Ad featuring the ’59 Dodge 4-door Sierra” wagon in “The Saturday Evening Post,” March 14, 1959.
Check out the enormous length of this behemoth. It’s over 18 feet long, rivaling limousines in length. Even in an era when cars were huge, this one practically sails off the page. That boatyard setting isn’t just clever staging; it’s a wink to the era’s obsession with size. The Sierra was available in six- and nine-passenger configurations, the latter dubbed the “Spectator” wagon. This land yacht even had an "Observation Lounge," with a rear-facing third seat. It turned the back of the car into a social nook, almost like a parlor on wheels.
With the second and third seats folded down, the Sierra transformed into a cargo vessel, with 95 cubic feet of clear space. That’s nearly the volume of a small studio apartment. As to a power plant to drive this wagon, the top-tier Super D-500 packed a 383 cu in V8 with up to 345 horsepower – a beast for a family hauler. Chrysler’s TorqueFlite automatic was operated via dashboard buttons, adding a touch of Jetsons-era futurism. Some models featured front seats that rotated outward to ease entry – another nod to comfort and showmanship.
The styling was unapologetically bold, with tailfins, chrome galore, and “flair fashion” interiors with coral accents and tuxedo upholstery. Dodge’s designers divided the car’s surfaces into segments for two- and three-tone paint jobs. In short, the Sierra was loud, proud, and designed to turn heads at the marina or the supermarket. The car was one of the last to be shaped by Virgil Exner’s lavish design ethos before Chrysler shifted toward restraint in the 1960s.
[Sources: BarnFinds.com, Bing.com, En.Wheelz.me, and StationWagonFinder.com]
Ad featuring the ’59 Dodge 4-door Sierra” wagon in “The Saturday Evening Post,” March 14, 1959.
Check out the enormous length of this behemoth. It’s over 18 feet long, rivaling limousines in length. Even in an era when cars were huge, this one practically sails off the page. That boatyard setting isn’t just clever staging; it’s a wink to the era’s obsession with size. The Sierra was available in six- and nine-passenger configurations, the latter dubbed the “Spectator” wagon. This land yacht even had an "Observation Lounge," with a rear-facing third seat. It turned the back of the car into a social nook, almost like a parlor on wheels.
With the second and third seats folded down, the Sierra transformed into a cargo vessel, with 95 cubic feet of clear space. That’s nearly the volume of a small studio apartment. As to a power plant to drive this wagon, the top-tier Super D-500 packed a 383 cu in V8 with up to 345 horsepower – a beast for a family hauler. Chrysler’s TorqueFlite automatic was operated via dashboard buttons, adding a touch of Jetsons-era futurism. Some models featured front seats that rotated outward to ease entry – another nod to comfort and showmanship.
The styling was unapologetically bold, with tailfins, chrome galore, and “flair fashion” interiors with coral accents and tuxedo upholstery. Dodge’s designers divided the car’s surfaces into segments for two- and three-tone paint jobs. In short, the Sierra was loud, proud, and designed to turn heads at the marina or the supermarket. The car was one of the last to be shaped by Virgil Exner’s lavish design ethos before Chrysler shifted toward restraint in the 1960s.
[Sources: BarnFinds.com, Bing.com, En.Wheelz.me, and StationWagonFinder.com]