Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 1954 Plymouth Belvedere Four Door Sedan
Chrysler's low-price Plymouth division did very well in the United States after the guns of World War II fell silent, with strong sales of its cheap and sensible cars through the early 1950s. By 1954, however, Plymouth was slipping in the standings, its sales numbers being surpassed by GM's Oldsmobile and Buick divisions during that year. Much of the reason for that was the increasingly antiquated appearance of the '54 Plymouths, which hadn't changed much since 1949, but well over 400,000 cars still drove out of Plymouth showrooms as 1954 models. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those cars, found in a Denver-area self-service yard recently.
The Plymouth Belvedere name began its life on two-door hardtop Cranbrooks in the 1951 model year, then became a model name in its own right for 1954.
For that year, the Plaza was the cheapest Plymouth, with the Savoy as the midgrade offering. The Belvedere stood at the top of the Plymouth pyramid for '54, priced just below its most affordable Dodge siblings that year. We saw a discarded purple '54 Savoy in this series a couple of years back.
This car's MSRP was $1,933, while the Plaza four-door started at $1,745 (those prices would be $22,444 and $20,261, respectively, in 2024 dollars). Meanwhile, a new 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air four-door sedan listed for $1,884 ($21,875 after inflation).
The Chevy had an overhead-valve straight-six under its hood, while the Plymouth made do with an old-fashioned flathead straight-six (to be fair, the Plymouth's engine made 110 horsepower, only five fewer than the Chevrolet's Stovebolt).
