Fins and Wagons w/2 or 4 doors, pretty much sums up the style for Dodge in 1957. With wheelbases ranging from 112 to 124.4 inches and curb weights of over 4000 lbs what the heck did they power them with?
Dodges were available in three flavors, Coronet, Royal and Station Wagon series with the Coronet and Royal coming in 2 and 4 door configurations and each had a convertible available and the wagon had 2 and 4 door versions.
57 Coronet 2-Door Coupe….Tell me you don’t like the fins!?!?!??!?
Here is the Custom Royal Lancer Convertible
The smallest engine available was Dodges in-line L-Head 6 cylinder. This was an iron block that displaced 230 cubic inches and had a bore and stroke of 3.25 X 4.8525 inches. It sported solid lifters and four main bearings. This managed to produce a compression ratio of 8.0:1 and topped off with a Stromberg one barrel carb (WW3-159) it made 138 hp.
The popular V8 was the Red Ram. This too was an iron block with overhead valves, displacing 325 cubic inches. The bore and stroke was 3.69 x 3.80 and compression was 8.5:1. Five main bearings, hydraulic lifters. In the Coronet and Royal series it made 245hp. In the Custom Royal it produced 260 hp. Why the difference? It might have been the carbs. The lower hp cars had the Stromberg Two barrel (WW3-149) and the 260hp cars had the two barrel Webber (WCFB-2532S)
325 Red Ram engine for the 57 Dodges
So that a nice couple of engines. But Dodge had a D-500 series which really wasn’t a separate series, just a set of high performance engines. Those are coming up next.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Chrysler had a rust issue with certian 1957 Coronets and Furys at the bottom lip of the rear quarter panel-right in front of the rear wheels. The issue was so bad some dealers refused new cars until Chrysler had a fix. Some cars rusted within DAYS after manufacture in that section of the rear quarter panel.
Chrysler decided to Band Aid the issue with a chrome cover. That way, the rsut was not discovered for a few yeras past the warranty date.
Kind of sad. in a way, Detroit is still paying the price for this kind of think so many years later.
The 2 door wagon pictured is a 1956 FORD Fairlane (noty a MOPAR).
Trivia question: why did Dodge place a crome trim piece on the bottom fromt of the rear quarter panels?
Up grabbed the wrong photo.
Can you answer the trivia question???
I don’t know.