47heaven

Actually, the hole is a concern because the gas pedal did get stuck in it once and I couldn't accelerate one time when I needed to. You are right about the rivet patches and I definately am having those removed and patch welded.

5 degrees below, eh?? Holy frijoles!! It got 26 degrees at night a few weeks ago and we thought that was too cold. It's 59 here right now, but I do have the heater on to take the chill off. Remember that our blood is thinner out here than where you are at. By the way...I didn't mention it before, but you have done a nice job on your floor. Wish I knew something about welding.

You know, Fred...I just looked at your car on your profile and remember when I was 11 or 12 in the 70's, a neighbor of ours had the same car you do with faded green paint. I always thought it was so massive, but as a kid I noticed how cool these old cars looked and wanted one even then.

Thanks, Fred. Will do!

When I took the front seat out, I noticed that under the back part was some rough feeling material that sort of resembles hogs hair. Looks as if it was originally placed there as to protect the seat from backseat passenger's shoes or something. What I'm wondering is if this was the same material used for the carpeting in the back, since it seems very durable. Does anyone have any knowledge of this stuff? Can it still be purchased?

Thanks to you guys, I was able to remove a lot of the things I couldn't earlier. I did figure out the wiper arms after a bit of tugging and pulling, with a little swearing to help ease the frustration. The inside door handles and window cranks came off pretty easy after being told how the pin comes out, with the loss of one escutcheon. (By the way...where can I get more of these pins? I lost a couple when they fell out.) Also, took down the rest of the headliner and insulation that was still intact. Now, I need to wire brush all the old adhesive off the roof, which flakes off in the form of black crumbs. (Hope this headliner stuff has no asbestos in it.) I also managed to get the back window out, which was easy because I just cut the old rubber with a blade and the window popped out beautifully. Still need to work on the removal of the door handles and the windshield, though. Will do that tomorrow if we don't get any rain. All in all, it was a good bonding between man and his car.

As I was stripping out the inside of the car today, I discovered some rust on the floor that I hadn't see before. These are spots that have eaten through and definately need to be repaired. The worst spot is by the gas pedal, as seen in the pic below. It's getting to the point where the bottom part is going to fall through the floor sooner or later. It looks as if the bottom portion of the pedal was connected to two prongs or something. Does anyone have a pic or illustration of how this is set up. I have a friend that is going to do the patch up work by welding, not covering over with sheet metal and rivots, as it seems had been done to it before I got it. There is rust under the black step panels, but couldn't get them off to see how much. How bad does it look from your point of view?

The carpet is good, if you have a 50's-70's Plymouth, but wouldn't be period correct in a 30's -40's Plymouth.

Thanks John. Yeah, I saw the screws on the moulding, but not sure if the handle needs to come out from the inside, first, then unscrew them, since they are only mouldings. Nonetheless, I'll give these things a try.

Planning to take the P15 down today for it's paint job. Got all of the stainless and chrome trim off the car, except for the mouldings that the outside door handles go through...can't figure out how to take the door handle off. Also, how do the winshield wiper arms come off the spindles? I've tried a couple things, but chance bending the arms. Is there a trick to taking the inside window and door handles off, as well? I mean, I saw the pins that hold them on, but these can't be unscrewed like other set pins can, so I don't know how they are supposed to come out. That's basically it. Just need to take the bumpers off, but might have them do that at One Day. Oh...any tips for removing the back and windshield glass? That's gotta go, too.

There's always snow in Mexico...just not quite the type that falls from the sky on a cold, winter day.

Okay guys....in a rut here. This weekend I am taking my Plymouth down to be painted. The color I have chosen is from the 1947 Chrysler color line called Seaquest Green. http://www.vintagecarsource.com/Pages/vintage/47Chrysler.htm Originally, I had wanted to paint it Balfour Green, but then decided that "pea soup" wasn't the color I had wanted on my car after all. Anyway, One Day Paint is painting my car and all they use are Dupont paints. They can go back and match the colors from old color codes, as long as they are Dupont. The only problem is that Dupont didn't offer Seaquest Green in their 1947 Chrysler paint line; though it was offered by other auto paint companies that year. One Day tells me that without an old Dupont paint code for that color, they can't match it, unless I bring in something painted that color. Unfortunately, there aren't many things painted that color anymore. I want the paint to be exactly like the original Chrysler color. So what do I do? Are there places that can take these old paint codes and make a recipe for One Day to follow? Don't even know where to look for this on the internet.

Yeah, someone is, but for about $100 a pop. They guy has them on Ebay from time to time. A lot of money for a piece of plastic.

Hey...I can't think of a better ebrake. That's the same kind I use.

Ahhh...finally a 50's drive-in painting without a bunch of 55-57 Chevys and Corvettes in it.

I figured that the news about duplicating would be grim. I've gone to antique stores and swapmeets, but haven't had the same luck as some of you have. I know that a lot of these plates are hanging in old barns and garages somewhere, probably getting thrown away by people unaware of what they have. I guess it's just going to be a long hunt a peck process.

Does anyone know of any places that not only restore old license plates, but also can knock off a duplicate that will pass through the DMV? I refuse to pay $300-$500 for those thin pieces of old tin. There's gotta be a better way. I heard that people were able to use knock-offs. Is this true?

Well, I drove around town and couldn't find anything equivilent. Most of the old electronics places out here are giving way to computer chips and such. I managed to buy an Auto Zone light socket, trim it a bit and it went in where the original one went. The only thing, like Bob mentioned, the clearer the plastic, the less spreading of the illumination. In other words, there is more light in the front and it gets dimmer towards the back. So since that hood ornament seems to catch a lot of people's eyes at night, I'm going to install another light in the back. That should even things out. I'll post a pic of it this weekend.

Hey...could someone with a parts book post a pic of the hood ornament light assembly? I received mine today from an Ebay auction win and the bulb was just taped around the plastic bottom portion of the insert. I don't think this was the original set up. Thanks!

I'll see what I can do. The problem is my camera doesn't take sharp, close-up pictures anymore for some reason. You want to see how the spindle is colored, right?

David...I recently won a NOS (still in the box) speedometer gauge on Ebay, so the colors are still vivid on the prisim. I haven't tested this one yet, but the one I have on my car presently was cleaned when I took the dash out to have painted. I'm assuming the light source is the two bulbs that go in from the back of the gauge. Is that corerect? I mean, I can see any other holes where lights would go. I did notice that the reflector plate on the NOS one is still bright white and I recall that the paint on the plate for the gauge in my car was flaking off, and I didn't repaint it when I put it all back together. So that could be my problem with the dim speedometer gauge. How about your radio and clock? Are they brighter than the gauges?

Have a question about the brightness of the dash lights. I have a 12 volt change over. My cluster gauges light up pretty decent, except the speedometer gauge seems dimmer than the rest...kind of a dim green. I put a new 12v light in the radio and now it seems overpowering than the other lights. All the light bulbs are the 12v equivalent to the original 6 volt bulbs that were there. Clock is not in yet, so don't know how bright that will be, yet. Were all the dash lights supposed to be the same brightness or were the clock and radio always brighter?

Looks nice, Dennis. I don't think I could have held out as long as you did. Planning a trip up to the high desert in my P15 after I get it painted here this next month...hope to meet you and see your car.

Balfour Green was on the Plymouth paint only, I believe. The paint code chip (check link) says Seacrest Green, and looks a lot lighter than the Balfour (pea soup) green.