The middle of the road seemed to be where Plymouth did their best work. Although they had some unbelievable cars and concepts, examples like this 1955 Plymouth Savoy sedan seemed to be what most of us remember of this once great company. We spotted this one in the Barn Finds Classifieds, but is also listed on eBay with an ambitious buy it now price of $8,500. It’s located in Charleston, Illinois.
The Savoy was the middle-trim level for Plymouth in this era being below the Belvedere but above the Plaza. I sure miss when car companies gave their cars names instead of a ridiculous mish-mash jumble of numbers and letters. Savoy, Belvedere, Plaza – elegant names all and in 1955 this was an elegant car having been redesigned with a bit of fin in back and a new wraparound windshield in front, among other features. These were all part of “The 100 Million Dollar Look” at Chrysler. This car looks great in most of the photos right down to the trunk. Almost 163,000 Savoy sedans were sold in 1955.
The seller says that this “Car is solid front to back – Paint looks good but isn’t perfect (see pictures) – All glass is in great shape minus very small hairline on bottom of drivers door window (2 inches long)”. It looks great in the photos overall but in some of the detail photos it appears to have had some bodywork done, but of course it’s impossible to tell without a personal inspection. That’s always the best idea anyway. It’s hard to tell on the underside photos but it appears to have been restored at some point, says Captain Obvious.
The interior, on the other hand, looks fantastic! What a great looking car. The unusually-symmetrical dash with two gauges on the passenger side wasn’t standard fare but it looks cool now. The seats have obviously been recovered and in maybe not the most exciting fabric, but they look good both front and back. This car is “Nearly all original besides paint updates”. Also, “All glass is in great shape minus very small hairline on bottom of drivers door window (2 inches long) – All doors, locks, and windows operate correctly with no issues – Brakes also work correctly with no issues”.
This is Plymouth’s 230 cubic-inch flathead-six with 117 hp. It “Runs and shifts great – Starts easily and idles smoothly – Strong Clutch”. The engine appears to have been restored as well. With Hagerty being at $4,200 for a #3 good condition 1955 Plymouth Savoy and $8,600 for a #2 excellent car, there may be some negotiating room on this one depending on what it looks like up close and personal. Have any of you owned a Plymouth Savoy?
Coming from what I call the early “frumpy fifties” styling, these were a radical departure, and a fresh look. Always liked these, however, this particular car really needs a V8 for any kind of travel. The 6 was fine for when I was born, but horribly under powered for todays highways. It’s a big car and 6 adults for a flathead 6. In case it’s been a while since you drove a big car with a flathead 6, I’m sure you’ll wonder why putting the gas pedal to the floor does nothing.(for a while) And for that price, it almost should be used. Lot of money for just an “ice cream getter”.
Your right, not a good modern freeway car, but great on a back road, dead reliable too…almost as good as its replacement, the slant six. These cars had great “pull”, just not much horsepower, and that is what you feel in the seat of your pants when driving. The older I get, the less I want to go fast, just slow down and enjoy the ride. Not every drive needs to be a drag race. My Dad had a 55 Savoy (Black with a red interior) when I was quite young, beautiful car. He said the L-head six was maybe his favorite engine of all time, though the slant six was pretty close. He had many of each of those, a Chrysler man to the end, only owned one other car in his life that wasn’t-a 69 Falcon that he had no choice to buy because of a short term financial hardship, and he soon was back into Mother Mopars warm embrace. Dad came from the generation when brand loyalty was a strong powerful factor in purchasing.
we had a ’37 Plymouth 4-door (very heavy car) and the flathead 6 had plenty of get-up-and-go.
4.11 gears limited its top speed, but with an overdrive or better ring& pinion it would have been a wonderful highway cruiser.
I guess Howard wants to go racing, in which case this is not the car for him.
;-)
Back in the mid-’60s, when I was in high school, I had an older buddy named Wayne. He had a stripped-down ’55 Plymouth 2-door sedan. It was in primer and the interior was gutted except for the front seat. It had blackwall tires and no hubcaps… He and his friends had shoe-horned a 354 Hemi and a TorqueFlite into the ’55. Wayne made a bunch of money with that car. I loved it dearly!!
Owned a 55 Belvedere 6 cyl four door as an airport car for most of the 70’s. Six volt system worked fine even in cold temps.
When the national speed limit was 55 mph, the car was right at home speedwise. 60 mph was good as well. 21mpg was the usual fuel burn loaded or light weights. It was a great camping vehicle as well since the interior and trunk dimensions were cavernous.
My father, a Chizzler Corp engineer said that his division (Plymouth) really needed the hemi. The 315 D-500 sitting in my ’56 2 door post verified his observation. The rest is history.
Shame it’s not in raw sienna…or another shade of brown.😋
Lovely looking car! Where the hell was this stored? It’d have to have either been recently restored, or it was stored somewhere the elements cannot get to the car.
I had a 56 Convertible with a V8, don’t remember which one, power steering and so on and am sorry to say it was the worst car from the worst dealer I think I’ve ever had.
A good friend had one back in the 70’s same color but his was V8 a/t. After he sold it ( which he did quite often) I once said something about his Plymouth, he quickly said “you mean the Savoy” as if it were not a Plymouth sub title, but a separate make of car. I didn’t correct him because; to each his own. Nice looking car. Love you Brother El.
Looks like the seller got the message lowered the BIN to $7,500.
Still a bit much for me, but nice looking car overall.
Very nice old car. My first-ever car out of high school was a white over black Plymouth Belvedere. It was a graduation present. It had 42,000 mi. on it when I got it in May of 1963. By Fall of 1965 it started having some serious mechanical issues that would have cost to repair than to replace the car. So to that end, my parents gave me a sweet little ’63 slant-six Valiant that only had 28,000 on it when I got it. The mechanic that had been working on my ’55 had ended up with the Valiant, so Dad used the ’55 as a trade. I loved that old ’55 but the little Valiant was my “baby” for a long, long time (and a lot of miles) and I still miss that one!
6 cyl. in a tank. 0 to 60 in 30 seconds? LOL
This is exactly the version that my dad drove for a company car back in the day. Even has the ‘no radio’ option…LOL. Remember when radios were an option? My dad liked this one so much he bought it from the company for a second car when they renewed their fleet. He had already gone out and bought a 55 Belvedere in Turquoise/White with the V8/auto/ps and radio for the family car. Beautiful cars.
What happened in my family, Greg, was just the opposite. Dad had bought a 1956 Plymouth Belvedere wagon with the push-button transmission for his work car. But not long after he got it, my grandmother (Mother’s mom) bought him a new 1964 Chevy El Camino. I thought he’d keep the wagon for me to have as a school car, but it got traded in on the El Camino! But as I’ve mentioned before, I got my ’55 Belvedere for graduation.
I did, however, love driving that El Camino…and Dad kept it until just before he passed away. He didn’t sell it: an unscrupulous estate attorney sold it while Dad was recovering from a stroke, despite the fact that it was already in writing that the Camino would be mine some day. Can’t trust anyone nowadays.