The 1954 Dodge Granada was Chrysler’s lost opportunity to market a four-seater sports/luxury personal car that would have beaten the fourth place Ford Thunderbird into dealerships by three years.
Created at the same time as the Plymouth Belmont (see my story on this two-seater Corvette challenger) the Granada was also made of fibreglass.
Both rode on a standard Chryslers chassis and used as many stock components as possible.
Like the Belmont, the Granada was fully operational.
It was powered by a 241 cubic inch/3.9-litre Dodge Red Ram Hemi V8.
But that’s about where the similarities stop.
The Belmont was designed and built in secret by Briggs, who made all of Chrysler’s bodies.
The Granada was overseen by Chrysler’s design boss, Virgil Exner, and constructed by Creative Design and Ionia Manufacturing.
Creative Design was a specialist prototype and concept car builder in Detroit, while Ionia built station wagon bodies for GM, Ford and Chrysler.
What really set the two cars apart was their construction method.
The Belmont’s body comprised more than 80 small fibreglass panels glued together.
The Granda was essentially just seven pieces of fibreglass.
The complete body was created from one mould and was attached directly to the chassis.
The doors, bonnet, boot lid, grille, sills and bumper bars were also made of fibreglass.
Not even the Chevrolet Corvette was this advanced.
The cost savings in manufacturing were significant.
First shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January, 1954, it attracted considerable attention, though its styling was seen as needing improvement.
The automotive insiders predicted it would be in dealership showrooms by 1955.
They were to be disappointed.
In the early 1950s Chrysler’s sales and market share was declining fast because its mainstream models were dowdy and uninspiring, with tall bodies designed so that, as Chrysler’s boss KT Keller insisted, men could wear hats while driving,
Simply, Chrysler did not have the financial nor technical resources to take advantage of what they had created.
What they needed was a range of stylish cars that generated plenty of money.
That was something Exner delivered in 1955.
Consequently, the Granda was not progressed and Chrysler lost the opportunity to sell a four-seater sports/luxury automobile well before such a car was even on Ford’s planning schedule.
The Granada survived the fate of most concepts.
As with the Belmont, it avoided being destroyed once its use by date had expired.
After years with various owners and gradual decay it was refreshed by William Mitchell, the son of the owner of Ionia Manufacturing.
Sold in 2014 to Henry Shane of Cars of Yesteryears museum in Louisiana, it was completely restored and is now seen at car shows.
David Burrell is the editor of retroautos
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