Projects How to set up a 1937 Plymouth panel correctly.

post a pic
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If you want a Thames or Willys gasser, start with a Thames or Willys. A Plymouth panel is just too big to pull off that look. Post a picture of your car please. There are some smart people here.

 

I’m not making an argument for building the panel one way or the other. I understand what this site is about I have reviewed photos of old hot rods and gassers. At this point I’m still thinking taklking getting ideas. I have done nothing but restore boats and cars for the last 20 years professionally so spend much more time thinking then working on personal projects. I know lots of old Guys with cars sitting in feeleds or in the back of shops. I may sell my panel and build some thing different. I haven’t decided. Right now old steel is cheep and projects are abundant.

 

If I did I would but I don’t. Don’t even know if I want the 37 panel traded it for a notch back mustang I wanted less. Just talking about what’s been done and what can be.

 

That is cool. Never seen a panel with windows in the back. I have seen a couple older boxy style panels from the early 30 and be for set up like the one in the video.
One thing cool about using a panel for a build is there’s room to sit. I know a couple guys with hot rods that skip the notch and chop so they can fit in there car.

 

like it, has a cool vibe
hope you like to weld a lot

 

I just upgraded to a miller multiprosses 200.
I have been welding 20 some years now every thing from body work to big boat trailer fraims. I also have a Schmidt sand blaster and soda blaster as bottom paint removal is one of the larger jobs I bid. Not worried about welding. Just how I want to rig her.
Rust is thro in the lowers and one of the drip rails is gone. Other side a pipe was used to replace it and it looks good. Rear door is beat up bad and will need a lot of love.

 

You know. It is a sedan dilivery.
The truck was part of Plymouth’s comirtial car line, it included the Windsor station wagon 4 door, was built using the same front cowl , hood , fenders , chassis and engine. And there advertising listing the panel as a sedan dilivary.

 

OK, so here is what I would do.
Assuming the frame is usable, I would shorten the wheel base about 18". Then I would remove the same 18" out of the length of the body just behind the doors.

I would lower the frame on the suspension about 3" to 4". I would keep the front axle and springs, but lower them to match the rear. Then I would channel the body down over the frame until the rear body wheel well top edge is about 4" above whatever rear tires I was going to use.

Then its time to repair all the rotted metal and attach the body to the frame. I would have to loose that spare tire, completely. I would probably have to come up with something to fill in under the hood sides, or maybe loose the hood sides and just go with the hood top. You need to find an appropriate grill shell and grill, I really don't like the original 37/38 Plymouth grill, I don't believe they would look right without fenders. I would be looking for an older version or for something else. it would need to be painted a flat, or semi flat paint of your color choice. It would need big rear tires and medium sized front tires on good looking vintage mag wheels. Then the drive train would have to back up the hot rod look. Gene

 

Sedan dilivery in green , panel in red

 

You think 18 inches. A model-A has a 103.5 wheel base. The Plymouth has a 118 inch wheel base. It’s 14 inches longer, my 1963 Cadillac coupe has a 129” wheel base but most of the 2 door cars I have are around 100” inch wheel base but we’re considered compacts.
Shortening the body go’s to a place I don’t really like. It’s like bringing up the rear fender pocket up near the center line to squat the body lower and keep the wheel in the fender. Looks better the. The wheel over the fender pocket but IDK.

Here is a panel that’s been chopped. It has not been channeled. The fenders and running board have been brought up and fenders were cut and shortened and a pick up fender was used with out a spare tire option. The last photo is a 37 Chevy fenderless. The last photo is a rat rod that’s been cut and welded in every direction and cinda shows the proportional complexity of working with this era rounded body style..

 

If you don't like the 18", take out 10", or 12" or 6", just something to shorten the thing up. The 18" was a number I pulled off the top of my head. The body is too long between the rear edge of the door and the front of the wheel well, but it might just be the pictures. When you remove the long fenders from the front and the back, it gives the appearance of being very long on the wheel base. I built a 35 Dodge 2 door sedan, with the fenders, it didn't seem a long. Posting the only remaining picture of my 35 Dodge 2 door sedan.

At 6'1, I have little interest in most things chopped. I think it usually ruins the body flow. Gene

 

Wow! Thanks for posting the cool literature.

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Well at least we now know why you were asking about it becoming an open wheel car. Since there wasn't a lot there to start with, and little to lose, I agree with Gene Koning. Chop that thing up. It might not end up looking totally like some old era build, but so what?

 

What they originally look like may have little to do with what the end product looks like. The end product hopefully resembles what the vision that started the whole ordeal was.
There are a lot of advantages to starting with a pile of junk, you can't hurt it at all and it may even come out OK.

I found a picture of what that 35 Dodge sedan looked like when I first got it home. We put over 70,000 miles on that 35 Dodge, and I did everything except the paint job. Gene

 

OMG! That grille on the Plymouth is perfect!!!! I need one of those!

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The grill looked Ok in the pictures (until you look closely), the bottom 1/2 was broken up and rotted away. The upper part was badly pitted and would crumble between your fingers if you squeezed too hard. The little stainless pieces were in grate shape, except there was nothing left behind them. The grill shell wasn't any better. I was unable to reuse any of it.
The little guy in the picture is 37 now. He is very active in the car hobby. Gene

 

I agree there no gilt in changing it around. I have the fenders and just about every thing but the grill. So will pull all the parts out of the back and see what I’m really dealing with.
Fixing the trucks body is not that big of a deal. Most pt50 have similar rot.
Fenders , running board and grill are all the same as the pickup pt50 have found some factory replacement parts and think it can all be gotten in fiberglass also.

 

How are things progressing?

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