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1958 Plymouth Savoy Barn Find Is No "Christine", Still Has a Mind of Its Own

Introduced in 1954 as Plymouth's mid-level full-size car, the Savoy remained in production for only 10 years. And while it's nowhere near as iconic as the Belvedere, it shares the same design features that made the mid-to-late-1950s Plymouth one of the most beautiful cars of its era.
1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find 7 photos
Photo: Dylan McCool/YouTube
1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find1958 Plymouth Savoy barn find
Redesigned for the 1957 model year, the full-size Plymouth's styling was considered so revolutionary that Chrysler used the slogan "suddenly, it's 1960!" to promote the car. Well, maybe it wasn't all that futuristic, but the 1957 Plymouth line was so gorgeous that the company sold nearly 450,000 cars.

The lineup included the entry-level Plaza, the mid-range Savoy, and the top-of-the-league Belvedere. Plymouth also offered a more luxurious Fury version, which was a sub-series of the Belvedere before it became a stand-alone Sport Fury trim in 1959.

Come 2022 and the 1957 and 1958 Plymouths have become collectors' items in Belvedere and Fury form. The Plaza and the Savoy, not so much. So, as a result, many of these cars are often left to rot away in storage or junkyards. And that's a shame, really, because both the Savoy and the Plaza are just as pretty as their more expensive counterparts.

Fortunately enough, though, some enthusiasts aren't as picky and don't overlook these not-so-fancy versions. YouTube's "Dylan McCool," for instance, rescued a 1958 Savoy that spent 15 years in a barn and hadn't been driven on public roads since the early 1990s.

Not surprisingly, the car is all dusty and weathered, and the engine under the hood no longer runs. But it's fairly solid, it doesn't have as much rust as you'd expect after three decades off the road, and it's very complete.

Sure, it doesn't have a V8 engine to brag about, but the 230-cubic-inch (3.8-liter) inline-six and push-button automatic gearbox combo is not all that terrible at 132 horsepower and 205 pound-feet (278 Nm) of torque. But will it still run after so many years?

Well, Dylan managed to fire it up with a bit of work and an auxiliary fuel "tank," but things didn't go well when he wanted to take it for a spin the next day. Because the inline-six simply refused to run again. For no apparent reason.

Unable to identify the issue, Dylan simply ruled that the Plymouth "has a mind of her own." Yup, that's a "Christine" reference right there because the car that comes to life in Stephen King's book and the film that followed in 1983 is also a 1958 Plymouth (albeit portrayed as a Fury).

Jokes aside, I do hope that the owner finds a way to revive this Savoy. Because not only it's a damn pretty car, even with all that patina on the body, but it's not all that common.

You see, while Plymouth sold almost 68,000 four-door sedans and about 19,500 Sport Coupes, the two-door Club Sedan was built in fewer than 18,000 units. Sure, it's not super-rare, but we need more of these cars saved and put back on the road.

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About the author: Ciprian Florea
Ciprian Florea profile photo

Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer.
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