Norm's Coupe

Not necessarily, if you're name is Don Coatney. He likes looking at things that way, and taking a picture of it that way.

Give the paint stores in your area the code and they may be able to convert it to the new codes. They will also need to know the manufacturer of the original paint. Those paint codes are listed in the P15 service manuals, along with the manufacturers name. So.........you can check your service manual if you have one. Should be toward the back of the book I believe. Now, if you can't find a store locally to do that, you can give Tower Paint, Oshkosh, WI a call, and they can probably match it for you. I had them mix several cans for me a few years ago for cruiser maroon. All I did was give them the code and manufacturer's name out of my service manual. The paint matched real nice. You could just order one aerosol can from them. Then, paint a piece of sheet metal about 4" x 4" and give it to a local paint shop. Then they should be able to match it locally off that. Tower has a website, but don't know the URL, but it should come up on a google search. Or, if you have an Old Cars Weekly paper, they advertise in the classified section of it. Or.........just call information to get their phone number.

Congratulations on your new venture, and good luck. I branched out on my own 20 years ago, after the company I worked for sold out a couple of years earlier. I stayed on with the new company for a couple of years but didn't like the way things were done, so left and went on my own. Haven't looked back since. A friend of mine who is a mechanic worked for the same shop for over 20 years. Then the owner of the shop decided he wanted to retire. So.......my friend bought the shop and building in the early 90's. One of the mechanics that stayed on the payroll stayed because he wanted to buy in with my friend. But....my friend didn't want any partners. So........after about 3 years, that guy left and started his own shop a few miles away. That was a friendly split though and they both still get along. In fact, if one gets too busy, they send the customer to the other. So.......they still work together a little and both of them have a good business going. We all still went to swap meets together too, except me. I stopped going to swaps about 2 years ago. Can't do all that walking anymore. So.........change is good most of the time. Just stay positive.

Don't know, I've never ordered from them. But.....original bolts all had the Mopar stamp "DCPD" on them for the cars. I have a bunch of extra original bolts off various parts in a box. They came off a P15 a guy parted out. He just gave me the whole box when I bought a couple of fenders from him. They all have that stamp on the heads.

Jon, Did you get that from your local TV/radio, or newspaper news, or via email? If it was from a news source, then I would send a card. If it's just an email, I wouldn't send anything.

Don, That's OK, I'm not a machinist by a long shot. So.........I just call em like I see em. Then wait for you or my son to correct me. He does the same thing when I don't use the correct terminology. But........like I tell him, I know what I'm looking for, so the correct name isn't all that important. After all, you even knew what I was talking about even with me using the wrong terminology, and that's what's important. It doesn't drive me crazy, just you and my son when I do that.:p

Michael, While you can have those crest keys cut to fit your P15, they are not correct for the P15. Don't believe they started using those until about the second series 49's or later. Like Bill (claybill) said, the keys for the P15 were just a plain looking key with the letters DCPD on them. Of course, that's if you really want everything to look original in your car.

Don, Hey, you'll get no argument out of me about using hardware store bolts instead of real head bolts. When I was rebuilding my engine back in the late 90's, I was told I could use grade 8 bolts too. But.........since they didn't have that collar, there was no way I was going to use them. At that time I didn't know I could use the Chevy head bolts. So........I ended up going to a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer parts department locally. They found a whole set of NOS head bolts by ordering them from three different Mopar regional warehouses. They said that was all that was left in any of the warehouses after I ordered those. Guess you could say I got lucky there. But.........that luck cost me a few more bucks than the Chevy bolts would have. With the shipping they ran me about $95 for the complete set.

Merle, don't you love it when our tax dollars are so well spent. Sounds like they didn't correct anything. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they couldn't change the number from just a photo. After all, they really don't know where you got that photo. They would probably need to have a state trooper do a physical inspection to make the change. Maybe that's why they didn't change the "S" to the "5". The bigger question here since you do have plates, is. What happens if the truck is totaled out for some reason? Then when you contact the insurance company for payment, and the numbers on the title don't match the truck. That could be a real hassle to get the claim paid. Even for just a fender bender, the insurance adjuster would cross reference the title VIN to the truck. If they don't match, they could possibly refuse to pay out the claim. Think I'd drive the truck to one of the DMV offices so they can physically look at it and make the necessary changes on the title.

Like Ed mentioned, the original head bolts do have that little collar just below the head. Also as he said, some people have used grade 8 hardware store bolts and say they work also. But.........you can buy the correct bolts, they just aren't Mopar any longer. The 350 small block Chevy head bolts are the same a our flathead six head bolts, and you can buy those at any auto parts store for around $30 for the set. Those have the collar also.

Greg, Actually, they did evidently address the problem of people changing engines in old cars here in Wisconsin. My coupes engine was changed at some point in time. Right on my title, it gives the old engine number and says it was replaced by the new engine number. Haven't looked at that in years, but also believe it gives the mileage the engines were swapped. So.....they used the new engine for the VIN number on the title.

Well guys. All I can say is what I've said in the previous post. I'm not about to remove my new headliner to show the numbers on my bows. But........if you want to verify what I said about the numbers, go to page 257 of the P15 parts book. They are listed with numbers, not letters. Outside of that, I see no point in arguing about it.

Tim, I'm not talking about what's on the D24 Bows. I don't have a parts book for the D24. They could very well be letters, I have no idea. But.......as mentioned, I'm not only going by the parts book for the P15. I'm also going by what I have in my coupe. They are numbered just as the parts book says they are, not letters. Not saying you are incorrect on the D24. The original question was about P15 Bows though, not D24's. So.....that was what I was answering. That said, body parts are different between the D24's and P15's. We have to remember when these cars were built. Back then they didn't build a Dodge in a Plymouth plant. They were two separate divisions in two different plants. Not like today where they run different models like they would D24 and P15 through the same plant and just put different badges on them. So........like I said, it's possible the Dodge division used letters instead of numbers back then.

On my 48 coupe the title shows the engine number as the Vin number. My car has always been titled in Wisconsin. Back when the car was originally titled in 1948 they used the engine numbers instead of the body numbers. So.......when I bought the car, the title only had the engine number on it. I simply used that title for the DMV to transfer ownership and register it. When the DMV made up my new title, they only used the engine number as the Vin number. Body number does not appear on the title at all. So........if the engine number was used on the old title, you should be able to register the car using the same number, along with the old title.

Adam, That's booth good news and funny news. Sort of reminds me of a salesman that use to work for us back in the early 80's. He bought a new little Pontiac T1000 with a 4 speed stick. Problem was........he didn't know how to drive a stick when he bought the car. Whenever you rode with him he'd either leave it in second or third gear so long it sounded like it would blow up, then other times, he'd shift too early and the car would buck down the street. He was so bad at driving that thing, his wife and daughter wouldn't even ride with him. Have fun with the Jeep now that you know it's OK. Merle is a nice guy, like most on the forum. I had the privilege of meeting Merle, Bob & his wife from the Kenosha area, Bill (Claybill), and Ken Bartz for lunch on a Saturday a couple of years ago in January. Ed Gross was also there but I've known him since about 1995 or 96. Bill had about a 150 mile trip one way to make. He met Ken in the Madison area and they rode together to Brookfield for the lunch. All are a bunch of nice guys. There's also Tom Russom in the area but he was on vacation for the lunch, so didn't make it. I've known him since about 1995 or 96 too. He lives just a few miles from me. Ooops, almost forgot (sorry MacGyver). Met him about 6 or 8 years ago when he came over to pick up a rear end from me for his D24 coupe. I've also met Don Coatney and BobT when we were passing by Don's burg on vacation a few years ago. BobT just happened to be visiting relatives in Nashville at the same time. Met Don from northern Illinois from the truck side of the forum a few years ago. Also met Jim Leman from northern Illinois in Deerfield, IL back in the late 90's. Again, all a bunch of nice guys. Hope I didn't leave anyone out.

That's right Bob. That key fits both.

After soaking the arm overnight, it really moves smooth now. Fill soldered the cuts I made in the slots of the screen tonight. Filed them down smooth afterward. Hit the repaired areas several times and the solder is going to hold fine. Once painted no one will ever know the difference. Will start work on freeing the hinges of the bracket in the cowl tomorrow night. Hopefully, that will go as smooth as the rest has gone so far after getting the vent lid off.

Sounds like you are having a little too much fun on that trip, with those museums, etc. Guess that's one nice thing about being retired. You don't have to rush home, you can take your time and take in a few extra sights as you run across them.

I've always said if you're careful, you can leave the battery hooked up, even when working on the electrical. But.........a couple of years ago I was under the dash doing something and needed to hook something up to the ignition switch. Didn't want to take the time to disconnect the battery, so told myself as long as I don't ground the wrench I didn't need to disconnect the switch. Well.........guess I wasn't careful enough as I grounded the wrench accidentally and made some nice big sparks in the process. Luckily I didn't hurt anything doing it though, except my pride.

Well........like I said in my first post on this thread. "I'm no expert, but my parts book is". My P15 parts book is an original, not a copy. It's dated "Revised April 1947" on the cover of the book. The bows are listed on page 257 if you have one. All the bows for all the cars are numbered. There is a total of 14 different bows listed for the various cars. I looked it up before that first post, and again just now. Here is how each bow is listed: BOW, Headlining No.1 (see note) Then the rest are listed as to which car they go to. Each one has a different part number also. After that the following note appears. NOTE: Bows are numbered from front to rear of roof includes over and under rear window. So.......like I said, if those bows came out of a P15 and had letters, they were either after market, or someone in the past just kept trying different bows from another car until they found some that fit. Or.......maybe they made them, then stamped with letters instead of numbers. Probably put that color code paint on them too to help identify them better. The P15 parts book doesn't say anything about them being color coded on the tips like Tim's are. Tim, That said. I would go ahead and pull those bows from the old headliner and tag each one as to where it goes. That way they take up less room and you get rid of the old stinky headliner. When I removed my headliner, I didn't remove the bows from the car to do it. I just tapped an Exacto knife to the end of a dowel that would reach from one side of the car to the other, while I stood outside the car. Then I cut the headliner out while standing outside the car. All the interior was out at the time. Good thing I did it that way. That old headliner was full of critter droppings, nut shells and who knows what else. Had the garbage can right next to me to dump the pieces of the headliner into right away. Then I removed the bows and tagged them as I took them out, one by one.

Tim.......in that letter I got they gave me a password and pin number to go on their website with. Well.........the letter went in the shredder. I will not get slammed because they don't have a credit card number. If they send me a bill, it will also go into the shredder. Ben, Hey, I now use my seat belt in that car. So........I'm being safe. Ed, like I said I'm not into all the new gadgets. Now, you can see that.

Tim, Don't know what to say about your bows. Did you take those out of the car yourself, or were they just laying in the car when you got it? All I've seen on the P15's are numbers. Don't know anything about them being color coded on the ends either. Parts book uses numbers too. Maybe someone put some aftermarket bows in your car at one time. This subject has come up before on the forum. However, I don't know if it was on the current format forum or the old one. Was quite awhile ago. In that thread though, we were all talking about the numbers, not letters on the bows. I remember that part because I had mine out of the car then. I had tagged them number 1 - (forgot how many off hand). Then when cleaning them I also found the numbers stamped on them at about the same place I see your letters. So.........then I just tossed my little tags I had put on them. Again, I'm only going by the above and the P15 parts book.

Ed, Well if you have to use CD's anyway in the MP3 player, I can just shove a CD in the car radio if I wanted to. Of course, that's a little difficult in your P15. That said, I started this thread talking about the Sirus satellite radio they give you with a new car. Well........I knew mine was about to end. Just got the notice in the mail today saying it will expire in early December (didn't give an exact date). It's also strange because they said I'd be receiving a bill about a month before the expiration date, but.........didn't send an actual bill or even give the rates. Looks like they would have done that all in the same letter, or at least given the actual expiration date. Oh well, guess they don't mind paying for two mailings for the same thing. They did send a pamphlet giving all the various channels and shows. Didn't know it but guess they also have a station giving traffic reports. However, out of the whole list there was not one that gave the traffic report for my area. Nearest was Chicago. But.........here again, if I'm going someplace, does it really matter if that road has a lot of traffic. I'll still have to take that road to get to my destination. If the traffic is moving along, then I'll move along. If it's slow, then I'll sit back, relax and go slow with it. You can't fight it.

Eric and others, it really doesn't matter to me that much anyway. I rarely play the car radio. If it's on, then you have to talk over it to talk to whoever is with you. Even when alone, I like the peace and quiet without the radio. So.........really, the whole radio is probably wasted on me, and the same would be true of an mp3 player. That said, don't you have to pay to load your MP3 player too? Not trying to be funny here, but I just don't know the answer, as I'm not into all these gadgets. Not only that, I believe you need headphones for the MP3's. If you have headphones on in the car, you can't hear all that's going on with the traffic.

Tim, The bows have numbers on the P15's, not letters, and they are all different numbers for each bow. I found the numbers after I wire brushed them and painted them. They must have changed that for the 50's model cars to letters (maybe the change took place on second series 49's). Looking at the parts book for the P15, it appears that the bows are only interchangeable on the 4 door sedan and 4 door town sedan. All the other model P15 use different bows. If you look closely at the roof line of the P15's you can see they are shaped a little different on each, except the 4 door models. Then on the coupes, they are also different because of the big butt of the business coupe. I don't have a parts book for the early 50's model Plymouth, but........those roof lines all look about the same. So maybe they are interchangeable for those cars. So.........John needs to stay with his model P15 for the bows.