leave it the way it is.. it's a 4 door..and enjoy it. spend the time you would working on it with your daughter. i won't be long a she will be asking you for the keys
Cool car cooler kid! First mod...seatbelts for the kids, I would lace that roof and put old daddys disc brake kit on the front and a ferd explorer 8.8 rear end with discs on the back, then lower it. Good luck And google p15d24, you want answers on your car they have em....
add some wide whites,lakepipes and lower it... oh wait thats what i did ... good luck j/k its already a good looking car.my 02
Yeah they dont all need to be lowered, chopped, and painted with glitter. Some are cool just the way they are, and yours is one of them. And I am sure it draws a crowd just the way it is...John
Spun Aluminum wheel covers from Speedway, a visor, lower the tail ligths and skirts. DON'T suicide those back doors!!! And like storm king said "don't put anything GM in it or on it"! Lowering it? Eh, maybe a little, but, don't go over board, bellflower exhaust tips with dual exhaust would be cool and get rid of that rubbery looking antenna, jee-yikes! That thing is just puke worthy. Pinstripes should be the saame color as the interior and as far as body color? Black and white are always right!! Unless it has a cherry on top.
Welcome to the 49 Plymouth family! I agree that that two tone paint job has got to go. If you are going to be doing a lot of driving with the family in that car, may I suggest the following: Front shock mount kit that mounts the front shocks to the frame instead of the upper arm. Overdrive tranny. If you swap the rear as someone suggested you will run into quite a few issues because of the type of ujoints used. There is nothing wrong with the stock rear and stock rear brakes behind the stock motor. If you swap in a V8, then you must also change the rear because the tranny that goes with your V8 probably won't have those slim shady ujoints and your stock tranny has the ebrake on the transmission. I don't see a need for dual carbs or split exhaust except as eye candy. Run one Smitty's or cherry bomb or Jag 120/140/150 muffler for a nice sound. The stock muffler is not bad if you want a 'silent' car. You can get lowered front spindles from FatMan. If you upgrade the front brakes to discs you must also change the master. Personally, I would keep the stock tailights because they are IMHO what gives the car character. If you are set on putting the tailights in the fender, perhaps swap on 50 Plymouth rear fenders to give you a starting point with less work. Depending on the look you want, you can run up to L78x15 tires, at least in the back. These, with dog dish hub caps, don't look to bad, again IMHO. That is a very nice car that you can start enjoying immediately. Suggest you take on one modification at a time so that the car is not laid up for too long so you can continue enjoying it with the family. Familiarize yourself with the zillions of lubrication points on the car - they are there for a reason. Don't get heartburn over 6 volts or positive ground. The stock electrical systems work fine. Don't worry about unleaded gas because these cars had hardened valve seats from the factory. The FIRST thing I would do: Add a PCV system to keep the engine compartment cleaner and, more importantly, to extend the life of your engine. This is because the stock road draft crankcase ventilation system can suck in grit and this, combined with the rather primitive oil filtering system, will eventually kill your rod bearings. This is only a couple of hours to install and you can get the parts you need from Vintage Power Wagons. These cars are not fast, do not corner well and take forever to stop. Drive accordingly LOL. But everywhere you go people will point and stare (either with envy or pity LOL) and wherever you park you will hear stories about how Grandpa or Uncle Ed or Aunt Sally used to have one just like it. Mine:
suicide doors sound cool...but stock looks good as it is. my favorite 4 doors are the 1949-1951 mercury and the mid 30's 4 door humpbacks.
My $.02 would be weld up the B and C pillars, make it a 2 dr and lay that back window down into a mean chop...
Please don't even think about doing that. Nothing looks worse than a 4 door with the rear doors welded, it ain't foolin' anybody. If you're going to retain the little front doors and everything else that defines it as a 4 door, you might as well retain the convenience of rear doors as well. As someone else said, spend the time with your daughter, she'll be grown before you know it, and you'll never get that time back, there'll be plenty of time to cut up cars later, trust me on this.
Wide whitewalls, fenderskirts, and just a little lowered (not "Mexican on the ground low"). Chrysler wires would look great... Take good care of it!
I agree with RPW... dont lower it to much, will look silly. Perhaps search for a new side trim that will start at the front fender and end at 3/4 of the front door. To brake up the bit flat side of the car and visaually make the car look longer.
This is a photoshop I did of an all-stock '50 fourdoor to use as a plan for mine, which if I remember correctly you've seen already. This is the original photo, http://www.flickr.com/photos/raycuda/894315079/ No matter what everybody says, these cars have some potential, and you definitely do not need to weld up the back doors and chop half the height out of the top to get the old mopar's to look good. Just some simple changes and you've got a really nice lookin' car. my .02
Check out the "Bomba" or "Bomb" syle of lowriders. It works very well with cars like yours and you can't get much cooler. Also it doesn't involve any irreversible body modifications.
I'd start by lengthening those front doors about 2 inches to hide that pillar in between the doors. It has always looked like, to me, that they combined two cars together at the middle when I see that pillar.
As clean as it is, leave it alone. Lower it, pinstripe a bit outside and the dash and drive the hell out of it.
Broo-suf , just drive it . and dont get rid of door handels just makes the car looked photo shoped ... check . trust me just drive it . kool the way it is . clean 4 door
Congrats on the Plymouth Purchase Josh. That is a very nice looking car.... I agree with others.... Seatbelts, wide whites, lower in rear about 2 inches and drive........ Post a picture of the engine compartment when you get time...
yep.. just adding onto what others have said. I bought my 53 pontiac for the same reason... I've built quite a few custom bikes over the years, but got the poncho to enjoy with my wife and kids. they LOVE the car. at first I had grand Idea's of cut this chanell that, lower this, shave these.... to be honest. the kids, wife and now even myself love the car just the way it is.not stock, but not heavily modified either.....the fun that my family and I have in the car is better than any mods.. my #1 rule would be... ADD SEATBELTS. that little girl smiling in the pic would be all it would take for me to make that rule number one. add a visor... its an easy bolt on and the just look kool..... everything else is optional.... Just load up the wife and kid and have fun with it.
If the car was a hulk found in a field, barn, where ever. I would go full custom, but in that great a shape I would leave it alone. To make changes and have some fun you could paint on period door signs. eg (Airport limo, Taxi, Forestry service, Grocery,Cop car etc.) and get accessories to match. Be fun for the daughter too, looking for stuff.
since i have a 50 more door as well that thing is waaaay to nice to chop up. allthough i did chop up that exact car (on paint of course) but looking at it i agree that it would be a shame to chop that up. plus you can only run a single hinge suicide door hinge. because of the fender and they are expensive as hell and still may not hold that heavy ass door...
Leave it alone! Just do some discs on the front, do something with the front shocks,(add a frame bracket for the top mount), Lower it a bit (and for the love of god not that goofy tail down corn belt rake!!) keep the thin white walls, add some interesting caps of some sort('53 Caddy maybe?), Stripe it, and most importantly keep the lakes pipes, visor, and skirts as far away as you can! (ya gonna cruise Des Moines for christ sake?!) Seriously though, the paint and interior looks great as it is, why mess with it? It's a four door - it always will be a four door. It will never be "cool", but it can be interesting and fun! Don't get too carried away with this one - enjoy it, then find something else to cut up and slice and dice with two doors. Oh, figure out an overdrive too... might as well have something you can use!
If the wiring shows any sign of degrading, I'd put in a new wiring harness with a change to 12 volts. Cut one coil, 2 inch blocks in the rear, [front shock mounts already mentioned] and dual exhaust is mandatory for me. I might nose and deck it with period correct black primer spots. I don't believe in lakes pipes, fake spotlights or anything else that looks "tacked on"...this includes visors and conentinental kits. If the brakes work ok, I'd leave them. I'd spend time keeping it clean and in good tune and the seat belts sound like a great idea to me. Keep it simple.
This one is my buddys car. It has been lowered easily and he put a 5 speed in it. Cruises awesome now and is clean simple and tidy. Just goes to show you aint gotta do much to em.... -Shiny
Thats already a cool ride, Id put wide whites on it, some dual exhaust to let the flatty talk and maybe paint the roof cream colored and you and family enjoy the ride. Spike
Here is my favorite example of these cars. His site is cool, and would make anyone want to build on of these boxes things!: http://www.50plymouth.com/ Just a nice website in general. Chevk it out. His is stodgy and stock still (no chop...not wild changes...it is a 4-door), but with some period engine bolts ons. Looka like he had a good plan and he showed a lot of restraint! Why not just take a hint from this car? Someone did yours up tastefully...it looks better that way. But do whatever you want with it, but maybe just add little subtle touches to make it your own...they aren't wortt a ton, these cars.
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