I was in the middle of building a 47 Plymouth 4 dr street rod, had the chassis all finished, rack&pinion installed, disc brake conversion, 5.3/4L60E installed. I had the body mediablasted and was going to start on the patchwork this summer when I met this really nice old guy who was telling me about a 48 Plymouth 2 dr coupe he had in his garage for the last 15 years. It was his first car when he was 16, he drove it for many years and then took it apart 15 years ago to restore it but never went any further. After we talked a while he said, "I'm never going to finish it, and I'd love to see someone get it back on the road. I'd like you to have it if you want it." I brought it home this weekend, same chassis so I'm halfway there. What a great guy!
Great gift.When you get it finished,you should take pictures,blow some of them up,make a giant collage style framed pic about poster size for him,and let him know that the car is being well preserved.Hook the guy up with a great momento for hooking you up,then take him for a cruise man..You'll give that guy one hell of a memory.If you ever want to see someone so overcome with joy,have them remember the best moments.Guarentee he'll be in tears of happiness when you finish that car and take him for a spin in it.
Great idea, I'll do that. I was thinking of letting him and his wife take it for the day, also. They probably had some pretty hot dates in back of that car at the local drive in; they've been married since right after high school.
I like these old Plymouth coupes and you have a great start on a fine rod. I like the guys attitude and that he gave the car to you to finish. Good Luck.
You gotta love a guy like that; I dont think I've ever seen a more generous heart. When he told his wife what he wanted to do she said,"Are you sure you're not pushing him too hard to take it? Who would want that old heap?" Very nice lady, kept thanking me for getting it out of their garage!
Just remember to pay that kindness forward some day.But yeah man,the idea of letting them take ot for the day might be a good idea,or maybe not,depends on their driving ability.Still,the picture idea I suggested and taking them for a spin would make their day..
That is way cool. Imagine a bunch of H.A.M.B.ers coming to visit him in their cars. You should visit him and make his day.
I would be disapointed if they didn't have a date in the back , infact i would insist on it! Yep ya better had the old fella the keys for a nice weekend with a nice picknic packed in the back for them.
Does that thing even have a back seat? Cool story for sure. And it'll be a much cooler car with the coupe body on it. Looks solid too.
Yes, it does, and a big one at that! But since the wife and I are mid 40's and have a king size bed, I'll leave the christening to someone else. I dont think we can bend like that anymore! Besides, I need the TV to turn on the ballgame afterwards.
You must be living right my friend. Take the old boy out for dinner in it sometime. Ever get up to New London, MO? There is a fantastic smoked BBQ place on the west side of hwy 61 just north of there.
and to think you just got rid of one & then rag another back in. I guess you couldn't stand to see an empty spot in the garage???..joe
No way, Joe! You know the rules of the game; always have more projects than you could possibly finish in a lifetime! I keep forcing myself not to look at the Studebaker pickup that's been in this guys yard down the street for the last 10 years. My wife looks at me to see if I'm looking at it everytime we drive by.
yea, yea, yea I know, I kinda have 2 right now(I gave the son Marge) & can't finish either at the moment. Maybe the wife's looking at you because "SHE" wants the Studebaker ...joe
did you bring the fordoor back to store at that guys house to fill the void.......... seems fair to me
Actually that four door body was really sound. It was mediablasted, etching primered, and had all the bad spots cut out. Really stright and solid. I stuck it on Ebay and it was sold by the end of the day, but turned out to be a scammer. I decided to keep in for patching the coupe.
Damn you're as bad as I am when it come to making up your mind about what you want to do to your project or build. Sooo I take it the 2 door will be laying on the frame you had done?? Hell I don't blame you either...joe
Thats the plan. I figure if I sell the mountain of four door parts I've been collecting along with the 2 door chassis, it should give me a decent amount of cash to proceed. Plus I plan on selling the rat truck this fall. Isn't it amazing how car guys can justify anything we do?
Like I said...Pay attention to old timers! Great deal- just make sure you finish it and give him a ride like everyone else has said.
Here's an update; just getting started on this again. I had the body media blasted and last weekend finished cutting all the panels out of the sedan body I'll need for patching. I also got the motor put together. I used a ZO6 GM permormance parts cam and springs along with a new oil pump, timing set, gaskets, shorty headers, etc. The motor only had a little over 60K and looked really good inside so no rebuild was needed. I'm going with Edelbrocks carburated Performer RPM for the LS1 and a 700r4 for the trans. I'm starting on the body this week; first on the list is to get the floors and rockers repaired.
1st try at fabricating inner rockers. Not too bad but it took all day to do 1 side, other than the 1 1/2 hours I spent picking up supplies. The next side went much easier than the first. I had to go back to the other one and do it a little different, as a matter of fact. These "factory reproduction outer rocker panels" don't fit worth a darn. But I'll use them anyway. Everything you'll see looks Ok, just the bottom lip isn't bent right. I'm concentrating on getting the rockers and the floor finished first. I finished the drivers rocker and test fit the doors. Both looked good. I took the whole floor section from the sedan and cut the sides back 2" and cleaned up the ends of the floor braces. Luckily enough, the sedan and the coupe floor measure the same from front to back. Then I cleaned up all the mating edges and slid it right into place. Now I just weld the whole thing all the way around. I still need to make front pans, those were bad on both cars, but it's starting to look like something.<!-- / message --><!-- attachments --><!-- / message --><!-- attachments --> <!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->
I didn't get near as much done this weekend as I would have liked. I spent most of the day stripping the 48 Dodge I'm parting out because I sold a bunch of stuff from it. Can't say no to $$$, that's the only way to keep this one going. I did get one side of the front floor patched and tacked in. <!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->
The Jalopy Journal
