouth needed to get away from Dodge. Every good thing Plymouth had, Dodge stole from them. I never used Plymouth as a come on to move customers up to a Dodge like some of those guys. Hell, a lot of them hoped you would come in to look at a Plymouth for the price, and drive home in a Dodge because of the higher mark up for the dealers. Damn horse traders anyway. Dodge is a damned good car, but the leadership is a bunch of bully boys, and they see Plymouth as a way to get something over on a customer. Damned wrong. Makes for bad feelings about dealers all over. Just like Ford and Chevrolet, and Buick and Oldsmobile, shovin' stuff down peoples throats. Lyin' cheatin' and stealin' from 'em just to move units. Isn't no way to run a railroad."
But, it was a lot more to 1955 than just the sales. In Late December, shortly after Christmas, in fact on my birthday, I got a nice card. It was written in my Father's hand writing. " On February 14, 1955, you and I are going to visit your Uncle Chet in Florida. We are also going to Daytona Beach to see the annual car time trials. Happy Birthday, son. PS, don't worry about school, cause I already talked to Professor Daly."
As I said before, the 1955 models were a phenomenon. No amount of production could keep up with demand, especially for the '55 Plymouths. My Dad's dealership took on new sales people, however, in most cases, they were little more than order takers. My grandfather, although he barely needed an excuse, unretired himself from Florida in January 1956, and came back to take orders for cars! People knew what they wanted, and even if the car wasn't exactly equipped with what they had hoped to get, they bought them anyway!
My Dad always had some inventory since he was a factory outlet and not a franchise. He was also the Western Regional Dealership for distribution of, parts, fleet sales, and vehicles going to smaller dealers. More than one car that was being shipped as an "inventory unit", and didn't have a customer waiting for it, never got off Dad's lot, except in the hands of a satisfied customer.
This was also the year that Chrysler put it's transmission control through the dashboard on a slender chrome lever that protruded outward. Despite the huge urban legend about how many injuries that control lever caused, they were not true. The lever was designed to break away, at the dashboard level, with 10 pounds of pressure applied to it. It still caused quite a stir.
My Dad sold his Cousin a new '55 Belvedere with automatic and the hi-PO V-8. Dad's Cousin, along with his younger brother, went fishing one Saturday afternoon, and spent more money on beer than bait. On the way back home, they thought it was great fun to flip the transmission lever up and down, especially when it slammed into reverse and would nearly jerk their heads off as they were going forward. It lasted quite a few tries, until the rear end decided that it had enough abuse and blew out the spider gears. Didn't hurt the Powerflite though. By the way, my Dad had the mechanics convert the dash lever to a column mounted unit from a '54 so his Cousin wouldn't be tempted to try that game again.
As the February date approached for the trip with my Dad, I could hardly sleep at night. The day dawned cold, but clear and before I realized it, we were at the big city airport walking out from the terminal to the steps that lead up to the door of the biggest thing I had ever seen in my life. Yes, it was my first airplane trip. While my Dad had flown quite a bit, I had never had the opportunity to see him come and go at the airport. So, I never knew just how huge these airplanes really were! It was a National Airlines DC-7 [in 1980, National was absorbed by Pan Am after a nasty court battle in a hostile takeover. National operated 25 years and was noted for having NO accidents from February 1962 through 1980].
I took the window seat. We were behind the left wing, so I could see the two of the four huge engines clearly. I was mesmerized when they started to turn over then fired off in a cloud of exhaust gases and smoke. I also never had a clue just how powerful an airplane is. That is, until we started the take off run. Up until then, I was just in awe of all the things around me. However, when the pilot released the brakes and hit take off power, I was thrust back into my seat by forces I had never felt before. I glanced at my Dad, who was grinning at me. I gripped the chair handles in my 12 year old hands and hung on for dear life. I looked out the window as the ground hurled by in a blur, then suddenly it feel away as the big bird climbed up into the sky. I then realized that I too, was grinning. I loved it. I still do. Powerful speedy things are always a source of fascination.
Uncle Chet lived on the ocean right off US Route A1A in Bunnell, Florida. Early the next morning, the Redgap boys climbed in my Uncle's new DeSoto and headed south for Daytona Beach. The back seat was like a stadium. The car rode like a dream and was powerful and fast, passing other cars whenever Uncle Chet punched the accelerator down. That Hemi V-8 made a deep belly roar, characteristic of all MoPar V-8 engines, and just seamlessly gathered the big DeSoto up and hurled it past any obstructions in the road.
We made Daytona Beach just as the Sun was coming up. I'd never seen the Atlantic Ocean before, let alone being treated to watching a sunrise over it. I was hooked on Florida right then and there. We ate breakfast at the Ormond Beach Hotel. A huge old wooden edifice that is still standing today. Lots of history there at that place. That was the site of the original beach races, and it was where all the names of speed stayed when the beach was king of the speed records. Sir Malcolm Campbell stayed there when he set new records in his "BlueBird's". Then it was off to find the Chrysler group at the testing facility on the beach. We didn't have any trouble. Huge banners easily identified each car company. We were welcomed warmly by members of the Chrysler staff. It was then I began to realize just how much sway that Dad had in the Chrysler organization. He was a pretty big stick, so to speak. Whatever any of us wanted, someone would run and fetch it. Me? I was showered with all kinds of momentos and souvenirs. Everyone was excited that day. It was the timed run for the new Chrysler 300.
There is no way to describe the excitement, interest, dreams, and outright awe the totally new C 300 Chrysler drew in 1955. On the day that the first one was delivered to Dad's store, gawker traffic made it impossible to move around the showroom! And it continued for over a week like that! It seemed everyone in the country wanted to see the most powerful car built in America. And after all, it was the most powerful car built in America. The 331 cubic inch Hemisphere head V-8 introduced in 1951 had grown up to 300 horsepower. It easily outpaced the Corvette and the Thunderbird in sheer power and speed. At Daytona Beach, that day, it proved that it was more than just a pretty face or an advertiser's claim.
There were three 300s entered in the speed weeks. Highest top speed was measured over a mile long course. As was later proven definitively, the sand, even as packed as it was, did not make for ideal traction. There was always some slippage, so ideal top speeds would never be obtained on the beach. However, that wasn't known then, and this was then! The first 300 started. I remember it was a black one, and slowly made it's way to the end of the course. It seemed like it was going to take forever, then suddenly, there it was! A tiny speck on the sand, hurtling along at an unbelievable pace! It grew in size as it approached the knot of people by the timing booth. Then suddenly with a roar like a low flying plane, a flash, and it was gone! Zooming on by, almost a blur, it was so fast! We all waited, nearly not breathing. Speed... 129.298 miles per hour! It had shattered the record set in 1954, by the way, by another Chrysler, of 117.065 miles per hour. However, for the record to stick, it had to be a two way average. The black 300 started it's run in the opposite direction. Just as before, it seemed like forever. Then suddenly, with a huge roar and a flash it was by. The electronic eyes blinked. The speed... a bit slower at 125.874. The two way average was 127.580. The second 300 was timed at 126.542 mph and the third operated by a woman [MS Vicki Woods, a NASCAR stock car driver] set a timed speed of 125.838 mph. The closest any other car came was the Cadilliac which set a timed speed of 120.478 mph.
The real interest after the 300s runs, were the low priced three. That is Ford, Chevrolet and Plymouth. Both had spanking new V-8 engines they were sure would beat the pants off the other. Ford had sort of a ho-hum attitude, since it had flathead V-8 engines since 1932. They had also been run at Daytona before. Plymouth, however, was not prepared for what lay ahead.
Just prior to speed weeks, Chevrolet introduced a RPO (regular production option) for their new 265 cubic inch engine. Supposedly, it was slated for Police Car production only. (It should be noted that Chevrolet did not have a police car or a police/taxi package and would not have one until 1956!) It claimed to have been only a 4-barrel carb and dual exhausts. However, later evidence showed a special distributor set up, and a whole different camshaft grind. Nevertheless, it was entered as "stock", and rated at 180 horsepower. Ford too had a nasty little surprise, just before speed weeks with the introduction of the 292 cubic inch "Thunderbird Special V-8". Essentially this was the same engine as the 292 Interceptor V-8, except the compression ratio had been bumped from 7.6 to 1 to 8.5 to 1. This too was entered as "stock" with 198 horsepower. Plymouth showed up with its bone stock 260 cubic inch polysphere head V-8 at 7.6 to 1 compression and 177 horsepower.
To say the least, it was a total embarrassment for Plymouth. However, once the engineers had determined the cause for what had happened, it would never happen, intentionally anyway, to Plymouth again. Chevrolet surprised everyone with a timed speed of 112 miles per hour. The fastest Chevrolet ever! Ford managed to break 100 miles per hour for the first time. In fact it was 105 miles an hour top speed. Plymouth? 98 miles an hour. Not even in the running. "Hell's bells!" My Dad cussed. "Buncha damn pirates over there at GM!" He was not alone in voicing acrimonious comments. The attending Plymouth engineers were a grim group. The term in racing is "sand bagging."
The engineers knew they had been worked over by GM and Ford. A vow was made to not let it happen again. The pain of speed weeks was eased somewhat when Dodge took its class, ... again, however, not by much, with the high flying Chevrolet nipping at it's heels when the Dodge made 114 miles an hour. That would not happen again for a few years. And DeSoto ran through both Buick and Oldsmobile establishing it's own record for power and speed at 115 miles an hour. Chrysler stood alone with the C 300 beating everyone. Plymouth went back to Highland park with a sense of commitment that both Ford and GM would feel for the next few years.
My father and Uncle Chet went back to Daytona Beach every day after that. My Uncle had a fledgling racing engine operation, mostly using later Hemi blocks, that he had established with his son in North Carolina. [One of his earliest customer's by the way was Cotton Owens, who owned a Dodge dealership, and was newly into stock car racing.] (Owens also happened to be Richard Petty's Father-in-law.) I didn't know then any of what was happening, however, I pieced it together. Plymouth had sort of adopted my Uncle's rented garage space as a spot to work over the Plymouths that they had brought down to see if they could get any more speed out of them. When I figured it out, I begged my dad to take me along every day. Engines were still somewhat of a mystery to me then. I was fascinated that anything that contained as many parts as I saw lying around the garage from the Plymouth engines, and could all work together just boggled my mind. I never have gotten over cars, speed, power and politics.
What stemmed from that visit in 1955 was a connection to NASCAR stock car racing through my Dad's parts department. They did manage to push the '55 Plymouth to speeds, unofficially, of over 120 miles an hour, but it took more money than it was worth on the 277 cubic inch V-8. It also put the compression ratio up to where it would never have been able to run on the street.
I also learned that my Dad and Uncle had met with the head of NASCAR, William France. Both of them disliked him immensely. They both thought he was little more than a power and money manipulator who would not hesitate doing whatever it took to keep himself as sole power broker in the NASCAR situation. They both believed that USAC (United States Auto Club) was much fairer as a sanctioning body. As even in later years when NASCAR was growing in leaps, my Uncle truly despised the France family controlling interest in anything NASCAR. "They held all the cards. No matter what an owner or driver or sponsor does, France could make it all go away, with just a word, and no money in it on his part... and no appeal to the decision... period!" My Dad always accused France of being able to manipulate the outcome of races. (There have been rumblings of such things, especially in Newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel, that published several articles concerning what was termed "the call", whereby France himself told a team that they were to win a particular race.) Dad alleged that the business with banning race car driver Curtis Turner (early 1960s) for life because Turner had gambled on NASCAR races was to eliminate the competition for his own purposes in establishing total control of the betting process!
We returned from our February vacation to a cold, hard winter. Yet, sales demand, especially for Plymouth kept going up! According to the journal kept by my Father, he averaged two Plymouth sales a day, every working day that the store was open. He never opened Sunday, and closed at Noon on Saturday. Dad, even with grandpa's newly unretired help, was going at a break neck pace. He would pay a price, as would I, later on, for keeping up such a torrid level of business.
Just to give everyone an idea of the kind of year it was, here are the figures my Father posted in his journal. He always waited until December 15 or thereabouts to post his figures for the dealership, because he liked to keep his regular employees, and he just had an exquisite joy in handing out cash bonuses to everyone at the annual dealership Christmas party! So on December 15, 1955, his employees were paid on the first 1,000 retail trade year! (Doesn't include the fleet sales) In fact, they sold 1,003 cars that year. 563 Plymouths, 123 Chryslers, 80 DeSotos, 166 Dodges, 68 Imperials, and 3 Chrysler c 300s. Plymouth Division produced 705,555 1955 models. A record.
Let's also say that 1955 was the year that the real race began in Detroit. Comparisons were becoming a big thing. Tom McCahill, of Mechanix Ilustrated, lived in Ormond Beach, yes, the same town as my Uncle Chet. Although they knew each other, Uncle Chet and Mr. McCahill were nodding acquittances only. Mr. McCahill, who could have any car he wanted, drove a 1955 C-300 as his personal mount.
I always said, and I still say, that standard model for standard model, Plymouth offered the fastest, best handling, and most economical products.
Motor Trend Magazine comparison tested the "low priced three" in similarly equipped models in 1955. After mileage, acceleration and handling tests, they proclaimed Plymouth as the best handling. Chevrolet beat Plymouth to 60 by clocking @ 12.3 seconds compared to 13.1, and Ford's 14.5. However, Plymouth outran Chevrolet in the top end at 98.4 (sound familiar?) miles an hour, compared to Chevrolet's 97 and Ford eating tail pipe smoke at 95 mph.
After August 1955, Dad went to a harried series of meetings, some of which he'd brought back pictures of the new 1956 Fury! My heart sang when I saw the glossy stills. There was something going on right in Chrysler's back yard, and the board would not find out until the Fury was unleashed in Florida in January 1956.
NOTE: I am not an expert and make no claims for any accuracy for any of the material contained herein. I also make no guarantees for the use-re-use, misuse of the published materials.
- - Curtis Redgap
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