1955 Plymouth Belvedere

The 1955 Plymouth Belvedere was the company's top-of-the-line model and offered as a sedan, club sedan, hardtop coupe, convertible, and a suburban. The styling was similar to Plymouth's other models - the entry-level Plaza and the mid-priced Savoy. Prices on the Plaza ranged from $1,610 to $2,130, the Savoy of $1810 to $1860, and the Belvedere of $1,910 to $2,330. Belvedere's wore name script on the front fender, and chrome around the window moldings, rear deck lid overhang, rear roof pillar, headlight hoods, and taillamps. The convertible and sport coupe had special contrasting 'color sweep' panels, and a second horizontal spear was located above the taillamp and ran to the middle of the door. The front spear was intersected by forward-slanting moldings located below the front vent window and below the windshield post. With the body lines dissected by the chrome trim, additional paint colors were often used. Panels underneath the lower horizontal molding were often finished in the same color as the roof.

The sedans and station wagons had full-length chrome sweep spears on the body sides.

The well-appointed interiors came in combinations, such as Jacquard 'Black Magic' Boucle. Standard equipment included special courtesy lights, dual ashtrays, clock, armrests, and deluxe steering wheels.

An optional 259.2 cubic-inch OHV V8 had 167 or 177 horsepower depending on the configuration. A three-speed manual transmission was standard, and an overdrive transmission was a $100 option, and the automatic was priced at $165. Other options included wire wheels, two-tone paint, tinted Solex glass, power brakes, power steering, radio, air conditioning, power seats, power windows, seat covers, dual exhaust, oil filter, and more. The standard drive axle ratio was 3.73:1, with 3.54:1 being standard with the automatic. A 4.00:1 ratio was optional.

The sedan was the most popular body style in the Belvedere line, with 160,984 examples produced in 1955. 47,375 examples of the hardtop coupe and 41,645 of the club sedan were produced. The convertible offered solely with an eight-cylinder engine, had 8,473 examples built. A further 18,488 examples of the suburban were constructed.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2020