Exterior Features
Many people have told me that they have seen a 1955 Dodge La Femme, but upon close questioning, they describe the car as being pink and black and white. There were plenty of 1955 Dodge two-door hardtops with that three-tone color scheme, but no 1955 La Femmes had black as a third external body color.
1955 La Femmes came only as two-toned cars, with pink (Heather Rose, Dupont "DUCO" stock, order & code #2045, 246-58539 DULUX 93-58539) covering the roof, top of hood, and entire rear trunk and taillight area, and Sapphire White (DuPont "DUCO" 2094* 246-58667 "DULUX" 93-58667) covering the lower part of the hood & lower sides of the car. The wheels were painted either pink or black.
Some interior and exterior features of La Femmes have been known to vary slightly, from car to car.
All other 1955 Dodges with a white side color had a white taillight area.
If you see a pink & white 1955 Dodge 2-door hardtop, it can be identified as a La Femme by gold "La Femme" gold script insignia on each front fender. A smaller, identical insignia can be found on the glove compartment door. If it says "Royal Lancer" on the front fenders, it's not a La Femme.
Interior Features
Close-up image. Left to right: The Jacquard (woven) upholstery fabric, the pink vinyl, and the headliner. The pale-pink fabric background shimmers reflectively, so from some angles it is pale pink, and from others, it is silvery.
Woven sample for 1955 La Femme upholstery from SMS.
La Femmes for 1955 came with tapestry-style cloth upholstery, in a pattern of pink rosebuds woven into a pale silvery-pink background. The material was also used on the door panels surrounding the door handles.
The normal 1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancers had a stamped-metal elliptical panel on the inside of the doors. La Femmes had the special "rosebud" cloth upholstery within the ellipse, protected by a clear plastic sheet. The arm rest within the ellipse was either black or pink, differing from car to car.
Image credit: Unknown
The rosebud pattern was repeated on the vinyl material used to make the umbrella, its zippered sleeve, the rain hat, and raincoat (*rain boots NEVER EXISTED, despite authoritative and erroneous articles out there), as well as portions of the interior. 1955 Dodge La Femme original, unrestored interior,
still under the 1950's yellowed, clear plastic protector..
The cloth upholstery was the weak point of the interior, however, fading and deteriorating (crumbling from exposure to sunlight) at a rapid rate over the decades.
1955 Dodge La Femme dashboard and steering wheel. Note that this car's vinyl seat upholstery is the wrong shade of pink... It matches the car's exterior, rather than the purse.
Image credit: Tony Lindsey
1955 Dodge LaFemme headliner - a dark reddish-pink.
The headliner fabric was either pink or white, the carpeting a dark burgundy loop pile, and the steering wheel was black and white with a totally pink steering column.
Untouched, original dashboard. Seat and kick-panel vinyl are faded.
Rear seat area, unrestored and original, except for the add-on seat belt anchor. Seat belts wouldn't become standard for another decade.
Even the rubber molding on the steering column was painted pink. The inner rubber surrounding the rear window was either black, or painted white with the same type of special flexible paint used on other Dodges that year.
Faded, pale pink upholstery. The change purse is dangling from the purse by a thin, gold-tone chain.
Image credit: Tony Lindsey
This is the back of the driver's seat, meant to hold the rain hat, rain coat, and umbrella.
La Femme's special appointments for "Her Majesty" were housed in two special fitted vinyl and heavy cardboard containers, built onto the front seatbacks. On the left, behind the driver, the container is pale pink vinyl on the outside, with the pink rosebud design printed on the inside vinyl. On the passenger side, the container is the same, except it has a large, keystone-shaped opening intended to contain the purse supplied with the car.
Image credit: Tony Lindsey
Passenger-side seatback panel, somewhat faded after decades in the sun. For comparison, the purse (same color) has been in the factory box since new, so it is un-faded.
If the purse is NOT inserted in its special opening, it leaves a gaping hole. To properly fit the purse within this opening, the following procedure is followed: The flap-style top door is opened, the purse is slid in from the top, and the top door is closed. The purse now entirely fills the opening, and a 2 1/2" round, plain, gold-colored medallion on the purse faces outward. Judging from the size and placement of the medallion, it was evidently intended to be engraved with the proud owner's name.
Each seatback container can be seen to consist of three compartments; one large one in the center, and a tall narrow one on each side. The umbrella and hat can fit into the narrow compartments when suitably folded, and the raincoat fits into the driver-side setback container's large, center compartment.
No comments:
Post a Comment