Leaderboard

Here is a couple of photos of the '49 conversion. I did the same for the '47 although I have not installed it yet. The BIG issue on the rear is the tapered axel. You MUST take an axel and a hub flange and put it into a big lathe and turn the face of the hub flat. The you have to make sure you use the same key, axle and hub as a set. The owner at ECI told me he does not do rear disc conversions due to this issue. He said people did not "get it" and would then complain that the disk did not run true and the brakes pulsed. I even went so far as to place the actual disc onto the hub and axle and made sure it all ran true. On the '49 it has worked just fine. Note in the photo that I made a rim mounting stud. It is threaded and goes through one of the old rivet holes. It is threaded and holds the disc in place and helps when mounting the rear wheel. Slick I thought. James PS. My friend George in the photo.

Here's another batch:

This came up and I HAD to buy it. I am partial to Woodie Wagons so I was a goner from the get-go

the car has a suggested price on the tag....51K but I would not go that high myself...….

I luv the order of the restoration pieces; kinda reminds me of the kid in Christine. ?

Road trips are special. Three years ago my wife and I did a Coast to coast trip. 9000 miles. Calf to Maine, Maine to Winnipeg, Winnipeg home.

IF i remember correctly it seems as if there is a spring loaded nut and washer that you can tighten up.

I have a '40 Plymouth wagon and struggled with the original color scheme. It was a total basket case so leaving it as it was was not an option. It came from Chrysler beige with blond wood, yellow bracketry and hardware and a tan top, with blackwalls, which was Plymouth's only option that year. The wife wanted a pretty color, so we opted for Brewster Green (a GM truck color from the '40s) with contrasting wood. In 1941 you could get multiple body colors and two tone wood (blond ash with mahogany panels) Because it spent it's life on a turkey ranch in Tonopah Nevada, delivering birds and eggs - it was considered the delivery van of it's day and so didn't warrant all the fancy color schemes, etc. After seeing your wagon, I almost wish I had stayed stock.Your wagon's color scheme reminds me of vintage postcards showing street scenes of the 1940' and 50s. - very cool! I agree that you should leave it as original as possible (6 volt, stock motor, etc) but the two best "hidden upgrades" that you can make are front disk brakes, which can be done without lowering the vehicle, and bias-look radial tires. My dad always said to me (during my wild teenage years) "you may want upgrades, but but you only need two things- good tires and brakes"

NEVER.....it is staying as original as it is.

Please don't destroy it with 12v, disc brakes, radials etc.

More pics

Correct. The center section is "hinged" and folds down. There are latches on the back of both bumper guards and when they are disengaged the bumper folds down. The car having that rear bumper intact was a big selling point to me. If that bumper or section is missing it is one thing that will probably NEVER be found.

Thanks for all the positive comments. It was in an Estate Auction and, much to my surprise, I won the auction. I have not had the car delivered yet. It should be in my possession early May.

Almost done with the metal bashing, before and after pics

I may have already given this info/opinion on another transmission related thread but I have a 700 r4 behind my 259 v8 (175hp) in my Studebaker half ton pickup' the rear end is a ford 9 inch out of a T Bird, the trans was out of an 87 caprice. the rear gears are in the 3.23/3.55 neighborhood. The truck weighs 3200 plus or minus. with no load and 1/4 throttle, first/second shift occurs at 18 to 20 mph,2nd third shift occurs at 35/40, third to fourth at about 50 or earlier if you lift. lock up occurs under slack throttle shortly after top gear is engaged. With 235 75r15 tires, 60 mph is in the mid 2000 rpm range seat of the pants tach. Don't know what hills or mountains you will be climbing but on interstate grades it will probably unlock in top gear and for steeper stuff it will probably spend most of its time in third. I would imagine if your are touring you will probably have at least 500 pounds of junk in the trunk plus the weight of you and your passengers. with both the 200 and 700 r's, auxiliary transmission cooling is a must. I have mine running through an good sized heater core mounted in front of the radiator. I know a guy who has a GMC pickup with a 700 r, with what looks like a baseboard heater element running the length of his passenger side frame rail in addition to the radiator cooler.

The center of the rear bumper folds down.

What happens to the bumper when the tailgate is lowered?

And more photos:

Hello James, GM used the 2004R transmission in full sized Caddys back in the 80's so weight shouldn't be an issue. Also, the 200 has a fairly steep OD .67, so I would recommend 3.9-4.1 gears at a minimum, probably 4.3 depending on tire size. I don't care for the 700's low 3.06 first gear then a 1.62 second, that kind of RPM drop might be a little much for our low revving flatties. Another issue is the parasitic loss of the 700 is much higher than the 200. Our 35 Ford has a 2004R, 3.89 gears and 27" tall tires and the OD is pretty tall for the LS, if I were to do it again, I would've put 4.10's in the rear. I would also second the idea above for going to a A500 or 518 as it is a much better transmission in stock form to the GM's but they are a BIG BEAST and you would have to cut your floors to fit. For the 200, I went with Bowtie Overdrives out of LA, price was good, service excellent and they will build what you want / need, give them a call and talk to them. If you do go with the GM overdrive, setting the TV pressure is a must. I have the necessary gauges to do so and you live near me so let me know..... You can see in this picture how the A518/500 transmissions are big in all the wrong places. Adam

Boy I love the look of that car. I own a 4 door Royal and called it sexy, with the comment of a 4 door being sexy came with a 2 door vs 4 door appearance discussion. Your car looks like a 4 door with only 2. I love it.

I installed the eci disc brakes and dual master cylinder kit in my 1950 Plymouth. The kit is high quality and bolted in with a minimum of fiddling. I did not use a power booster and the brakes have a good feel and pedal effort.

Nice! Got a less blurry pic of the dash...yours seems different than mine...center and glovebox look alike, it's just the speedo assembly looks different{typical of canadian and US versions I hear}. edit- btw, nice blending of the new running boards...I like that better than stock!