1956 Chrysler St.Regis Comparison

I am not into cars from the 1950's I like 1930's cars but I saw 1956 Chrysler St. Regis the other day and cannot get it out of my mind . It is a beautiful car . Could someone tell me what was a comparable car made by Ford or GM . Thanks

In those days Chrysler was selling against Mercury, Oldsmobile, Buick, Packard Clipper and the big Nash and Hudson models that were nearing the end of their production life.

Road tester Tom McCahill thought very highly of the Chrysler line. He rated the Windsor (Chrysler's lowest priced model) his Top Buy in the medium price field. He drove an Imperial himself. He remarked about this time, that every part on a Chrysler built car looked like it cost more money to make, than the comparable part on competitors' cars.

St. Regis was Chrysler's name for their hardtop. I believe it was one of the fancier, more expensive Windsors.

The Chrysler lineup in order of costliness was Windsor, New Yorker, 300B. Imperial was turned into a separate make that year.

The Windsor came with a 331 cu in Polysphere V8 while the bigger jobs came with a 354 cu in hemi. Both engines used the same block, the big brother was bored 1/8 larger and used the hemi heads.

According to McCahill's tests the Windsor was one of the hottest performers in its class, and was a close match for the New Yorker up to 80 MPH. After that the big Hemi pulled ahead.

They used the Powerflite 2 speed automatic, a very reliable transmission. They were also the last Chryslers with coil spring front suspension.

If you like the car and it is in decent shape, you won't regret buying it.

Mark

GM models comparable to the Chrysler St. Regis were Pontiac Catlina, Olds Fiesta and Buick Riveria. These names referred to the 2 door hard top sedan, often called a hard top coupe. The SAE defines a coupe as an interior volume of 33 cu ft or less, and, a sedan as an interior volume of greater than 33 cu ft. Has nothing to do with the number of doors.

Bob Beck, who posts on these forums as BhigDog, restored a 56 St. Regis. You may want to talk with him about the pros and cons of the St. Regis.

I thought Chrysler used the 'Newport' name in the 50's to denote the hardtops, not St Regis. As far as I know the St Regis was only a special package on the New Yorker, not available on anything else. The New Yorker was selling against the top of the line Mercury and Buick at that time. The GM to Chrysler Corp lineup in the 50's would have had the Plymouth aligned with the Chevrolet, the Dodge with the Pontiac, The DeSoto with the Oldsmobile, and the Chrysler with the Buick.

In 1954 Chrysler offered a 2-door club coupe, but replaced it with a lower-priced 2-door hardtop. The Windsor version was called the Nassau while the regular hardtop was the Newport. The 1955 New Yorker had the Newport as the lower priced model and the St.Regis as the higher.

The same 2-dr hardtop models continued into 1956. The 4-door hardtop was introduced for 1956 in both Windsor and New Yorker but were sold as Newports.

Special names were the rage back in the 1950's for almost anything on a car. Hardtops were Bel Air (Chevrolet), Catalina (Pontiac), Holiday (Oldsmobile), Riviera (Buick), de Ville (Cadillac), Hollywood (Hudson), Country Club (Nash), Eagle (Willys), Starliner (Studebaker), Belvedere (Plymouth), Diplomat / Lancer / Mayfair (Dodge), Sportsman (DeSoto), Newport (Chrysler), Southampton (Imperial), Virginian (Kaiser), Victoria (Ford).

Most of the hardtop names would become series names.

So a St Regis would be the upper level hardtop with New Yorker hemi engine, chassis, etc.

Yes, the St.Regis is a New Yorker model with a fancier interior to go along with the higher price. On the outside only the small "St.Regis" nameplate identified it as such while the Newport had "Newport". Mechanically the St.Regis was a New Yorker, through and through.

Good info, thanks for the model line clarifications.

All St. Regis cars were 2 DR HT's and sported 3 tone paint combo's with the Hemi engine and upscale trim features. There were about 12 color combo's available. All 3 tone......................Bob

I'll offer just a general thought on '55 and '56 Chryslers and DeSotos. They have an interesting and somewhat unusual look to them in that they have high belt lines and thus small windows. I've always found it sort of a classy, distinctive look, although it would soon be replaced by models which were almost the complete opposite.