Projects Pulling the trigger...aka..gotta have it

The older I get the more I appreciate cars like this,that will make a nice driver with lots of style. HRP

 

"Us vs. the Marines???" "I think you meant U.S. vs, the Marines."
But...IF you were a member of the "Pumphouse Gang", surfing the friendly waves of the Pacific thereabouts, you may have locked horns with some Marines on the beaches of Camp Pendleton! ...ergo, "us vs. the Marines"...

 

Perfect candidate for a 'Crawl-Thru' after free admission to the Drive-In movies!
Seriously, though...the condition of this little 3 window is amazing.
Steering wheel, DASH, (!) and body, grille and both rare taillights? Man, this car's tasty.
I can imagine it in paint, really clean finish, but with some nice wide steelies and that 'husky' street racer look. Nothing 'gaudy', just...subtle. 340 and 727 Torqueflite. Cheap.

 

Hey AM,
It was literally (British version litral-ly), "us (SURFERS) versus the Marines on the Northern Camp Pendleton grounds. Those battles were epic and have been documented everywhere. Everyone has a story or two. We thought it was secret until people began to get the idea that you can hide from the Marine Patrols in that jungle.

Some guys just drove their cars right into the bushes and threw some branches on top. (not too smart...) They usually got vandalized by the Marines or towed to the Provost Marshal's office grounds in Oceanside. It is now, Trestles Beach in the California State Park system. (and crowded from 6 am until dark...)

Jnaki
Back then, the 51 Plymouth Coupe was perfect for hiding and not being recognized as people walked by or the Marine Patrols drove by. It was a true camouflaged vehicle. It is/was very roomy for a 2 door coupe.

We were very lucky as that Plymouth Coupe and the succession of vintage VW Vans never got broken into or vandalized. Hiding well, was an ounce of prevention and well worth the time it took to do the work. We did not get caught surfing or on the beach, either. Lucky us...!

 

Congrats, that car seems to be in awesome shape. Wish I could of started with something so solid.
<<<<<<< I too, like big butts I can not lie

 

Hey AM,
Not to take away from the Plymouth Coupe, but, you referenced the Pumphouse Gang. That era was a couple of years after our 60-64 run ins with the Northern Camp Pendleton Marines. They had their own stories as told by author, Tom Wolfe. The pumphouse reference was from various areas of coastal So Cal. The history of the era in each locale was different as we all moved around and got acclimated to the environment. La Jolla/San Diego vs. Orange County vs. LA County, etc.

We were the low key, quiet surfers not wanting acclaim to anything other than getting some good waves, food, and cool surf trips. At the time, nothing else mattered. We had hot rods, modified wagons, coupes and sedans, but that was the other side of the So Cal lifestyle.

Jnaki
The primer Plymouth is still cool and ours was a version of that coupe.

from Tom Wolfe chronicles:
“Southern California, I found, was a veritable paradise of statuspheres,” he wrote in 1968. Beyond the customizers and drag racers, there were surfers, cruisers, teenyboppers, beboppers, strippers, bikers, beats, heads, and, of course, hippies. Each sphere started off self-contained but increasingly encroached on, and influenced, the wider world."

"Wolfe spent roughly a month in 1965 observing the life of the group at WindanSea beach in La Jolla. He called them the Pump House Gang because they congregated around the salmon-pink La Jolla Water System pump house at the end of Nautilus Street. Tourists and older people, called “black panthers” because of the black shoes they inevitably wore, were verboten on the WindanSea Beach. The Pump House kids maintained territorial rights by heaving water balloons on the intruders."

 

hey hey , had a 51 a couple of years back... i prefer the 49 , 50...she has curves alright...

 

I love 'em! I want one. My buddy has a 49 with a 454/400 turbo. It's super low and pro streeted. Was in Rodder's Digest ....gray primer with the jambs done in pink for his wife.....3 megaphones under the back.
I like the 49's skinnier rear fenders, ribbed bumpers etc.

 

Chop it.

 

NO!!! DON"T !!!

 

Appreciate the photoshop..can you color it crazy purple...thanks

 

Had a buddy a bit older than me that had one in the 60's that he turned the trunk and area behind the seat into a bed. I think that went away after he tried to get another guy's sister in the back and she went straight to big brother on it. We didn't see too much of him until the bruises went away and the bed was gone when I looked in the car a couple of weeks later.
There was another one in town that belonged to a lady in her 80's that put groceries in just about every week she had had it since it rolled off the dealers lot, nice car but it was getting a few dings as her driving ability diminished. You can make a Costco run with that car and have room left over though.

 

A baby hemi and an automatic go crusin

 

The worst kind of buyers remorse, is the remorse of not buying it.

 

Is this "Crazy"enough???

 

Cool car. Don't see many of these around cali. Looks like a great start .

 

How about a removable hard top.
Chopped of course.

 

I'm sorry..I don't want to hijack this thread but I'm getting into the style of this car....Has all sorts of petnetial

 

You guys DO know it's a DODGE, right?

 

like the plum crazy chop...

 

Those cars drive like a dream, the Fluid Drive is cool.

 

Body is pretty nice...some rust..I have a lot of experience with these cars..I think I'll do a frame swap this time with running drivetrain..got something figured out..

 

Well, I really like these coupes and they are pretty inexpensive...compared to some makes...I'm interested in buying another one...as a matter of a fact..I did just that...this one a 5 window...no rust..garaged the last 50 years...

 

Photoshop request....chopped , shorten the quarter window 3 inches.....thanks in advance...

 

At first I found that style FUGLY however it's grown on me, I suppose you could call that style unique.
Cody WALLS is building a 47, look there for inspiration?

 

There used to be a three-window like that here locally that had an Olds Toronado drive in the back of it. Even had a clear panel in the deck so you could see it. Seems like he put a DeSoto nose on it and called it De Toro.

 

Hey hey rustynewyorker , nice thing about em is parts are available , Toronado swap with corvette trailing arms? I think if I remember correctly ...