I found this on the local CL and couldnt say no; 51 Plymouth Cambridge with a great solid body and decent paint. It had been in a garage the last 15 years and preserved nicely. It needs some floor work and interior but overall it's in great shape. I think Im going to change directions on the 49 and swith all my parts over to this one. I had gathered up parts to do a 5-speed conversion and four wheel disc brakes so that'll all go on here.
wow, In need of some parts from that car for my friends Kranbrook 1951 resto. Can sell parts ? Cheers Nati
Yeah, flathead for sure. The one in my 49 is rebuilt with an HEI and Holley 2 barrel conversion so I'll just swap it and keep this one for a spare. As far as parts; I'll be selling some off of the 49; what do you need?
Time for the tear down! Im really happy with how solid this thing is. All the fenderwells and hidden spots where my green car is rusted look great on here. Most of the factory undercoating is even still there. I pulled apart everything under the hood and got the motor ready to pull. Also pulled all the shift, accelerator, and clutch linkage, driveshaft and trans, all the exhaust and the fuel tank. My replacement rockers came in and I decided to go ahead and make the tunnel cover removeable like the earlier models to ease in the five speed swap. Floors and rockers are the worst spots but it shouldnt be too bad to fix. Im just going to use flat 16ga like I did on the other car.
I made a killer Craigslist score tonight; a complete 54 Plymouth Savoy dash for $50! The original dash looks really rough so this should be a big improvement; I like the styling much better.
I bought the rockers at an online place called Rock Auto. Cheap, too. Only $40. Yeah, the 54 is a great looking dash. I was happy to find a nice one that was complete.
Cool thanks man, i might need some in the future i got a 51 hard top, Ive checked out the website before but their site navigation was a little confuseing
Gebhard, I have some hardtop pieces that I am not going to use, window chrome, wing windows, heater, dash. Let me know if I can help, I have looking for some pieces, and they seem to be unattainable. Bob
Ok, the 49 has been dismantled and disposed of other than several parts I sold, saved to sell, or saved for this project. The only bummer is I'm letting a friend use my spare garage bay for another month so my car is stuck outside in the 100 degree heat for now. So I figured I might as well start on it where it's at for now. I pulled the rearend and springs tonight. The springs are headed to St Louis spring for freshening up and I'm going to start getting the Explorer 8.8 ready for transplant. I think I'll hit the underside with the powerwasher and some POR-15 while I've got access.
Yesterday I cleaned up the rear of the frame from in front of the spring perches all the way to the back with an air grinder and hit it with a coat of POR-15. Access was easy at this point so I figured I'd do it for future rust prevention. Today I spent most of the day cutting off the old spring, sway bar, and upper control arm mounts from the Explorer rear; and cleaning it up for a test fit. I dont have my springs back from the spring shop yet but from mocking it up on a floor jack, centering it, and taking a few measurments; it looks like it'll be a pretty good fit. Once I have my springs back and get it set up permanantly, I'll paint the whole works before it goes back in.
Nice looking car and I like the way you are just going to town on that car! Mine is slower moving, but I love it. Have fun and keep the thread going so we can all learn from your project! Thx, Mike
Thanks; the goal is to be roadworthy by spring, drive it next summer, and paint the following winter. It'll be easier when I get my garage back;we're looking at another 4 or 5 days of 100+ temps here. I can stand it in the garage with the big fans on but it's brutal to try and work out in the sun.
Love the 51's , very cool grill. I have a new 3:08 gear set and a 3:73 gear set for an 8:8 explorer rearend. Bought at an auction for little $. $25.00 and you pay ship if you want either one. New in box with gear lube. Be careful workin in the heat bro. Rock on. ~sololobo~
Thanks, man. 3:73 is what I have and that's what I'm keeping. I appreciate the righteous deal, though.
I got the rearend temporarily mounted with my rebuilt springs, new bushings, and 2" lowering blocks. It's got a nice squat in the rear now; I'm planning on dropping the front to match. Next step is to get the floors in shape; I cut out the old inner and outer rockers along with one side of the floor. First is to build new inner rockers with 16 ga and repair the floor braces. Once I've got both sides done, I'll go back and put in the floorpans and the outer rockers. I cut the entire floor out of my 49 I scrapped so it will go in here.
Too bad you already made the 49 go away. I was going to suggest you swap the nose. To me, the nose of the 49 and 50 Plymouths look a lot better than the 51 and up.
Yeah, I like the hood a little better but that step in the fender under the chrome was something I didnt care for and eventually I want to dispense with the side chrome. Even though the floors and rockers were bad in this one it's so much more solid than the 49 was in a lot of other areas.
I got the front part of the passenger side mostly done today. The braces looked really rusted but one you hit them with a big wire wheel, they still are solid. I got the inner rocker made, a little patching done and repaired one brace so Im about 3/4 of the way there.
Im a happy camper now; my buddy finished his Camaro and moved it out so I've got my garage space back! I pulled the 51 in last night after some cleaning and spent a few hours tonight cutting out the last of the old rocker and floor, cleaning up the braces, and starting to trim where the replacement floorpan is going in. Still 100 degrees today but a lot nicer working out of the direct sun.
Nice. I just picked up a 54 cranbrook tonight. Going to pick it up tomorrow. Its a one owner car that was a driver when parked 2 years ago.
Awesome, 54 is a good looking car. One owner is pretty rare for a 60 year old ride. I'll bet the original owner hated to let it go.
I didnt get a whole lot done today as my 5 year old grandson was here and wanted to help. That's cool; it's always fun breaking in a new little gearhead. We went to a carshow last night and he's excited to get this one done and take it to the show. He did say,"Paw paw, you need to put a fast motor in it!" He was pretty starry eyed at a big 6-71 blown Hemi powered Willys that was there. So anyway, we got the back half of the floor trial fitted and it looks pretty good so we pulled it back out and he painted the bottom of the panel for me.
Cool; those Desoto grilles are tough to beat. Time is tough to come about; I agree. You just gotta set your mind to setting aside a designated time each week to work on it; even if it's only an hour or two. I had to extend the sides 2" so the floorpan edge would have something to sit on. I went ahead and painted the framerails and braces while I had access, too. The panel fits good; now to start tacking it down and move to the front half. So far, so good.
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