History Roy Roger's 1953 Chrysler Wagon @ Bonneville

Greetings fellow automotive historians, I have been doing some research lately into the various cars of Roy Rogers and I came across a single blurb about him bringing his personal 1953 Chrysler Station Wagon to Bonneville, complete with dual carburetors and wire wheels, and running it up to 107mph.



Those are the only two pics I could find online of the car and engine bay, and I'm hoping some of the sleuths here on the HAMB might have additional information or pics of this unique ride!

I can tell from the license surround that it was sold by Shadoff Chrysler-Plymouth, the same dealership that was campaigning the well-known Shadoff Special, seen here:


I believe all these pics came from a Hot Rod magazine coverage of the 1953 Bonneville Speed Week.


Does anyone have any additional information on this or any other of Roy's cars? Being a Chrysler guy, Roy and I share a passion for similar vehicles and I love seeing these kind of glimpses into the past.

~Peter

 

Always my second favorite cowboy next to Gene Autry.........Might have to change my mind after the cool Bonneville stuff. How about some Nelly Belle Willys Jeep CJ3B pictures ?

 

Roy liked Cadillacs too.

 

I was there and saw all of that happen. He was interesting to talk to but his car was boring.

 

Very Cool .

 

As others have said : Cool! (except that is a 1955 Dodge).

 

Cool stuff, Most likely invited by folks from Shadoff Motors. I was a young but Big Roy Rogers fan around that time when my folks would take me to the Liberty Theater to see one of his movies.

 

I don’t know much about the vehicles Roy Rodgers owned but I know that he had some of his dogs trained by Orin Benson from Eagle Wisconsin. Mr. Benson owned a Messerschmitt KR201 microcar, I now own the car. Rodgers no doubt saw the car when he visited the kennels.

 

Well I'll be, didn't know ol' Roy was a car guy!

 

Now that I think about it, the car I saw was a new 300. It was still boring.

 

First Crysler 300 would have been in 55. Truth be know, the racing at Bonneville can be pretty boring to a lot of people especially circle track fans. My advise has always been to not take anyone who gets bored easily or cannot easily entertain themselves. Usually the big whiners are male buddys or relatives rather than female. If a gal reads and is good with sitting in a lawn chair with shade, a cool drink and a good book she is easy to get along with . Borred buddies are a pain in the butt because they don't understand your interest in some old comp coupe that you remember seeing in way back when coverage that is still being run by the same guy who is older than the dirt at bend in the road and still having a blast.

 

Well, like I said, the car was boring, Roy wasn't...lol We talked guns and fast draw and the mutual friend that taught it to him. He was quite a bit faster than James Arness who was gunned down in a mock showdown with our mutual friend.

 

Roy Rogers came to the grand opening of John B. Lees Music Store here in Anderson,South Carolina in the early 60's, I still have a autograph photo of him riding Trigger, when I was a kid he was bigger than life. HRP

 

Wonder if the car had a Powerflite transmission or the fluid torque drive transmission. Late model V8 1953 Chryslers could be had with the Powerflite.