HalfdollarMayflower

Somewhere I heard that a '57 or '58 head has a better shaped combustion chamber which unshrouds the valves a little more. This is 2nd hand though so take it with a grain of salt.

Jim, I'm about 500 miles from Donna...that's all the way down in the Rio Grande Valley...I'm up in Northeast Texas roughly halfway between Dallas & Shreveport. Actually, I'm closer to Kansas City MO than I am to Donna...Texas is huge. Speaking of which, I had a fun 200 mile drive from Houston to Athens Thanksgiving weekend. 40 degrees and misting rain...with no windshield wipers (thank God for Rain X)...not the smartest thing I've ever done, but I had to get the car home and it made for a memorable first trip in the Plymouth.

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah, the car is pretty straight...was owned by a Montana Senator since the late 60's. Bought it from a guy down in Houston that was getting married (fiancee told him it needed to go). He bought it sight unseen & had it trailered from MT. The bucket seats are from an early 90's Civic. They're currently in the local trash dump, replaced by the ratty original bench with Tractor Supply saddle blankets for seatcovers. (Temoprarily) The car's been lowered about 3" all the way around (cut coil in front & block in the rear)...I'm going back to stock springs in the front & a 1 or 2" block in the rear to get that classic tail draggin' look. The pictures really make the car look better than it is...the paint is PPG basecoat & looks like it was applied with a spray can (I'm sure it wasn't...it's just has some runs & thin spots here & there). The lower panels between the doors and rear fenders are rusted through and were repaired many years ago with fiberglass & bondo (I say many years ago because the bondo is blue...haven't seen blue body filler in a long time) The floor pans are actually pretty nice...the car does need sills and a new toe plate....the weather stripping is toast & it looks to me like water ran down the windows & collected in the sills & rockers. The upper trim (beltline?) is in great shape...fender trim is pretty rough & the rear fender trim looks like someone beat it with a ball peen hammer. The motor is actually not original...it is a 218, but has a P15 serial & "2-17-47" cast on the bottom of the block under the distributor. As far as I can tell, all the accessories are from the original '50 block...Dizzy is an Autolite IAT 4003 if that means anything to you guys and the B&B carb has the auto-choke (not sure how far back that feature goes). My Plymouth service manual says that some '50 model cars were built with either 3.9 or 4.1 rear gears (for hilly terrain) so I'm thinking this old Montana car probably has the steeper gearset. Anyway, thanks for entertaining me & I look forward to learning about these wonderful old "Mayflowers"

Thanks Randy. Resto-mod might be a more accurate description. I'm trying to go for an early-to-mid 50's period correct look. Will keep it 6 volt & the body will remain mostly stock. I'm considering going with a slightly modified '49 grille (sans parking lights) & ribbed bumpers...other than that I'm just planning on adding bolt-ons; fog lights, visor & skirts, etc. Will probably end up putting some Goodyear 'Super Cushion' wide whites & some 'flipper' caps on. The flathead is going to get a mild re-working; in the long-term, 230 crank/rods & an overdrive (if I can find one), in the near-term I'm working on finding a dual 1 bbl intake and split exhaust with smittys. Not sure what I'm going to do with the interior...probably white tuck n roll, but I might consider going back to stock. I'm trying to figure out what color the car was originally painted. The firewall is gray but the inside of the trunk is dark green...the body's pretty straight & I think black might be flattering to the lines of the car...not sure though.

Don, The best way to do this is to go to photobucket or imagestation and upload the pic there. Both of those sites are free to use & upload pics to. Once you upload the pics, when you go to your main gallery you should be able to copy & paste the url. To post it on the message board, type in after & your pics will 'magically' appear. Here's an example; If you look at the top left corner of this page, you'll see the bright red & cream "P15-D24" logo. If you move your cursor over it and do a right click on the mouse you'll see a little menu bar appear. Go down to "properties" and click on it. That should bring up a little dialogue box that shows you the address (URL). Try it. It should say http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/images/misc/p15_d24small_logo.jpg That URL is the address for that image on the internet. If you sandwich that address into the tags, you'll get this Hope that helps. If not, e-mail the pics to me & I'll upload them. Gary

Hello all, I've made a few posts, but havent formally introduced myself. Name is Gary, I live in Athens, TX & just purchased a '50 Plymouth 2-dr Sedan. Will be doing a ground-up resto...with some 'mild' custom touches...Mopar Accessories, hopped-up motor, & tuck n roll. This is my first (resto & and Plymouth) so I'm sure I'll be annoying all of you with questions.

Do you have contact info for either of these gentlemen?

Anyone know where I might be able to find a genuine Mopar electric gas cap? Part # 1302472 Thanks! Gary

Tim, Was hoping you'd reply...you seem to know these things inside & out. As far as an 'elaborate setup', how difficult is the swap? Is it basically just a matter of sourcing it & bolting it in, or is there fabrication required? Thanks Gary

What mods are needed to put a powerflite in my '50? IIRC, '54 was the only year for powerflite and column gear selector; should I try to find a '54 column/gear selector, or can my current 3-on-the tree column be made to work? All help is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Gary