The Firebomb Lived On... [PIC]

Of all the early to mid-fifties Dodge concept cars, the 1955 Dodge "Firebomb" was the most production ready of the bunch succeeding the Firearrow series. The hand hammered aluminum body of this 2 seat luxury sports car enclosed a drive train featuring a 188 HP 270 cid Hemi w/ 3 speed Torque Flite. Other sources claim larger more powerful Hemis including a 290 HP 331 Red Ram Hemi ( perhaps there were engine swaps to the prototype over the years). Eugene Casaroll of specialty car builder, Dual Motors in Detroit, saw value and worked with Ghia to develop  the vehicle to put into production. The Dodge chassis was sent to Ghia in Italy for body and interior and the sent back to Detroit to be finished. The body was slightly different from the Firebomb, now a four seater, with different trim side contours and more definitive tail fins. The original 1956 powerplant was a small block 315 V8 and in 1958 this was upgraded to a 2X4bbl, 320 HP 361 cid V8 with 117 convertibles built and one coupe. Many of these D500 models were sucked up by celebs like Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sterling Hayden. The first 2 pics are the original Firebomb and the rest are the Automodello model.