1954 Plymouth Belvedere Drawing
When I was in college (2009 maybe?), I had little money but wanted a hot rod to drive in the Woodward Dream Cruise – so I bought a ’54 Belvedere on the cheap.
It was bright orange, and I never got around to doing anything with it before selling it. I like to think about what I might do with it if I still had it and I tried to capture that with this 1954 Plymouth Belvedere drawing.
The car was powered by a flathead six and a three-on-the-tree transmission that was so underpowered, I hesitated to take it on the highway. I think it only went about 65mph and that was at what felt like about 15,000rpm. The car ran so rich, even after rebuilding the carb, I had to clean the plugs daily.
I only had the car for a few months before I sold it to help pay for classes, but it sure was fun while I had it. So if I still had it, what might I do? It’s hard to make a four-door cool…ever….but if I could go back, I might chop a couple inches and put it on black steelies with white walls.
The bumpers should be chrome – not painted – and the headlights would look good frenched. I think I might also remove the grille and leave it open for an aggressive look. Dig the little fins in the rear – this was before the monster fins of the late 1950s.
I started with a quick pencil sketch on sketch paper. I followed this up with Micron pens and Copic markers in light yellow-orange hues.
I used a Copic wide C1 to make the background streaks after the car was done – you know, to give it a little texture and character. I think this looks much better than the stock stance and disposition.
This is the last picture I took of the car – as the new owner was leaving the driveway. I often wonder what happened to it – if it’s still around somewhere, or was it wrecked, or is it just sitting dismantled in someone’s barn? I like to think that maybe it was restored or properly hot rodded…I keep an eye out for it hoping to see it around sometime.
I may not have the car anymore, but I have this cool 1954 Plymouth Belvedere drawing. I think it turned out better than the doodle I made last year. Maybe I’ll get another one some day – late ’40s to early ’50s Mopars can still be had pretty inexpensively.