First, a comment about this web site:
If you add up all of the actual information about La Femmes on the Internet, this site contains about ten times more. Why? Because I started the ball rolling with my heavily-researched, fourteen-page article in the February 1988 issue of Collectible Automobile.
That article has been plagiarized for profit many, many times, and if you Google anything about La Femmes, the resulting pages all follow the same structure as my original article, while removing parts for brevity. Nobody else has ever found even a single sentence of new La Femme information in the decades since.
In my own case, there was a lot in my archives that never made it into the original article, which was the largest article ever published in Collectible Automobile. All of these years later, my health is growing ever-worse, so I wanted to get everything out there for posterity. I have been digging through many old boxes of stored information and scanning it.
This gentleman created his OWN 1955 Dodge La Femme:
Gossip
I have been told of a Dodge dealer who bought thirty 1955 La Femmes in anticipation of a great sales bonanza. A year later, he had only sold one La Femme. The remaining cars were finally sold at public auction.
Many dealers would only sell La Femmes to women, so many of the men who wanted to own a La Femme had to travel to the Dodge factory in Detroit to get one.
Judging from the Vehicle Identification Numbers gathered by the La Femme Registry, all La Femmes were built by the Detroit factory, and none were built at the Los Angeles factory.
The La Femme appears to have been aimed at a nearly non-existent buyer's market. I can imagine a wealthy man buying a La Femme for his bored wife. The "Little Woman" then takes the car to her bridge game that week, and the usual chit-chat about fashion shows, recipes and children is forgotten for awhile. The car then becomes a mere conveyance until the lavender La Femme with fins shows up in the driveway!
In the 1980's, I asked various women to give their opinion of the La Femme's styling and accessories. The older women liked the car just fine, Baby Boomers liked the car but dislike the condescension of the brochures, and younger women loved the outrageous colors and accessories.
Frou-frou and frocks are back in fashion these days, but not taken too seriously. A typical young single woman of today might like to have a La Femme for partying on the weekend, preferably with leopard-skin Capri pants, jeweled sunglasses, and turquoise spike heels. During the week she'd probably drive a Toyota and dress down. A La Femme is not a car to drive to work on a dreary, overcast Monday.
Tracking down the La Femme Factory
This is how I was able to track down the factory that built any La Femmes in the La Femme Registry:
Detroit-built V8-engined 1955 Dodges
VIN's from 34740001 through 34970679 if built in Detroit, and from 42518001 through 42526800 if built in Los Angeles. Engine #'s from D551-1001 through D551-149857 wherever built
Detroit-built V8-engined 1956 Dodges
VIN's from 34972001 through 35167854 if built in Detroit, and from 42608001 through 42618518 if built in Los Angeles. Engine #'s from D63-1-1001 and up wherever built.
Judging from the Vehicle Identification Numbers gathered by the La Femme Registry, all La Femmes were built by the Detroit factory, and none were built at the Los Angeles factory.
Canadian La Femmes
La Femmes were also available for sale in Canada. Since Canadian-built Dodges had a Plymouth rear end, this would likely have provided a La Femme that was markedly different from a U.S.-built car. This has never been substantiated. Google certainly has no trace of such a car!
A 1955 Dodge D55-3 Custom Royal Lancer La Femme cost $3,277.52 (Canadian) before taxes, including freight. Sales and excise taxes added $460.98, bringing a plain La Femme bought in Toronto up to a total price of $3,738.50. If you were a Canadian with an eye for flashy accessories, you could rack up the price right away: White sidewall tires were $37.95, Power steering was $151.45, Power brakes were $51.10, heater & defroster were $106.20, Solex Glass was $40.90, and full wheelcovers cost $29.80. If every one of these options were ordered, you'd be one proud and happy Canadian, with $4,155.90 less in your bank account and a well-equipped La Femme in your garage.
References That I Used From BEFORE The Internet:
WPC NEWS (Nov. 80) Page 5, Vol.XIII, NO. 11 by Mike Petersen.
A Pictorial History of Chrysler Corporation Cars Prepared by the WPC Club.
Special Interest American Cars page 21.
Complete Book of Collectible cars 1940-1980 by Richard M. Langworth, Graham Robson, and the Editors of Consumers Guide Beekman House, Crown Publishers, One Park Avenue, NY NY 10016.
The Dodge Story (page 175) by Thomas A. McPherson, Crestline Publishers,Box 48, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137.
The Dream Machine (Page 158) by Larry Flint,
New York Times Book Co. 10 East 53rd St. NY NY 10022.
Encyclopedia of American Cars 1940-1970 (Page 156) by Richard M. Langworth (Mr. Objectivity), Graham Robson, and the Editors of Consumers Guide Beekman House, Crown Publishers, One Park Avenue, NY NY 10016.
70 Years of Chrysler (Page 292) by George M. Dammann, Crestline Publishing, 1251 North Jefferson Ave. Sarasota, FL 33577.
Dodge promotional brochures for 1955 and 1956 La Femme.
Dodge factory photos from the National Automotive History Collection, Detroit MI
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