Dodge Lancer

Dodge Lancer

Dodge

MarqueDodge
Production1955–1959 / 1960–1962 / 1984–1989
Engine170 cuin Slant-6 / 225 cuin Slant-6

This is the catalogue record of the Dodge Lancer, one of 160 models Dodge has placed in the historical record and one of more than seventeen thousand cars the MotorJury library tracks. The record places its introduction in 1955. The photography on this page is hotlinked from Wikimedia Commons under an open licence, with the photographer credited on every frame.

The era it was born into

To read the Dodge Lancer properly it helps to place it in its decade. The 1950s were the optimistic post-war boom, when chrome, tailfins and new unibody construction met the first purpose-built motorways and sports-car racing shaped reputations. Any car launched into that world was shaped by it — by what materials, engineering and regulation allowed, and by what buyers of the day demanded. Its direct contemporaries in this catalogue, introduced within three years of it, include the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, the Fiat Fiat 500 — the cars a buyer of the period would actually have cross-shopped.

The numbers, read closely

On paper, the Dodge Lancer reads like this: the record lists its engine as 170 cuin Slant-6 / 225 cuin Slant-6; drive goes through 3-speed manual / 3-speed A904 automatic; the layout is FR layout. Every figure above is a manufacturer specification carried by the Wikipedia infobox or the open Wikidata record for this model — nothing on this page is estimated, and where a source is silent the row simply does not appear.

Its place in the Dodge story

Within Dodge's own catalogue the Dodge Lancer sits alongside the Dodge 1500, the 1955 Dodge, the 1958 Dodge, the Deora. It was succeeded by the Dodge Dart (for 1963) / Dodge Spirit (for 1989). Assembly is recorded at United States: / Los Angeles, California / Newark, Delaware / St. Louis, Missouri / Mexico: / Mexico City / Switzerland: / AMAG Automobil- und Motoren, Schinznach.

How this catalogue works

This library is generated, verified and rebuilt from the open record on every deploy. The catalogue skeleton comes from Wikidata, specifications from Wikipedia's infoboxes under CC BY-SA, photography from Wikimedia Commons under each file's own licence, and the ownership data from United States federal safety records. Nothing is written by hand and nothing is invented: every fact on this page traces to a public source, and every page is rebuilt nightly as those sources improve. Errors in the source record will appear here too — and disappear the night the source is corrected.

Why concepts and prototypes are in the library

Most car databases stop at series production. This one deliberately does not, because concept cars, racing specials and cancelled prototypes are where the industry thinks out loud — the ideas tested in public years before they reach a showroom. Holding them beside the production cars they inspired makes the lineage legible: nearly every landmark road car in this library has a concept ancestor somewhere in the catalogue, and the connections run through the era links on every page.

From catalogue to ownership

The catalogue records what the Dodge Lancer was; the ownership database records what it is like to own. MotorJury computes a verdict for every model year the United States federal record covers — complaints, recalls, real economy — refreshed nightly, with no opinions involved. If this car reached the American market, its verdicts are in there.

Specifications

Transmission3-speed manual / 3-speed A904 automatic
LayoutFR layout
Body style2/4-door sedan / 2-door hardtop / 4-door wagon
Wheelbase106.5 in
Length4,582 mm
AssemblyUnited States: / Los Angeles, California / Newark, Delaware / St. Louis, Missouri / Mexico: / Mexico City / Switzerland: / AMAG Automobil- und Motoren, Schinznach
SuccessorDodge Dart (for 1963) / Dodge Spirit (for 1989)
Catalogue IDQ952423

Specifications come from the Wikipedia infobox for this model (CC BY-SA) and the open Wikidata record, and are shown only where a source actually carries them — nothing here is estimated. Figures are manufacturer specifications, not measured results.

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What it costs to run

Ownership verdicts are computed from NHTSA complaint and recall records plus EPA economy data, re-priced for your country. Verdicts are published per model year as the data is ingested — browse them live, or open the true-cost calculator to price any year yourself.

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Rivals of its era

Contemporaries from other marques, introduced within three years of this car.