We've seen 61 of Alameda's street-parked cars so far in this series, but only seven have been from the 1950s. Since I have a fair number of Alameda cars from that decade already photographed, it's time to break one out. This '55 Plymouth lives in the East End, a block or so from the '72 El Camino we saw earlier in the month, and I'd been meaning to shoot some photos of it for quite some time.
Most Americans think of the shoebox Chevy, or maybe the Thunderbird, when they think of cars from 1955. But Chrysler was making some interesting cars that year, too, though you don't see quite so many of them around these days.
The Savoy was Plymouth's mid-priced car for '55; the name was put on several different types of Plymouth until finally being discontinued after 1965.
Other than some seriously bent-up rear sheetmetal, this Savoy is in pretty solid condition.
It's not clear to me what this hood ornament is supposed to represent. A boat? Any ideas, Mopar fans?
The standard engine for the '55 Savoy was a 230-cube flathead six, which is most likely what's in this no-frills example. If you wanted eight cylinders and heads-full-o-valves, you could opt for the (non-Hemi) 241 or 260 V8s, which produced 157 and 177 horsepower, respectively.
A car with fins like this really needs a 392, preferably with a really lumpy cam and multiple carburetors.
Of course, you'd want to retrofit the in-dash phonograph option from 1956 into this car, so you could play scratchy 45s while driving.
The unadorned lines on this car look pretty good, though maybe some color other than Swimming Pool Blue might improve the appearance. Hey, no rust!
Sad to think that Plymouth has joined Oldsmobile in the Recently Defunct Marque Graveyard.