(first posted 5/30/2017) Many CC followers will be aware that in the 50s and 60s, Chrysler sold many cars in Canada as Dodges, when in fact they were mostly Plymouth underneath.The term, “Plodge” evolved as a moniker to describe the combined car.In the 70s, Darts and Dusters were very similar to one another except for grille and taillight treatments.
The practice of attaching Dodge parts onto Plymouth bodies is a practice that dated back to the 1930s.It was a way of trying to expand the customer base while saving some manufacturing costs.
The car featured here today was made and sold in Canada, however it is clearly not a Plodge, it is a Dodge throughout.
I photographed this car at a shop where it was having some work done.I had previously seen it a year earlier at the same location, at a time when it had a flat.The owner was not available, but the shop manager knew this to be a Canadian car.How is that, I said to myself, when all ‘56 Dodges were Plodges?
In 1956, Kingsway, Crusader, Regent, and Mayfair were the models names used by Dodge in Canada. 44,808 of these models combined were produced.It turns out also that some 7,000 of the Custom Royals were made in Canada.Mystery solved – alas, the Custom Royal was based on the USA version, and was an all Dodge design.It had a 303 cid V8 engine, and was made for the Canadian and US markets.The other Dodge models (Plodges) were made strictly in Canada for Canadian customers.The Virgil Exner – restyled body was referred to as “The 100 Million Dollar Look” for 1955, but was changed to “The Forward Look” for 1956, in advertising and brochures.The Custom Royal came in 2 door, 4 door, and convertible versions.
Imagine three neighbours in Toronto each go out and purchase a new Chrysler car – one gets a Dodge Custom Royal, one gets a Crusader, and one gets a 1956 Plymouth.They line them all up – the two Dodges look basically the same in the front view, (the trim bezels atop the grille bars are more pronounced on the Custom Royal) but the Dodge Regent and the Plymouth are twins in the back.Confusing or what?
The Dodge Royal
The Plymouth.
The Dodge Regent.
Also, the other difference between the Dodge and the Plodge becomes evident – the dash in the Plodge is the Plymouth dash.The Plodge dash is simpler, and features the round speaker grille on the passenger side.In 1955, there were pressure and water temperature gauges next to that speaker grille, but in 1956 they were changed to heater / defroster control buttons.Trying to achieve symmetry on the dashboard resulted in poor placement of these functions both times, from a driver’s perspective.You would have had to have taken your eyes off the road to see these while driving.
This is the Dodge dash.Not visible in the photo is the set of transmission push buttons to the left of the steering wheel.
My Dad had a 1955 Dodge Crusader, and it was the car I which I was first was brought home as a newborn.I only have photographs with people standing in front of the car, but I present these two to show it was originally a navy blue, but somewhere along the way it was repainted into a dark and light blue two tone.This was either to repair collision damage, or rust. I never got the story on which it was but I am guessing a collision of some kind.
My Dad’s car was undoubtedly a 230 cid 6 banger, and I recall the three on the tree manual transmission it had. I loved this car, and enjoyed riding in it every time my parents took me for a ride in it.
Our featured car seems to me to be still sporting its original paint, while exhibiting some severe surface rust.The original dealer sticker is still present – Halnan Motors which was in Long Branch, west of Toronto.
I am hopeful that this Custom Royal receives some more TLC which would include some fresh paint to keep this beautiful car in good shape for years to come.
Further reading and references:
Great find, but I prefer your dad’s – a classic mopar shape unspoiled by those fins.
My Grandma loved pink. She had pink (plastic) tiles in her bathroom and a pink kitchen. She also drove a pink and white 1955 DeSoto Firedome sedan. Whenever I see a 1955-56 Mopar, particularly one painted some shade of pink, lots of pleasant memories bubble to the top. Love this one.
Thanx for the old photos ~ I remember being dressed up with tie etc. for Family snaps, all gone now .
Nice cars these were IMO .
-Nate
The top-line1956 Dodge was also available in three-tone, at least in the USA. This car has 2/3 of the most common three-tone scheme. The third color: black.
Did three-tone reappear in 1957? I can’t remember seeing any.
I, too, hope that this survivor gets what it needs. It doesn’t actually need all that much, from the looks of things.
Great photos, great history! Thanks. As for the name “Plodge,” I died laughing. I had never heard this before but, then, I am not Canadian. Most people south of the border have never heard of “loonies” and “toonies” for that matter. Tri-tone was not offered in 1957. When the 1955 Chrysler products came out with a shift lever on the dashboard for automatic transmissions, everyone raved. Then the coup in 1956 with pushbutton automatic. Pushbutton automatics made for fast-shifting drag racing, too.
My mother’s maiden aunt had a 56 Plymouth, painted a medium gray. (She would trade it for a 64 Plymouth Belvedere.) It was the only new Mopar in my extended family, all others were bought used. It was an okay looking car that probably would have looked 100 % better with the simple addition of a set of whitewalls. It was also 1 of the few cars I’ve ever been up close to that had curb feelers.
A cousin had one of these Dodges, a 56 I think, that was indeed a tri-tone (dark blue, light blue, and white). It was here 1st car and would get her through college before being replaced by a Triumph GT6+.
With all those chrome “doo-dads” on cars in the 50s that collected rust, it’s a wonder any survived.
The rear bumper on the Plodge that’s pictured is different from the rear bumper on the U.S. market Plymouth, seems like a needless expense that few folks would notice.
Plymouth sure seemed to have what has to be the most strange ideas for dashboard design during the fifties and early sixties. The ’55-’56, while symmetrical, looks like a headache to actually use, at least to adjust interior temperature by the driver. I guess you just always had to make sure to have a passenger for that.
Then there was the complete opposite in 1963 with one of the goofier looking designs having three different sized round bezels in a big trapezoid pod in front of the driver, with one of the bezels having two, horizontal scale-and-pointer gauges inside. At least they put the HVAC controls next to the driver on that one.
The 1963 Plymouth dash was a butched up version of the ’63, as was the rest of the car. And it was awesome. This is a Fury. Same steering wheel as on a Sports Fury.
The Sports Fury interior was awesome as well. OK, I’ll go away now.
Scorecard for 1950s lower-middle priced brands in Canada:
Dodge:
–Sold low-priced models which were essentially Plymouths with a Dodge front clip.
–Also sold models which were the same as American Dodges.
Pontiac:
–Sold low-priced models which were based on Chevrolets. The exterior sheet metal resembled U.S. Pontiacs, but the cars were essentially Chevrolets underneath (e.g., Chevrolet chassis, Chevrolet wheelbase, Chevrolet engines).
–I have heard differing reports on whether American Pontiacs were officially sold in Canada. At best, they were imported from the U.S. in very small numbers.
Mercury:
–Sold low-priced models badged under the Meteor name (just “Meteor”, not Mercury), which were essentially Fords with a different grille.
–Also sold models which were the same as American Mercurys.
Uh,
It’s my understanding that Meteor, at least in the beginning, was a FORD…. Alternatively, I’ve also gotten the impression that Meteor was a “stand-alone” brand, like Valiant, Continental, or Imperial were at one point.
Looking at photos of models from the 50s, the Meteor was Ford based….but usually had more “gingerbread”. Then, in the mid-late 60s, Meteors became more of a Mercury clone.
IIRC, the whole history goes like this:
Mercury first began selling Ford-based cars in Canada in 1946. For the first few years, these cars were badged as Mercurys. The Ford-based cars and the “real” Mercurys were in two separate series identified by their wheelbase lengths.
Starting in 1949, the Ford-based cars were called Meteors. These cars were badged only under the Meteor name – though sold by Mercury dealers, they were just “Meteors”, not Mercurys.
In 1962-63, the Meteor was the same as the intermediate Mercury Meteor in the U.S. (based on the Ford Fairlane).
Starting in 1964, the Meteor went back to being a low-priced full-size car, but was now based on the Mercury body, not the Ford body. At some point in the ’70s (?), it eventually lost its status as a distinct make, and even as a distinct model, ending up as a subseries of the Mercury Marquis in the late ’70s/early ’80s.
Let’s not forget there were also Monarchs, which were Mercuries sold by Ford dealers so that they could have a full line. Monarchs didn’t last as long as the Meteors though.
Monarchs were initially sold from 1949 to 1957.
They were dropped for 1958, due to the introduction of the Edsel. In Canada, Ford dealers sold Edsels, unlike in the U.S., where Ford attempted to establish a standalone dealer network for Edsel. It was felt to be redundant for Canadian Ford dealers to sell both Edsels and Monarchs
Monarchs were brought back in 1959, however, due to the Edsel’s inability to cover this part of the market for Canadian Ford dealers. They then continued through 1960 and 1961.
Monarchs were dropped for good after 1961. Ford had expanded up into middle price territory with the Galaxie 500, so it was less necessary than before for Canadian Ford dealers to have a Mercury-based car to sell; full-size Mercurys of this era were very similar to full-size Fords, so a Mercury-based car wasn’t adding much that the Ford brand didn’t already have; and the parallel Meteor was moving to the intermediate Fairlane body for 1962 (Ford Canada presumably had no compelling reason to call its equivalent Monarch rather than Fairlane). Unlike with the Meteor, no compelling reason to bring the Monarch back after 1961 as a full-size car ever emerged.
Here’s an article comparing a bunch of years of Meteor/Fords. What was the reason for these and Plodges and Laurentians etc.? Did they all just think Canadians would buy something exclusively Canadian, or was there some sort of laws about making Canadian cars (if only superficially) in Canada?
http://carstylecritic.blogspot.com/2016/05/canadas-facelifted-renamed-1950s-fords.html
These cars existed due to a combination of the following two factors:
1) Due to Canada’s lower population density, the Big Three couldn’t always have a representative of each dealer network in every area. So every dealer network – in Canada, each of the Big Three had two (*) – had to have a full range of vehicles available, including low-priced cars and pickup trucks(**), even if the brands they carried didn’t sell those types of vehicles in the U.S. For example, there might be rural areas where it wasn’t economically feasible for there to be both a Plymouth dealer and a Dodge dealer nearby, just one or the other. If it was just Dodge, that Dodge dealer had to have something that could compete for customers in Plymouth’s price class.
2) For a variety of reasons, the market for cars in Canada has always been a bit more heavily slanted towards lower-priced/more economical cars than in the U.S. This made it especially important for each dealer network to have a low-priced car available, even in more populated areas where they might not be the only GM/FoMoCo/Chrysler dealer available. Even in more populated areas of Canada, a Dodge dealer might not be able to survive if all they sold was cars in Dodge’s U.S. price class. They needed to have something a little cheaper, more in Plymouth’s price class.
The Plodges, Meteors and Cheviacs allowed the dealer networks who sold Dodges, Mercurys and Pontiacs to have low-priced cars to sell.
Until the mid ’60s, there were tariffs in place which made it expensive to import cars into Canada from the U.S. As a result, most cars sold in Canada by North American manufacturers were built in Canada. This wasn’t really a root cause of the oddball Canadian variants, although the fact that it walled off Canadian production from U.S. production may have helped facilitate the existence of unique variants on the Canadian side of the border. The Canadian operations weren’t being supplied by factories in the U.S., so they didn’t need to convince their U.S. parents to do anything to support building these cars.
* The dealer networks were as follows – GM: Chevrolet-Oldsmobile and Pontiac-Buick-GMC [either network could sell Cadillacs where local demand warranted]; Ford: Ford and Lincoln-Mercury [same as in the U.S.]; Chrysler: Chrysler-Plymouth and Dodge-DeSoto [after DeSoto was discontinued, Dodge-Desoto dealers became Chrysler-Dodge dealers, so both networks now sold Chryslers].
** This is why there were Mercury pickups in Canada; why Canadian Chrysler-Plymouth dealers sold Fargo trucks; and why it was pretty much universal for Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers to also sell GMCs.
Something at the link ’emjayay’ posted that caught my eye:
The author notes that, for most of the Meteor’s original 1949-61 run, styling changes from the equivalent Fords were minimal, usually consisting of a different grille, and sometimes different side trim. The author speculates that Ford Canada may not have had its own styling staff to work on these details, resulting in the changes generally being minimal and superficial.
By contrast, the 1961 Meteor has more significant changes, appearing to have been “professionally styled”.
This caught my eye because, in the past, a CC commenter called ‘MadHungarian’ has speculated that the 1961 Meteor might have started out as a design proposal for a 1961 Edsel, before Ford decided to drop the Edsel brand. See the thread below, for example:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-classic-1960-edsel-ranger-who-knew-edsel-had-a-starliner/
While there still doesn’t seem to be any direct evidence that the ’61 Meteor uses a repurposed styling proposal for the ’61 Edsel, the observations of the author at the link ’emjayay’ posted (noting that the ’61 Meteor is much more heavily restyled compared to its Ford counterpart than any other year of Meteor) would tie in nicely with this theory.
Growing up in the US as a car buff I was exposed to American cars, of course, and European and later Japanese imports; and the car magazines covered European exotica, low-volume specials (Devin, Griffith, etc), even some Australian and Latin American derivatives of US cars, but it’s taken the Internet and specifically CC to open up the world of Canadian cars. Until a few years ago I’d never heard of Plodges, let alone some of the other mashups from north of the border. Thanks! By the way, does it seem lie there were more pink Mopars on the roads in the ’50’s than other brands, especially GM? I don’t think I ever saw a pink Chevy as a kid.
Mopars were pink, (there was even a “special edition” 56 Dodge called Le Femme…IIRC) while GM used coral a lot. GM’s coral was more of an orangey pink (?). Ford also had a pink, (actually, 2 different shades of pink), but it doesn’t seem like it was ordered nearly as often as MOPAR’s pink or GM’s coral.
All shades of pink were popular in the early and mid 50’s often with black or bronze contrasting color. Cars, cabinets, appliances, counter tops, bathroom tubs, toilets, tile, sinks, plastic yard flamingos, etc. You name it, you could almost always get it in pink. Personally I hated it worst than the avocado green of the 60’s and early 70’s. Maybe that’s the reason so many survivor cars of that era(60’s and early 70’s) are some shade of green.
Back in the late ’80s or early ’90s, I came across a book about the history of Pontiac in the reference section of a local public library. It had a chapter which discussed Canadian models. While I had previously encountered a few oblique references to uniquely Canadian cars, that was the first time I had ever seen any in-depth information on the topic. Similar to dman, my education on the subject wasn’t much bigger than that book until the advent of the internet, and has become far more detailed since I began hanging around CC.
Due to the relative size and proximity of the two markets, it seems like it was historically easier for a Canadian car buff to learn about American cars than the other way around. Unless you live right on the border, or in an area that is a major destination for Canadian tourists, most Americans don’t encounter enough Canadian cars to gain a good understanding of the differences and variations. Reference books available in the U.S. usually have little or no information about Canadian cars.
When I was younger, I used to collect records. The same principles apply there. Most of the time, U.S. and Canadian records parallel each other. But there are some cases where they don’t. And as with cars, Canadian record collectors typically have a much better understanding of the differences than American record collectors, if only due to the size and proximity of the American market compared to their own. Most American record collectors encounter few Canadian records and know little about them. (There is probably a higher level of knowledge about British records in the U.S. than there is about Canadian records.) The internet has made it easier to for non-Canadians to learn about Canadian records than before, however.
I beg to differ. The full-sized Canadian cars were LIGHTYEARS ahead of their US cousins, Pontiac’s Parisienne and Laurentian, Mercury’s Meteor LeMoynes, and Plymouth’s Caravelle from 1976 to 1978, and had no problems. Of course there were the psuedo-US cars (rebadged and Canadian-ised Chevy, Ford, and Plymouth versions) but they held their own against the US “imports”, I’m suprised that the Canadian versions lasted well into the 1980’s, if you ask me.
Good write up and the plateless Minivans have piqued my curiosity
https://i2.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1956-dodge-custom-royal-IMG_0487.jpg
They both have window stickers indicating they are owned by this very repair shop. The reason for their unplated condition is unknown.
Canadian Models: Not As Confusing as Australian Models!
Still kind of trippy though.
We got the Canadian versions of the cars when they were imported or CKD, but not the additional Canadian brands such as Meteor and Monarch.
The local models though, such as the Chrysler Royal, are another story… but not really that bad, because after the first batch of local models the range was simplified pretty drastically.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-valiant-in-australia-part-1/
My mother had a beautiful new, black 1956 Dodge Custom Royal 4-dr. sedan with the 315 cu. In. 2 bbl (polyspherical) engine, dual exhaust and PowerFlite transmission. I learned to drive in this car about three years later, and despite my abuse behind the wheel, it was a very reliable and faithful mode of transportation. I tried to “hot-rod” the car as though it were my own, pulled off the hubcaps and abused it like a true “red neck.”
Mother grudgingly looked the other way when I installed a pair of Smittys glasspack mufflers and large-diameter chrome exhaust tips. Mothers are great, and mine was patient and compassionate (to a point), and she defended my foolish actions until I took it to the next level: I blocked off the heat in the intake manifold (similar to “tin in the manifold”) to extract more sound from those mufflers, giving the exhaust a hair-raising, resonant sound but making the car nearly undrivable in cold weather. It took forever to warm up, of course, and it came to a head one January morning when the Dodge—with mother behind the wheel—stalled in the middle of downtown traffic.
After this the car was returned to stock, requiring a major service visit to remove the Smittys and asbestos packed in the manifold. We kept it until 1961 and it was traded for another fine car, an Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday Sedan.
A quick note on “Canadian” cars. Our American cousins to the South always had a higher standard of living and with some of our governments policies on trade a lot of “true” American cars were not within our reach financially.
Plodges, Meteors and Cheviacs meant we had more vehicle choices but at a thriftier price.
That pink and white Dodge looks like a gigantic ladies’ powder box on wheels. Does it play a spritely little tune when the trunk lid is lifted?!
We got Plodges for a while in Israel too, perhaps because of some Taxation concession with Canada which made them slightly cheaper than the US-made Versions. Dad had a bare bones 57 four door with a 230 six and 3 on the three, and I loved it.
Proud owner of one of these beauties. 1956 Canadian True Dodge Custom Royal with the 303 Poly V8 Engine with a 2BBL Carb and Single Exhaust. It also says super red ram on the valve covers (Which of course is wrong, but its what you got in the US version)
Also has the one year only push button powerflite.
The Powerflite remained available into 1961 as a cheaper alternative to the newer Torqueflite and with the exception of some late console shifters, all Mopar automatics were pushbutton controlled through 1964. Your Powerflite is surely a pushbutton, but it was not the only year for that combination.
You could only get the Dodge Custom royal with a Push Button powerflite in 1956, in 1957 they switched to torqueflite pushbutton the Custom Royal.
So yes, it was a one year only option.
Monarchs started in 1946.
Ford of Canada had two dealer networks –
Ford-Monarch (1946-1957, 1960-1961); Ford-Edsel (1958); Ford-Edsel-Monarch (1959). The Monarch was just Monarch, not Ford Monarch.
Mercury-Lincoln (1946-1948) – had smaller Mercury 114 based on Ford); Mercury-Meteor-Lincoln (1949-1957); Mercury-Meteor (1958-1961); Mercury (1962 into 1970’s).
Meteor became the Mercury Meteor in 1962-63, based on the Fairlane and built in both US and Canda. In the US there were two lower-priced series, Meteor 600 and Meteor 800, which were not sold in Canada.
The Meteor reappeared for 1964 in Canada, a lower priced Mercury using Ford interiors and unique grilles and taillamps from 1965 into the 1970’s. And no Monterey in Canada after 1964.
Mercury dealers also had the Falcon-based Frontenac for 1960. The Canadian Valiant was just Valiant, not Plymouth Valiant, from 1960 to 1966 and sold at Plymouth and Dodge dealers.
All styling was done in Detroit. The 1961 Meteor is as unique from Ford as the Monarch is from Mercury. The 1960 models actually began the move to more unique styling.
The Plodges were built in the U.S. as well as Canada, but for export markets only (called Kingsway). Which included Hawaii before 1959. A Plodge with the 23″ 230-cid block was built in the USA (Lynch Road plant) as the Canadian Plodge used the 25″ block starting mid-1938 when the Canadian engine plant opened.
I regularly drive by this shop, and I will glance to see if this Dodge has made another appearance. It did make one some time after these shots, but it was in much the same condition as was seen here. I have not seen this car for quite a few years now.
We mostly got new Chrysler products from Canada so Plodges and Deplotos are or were quite common, Australia built a Royal themselves out of a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook and as usual some washed up on NZ shores there were ambulances created from them,
The posted car was for sale at Turners in Napier a year or two ago or a clone of it, RHD is the giveaway that it was a different car but same paint scheme it may have even arrived new being a Canadian model I didnt know that.
Was the Imperial ever sold in Canada?
Yes.
My Dad’s first car upon getting his undergraduate degree in chemistry was a 1956 Plymouth Plaza…maybe it had a heater, but no radio, flathead 6, and 3 on the column. Probably would have gone with automatic had he known my Mother at the time, who learned to drive a few years prior on my Grandpa’s new ’51 Chrysler Windsor. It was the car my sister and I came home from the hospital in after our birth.
A few years later he’d gotten a job in El Monte Ca, while my Mother, sister and I flew from the east coast, he drove the Plymouth, some sort of chemical in the back seat in an aluminum cooler packed with dry ice he needed for his job (he did the process for the first solar cells, some went up on Explorer 6 satellite in 1959). I never thought to ask him what the chemical was, it seemed unlikely that he couldn’t get it in Southern California but I’m no chemist, though I did follow him into the technical field. He kept the Plymouth probably till around late 1960 or early 1961, when he traded it for his first of 2 Rambler Classic wagons, with the 6 and automatic for my Mother (it was their only car). He bought the car in Compton new.
Dad didn’t stay in Southern California long, by 1961 he got a job back east near Pittsburgh, we drove back in the Rambler. We had that aluminum cooler too for a long while after, remember taking it on camping trips till we replaced it with a Coleman.
My Dad never owned another Plymouth but he did have a couple of Dodges (1980, 1986) after that.