Dodge continued to excel in design and performance with its new line of cars. The D500 option, already feared and revered by racers across the country, was continued for 1957 in the form of the last hemi engine Dodge would offer until 1966. The basic D500 option consisted of a single 4 barrel, 9.25:1 compression ratio 325 CID hemispherical head engine developing 285 horsepower at 4800 rpm  with 345 lbs-ft of torque at 2800 rpm. One step up, the "power pak" option, added another carburetor and resulted in 310 horsepower at 5000 rpm with torque coming in at 350 at 3200. Impressive figures for the day, and real as well. A bit conservative, too. 

For  those maniacs who could not be satisfied with a mere 310 horses under their foot, Dodge had the D501 option. This was the 300B engine, the 354 hemi, still rated at 340 horsepower, despite the addition of a 300C camshaft to warm things up even more. Since the 300 now sported the 392, the leftover 354s had to go someplace, and what better place than under the hood of the D500? 101 customers saddled up the 340 plus horses, and your guess is as good as mine as to how fast these things would go considering they weighed about 700 lbs less than a 300B and had better aerodynamics. My guess is a good solid 150. I wish I had one, and I'd tell you. Yeah, I'd do that. In a heartbeat. You can bet these things would eat a 300C for lunch and swallow just about anything else on the road, but they sold so few of them we'll never really know. 

The crossed flags were gone, replaced by the simple emblem above. It appeared only on the trunk lid, a place well chosen, because that was likely to be the only thing competitors got to see.  The D-501 received 7.60 x 15 tires wrapped around 15 x 8 inch wheels. Brakes were impressive 12 inch diameter drums. 

Other upgrades  from the 1956 D500 street terror included the addition of torsion bar front suspension,  heavy duty  shock absorbers all around, and  heavy duty rear leaf springs. A  3.73:1 rear axle was standard with the three-speed manual transmission, and  automatic cars received a 3.18:1 land speed record rear axle. There were 13 optional rear axles available, ranging from 2.92:1 through 6.17:1. I think 6.17s give you a top speed of about 32 mph; why anybody would want them is beyond me. Then again, I'd push a 1957 car to 150 mph and think nothing of it, so what do I know?

As usual, Dodge either missed the boat or wasn't allowed to buy a ticket by Chrysler execs. They were still heavily marketing the 300, which of course for 1957 was the most impressive version of the marque yet. Dodge still had to sneak its D500 in as an option package across the board, available on anything from the beautiful convertibles in the gallery to the pink station wagon. Go figure that one out, because I can't.

A separate D500 model for 1957 would have launched Dodge into the stratosphere, and it should have had the 354 exclusively. Imagine a special black and copper interior color scheme with limited exterior colors, 300B wire wheels, Blue Streak tires, and 350 advertised horsepower? All for say $3800? Get out of the way. I'd get into a time machine right now to have such a car. Hey, that gives me an idea. There's this beat up old Coronet on Ebay for a few hundred bucks, and I can get a 354 hemi from a guy in Montana, and there's this upholstery guy.....