1958 Dodge Custom Royal 4-door Sedan

„Only rarely does a new car appear on the scene so brilliantly designed that it has no counterpart. The Swept-Wing 58 by Dodge is such a car. It is a car of noble proportions — clean of line, daring in sweep, low in silhouette — beautifully simple in every detail. You can see this simplicity in the smart new grille, handsomely-styled and in perfect taste. In the flat, taut hood. In the vast Sweep-View windshield. The smooth, unbroken line from bold Twin-Set Headlights to soaring Swept-Wings. Expect to see a great many people step out in a low-slung Swept-Wing Dodge in the months ahead. Wouldn’t it be fun to be one of them?“

Coming at you full steam ahead, the 1958 Dodge really looks impressive. The fender badge and trim details indicate that this is a Custom Royal, the flagship model of Dodge’s 1958 lineup. All Dodges shared the same body, and differed merely in trim and engine choice.

The second generation of Virgil Exner’s „Forward Look“ design direction featured cars with even more dramatic proportions than their predecessors. These Mopars easily won the unofficial industry-wide contest for designing the longest, lowest and widest looking cars. But the obsession with a low silhouette required some compromises. As large as these cars were outside, you can notice, with passengers inside, that headroom and an airy cabin certainly were not their forte.