So stated the auto editors at Consumer Reports, the Great Arbiter of automotive quality since the 1930s. In their view, Chrysler’s higher-priced models (DeSoto, Chrysler, Imperial) offered very little more in terms of luxury, performance and room, but cost more. And as compared with Plymouth, this top-of-the-line Dodge Custom Royal offered more standard high performance, refinement, and lavish interior trim than Chrysler’s low-priced, volume selling line. So CR considered it to be the best value among all Chrysler products. I would also say that Dodge also gives you more dramatic styling and prestige, two qualities CR “does not presume to assess” (their words). Because that’s not scientific, you know.
But style and charisma is what this car is all about. It just looks so amazing, especially when you see it for the first time, in three dimensions. It’s an otherworldly, “I can’t believe this is real” kind of experience. The internet slang word “blursed” (blessed yet cursed, beautiful yet ugly) describes the ’59 Dodge very well. Add to this the fact that this was one of the best handling, best riding, most powerful cars of its time adds to its seductive appeal. This should have been apparent to new-car prospects who took a test-drive (or a “Test-Flight” as Dodge called it) in the new Dodge.
The featured car is for sale on Facebook Marketplace, and is located in Hamburg, NY. Here’s the seller’s description:
The asking price is $55,000 in case you’re interested. I’ve decided to stop being shocked at classic car prices these days.
More pics:
I really like the colorful, “futuristic” look. With a car like this, driving becomes more of a dream-like fantasy rather than a mundane task–like you’re driving the Batmobile or something.
I had to include a close-up of the instrument panel because it’s just so beautiful and awe-inspiring! A one-year-only design.
Dodge brochure: “The interiors are really royal!”
There were a lot of engineering advances in the ’59 Dodge. Consumer Reports preferred the new “B” series engines over the previous Dodge V-8s. Their testers also reported a significant improvement in the car’s structure, with better resistance to rough-road shakes, squeaks, and rattles. This was a problem with the earlier 1957-58 Forward Look models. In summary, the editors wrote: “With its quiet engine, good ride, excellent handling, good steering, capable braking, and, above all, its better-than-average structure and freedom from squeaks and rattles is a car that comes very close to overtaking the Oldsmobile 88 as the leader of this Group.” (The Oldsmobile was still rated #1 because of Olds’ established quality reputation.)
Okay, so let’s say that $55,000 is a little more than you feel comfortable spending right now. Here’s a bargain-basement alternative: a 1959 Dodge Coronet hardtop, with an asking price of $8,900. (Maybe if you put $46,100 into this one, it’ll be as nice as the $55,000 job? A nice theory.)
Here it is Coming…
…and Going.
Coronet has the smaller 326 cubic inch V-8.
Ugh! You can see this car needs a lot of work.
The cockpit.
The stylists’ creativity and imagination: “We’ll put chrome shrouds on the taillights, but we’ll cut the ends off diagonally to make it look even more dramatic!”
Yes, the ’59 Dodge. It will always have a special place in my heart. What other car can be photographed from this angle to produce such a dramatic effect? Now if you say, “That design is so cringe!” let me tell you something. If you think about it, so much of what mankind produces is cringe in some way–reaching, grasping; trying to capture some elusive ideal. The fact that we try to capture it is one of the noblest things about human beings. If everything were plain and strictly functional, how dull life would be. So you might as well just sit back and revel in all of mankind’s wonderful follies and attempts at beauty and grandeur, because nothing is “pure”. Take them all in–and appreciate them as part of living life on Earth at this particular time. This design is saying something, and you can feel it.
The ’59 Dodge was a great buy that year and, I believe, a great buy now!
One spectacular design after another! Our featured ’59 above; my ’60 Dart Phoenix below. The car manufacturers sure knew how to keep things exciting in those days. Interestingly, the 1960 Phoenix (top of the new low-priced Dart series) cost about the same as last year’s bottom-of-the-line Coronet.
I have to tell you that my ’60 Dodge Dart has been overall the nicest-driving car I have owned from that era, and it has been very reliable, except for a few brake repairs. Stunning looks and lots of luxury too! So I agree with Consumer Reports–the top-of-the-line Dodge gives you a great value for the money!
Further CC Reading
Vintage Ad: 1959 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer–“The Swing-Out Seat Says Please Come In” by Paul Niedermeyer
CC For Sale: 1959 Dodge Coronet–Lugubrious Knight In Tarnished Armor by Stephen Pellegrino
Cohort Outtake: 1959 Dodge Royal Shot in 1986–Reminds Me of Someone’s ’59 Fury by Paul Niedermeyer
1959 Dodge Coronet Sedan: Chrome, Fins, And More Chrome by Tom Klockau
Mr. P . . . Your Dart Phoenix really took me back in time. We never see these gorgeous vehicles. My grandparents had one, low-optioned, and the color was “Hearing-aide Beige,” but it caught my eye. Still does. Now I know what to look for, next.
My Mom had a ‘58 Coronet with a ‘59 front clip. Dad bought the car wrecked and the front clip fit. Nice car, black and white, sedan. But I still line my grandparents’ Dart Phoenix more.
Great article. Thank you.
Absolutely Beautiful! Just love it. So over the top (from today’s perspective). Would definitely be a head turner everywhere you went.
There’s something about the front end of the 59 Dodge that’s mesmerizing. Maybe it’s the eyebrows on the headlights. The rear taillights are as classic as the cat eye taillights on the 59 Chevy. The 1960 Dart grill is just ugly. If I recall, the 59 Dodge had a push button transmission and a speedometer stripe that changed color as speed increased.
I thought the 1959 Coronet had the most malevolent front end of any Mopar, maybe of any car and would have been a better choice for the Christine movie car. The only problem was it didn’t have a scary enough name.
I don’t know if it would have worked out for Chrysler but, yeah, I’d have liked to seen the 1959 Fury with the Coronet front end. FWIW, in the book, the car actually ‘is’ a 1959 Fury sedan. King made myriad errors and maybe it’s just another where he confused the Coronet’s appearance with the Plymouth.
I love the 57-59 Coronet’s. I especially love them when they have a first gen hemi. There was a real beauty for sale out in Manitoba for a while but not at a price I could afford.
The green one is interesting. Of all of Mopar engines, the 326 Poly has to be the most obscure, a one year only oddity. I’ve been gawking at Mopars for a long time and I don’t think I’ve seen one in the flesh.
This is so over the top and wonderful at the same time .
Flamboyant to an extreme .
-Nate
I would thin that the tail lights would be tempting to vandals.
What are the things that look like steps on the rear bumpers? I don’t see them on other similar Dodges on Google images.
Those are dual exhaust outlets.
IL doubt you do for 46k
If I was selecting a 1959 model from the Chrysler Corporation, I think I’d shell out a few bucks more than this Dodge and head for the local DeSoto dealer. I find the styling to be rather less convoluted than the Dodge.
The tail fins on the ’59 Dodge look like they were stuck on as an afterthought, with the chrome strip there to hide the seams. And the front end looks like it’s about to lunge forward and bite me.