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Greetings from the UK.Heres my latest ride,a Canadian built 1941 Dodge D21 business coupe.

And if you want the inimitable "Uncle Tom" McCahill's take on the '51 Plymouth (or any other car if you want to look for it), it's here. In addition to a lot of discussion of Plymouth's excellent performance in stock car racing at the time, it includes McCahill gems such as: "The day I arrived in Detroit to test the ’51 Plymouth it was so cold the mayor had issued orders to make room for the brass monkeys in the boiler room at City Hall. I arrived at the huge Plymouth plant looking like the father of Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer." "Years ago, many really high-class cars had a ride control valve right on the instrument panel. At the flick of a finger, the car’s ride could be made as hard as a mother-inlaw’s heart, for fast driving and cornering, or as soft as Stalin’s head for Aunt Matilda’s afternoon spin through the Park."

Out of curiosity I checked and they have Popular Mechanics magazine as well. Here's the link to their '51 Plymouth review: Popular Mechanics Magazine 1951-07: Vol 96 Iss 1 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

You can read it (and download it) right here: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pCEDAAAAMBAJ/page/n99/mode/2up

Still alive and kicking. Got sidetracked when we finally received ownership of my step-mother's place after she died late 2021. Between 3 other siblings only my brother and I are able to work on it. Repairs, clearing house, yard clearing, selling furniture, etc is a full time job. might be a while before I can start on the car again.

"Paint Details" under your car model in the "Resources" tab above lists what was painted that gray color. As for the reason, my understanding is that with the painting process back in the day, it was less expensive to paint all the non-exterior / non-visible parts of all the cars one color. That much of one standard color is far cheaper than the exterior color coats. The savings, of course, were intended to be passed on to the consumer.

Got it fully installed and working. Looks like it's quite accurate. 60 mph is a little over 3000rpm which an online calculate tells me is correct for my rear end gearing and tire size. Waze agrees with the indicated speed on the speedometer. I like having a tach so I know my shift points. Also I was hitting 65mph on the highway, and clearly that's a bit much at about 3300 rpm. https://youtu.be/yL7I9Uq26rc

Thanks for the update. I have a sort of pictorial guide on my website for rebuilding the BB carb. I don't have any Strombergs so no help there though.

If you were to read the owner's manual you would see low range was recommended for low traction driving like mud and snow, trailer towing, heavy load carrying, and steep hill descending. For normal driving conditions (normal for late 40s through mid 50s) high range was recommended. These cars were designed to accumulate momentum rather than briskly accelerate.

The main thing I can recommend when assembling these engines is to use thread sealant on the manifild studs, head bolts, and several of the bolts for the timing chain front plate and cover. These bolts and studs go into the water jacket in many cases, so play it safe and seal all of them. I also add a little sealant (not RTV silicone) to the edge of the core plugs before installing and seating them into the block. I am not a fan of RTV silicone. It has it's purposes but I find it missused way too much. I prefer Permetex #2 or Permetex #9 "Tack & Seal" for engine builds. Merle