R8 Coupe

Make
Audi
Segment
Coupe

Going under the hammer is a 1954 Dodge Firearrow III Concept Car that is estimated to fetch a price tag somewhere in the neighborhood of $800,000 to over the $1,000,000 mark at Pebble Beach. The concept car was designed by Italian-based firm Ghia stylist Luigi Segre, under the watchful eye of Chrysler's Chief of Advanced Design Virgil Exner. The Firearrow III project had made a very strong visual impact at its launch while mounted on a Dodge Royal regular-production chassis.

The Firearrow III generates its power from a V8 engine with a four-barrel carburetor that produced an output of 150 horses and mated to a Power-Flite automatic transmission. It also has an independent front suspension with coil springs and Oriflow, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, Safe-Guard four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes and a 119-inch wheelbase. Despite standing slightly less than five feet high, the interior design is really spacious for the driver and passenger, starting with leather seats featuring Opal Blue bolsters complemented by white leather inserts. Each seat is adjustable with easy to operate controls.

As with the earlier versions of the Firearrow, this Series III coupe was mounted on a regular production chassis from the Dodge Royal. The running gear was left in stock form with the 'Red-Ram' mini-'Hemi' V8 engine providing plenty of power. The suspension was also taken straight from production models as was the recently introduced fully automatic Torque-Flite transmission. Studies were also conducted to optimize weight distribution which resulted in handling that was far superior to the production cars from which the chassis had come from.

Since that time, Firearrow III has been treated to a ground up restoration by the gifted shop of Fran Roxas, where it was returned to its original appearance. Finished in its original Opal-Blue metallic paint with color coordinated interior of matching leathers, it looks just as it did when cruising on those high banked curves with Betty Skelton behind the wheel. Today, this car stands as an icon of when the American automotive industry was the model for the rest of the world to follow. While there is a number of surviving cars from the 1950s still in existence, it is very rare to find one that has been restored back to its original configuration.