Projects "Losthopes Ol' Lady's 1949 ply Build"

Well everyone im back with another build thread ,i have a few other low buck drive way builds threads on my other cars and following my motto this one will be to! I have my chevy c10 and ford but seems like most my family members and friends have 50's mopars and im always working on them and they have grown on me over the years so thats what the wife and i decided to look for when we decided to sell her 73 vw and get her a american classic car for her x-mas gift.

We knew we wanted a 49-52 , and preferred to find a plymouth 2dr would be nice but since it is going to be the wifes car a 4 dr. would work also. we searched craigslist for awhile but didnt see anything to appealing for the prices..then after spreading the word through my group of car friends my buddy joe who always seems to be finding and buying classic cars out of fields and barns ,said he had one a 1949 4dr. plymouth special deluxe he needed to pick up off a ladys property he sent me these pictures over the phone:









talking to joe on the phone he said he wanted the stock steelies off it and would put some 14" ford rollers on it , we talked about price and i could tell he didnt pay much for it and said it had a pink slip from 1974 and was last reg in 1975 said he already had a rear door with some minor dents but had all the window hardware , he said the lady that had it said her husband( whom passed away) bought it from their neighbors that moved out of state in 1975 and didnt know much about it or if it was running.

Looking at the pictures and the damage I assumed it was hit then parked and that their might be a possibility that i could get it fired up. So after striking a deal sight unseen over the phone for $350 , trading a .38 special revolver, and agreeing to build joe a section of fence for his back yard (labor only) about a days worth of work the car was ours and was perfect because i now had another project to work on!

Couple days later Joe towed it to his shop and called me up to come see the car:

 

One upside to having my dad that owns a few 49-52 mopars and that my cousin "Glendale" and club member "tragic59" here on the Hamb that own and also have been parting out 49-52 mopars and that I have 3-4 other friends with mopars I knew that i had a good chance at getting the hook up on parts, Quick call to Glendale and tragic59 and I had two straight doors and a 2 15" stock steelies , call to my dad and I had 2 more 15" stock steelies and a better front and rear seat and some better door panels out of a 50 plymouth..

seats with factory plastic being unwrapped for the fisrt time! Not perfect shape but should do the trick for awhile:









Picked up a set of shaved whites from another friend:


Joe said he wanted to fix the drivers side before he handed the car over to me so i dropped off the doors i got from glendale and tragic59 so joe could hang them and try and get the b-pillar and c-pillar pulled out the best he could. I stopped by today to see how it was going ,still needs some more love but looking better he has the rear fender pretty straight :









so thats it so far till it gets home, floors and rockers are shot on the drivers side most likely from the damage and doors not being closed and rain getting in ther since 1975 , cars a total project and everything will need to be gone through but thats what i enjoy doing , plans for the car is try and get motor to turn over and fire up and then tinker from there on..

 

Great story and great project! What are the future plans?

 

Future plans are either way get this motor fired up or swap in another flathead six in, would like to have a nice hopped up 6 in it with dual carb and dual exhaust.wiring doesn't look to bad at all in it but i might rewire it going 12 volt for sure..static drop it front and back ,throw in a disc brake conversion kit up front, master swap, might keep the 3-tree or convert it to the t-5 , fix the rust issues have a simple two tone paint job from local paint shops have a friend do the interior ,wide whites and skirts and a visor since its a 4-door nothing crazy just something simple but nice for the wife to drive around town and to work...

 

Have fun!

 

These cars are growing on me also,,looks like it's shaping up. HRP

 

Congrats, Bro!!! I'm looking forward toother one of your builds!! Swapping firearms for rides is right up my alley too! That's how i picked up my 48 Dodge this summer! This will be a fun project. I agree with keeping a flat 6 in if you can. They are tough motors and look sweet with split manifolds and dual carbs. You have the hook ups for sure with the Mopar goods!!! EXCELLENT!!!

 

Looks like a great start...keep posting progress.

 

Very cool car and neat story.
I think this pic sums it up. Good luck

 

i have a perfect back fender also come and get it.i will add it to your list!

 

excellnt story, love a 49 or 50 plymouth cool cars.hope your plans work out for it i'll be watching with interest.

 

Great project! I got me one of my own as well, check out my build thread for some info on doing the discs on the cheap, a rear swap, easy lowering, etc. Best of luck!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=762258

 

Front shock relocation....

 

Thanks for the support guys im itching to get the car home but letting joe do his thing first , soon as i have made more progress ill be updating the thread!

thanks don-vee great thread ! ive read your thread a number of times over the past week im sure ill be reading it a couple more for ideas once the cars home and i get working on it!

Yep thats on the list , that and jeep swaybar

Thanks steppin! i dont know if Joes giving me the thumbs up as in cool car or if its a thumbs up because he pawned the car off on me LOL!

Awesome you rock! I appreciate the parts hook up..Im going to owe you guys more for parts then i paid for the car HAHA

 

This is sounding SCARY losthopes and dragonknucks '54 Fords to early Mopars HRP,are you next?

 

Losthopes, Enjoy your build! looks like parts are falling in your lap,there is a Santa Claus!

 

Anything going on with the new Plymouth this month?? Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!!

 

and Joe is a friend of yours? whew, thats rough, but I dig it! I have a pretty clean 51 cranbrook 4 do' myself and love it.

 

Well it has been awhile since i started this thread not alot of progress , ive just been busy working and any free time has been helping Joe pick up more old cars and organize the two wharehouse spaces he has , one for all his cars and parts and making the other one a usable shop space for us to build some cars, Good news is Im now renting a space in joes shop area and have a covered place to work on my projects instead of the drive way at home, also worked out a deal with Joe for a 1926 dodge brothers sedan project that will be next after i get the 49 plymouth road worthy...

a few things have been done so far on the plymouth ,i gutted the interior "Holy rusted floor bat man" !! I got some work todo on my hands but Im ready for it, found Joes english wheel and shrinker ,and strecher and moved it from the warehouse up to the shop area,looking for a metal break still and I have a bead roller coming from eastwood so should be tackling the floor soon...in the meantime i did rebuild the distributor with new parts , and took apart the starter since it was sticking engaged when i tried to start the engine up:





Starter looks like it was rebuilt before the car was parked years ago, i just needed to clean up the inside a little:







and the result of letting some marvel mystery oil sit in the cylinders a few days and a few new parts and a little elbow grease was the engine firing up for the first time in a long time

Click video to view:

 

EXCELLENT, Bro!!!!!!!!!! Little steps are better than no steps at all. Getting her fired off is huge though!!

 

subscribed , i have a 1951 plymouth belvedere in barn that hasnt been on the road since 1974 .


Jen

 

It was exciting moment and huge deal for me since now im not looking for another motor. It fired right up smoked just for a bit , I didnt even mess with rebuilding the carb or adjust the timing yet and its running great which was unexpected for sitting so long LOL

Awesome i like the look of the 51 ply's! any plans for it in the near future?



Put in another days worth of work today tinkering around, I tore the front end apart to see what the brake components looked like , have the wheel cylinders soaking at the moment since the plunger inside are frozen in the cylinder, hopefully when i get them out the cylinders will be rebuild able and not pitted so i can get this car driving and stopping for awhile be for i decide to tackle the disk brake upgrade :



somehow i forgot to take a picture of air chiseling the rivets on the lower control arm spring plates but im in the process of swapping them from the top to the bottom to lower the front end , also built a electrolysis rust removal tub out of some rebar and plastic bin and have all the lower control arms in the de rusting process:





tomorrow I should be posting how the control arms turn out....

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jen...... View Post
subscribed , i have a 1951 plymouth belvedere in barn that hasnt been on the road since 1974 .


Jen
Awesome i like the look of the 51 ply's! any plans for it in the near future?



currently trying to remodel this house and its taking all my time and money. am not sure when or if i will ever find time for this car.


Jen

 

well I have to say the electrolysis rust removal method is awesome!

couple hours in the bucket ,little wire brushing and rinse and rust just falls off were picking up a giant plastic tub pallet and going to build a bigger tank for bigger parts heres how the a-arms turned out with the spring plate on the bottom to lower the front end have them bolted and welded:





also did a quick job on the backing plates they could of went back in the tub a little longer but think im going to just go ahead and do the disc brake conversion since the wheel cylinders are shot and itll cost about the same to rebuild stock drums with new parts as it will be to do disc:

 

You do nice work; I like the way you are handling the engine.

I have not seen original '49-50 seat upholstery in a long time. Really cool.

 

Looking good! Man...I gotta try one of those tanks out. Looks like it does a great job!!

 

Hey....congrats on getting some shop space too!! You deserve it and do better work than a lot of us that have at least a small garage and cover. You're in tall cotton now!!

 

Thanks Jason! Im loving having a shop space so far! and the tank works killer its a must have for me now.

Today i worked on the rest of the front suspension , cleaned the globs of road grime and grease and stripped them to bare metal , painted and rebuilt them.....need to replace all the grease fitting still....I also pulled the rusty springs out of the de-rusting tank,hit them with a wire brush and they looked brand new came out bare metal and cut a coil off should get the front nice and low untill i come across a set of aerostar springs to replace them:

 

Those make sweet rides . My dads (48 plymouth p-15) rode great and all original got 21 mpg . My old 41 buick gets 6 mpg . I have a partial rebuild kit for the couplers that are on your driveshaft if needed for your car . Just pm me - good luck

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Hey thanks for the offer , but im kicking around the idea of swapping the trans out for a 5 speed, and going with a different rearend for sure so most likely be ditching those couplers anyways or atleast the rear one!


Today ront clip was removed from the 49 plymouth, Took everything off of firewall, cleaned the rust,grime, and grease off the front of the frame to bare metal ,primed and painted .....time to pull engine and steering column to finish the bottom side and inside of frame and then onto repainting the firewall and engine! PROGRESS!