BobT-47P15

At least they bolted it together rather than nailed.............

Prior to the tornado, I had a nice quality "Plymouth Drive" sign attached to a privacy fence beside our driveway. I did not end up with that sign.........so on a trip to Miami, FL a couple years ago I happened on to some folks at a flea market who print signs on aluminum. Had them make me a new "Plymouth Drive" sign.......cost about $40. Now......need to put it on the new detached garage.

Our pastor drove a weinermobile for a time during his college days. I haven't heard any tall tales from him about "hot dogging" or anything.

I would suggest a later model than the P15. They only have about 6 inches of leg room between front and rear seats (or at least mine does). When I slide the front seat forward, it gets to a certain point, then my stomach hits the bottom of the steering wheel. A slimmer person might gain another inch or two of space.

A Chrysler street sign................. If you want to see what all signs Hobby Lobby has, go to their website and use a search for die cut tin signs.........they have about a million of them on all sorts of topics.

And, they have a 50s style Dodge sign that's pretty cool.....................

The thing that makes the latest sign a bit different is that the sign part is raised from the frame,

Tim has a good point............

That looks like a real dandy place ya found there. I think I would be for making their acquaintance to see what they can do or want to do. Thanks for the cool pics.

Good advice there Harold. Welcome to the forum Mr. Mechanic. Sounds like a nice car. The gas tank is always a question mark after sitting and/or simply due to age of the vehicle. You might want to remove it from the car and do some internal cleaning on it. Various methods from using a length of chain to small rocks to liquid cleaners can be found in previous threads.

Gene, I sent you a link to a place in Springfield, MO that I believe works on the steering boxes. I have been thinking about calling them, but have not yet done it. Their name mentions power steering, but look on the right side of their internet page. http://www.powersteering.com/

At the Hershey swap meet, I stumbled onto a set --- ignition lock and both door locks-- with original key that works all three. Saving these for a time when I get in the mood to install them. I don't even have door locks right now-- just have chrome plugs in the door lock holes. Not too many times I want to lock up the car, as the bad news is that someone wanting in will simply cut the cloth top and reach in. I believe Thom reached the logical solution to his problem. My suggestion to anyone is: be sure to have at least one extra set of keys, or perhaps even more, to hopefully prevent this problem. I suspect Thom will run onto his missing keys sometime in the future.

The Zephyrhills fall swap meet will occur on Nov. 13-16 at their local fairgrounds, produced by the same folks that bring you events at Carlisle. Admission to be a shopper is $8 on Fri; $10 on Sat and $5 on Sun. I happened to be in that town at the appropriate time last year.........and will be again this year. However, I did not find much of anything for a P15 there. Guess I'll try it again this time.

Just F.Y.I. for anyone who likes these reproduction old signs........... Found this one at Hobby Lobby recently. The trick is to buy when they offer them on sale for half price.....which they do regularly. The last one I got was this one.

............in "Convertible" class at the annual Maple Leaf Festival at Carthage, MO on the 18th of October. (Carthage is about 20 miles from Joplin). It's the largest show in our area, drawing around 600 cars if the weather is good --- which it was. Lots of nice rides to look at. Voting is by other participants in the show. I had to leave early due to my Saturday afternoon music gig.......so was not there for the trophy presentations. A friend told me via facebook I had won something, but didn't know what. There were a few other unclaimed trophies, which the committee sent to their local O'Reilly auto parts store to be picked up. When I stopped in there, they had not received them yet.....but said they would forward mine and one for a friend over to one of our O'Reilly stores. They finally arrived today (Thurs) so I picked them up. (My friends won first in a class for older vehicles with a Model T pickup they restored.) A 66 GTO convert won first in class and a 58 Chevy ragtop was third in my class. As usual, I had the only P15 there. It's always good to see that people like your car......so winning the occasional trophy isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Also.......son in law Dale completely re-upholstered the interior. He took the seats down to the springs and replaced all the stuff and stuffing. This is pretty much an original style seat covering. Mine was two tone cloth like this.......with leather door and rear side panels when new.

Amen to both the above statements. We were very fortunate.

Took the Plymouth to a local upholstery guy to get the new top on. He's the same person who put the last top on, back 15 or 20 years ago. Also having him make a new boot......as the one he made in the past has gotten dirty and some stuff doesn't want to come off. Fortunately the tornado in 2011 did only minor damage to the car......put a big scratch on the trunk lid.........broke the wooden top bow above the rear window, and put a 6 inch slice in the left rear quarter of the top. There were scuff marks all over, and gunky debris flew into the engine compartment (even with the hood closed). The new top is an E Z On item, ordered through a place in Kansas City. Will be tan Haartz canvas just like the old one, with a plastic rear window. Only difference from first top will be the cost......about 3 times greater. As you can see.....the car fared better than the house.

Like Greg said, the DeSoto (and Chrysler) engine is 25 inches long...while a Dodge or Plymouth is only 23 inches long. You would have to re-position your radiator and do some other things to fit it in. Don Coatney put a DeSoto motor in his Plymouth a few years ago....which he documented very well. You should be able to do a forum search to find part or all of those threads. the number shown below is embossed on the driver's side of the block, in an area below the distributor. It indicates when the block was cast. May or may not have been a while later that it was installed in a car. This one was made on 6-2-53.

Looks good Wayne........a mix of old and newer components tastefully done.

If you read Highline's website.......they make pickup/delivery runs to certain places. I took my front bumper up to them........a 3 hour drive. Two friends went with me to inspect the place, meet the operator, and look at some of their handiwork. (One friend has since taken them his front and rear bumpers for his 1957 Olds.) They delivered my refinished bumper to Springfield, MO........which is only one hour's drive.......we met at a Wal Mart parking lot. I had also checked with the show chrome place in Nashville, TN........who quoted me a price of about $1200 for that bumper. Perhaps their work is superior, but so far I'm happy with the $400 job.

Would that car have an electric pump for the windshield washer? The 40s cars had a foot operated air pump with a bulb you had to step on......shown as part of the Jiffy Jet brand washer.

I think this Airflow, which I saw in a garage/shed of a fellow I know west of Joplin, has been sold. Don't know what it's true condition was.........but exterior seemed to be pretty straight. I think there is another Airflow here for sale..........mostly original and needs a certain amount of resto work. Owned by an older couple who I've seen at some cruise-ins, but don't know them.

Based on the stories regarding Bumper Boyz...........A person might be better off shipping their original chrome to this place here in Missouri. They did what I feel is a good job on my front bumper for around $400 ....... I did not have them do any guards as I have NOS ones. And......I removed the stainless covers from my oval bumper bolts - had them plate the heads. The bolts came out more shiny than the new stainless covered bolts I bought on eBay. If you go to visit this place.........it doesn't look like much. Chrome shops tend to be pretty grungy inside due to the nature of the business. But their work seems good and prices seemed reasonable to me. Link to website of Highline Plating in Cuba, MO. Generally...........the St Louis area. http://highlineplating.webs.com/

Someone once told us that hedge apples placed around in your garage would keep out spiders. We did that a year or so ago.........couldn't really tell if they did much.....but we tend to get assorted small spiders along.