| Plymouth Belvedere |
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The Plymouth Belvedere was an American Automobile produced from 1951 through 1970 . 1950S Introduced on March 31 , 1951 , the 1951 Plymouth Belvedere arrived as a two-door pillarless Hardtop . It was Plymouth's first vehicle of such design and was built in response to Chevrolet 's Bel Air . That vehicle, the first two-door hardtop in the low-priced American market, was introduced in 1950 and ended that model year with great success. The 1951 Belvedere was not a separate vehicle line — rather, it was a subset of the top-trim Cranbrook series. Being built on that car's 118.5 in (3010 mm) wheelbase gave the two door Belvedere very favorable proportions. Powering the Belvedere was the familiar flathead 6-cylinder engine. Displacement was 217.8 in³ (3.6 L), the compression ratio was a relatively low 7.00:1, and output was 97 hp (72 kW) (SAE gross). First year prices started at US$2,114. For 1952, Plymouth kept the Belvedere largely unchanged. The biggest alteration was to the color scheme — to further distinguish the top-level Belvedere from other Plymouths, the two toning now flowed from the roof into the trunk, which has been referred to as the "saddleback" treatment. The engine was a complete carry over from 1951. Prices, however, did increase by about US$100 to $2,216. Production for 1951 and 1952 totalled 51,266 units, which was slightly better than a quarter of Chevrolet Bel Air and Ford Victoria production for that same period. The Belvedere remained a part of the Cranbrook series through 1953 . For that year, all Plymouth models were completely restyled. Major style changes included a shorter 114 in wheelbase, a one-piece windshield, flush rear fenders, and a lower hood line. In April 1953, Plymouths received the Hy-Drive semi-automatic transmission. Again, Plymouth was behind the competition with Chevrolet having introduced the fully-automatic Powerglide transmission in 1950, with Ford following the next year with its fully automatic Ford-O-Matic transmission. The engine was carried over from 1952 with the only enhancement being a slight increase in the compression ratio to 7.10:1, which yielded a gross horsepower rating of 100. The shorter wheelbase partly led to an overall stubby appearance that was panned by consumers and critics. Even with a reduced starting price of US$2,132 demand was rather low. A total of 35,185 1953 Belevederes were sold. Belvedere replaced Cranbrook as the top-of-the-line offering for 1954 . Now a full series instead of just a two-door hardtop, a buyer could choose a convertible, two-door station wagon, four-door sedan or the aforementioned two-door hardtop, now called the Sport Coupe. Slight styling updates adorned the carry-over body design. For the first time, small chrome tailfins appeared on the rear fenders. In March of 1954, Plymouth finally offered a fully automatic transmission, the Chrysler Corporation's well-regarded PowerFlite 2-speed. Also new was a larger standard engine: a 230.2in³ six-cylinder borrowed from the Dodge Division. Power was now rated at 110hp. Belvedere production slipped to 32,492 for the year. 1955 was a big year for Plymouth. After the Plymouth Fury line was expanded to become Plymouth's top series in 1959, the Belvedere was demoted to the middle priced model. 1960-70 The Belvedere remained as Plymouth's middle price full size model through 1964 , after which the name was applied to Plymouth's new midsize model. Midsize Belvedere based models included the higher trimmed Satellite, musclecar GTX and budget musclecar Road Runner. The name lasted through 1970 after which all midsize models took the Satellite name. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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