Chrysler Royal (Australia)

Chrysler Royal Chrysler Plainsman Chrysler Wayfarer
Chrysler AP3 Royal
Overview
Manufacturer	Chrysler Australia
Production	1957-1963
Assembly	Mile End, South Australia
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size
Body style	Chrysler Royal 4-door sedan Chrysler Plainsman 5-door station wagon Chrysler Wayfarer 2-door coupe utility
Powertrain
Engine	230 cu in (3.8 L) I6 250 cu in (4.1 L) I6 313 cu in (5.1 L) V8

The Chrysler Royal is an automobile which was produced by Chrysler Australia from 1957 to 1963. After investing in tooling to stamp body panels for the 1954 P25 series Plymouth locally, and with Chrysler headquarters in Detroit unwilling to assist in the costs of retooling for the new US models, Chrysler Australia made the decision to develop their own range, using as much of the existing tooling as possible, whilst also realising that the new car had to appear as different as possible. The doors and basic structure of the P25 sedan was retained, and with input from Australian and American Chrysler designers, the 1955 US Plymouth front sheetmetal was adapted to the P25 body and the rear quarter panels redesigned. They also added a wraparound rear windscreen, which caused development problems with Pilkington Glass, the Australian suppliers, who struggled to get the correct curved shape.

The first version of the Chrysler Royal, the AP1, was introduced in May 1957. It was a development of the American Plymouth P25 design of 1954 which had itself been produced by Chrysler Australia as the P25 Plymouth Cambridge and Cranbrook, the D49 Dodge Kingsway and the SP25 De Soto Diplomat. Original designations for the three different designs were AD1 for the Dodge, AS1 for the DeSoto and AP1 for the Plymouth. Plans to market the updated version under these three names were dropped late in the development program and the new model would be sold only as the Chrysler Royal thus revising a name used by Chrysler in the US market from 1937 to 1950. The design chosen for the final model was that proposed for the Plymouth variant, thus the AP (Australian Plymouth) designation was adopted, and changed to stand for Australian Production. The Royal differed from the P25 in using front and rear mudguards similar to those on the 1956 US Plymouth and a rear window which was larger than that of the P25. The AP1 was produced as a Royal four-door sedan, a Plainsman four-door station wagon, and a Wayfarer two-door coupé utility, and was offered with two versions of Chrysler's valve-in-block straight-6 engine: a 230.2 cu in (3.8 L) with manual transmission and a 250.6 cu in (4.1 L) with the Powerflite 2-speed automatic. Chrysler's 313 cu in (5.1 L) polyspherical-head V8 was introduced as an option during the AP1 model run. V8 powered Royals were popular with the South Australia Police, where they were employed as Highway Patrol cars.