By Jay Hirsch
In the 1950s when the new cars came out, there were spectacular car shows, or Motoramas as some were also called, where all the manufacturers displayed their new models. At this time the cars seen would consist of a two-door sedan and a two-door pillarless coupe, called a “two-door hardtop” or “two-door hardtop convertible” since the car gave the appearance of a convertible with its roof up. There were four-door sedans and the introduction of the new four-door hardtops in the mid-1950s which disappeared after 1976. There were the various station wagon body styles and the convetible. In relation to any cars lineup, the convertible never sold that many, but it was a great attention getter and a dream car that may be a reality someday, to the buyer of the two-door sedan.
There were also the futuristic concept cars, prototypes of what the motorist would be driving in 10 or 20 years. These cars highlighted advancements in design and engineering. More often it was just design. But, oh, what designs some of these cars had.
The car you see here, the 1954 Dodge Fire Arrow, was one of these concept cars of the future. In many ways this car did reflect the future, not so much for Dodge but the motorworld in general. It is small, especially by standards of the late 1950s through early 1970s. It is a sporty two-seater (even though it had rear seats) like the T-Bird and was not too bad a performance car, with a 241 cid V-8 Hemi under the hood. The more one looks at the car, the more one wonders what some of the people in charge at Chrysler were thinking. They had the spirit of the Thunderbird and the performance of the Corvette all in one car in 1954. The only thing close to this that would come out of a Dodge showroom was the limited lifespan of the 1970–1971 Dodge Challenger or Plymouth Barracuda convertible, which were more muscle cars and marketed as such.
It was not uncommon for American auto manufacturers to have their concept cars built in Italy, either by Ghia or Pininfarina. In the short and long run it was less costly and time consuming. These small design studios and coach builders were better equipped at turning out a limited number of custom bodied cars using sheet metal.
General Motors got around some of this costly designing and building of limited number concept cars by working with a new material of the time: fiberglass. The Corvette was the result of this idea. At the same time Dodge was displaying its Ghia-bodied Fire Arrow, Cadillac was displaying their Pininfarina-bodied Cadillac concept car, also made from sheet metal.
One of the design features of the Fire Arrow was the placing of the clock in the center of the steering wheel. On today’s cars this design gimmick could not exist as that is where the all-important, life-saving-airbag is.
The Fire Arrow seen here is the only example of the Fire Arrow IV, or Firebomb as it is sometimes called, ever built. The first Fire Arrow displayed at auto shows in the United States in 1953 was a mock up, just a shell of a car with no running gear, and had dual headlights. From the public’s reaction, Chrysler designer Virgil Exner decided to go ahead with having a full-sized working car be built by Ghia, the Italian design and coach body firm.
Vigil Exner’s formula for show car concepts was simple: use a conventional passenger car chassis, occasionally shortened but otherwise mostly stock, combined with svelte bodies and interiors handcrafted by Ghia coachworks in Torino, Italy, for a fraction of what they would have cost to build in Detroit.
The Fire Arrow is technically a “four seater”; the rear seats would be adequate for children under ten years of age. Fitted luggage was designed to be placed there also. The car seen here is as it appeared in 1954, painted red with a leather interior in black and white diamond pattern.
With its relatively small but potent Hemi 241 cid V-8, the Fire Arrow would have given Corvette and Thunderbird a good run for the money, in particular the Corvette, as the 1953–1955 Corvette did not have glass windows in their doors but plastic curtains. The Fire Arrow had glass windows in its doors as well as a trunk and rear seats or a storage area behind the front seats.
This Fire Arrow is a fully functional car with a power-convertible-top, heater, radio, windshield wipers, etc. Many show cars of this era may have had a drive train but that was all. The radio, heater controls, etc. were only facades.
For whatever reason, Chrysler made a corporate decision not to go ahead with full-scale production of the Fire Arrow in September 1954. The Fire Arrow, except for the use of chrome and the wide white wall tires, looks more of a car for today than a car from the 1950s. •
