Imagine, just for a moment, that it’s still the ’50s.
Kids say “jeepers” and “shucks,” the government is “by the people, for the people,” and tailfins have reached astronomical heights that require raising underpasses.
Are you with us? We’re talking poodle skirts and car hops, but it’s not 1955—it’s 1999.
Yep, four service station attendants, complete with hats and embroidered shirts, run to your car when you pull in for service. They check your oil, washer fluid, and air pressure, while they dispense the 27 cents-per-gallon gas from digital pumps.
At home, the milkman’s list includes fat-free sour cream, margarine, and that funny milk for lactose-intolerant people. Your paper boy’s aim is perfect, hitting your door mat every time, but he does his morning rounds on in-line skates instead of a whitewalled Schwinn.
Best of all, you’ve just strolled down to your local Dodge dealer to look at this year’s new Custom Royal convertibles. The one with the 5.9L multiport-injected Magnum engine.
She sure is a sweet looking ride, with that red and white, two-tone paint job and interior. Wide whites, wire wheels, and the fender skirts add a few dollars to the bottom line, but once you pull it into the driveway and the neighbors gaze with envy, you know it’s worth the money. The airbag, automatic trans, power steering, and brakes (discs up front, of course) are standard equipment. But the optional climate-control air conditioning and cruise control sure would make those crosstown trips to Grandma’s for meat loaf on Sundays more pleasant—so would that snazzy Infinity sound system with a CD player.
The new-for-’99 Royal features the retro-favorite styling of the ’55 Custom Royal, with fins lifted from the ’56 model, along with the grille teeth up front. The designers opted for the less-is-more approach by painting the headlight extensions in the body color, smoothing the decklid, and recessing the license plate. The remote keyless door entry and decklid release allowed the removal of the door handles and key locks, and the Auto-Engine Start feature is handy on those cold winter mornings. There’s nothing like getting into a nice warm car for that drive to the office!
The suspension combines the best of comfort and performance, employing the front transverse torsion bar setup found on the ’79 Volare station wagons, and rear axle configuration of a 3.55-geared 8-¼-inch Sure Grip rearend.
The interior includes the same tilt steering column found in the ’93 Dynasty, complete with a federally-mandated, passive-restraint airbag system and column shift. The Power Interior Package includes courtesy lamps and power windows. Seating for six is accomplished with a front seat design reminiscent of the ’62 model year, with fold-down center armrests—though the seat has been widened about six inches, and the armrest received a slight redesign.
Power is sourced from the Dodge Ram platform, providing the 5.9L Magnum V8 and automatic overdrive transmission, along with the truck’s engine and fuel management system. Upgrades from the Mopar Performance catalog—such as the high-performance computer—are easily accomplished for those who want a little more pep from the family car. For the classic looks and simplicity of mecha-nical gauges, a trip through the corporate parts bin yielded the proper speedometer drive and speed sensor from an ’89 Dakota, allowing existing pieces to run the cruise control and speedometer. All the other electronic pickups for the computer control are left in place, with simple T-fittings spliced in to run the mechanical gauges. This keeps production costs low, and allows those savings to be passed on to the customer.
Fuel economy is good—buyers can expect 25-28 mpg on the highway, and still run the standing quarter-mile in 15.90 seconds.
Golly, the wife sure would look swell driving around town in a car like that, wouldn’t she, fellas? That’s exactly what Pat Fletcher and his brother Rick thought when Pat started this project four years ago, at his wife Donna’s request. Donna is a true ’50s fanatic, right down to costuming herself for car events when she takes her Custom Royal to shows.
While working through those cold Canadian winters in Winnipeg, Pat and Rick cut, spliced, welded, and fitted everything together themselves—including figuring out the computer and wire harness—before painting the car in Pat’s garage.
As it relates to modern electronics, Pat offers the following advice, “Rick and I looked at the MPI harness for nearly a week and realized we didn’t have to know how the components and the computer worked, but more importantly, we could identify where they were and what they looked like. This was our first experience, and we were as surprised as anybody when we turned the key and it started. The idea is to not be intimidated by it. You don’t have to be a computer whiz.”
Kudos abound for the retro Dodge—honors include taking PPG’s Best Paint award at the ’98 Mopar Nationals, thanks to Rick’s bodyworking talents and Pat’s application of the Hot Red PPG topcoat. The Fletcher’s Royal also won Best of Show at the Mopars at Shakopee near Min-neapolis, Minnesota, and the Back to the Fifties show ’n’ shine event, where more than 9,000 cars were in attendance.
At Back to the Fifties, Pat received his highest compliment from a purist, “A gentleman who had a pristine, restored ’55 Custom Royal came to me and said, ‘I always thought if I saw someone modify one of these cars I would punch ’em, but since I’ve seen yours, I would do one just like it.’ He shook my hand and said, ‘This is the finest car at this show.’”
All we can ask is if this was truly a production model, do you think Chrysler could keep the sticker price to just a tick more than $3,700, fully optioned?
Gee, that would be swell.