I think I found a reference for where the the 56 D500-1 2-dr Club Coupe
had been believed to weigh under 3400 lbs.
No '56 Club Coupe anything-MoPar was road tested, in 1956, as far as I
can determine, so real world car-weight is unknown .
The Custom Royals (a bunch of different cars, actually) had their
weights be recorded at a consistent 3800-3900+ lbs.
In the 2/86 (yep) WPC News magazine, there is a listing of the 1956
Dodge "shipping weights" (not really sure what that means, or how it was
determined) , but, the "shipping weight" on (any?) Custom Royal 2-door
hardtop was 3505 lbs, so, there is an about 300++ pound differential
between "shipping" and real-world weight, at least, as far as CRL's are
concerned.
The "shipping weight" on a Coro 2-dr Club Coupe (Poly V/8) was 3380 lbs,
according to the article ("under 4000 lbs").
I have a hard time believing that "all" of the 1956 CRL's which were
road tested just happened to weigh about 300 lbs more than the official
"shipping weight", on that model.
I thought that I had the A.M.A. specifications on the 1956 Dodges, but I
can't find them, so, I don't know what Dodge might have claimed for the
"official" race-weight on the Daytona D500-1's.
The '57 Dodge A.M.A. specs are at my office, but, the '57 Ross Roy Data
Book I've got here, states that the 1957 Coro Club Coupe Shipping Weight
was 3520 (for the Poly V/8).
The actual weight of a '57 Coro 2-dr HT D500, according to Sports Cars
Illustrated, was 3920, or, 350 lbs HIGHER than its "shipping weight"
of 3570, as listed in the Ross Roy data book(let).
For comparison, the shipping weight on the 1956 6-pasenger Suburban
stationwagon was 3605, the 8-pasenger wagon was 3715, and the Coro
convertible was 3600 (or 100 lbs lighter than a '56 Belvie 2-dr HT,
which had an actual weight of 3700 lbs.)
So, how stripped down, and what was the weight, of Danny Eames' 2-dr
sedan D500-1, that ran at Daytona?
Maybe the official NASCAR records will 'say' what it, and the other
Dodges, that ran @ Daytona, weighed.
Of course, the lighter the D500-1 Daytona car(s), in relation to their
run-times, the BETTER that the D501's look, as the D501's would not
have been so severly stripped-down, as Danny Eames would have
ensured/insisted , that the D500-1's were. And, the amateur-run D501's
virtually equalled the '56's Flying Mile, but bettered the 56's Standing
Mile time.
Neil Vedder
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