Plymouth's as Daily Drivers?

[MrNewportCustom]

I see no evidence of fire, but I suspect that the window damage was due to that other "element" of classical science, water. Maybe some earth and air, too.

I would guess a combination of all three elements: Earth, Wind and Fire (not the R&B group).

The windshield has clearly (pun intended) not been subjected to extreme and direct heat, as it too would have been damaged. The windshield (and at least one side window) was fortunate enough to have its edges better sealed from the elements, and being that the car resides in, and probably always has resided in, Wisconsin, it's a good bet that snow (water element) and the sun (fire element) both played an equal and alternating role in the destruction of the affected windows, along with the almost constant barage of dust (earth element) blowing up or falling down from the surrounding area. At any rate, I would recommend against driving this vehicle with the side windows in the up position, until they have been replaced. Safety First.


Lee
_________________________

This car has a ways to go before becoming a "Shining Star."

 

[Lincsong]

Well, I drive a '46 P-15 Four door Special Deluxe daily... it's the only auto I own and have had it for nearly 4 years now. It's a simple car to work on, faithful, and I have made some amazing memories with that car. My true passion lies within the pre-war Plymouths... and some day soon I hope to have either a '39 or a '41. But, the P-15 is a fantastic car to drive! It is capable of daily work, it's no wonder that Plymouth boasted that:

I am a proud owner of a P-15 that I hope to own a good many more years, and I'm sure as I do, she'll take good care of me!

I could not recommend a better daily auto of the 1940's... they really are amazing cars! Not too expensive to run and maintain but, also to purchase!

FM~

Any pictures?

 

[Forgotten Man]

Any pictures? Well, she has her own myspace profile so, here's a link... take a peak.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cf...&MyToken=faf0512f-e0db-452a-8ff3-192a2765f1f3

=F

 

[kpreed]

Plymouth

Nice to meet Genevieve, great site! of course "Plymouth Builds Great Cars" , my Coupe's name was Fern, so named by my then two year old.

Club Coupe is just like mine, same color, just with a couple of fog lights above the bumper.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Thanks, I'm glad you like her site!

That is a neat Club Coupe, I've always liked the Club Coupe... it looks like a fun car to have for just runnin' around in! I don't know what it is but, these old cars have got me and there's no turnin' back!

PS. the P-15 dashboard you posted is of my friend David Maxwell's '47 four door Special Deluxe. His car was completely restored from the frame up to original specs. It is the truest restoration I've ever seen of a P-15... I recall him telling me that he wanted to have the experience of what it was like to drive a P-15 when it was brand new... well, he sure did make that car "new"... if you see the photos, it will make you cry for joy! It's a beautiful restoration.

 

[onlyoneintown]

Well, I drive a '46 P-15 Four door Special Deluxe daily... it's the only auto I own and have had it for nearly 4 years now. It's a simple car to work on, faithful, and I have made some amazing memories with that car. My true passion lies within the pre-war Plymouths... and some day soon I hope to have either a '39 or a '41. But, the P-15 is a fantastic car to drive! It is capable of daily work, it's no wonder that Plymouth boasted that:

I am a proud owner of a P-15 that I hope to own a good many more years, and I'm sure as I do, she'll take good care of me!

I could not recommend a better daily auto of the 1940's... they really are amazing cars! Not too expensive to run and maintain but, also to purchase!

FM~

I had a blast in that car and I was only on for an hour! great car I already made some good memories

 

[Flivver]

I've never owned a Plymouth, or any Chrysler product for that matter. But my uncle taught me to drive with a manual transmission on his 1965 Valliant which had the good old "three on the tree". This was necessary because my dad's Olds had an automatic transmission.

I was saddened when Chrysler dropped the Plymouth brand. For many years, Plymouth held the #3 sales position in the U.S. behind only Chevy and Ford. Plymouths built before 1953 were almost indestructable, as was the slant six engine that was introduced in 1960. But times change...

 

[Edward]

If I were in a position to need and be able to afford a car (neither the case while I reside in central London), I'd ideally be driving something that looked like this - albeit fibreglass, 7/8 the size, and built over the guts of a MkIV or V Ford Cortina modified to run unleaded.... lol I love fifties cars, though I'm a big fan of the lines of thirties and forties cars which were in reality what most folks were probably driving back then anyhow....

The sedans sold in the South were literally driven into the ground. It's kind of a drawback when I drive to a store or a gas station, as I KNOW I'm going to have to listen to at least 2 new stories from old timers to spot the car, stroll over and just HAVE to tell me a history about the Plymouth THEY used to own.lol

Dad gets this a lot when he's out with one of his hobby cars - he's had everything from 1934 through to the present at one time and another, but his favourite thing is 1930s Austins and Morrises. I remember one day, about 19 years ago (hell, that's scaring me...) we were out for a Sunday afternoon drive in a 1938 Austin 10 he owned at the time, and an old boy came over to talk to him about it. Turned out he'd known the original owner way back then. That sort of story about something you own is always fascinating, though especially with pre-1950 stuff this sort of thing is fast disappearing.

 

[kpreed]

1960 Dodge Dart

I had a friend with one of these, pink paint and all. The pink color was bad, but it had the 225 Slant Six with an Automatic and that he really hated. He did all he could to blow that six, even drained the oil and water from it and ran it hard. It made a bunch of engine noise, but never gave up running. Now that is a motor I can respect!

 

[Michaelson]

Wasn't 1960 the first year of the slant six? I only remember them being in Plymouth Valiants and Dodge Darts in the early 60's.[huh]

Oh, that pink was a carry over color from DeSoto. It was REAL popular with that crowd. LOL!

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Flivver]

Wasn't 1960 the first year of the slant six? I only remember them being in Plymouth Valiants and Dodge Darts in the early 60's.[huh]

Oh, that pink was a carry over color from DeSoto. It was REAL popular with that crowd. LOL!

Regards! Michaelson

Yes, 1960 was the first model year for the Slant Six. It was available that year in the Valliant, full size Plymouth, Dodge Dart and Dodge D-Series pickups and vans. It replaced an equally bulletproof L-Head six that dated back to the 1930s.

The engine was slanted 30 degrees to allow for lower hoodlines and a ram-type tuned intake manifold that increased power and torque. It was initially available in 170 cid and 225 cid versions.

Quite an engine!

 

[Michaelson]

Very good.

I tried out a brand new Dart with a 170 slant 6 installed back in 1975. It could barely pull the hill to my house, so I turned right around and took it back to the dealership (which, by the way, was located at the BOTTOM of the hill from my house.lol )

I ended up purchasing a Fury with a 318 instead.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[The Wingnut]

Slant six + A-body = immortality. If we were nuked tomorrow, the roaches would be driving Darts, Valiants and Scamps.

 

[dhermann1]

When I was growing up in Western New York in the 60's, my mother always tried to get big cars, so that if she ever spun out on the ice (which she actually did once, luckily escaping serious injury) she would have lots of steel around her for protection. At one point she had a 67 Plymouth Fury, former cop car. It was huge, and had a huge engine in it. Went like hell. She drove it till it literally dissolved out from under her. Great car.

 

[Flivver]

Slant six + A-body = immortality. If we were nuked tomorrow, the roaches would be driving Darts, Valiants and Scamps.

Some other great MoPar A-Bodies from the 70s include the Plymouth Duster and Dodge Demon ("sporty" fastback versions of Valliant and Dart) and the Dodge Swinger (the Dodge version of the Plymouth Scamp 2-door hardtop).

The same uncle who had the '65 Valliant later owned two Demons and a Swinger...he loved those slant sixes! The Demons had a devil with a pitchfork logo on the front fenders.

 

[lyburnum]

I remember my jive instructors' Plymouth. What a beauty *sigh* If only I could afford one of these (or any car for that matter!)

http://www.rockthejoint.com/robincolette/

 

[David Conwill]

This thread is killing me. On Craigslist near me right now there's a guy practically giving away a '51 Dodge.

When I lived in Lansing, there was a forelorn looking '50 Meadowbrook sitting beside Grand River Avenue with a "For Sale" sign in the window, but no phone number and no apparently associated house.

The '50 Dodge is my favorite of the boxy MoPars:

-Dave

 

[kpreed]

This thread is killing me. On Craigslist near me right now there's a guy practically giving away a '51 Dodge.

When I lived in Lansing, there was a forelorn looking '50 Meadowbrook sitting beside Grand River Avenue with a "For Sale" sign in the window, but no phone number and no apparently associated house.

The '50 Dodge is my favorite of the boxy MoPars:

-Dave

I had a 1950 Dodge Coronet at one point. a good car, it had 44k on it and all just as it came from the dealer, even had the seat covers over the never sat-on seats, Very nice car, only problem was it was a 4- door and I like only two. Sold it to some folks who wanted it for a around the U.S.A. road trip.

 

[Michaelson]

The 1950 4 door Dodge is exactly the same as the 50 Plymouth Special Deluxe, which I STILL drive on a daily basis to work. The only real difference was the grill work and hood ornament. Everything else exactly the same. You can even switch parts from one to the other with exact same matchup.

They're fun, but as a daily driver in winter, they're a bear. Extremely vulnerable to wind (the front end is the worse 'air dam' I've ever experienced on a car), pneumatic windshield wipers (which were standard on the 50 model Mopar models) which work when they want to in a rain storm...and usually stop at the worse possible time, and VERY little heat from the so called heater at the front of the car. Kind of a dumb design. The heater core is next to the car radiator. The air moves through a tube from the front of the car to a door at the firewall, a distance of about 3 feet, and is pushed there by a fan next to the heater core. The door at the fire wall is themostatically controlled to open when the air reaches a certain temperature, and once reached, it pops open to allow heat in the car. The problem is, if it's below 30 or so, the air cools as it goes down the tube TO the door, and therefore the door never opens.
It reminds you why car coats were so popular in the 1950's.lol I wear my religiously in winter.

Other than that, on a nice sunny day with no wind, they're fun to drive....especially on a country two lane road, which I am blessed to do each and every day I go to work. As a matter of fact, it's time for me to get my coat and hat and do just that,.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[David Conwill]

I actually have the perfect 1950s accessory heater to solve that problem. It's just a heater core in a chrome box with a door. Mount it to the dash (passenger side of the firewall, not the instrument panel), run some lines to the engine, and voila, better-than-factory heat!

Now I just need the car to go with it. D'oh!

As for four-door sedans, that's a must for my next car.

-Dave