mattimuss

Here are some pictures of the trunk after I wire wheeled it and applied two coats of rust encapsulator/sealer... Now you see why I will need a replacement floor and spare tire well.

Thanks for all the great replies and the warm welcome. I hope to one day be the one helping a 'newbie' solve their problems. The car is in pretty good shape and I have a solid base to start with. I know one day I will restore it back to as close to stock as possible. This choice is based on promises made to my Gramps and uncle. No worries, I am doing restomods on both my A108 and my Barracuda, so they will fill my need for speed! I love my Gramps with all my heart...but there are things he does that just don't make sense to me. I have been joking with my wife that there probably isn't a tube of silicon that my Gramps hasn't fallen in love with. His three favorote things for working on cars were silicon, duct tape, and bailing wire! Take the trunk for example...I'm sure the truck weather strip wore out years ago. And I'm sure they were readlily available at and dealer. Instead of properly replacing the worn out weather strip Gramps grabbed a tube of silicon and covered the seal in it. This did not seal the trunk or prevent water from getting in, nor did it look good at all. Thus the reason the trunk floor is rusted out and the tank straps snapped. See pictures...

And here are some pictures of what it looked like now at it's new home...

A "pump fulcrum pin", hhhhmmmm, something new to learn about. I spent most of this afternoon applying the second coat of sealer to the trunk, attempting to remove the spark plugs, and fixing the gas tank straps. The spark plugs have me a little worried. My Grandad and uncle are both country boys and tend to try to make due with whatever is in the barn. When I pulled the wires I discovered that there are three different spark plugs installed; AC, Champion, and Accel. 1, 3, 4 and 5 all came lose. 2 and 6 are very tight. I was able to loosen them a couple turns, but then they started getting tight again. I tightened and loosened them a few times, then left them lose with Marvel Mystery Oil poured down around the threads. I hope this works it way down the treads and allows me to get them out without damaging anything. I will repeat the tightening/loosen cycle over the next few days. With the trunk being so rusty the gas tank strap nuts were pretty much molecularly bonded to the strap bolts. I applied PB Blaster several times over a couple days, no joy, they still broke. So I modified the ends so I can reuse the straps when the tank comes back. I can post pics if anyone is interested. The following are pictures of the car the last time I remember driving it, sometime around 2005 or so:

Hello All, This forum was recommended to me as being a great place to gain knowledge about pre 60's Mopars. Over the years I have owned many Mopars, but none older than 1965. I recently inherited a 1941 Plymouth Special Deluxe that has been in the family for a very long time. It originally belonged to my Grandfather, then my uncle, and now me. It has been stored in a barn in Ohio for the last 20+ years, but hasn't been driven in the last 10 years. My family and I picked it up and brought it back home [san Diego] last month and I have started working on it. My plans are to get it running, dependable and safe to drive for the time being and do a full restoration in the future. I am in the middle of two other restorations right now and would like to finish these before tearing down the '41. The car is mostly rust free, Although I have found that the trunk floor is pretty rusty. I spent yesterday cleaning and sealing the trunk floor, but know I will need a replacement floor and spare tire holder. I have had the carb rebuilt, the gas tank boiled, cleaned the fuel lines and have a new fuel pump coming in. I will reassemble the fuel system when the pump gets here. I plan to start working on the engine this afternoon. I will be removing the plugs and squiring some Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinders. I will turn the crank by hand several revolutions before attempting to start it. I plan to do a full tune-up and oil change before attempting to start the engine. Once I have the engine running smoothly I will be rebuilding the brakes. When the brakes are done I will be taking the car to a local radiator shop [first test drive] to have the radiator pressure tested and the cooling system flushed. After that I hope to drive it a lot and have fun with it fixing small stuff here and there as needed. I should warn you guys I tend ask a lot of questions, tell a lot of stories, and share any info I find that may be helpful to others. I have found that these are good traits on some forums, and not so good on others. I hope I can fit in here. v/r, Matt