Vehicle Description
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer 'La Femme' 'SUPER RED RAM' HEMI RARE
production vehicle targeted at "The Metropolitan Woman" of the
1950s. Rare is an understatement with initial low production
numbers of only two model years with very few having survived to
today. (less than 50 per the very few online sources available).
THIS IS A PROJECT CAR!!! Let us re-interate that This Car Is a
Project Car. We typically don't get involved with project vehicles
unless there's something unique about them, be it rarety, ownership
history, or valuation. This Royal Lancer started out as part of a
large private collection of mostly Mopars accumulated over many
decades personally owned by a late Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Jeep
franchise auto dealer. When we began removing the vehicles off site
(pics posted) they were very dusty inside and out but kept indoors
in heated warehouse with some of them not movable as they literally
haven't moved in years. We got them home to our facility where we
began assessing condition and what it takes to get them
individually going. Having ownership transferred to previous owner
and last state inspected back in November of 1988 makes this an
exciting barn find of sorts. A carburetor re-assemble, new coil,
battery, some wiring repair, oil change, some brake bleeding,
resetting the bead on a couple of tires, and she safely fired right
up! There are two videos of the car starting for the first time...
She was pushed onto our lift and was able to start and drive off...
Then with a bit of arrogance our tech drove it up and down the
parking lot just to prove a point. We loved it! Now that she is
able to start and move on her own, it came time to give the 'ol
girl a bath and besides some rusty wheel well openings and other
ailments you would expect from nearly a 70 year old car, she is
still quite a catch. Chrome is pitted, frame is very good, floors
have some small areas that will need patching, trunk has had work
before, inner rockers will need work, stainless and glass are very
good, will need new weatherstripping,, You can see over the 224
pictures the process in which we took the La Femme from the
warehouse and got her to the point you see her offered for sale.
VIDEO LINKS BELOW; https://youtu.be/sz7bafzX-3o
https://youtu.be/552uZ14Wn58 The year was 1955, and post-war
America was "moving on up" to the suburbs. With the working man
driving into the city on a daily basis and families having
considerably larger bank balances, many began to consider
purchasing a second car. Aware of the emerging two-car trend, Dodge
Motor Company designed an apparently "female friendly" version of
the Royal Lancer hardtop known as the 1955 Dodge La Femme. Painted
up in "Heather Rose" and "Sapphire White" and complete with pink
rosebud upholstery, the "La Femme" certainly was a vision in gender
stereotyping. Along with the hyper-feminine car features, the Dodge
La Femme package included a driver's accessory pack that featured a
rain cape, rain bonnet, and umbrella - plus a pink, calf-skin
leather purse which contained a powder compact, comb, lipstick
case, a lighter, and cigarette case. The car was for a
"discriminating" and "modern" woman. Despite employing rhetoric
such as "her majesty" when describing who would drive the car,
women failed to flock to Dodge's 1955 model. Cars sat unsold in
showrooms, collecting dust. Dodge was undeterred, however -
presumably thinking that if they just tried a little harder,
injecting a little more pink into the pepto bismol-colored mess,
they would succeed. Thus the car company sent letters out to
showrooms touting the model's stunning success and rolled out the
1956 La Femme soon after. The Dodge La Femme is a full-sized
automobile that was produced by Dodge between 1955 and 1956. The
automobile was specifically designed for women. The La Femme option
was available on 1955 and 1956 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer models.
The La Femme stemmed from the observation of Chrysler's marketing
