The

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

Mayfair was an automobile built by Chrysler Corporation of Canada Ltd. This vehicle was produced solely for the Canadian market from 1953 to 1959. Its American equivalent was the

Plymouth Belvedere Plymouth Belvedere is a series of American automobile models made by Plymouth from 1954 until 1970. The Belvedere name was first used for a new hardtop body style in the Plymouth Cranbrook line for the 1951 model year. In 1954 the Belvedere re ...

. It was based on the

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. The Mayfair name first appeared as a 2-door hardtop in the 1951

Dodge Regent The Dodge Regent is an automobile that was built by Dodge Canada. The low-priced line built with a front end similar to the U.S. market Dodge attached to a Plymouth body. The first Dodge Regent appeared for 1951, basically a Plymouth Cranbro ...

series, just as the Belvedere appeared in the Cranbrook series. The 1952 Mayfair adopted the same paint scheme as the 1952 Belvedere with the roof color sweeping down onto the rear trunk. When the 1953 models were introduced, the Mayfair was again the hardtop in the Regent series. In April, 1953, though, Chrysler of Canada introduced a new, upscale series to do battle with the

Chevrolet Bel Air The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1975 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, ...

and

Pontiac Laurentian The Pontiac Catalina is a full-size, junior series automobile produced by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from 1950 to 1981. Initially, the name was a trim line on hardtop body styles, first appearing in the 1950 Chieftain Eight and DeLuxe Eight lin ...

. The D43-3 Mayfair was introduced in both hardtop and sedan models. The exterior had the front fender trim extend onto the front door and backup lamps were standard. Interiors were two-tone, in either blue or green, with a matching steering wheel. With the new D43-3, the Regent Mayfair hardtop was dropped. Under the hood, the engine was increased from to and Chrysler of Canada introduced

Hy-Drive The Hy-Drive was a Chrysler Corporation semi-automatic transmission introduced in 1953 in US-market Plymouths. It was a hybrid manual transmission equipped with a torque converter, like an automatic. Although ''Hy-Drive'' cars had a clutch pedal l ...

on Plymouth and Dodge models. For 1954, the Mayfair used the interiors of the new Plymouth Belvedere. The base engine and transmission were unchanged. For the first time since 1937, Chrysler of Canada offered a convertible in its Plymouth-based models, importing the Mayfair convertible from Detroit, a

badge-engineered In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a manu ...

Kingsway Custom. The

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

came to Chrysler of Canada's low-priced models in 1955. As before, the Mayfair was largely a

, using that car's wheelbase and body with Dodge's front sheetmetal. The engines were imported from Detroit with various covers, manifolds, electrical pieces and rubber parts added in Windsor. Only the Mayfair offered a V8. And both Plymouth and Dodge offered

PowerFlite PowerFlite is a two-speed automatic transmission engineered and produced by the Chrysler Corporation and used in their passenger cars from 1954 to 1961. Production began in late 1953 and the simple and durable PowerFlite remained available on P ...

2-speed automatic with its new dash-mounted control lever. The Hy-Drive unit was eliminated. Things changed in 1956 when Chrysler of Canada opened a new V8 engine plant. The Mayfair was now V8 only, while the lower-priced Dodge Crusader and Dodge Regent could be had with either the six or V8. Early in the model the V8 was installed while later the all new was introduced. A 4-door hardtop was added to the line and the Powerflite automatic was controlled by new dash-mounted pushbuttons. Totally new bodies designed by

Virgil Exner Virgil Max "Ex" Exner Sr. (September 24, 1909 – December 22, 1973) was an automobile designer for several American automobile companies, most notably Chrysler and Studebaker. Exner is widely known for the "Forward Look" he created for the ...

debuted for 1957. They were a styling sensation with their low lines, plenty of glass and thin roof designs. Body engineering and tooling errors, though, resulted in a car that quickly gained a reputation for poor quality and rust. Chrysler Corporation's new 3-speed

Torqueflite TorqueFlite (also seen as Torqueflite) is the trademarked name of Chrysler Corporation's automatic transmissions, starting with the three-speed unit introduced late in the 1956 model year as a successor to Chrysler's two-speed PowerFlite. In the ...

automatic was now available on all Mayfair models, still only with the V8, and all Chrysler Corporation cars adopted Torsion-Aire torsion bar front suspension. Sales for 1957 were down from 1956 for all Canadian-built Dodge models, but 1958 was a disaster with sales falling over 40%. Grilles, taillights and trim were all that were new for 1958. The Mayfair adopted the poly V8 engine. The Mayfair's last year was 1959, when it was downgraded a notch to take the place of the Regent, while the Crusader was dropped. The 1959 Mayfair still came in two and four door sedan and hardtop, plus the imported 3-seat Custom Suburban

station wagon A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

and convertible. Although the wagon models were 318 CID V8 only, the other models were now available with either the 251 CID flathead six or the 313 CID V8. For 1960 the Canadian Dodge based on the Plymouth would be replaced by another Plymouth-based car, the

Dodge Dart Dodge Dart is a line of automobiles marketed by Dodge from the 1959 to 1976 model years in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart name originally appeared on a 1956 Chrysler show car featuring ...

. The Mayfair would become a sub-model of the Dart line for 1960, and renamed the Phoenix. The vehicle has been commonly referred to as a Plodge because of the extensive use of Plymouth components with Dodge front grilles and sold at Dodge sales outlets. File:1954 Dodge Mayfair (4688909531).jpg, 1954 Dodge Mayfair Four Door Sedan Image:dodge-mayfair.jpg, 1955 Dodge Mayfair Four Door Sedan File:'56 Dodge Mayfair (Auto classique VACM Chambly '13).JPG, 1956 Dodge Mayfair Four-Door Sedan

References

External links

1957 and 1958 Mayfairs galleries and registry
{{Dodge timeline 1950–1979

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

Cars of Canada