sent in by Paul B.
Wordless Car Show Outtake: 1959 Dodgler 300
– Posted on January 22, 2018
sent in by Paul B.
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Took me a minute to see what was up. Not quite an improvement but not a whole lot worse, it sort of works to the degree people might think it was a factory special.
(DeSoto Adventurer still looks better.)
Sir Danley,
I agree.
The 1957 300C front end was unique; this front end is not. And seeing this on the road would prompt me to do double and triple takes, dangerously so.
But then, only people of a certain age or particular bent would really notice.
Looks like Christine’s sister.
Looks quite graceful to me. Wasn’t that the year Chrysler out-finned GM?
But for a Dodge, “300” would be a step down. The “Hot Dodge” that year was the D-500…two hundred more! 🙂
Very tidy looking job, from here!
Let me guess . . . Canadian? 🙂
It certainly adds a degree of menace.
Well we Canadians are quite menacing, as you well know.
I like the car, but since Bruce Springsteen would never write a song about a Dodgler I’m not on board with that.
I would guess a hard front end hit on a Chrysler 300, and with a replacement front clip unobtainable, a Dodge clip was used.
This is probably true. On the record this is a white(!) ’57 Chrysler 300C imported to Sweden in 1988 and with it’s current owner since 2004. A front clip change and respray later – bingo!
With all the American cars in this picture I initially just assumed it was taken in the US. I hadn’t even noticed the European license plates. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by that; I know how the Scandinavians love old American cars.
Makes sense. However I look at the nameplate on the top of the grill. It has a horizontal red white blue finish. The 1959 pictures I saw online have the whole area in chrome with a prominent raised DODGE on it. I know Chrysler exported or assembled Europe only cars, which were usually Plymouth from the cowl back with something resembling the Dodge/Desoto/Chrysler grill in the front. This is the reverse. Did the owner create the front emblem?
“Dodgler”, I thought it was a “Chryslodge” or “Chrylodge”. 😉
Chrodge.
I like it! Hope it goes as good as it looks.
In a sense like the ’62 Dodge 880, a Dodge front clip on a Chrysler. Or the ’71 Demon, a Dart front clip on a Duster. Or the ’72 Scamp, a Valiant front clip on a Dart……..
Unlike the others, the original Dodge Demon (not to be confused with the current Challenger street-legal drag car) had unique taillights to further differentiate it from the Duster. I’m not so sure about the Dart Sport that replaced the Demon due to howling from rabid bible-thumpers.
I’d call it a DodgChry.
A shop I go to sometimes has my Chrysler 300C in their system as a “Dodge 300”. I keep trying to tell them to change it and they look at me as if I am from another planet. Time to find another shop!
I’ve never seen an angrier, clenched-teeth front end on a car. The ’59 Dodge wins it all.
It bears a certain resemblance to a very common front end design of recent years. Lexus especially, but there are many others.
I’m with you, Tonyola. I have always seen “faces” on cars, and this one looks furious.
I always thought that the 59 Dodge looked like a very angry 58 Cadillac from the front, now I’m sure of it.
As with the 880, the Dodge front looks more appropriate than the Chrysler bigmouth. Chrysler was already doing lots of Frankensteining with its Plodges and PlySotos; they should have tried this one as well!
There’s another MoPar with an aggressive face 2 rows behind this one!
Finally, in ’59, Dodge got the Forward Look right.
And here I thought 300 letter cars had gotten expensive enough that no one dared customize one….
The 1958 Chrysler Windsors used modified Dodge front clips. That’s actually what the feature car reminds me of.
This one has Spring Special side trim.
Those 2 Windsors actually look pretty good. Though for some reason the black around the headlight housing looks….”wrong”, maybe chrome or body color would work better?
Desoto used the Dodge front clips on the low-line models in 1957. Chrysler got a lot of mileage out of that metal.
Hey, that works for me!
While this is probably a custom job, it’s a very nice one as evidenced by what appears to be a carefully crafted 300 hood emblem to replace the normal Dodge one. It’s done so well it would be very easy to believe this was some sort of special factory export version of the 1959 300.
Although I’ve known about Acadians and Beaumonts since childhood, I only first heard of Plodges here on CC; if DougD and a few other Canadians said this was a real car I would have believed them.
I’m trying to think of what else has this level of mix and match body interchangeability across brands. Best I can come up with is the 1978-85 (ish) GM intermediates. It’s what makes it possible for people to create Pontiac, Olds, Buick, even Cadillac Eldorado El Caminos, by not much more than swapping out the front clip and some interior bits.
Wow. It’s kind of hard to tell, but I agree with this being a replacement clip on a ’57 or ’58 Chrysler 2dr hardtop – the rear bumper says it’s not a ’59, at least from this angle.
But I’m not certain this was a 300 to start with. The interior would tell.
Food for thought, just 10 years separate this front end from the “General Lee.”
It sure does look like a teeth clenched scowl! The ’59-60 Buick Invicta also has a mean face.