RNR1957NYer

If that was my '49, I'd trade for your '56, too! Since (and only because) you asked, my advice is not to be distracted by a running truck - the effort you would need to "catch it up" to your '56's condition would get the '56 on the road in fine fashion. Unless there is something about the '49 that is really worth it to you.....

Sara was tough to catch in action on an iPhone - this is the best I could do!

......and cuz I wrote the post after a 7 1/2 hour drive back from NJ - sorry!

Saturday I attended The Race of Gentlemen (TROG) in Wildwood NJ for the first time. Beautiful day, watching vintage rods and bikes racin' on the beach, it was a gas. Here's some MoPar show cars, tow vehicles and racers. If you where there too, post your favorites.

With that profile, you consider reversing the drop? Might look good dragging tail!

Hi Tom - there's one for sale in the forum's classifieds.

To those who have contacted me whether the gages are still available, I have recently learned that their sale has been completed, and they have found a happy new owner. To those who reached out - thanks!

Andy Bernbaum has some decals for oil breathers etc. on their web site under the "Engine" category, but there are no pictures to match up with yours. There are likely others; decals are pretty easy for the aftermarket to reproduce.

Awesome craftsmanship! Keep at it - only three more fenders, bed sides and a cab to go!

While I find the '39 and '40 Plymouths to be more "streamline moderne", I think that deco detailing crept back into the '41. Here are some detail shots of my P12.

Hi Busycoupe - I was at Comcast on Saturday, and there were many more empty vendor spots than I'd had ever seen on a nice day then, too. Still a good way to start the season in New England. Someone I know was selling off some of her late husband's odds and ends from the garage, and I spotted a little orange toolbox with two AAMCO 1750 gages inside. They didn't sell, but I'm considering it - to those in the know, are all the parts there?

Fascinating history, Mark. Checking out the link to photos from the good Dr's travels, I see a '57 Savoy hardtop in the background - I'm thinking it didn't belong to the Shaker in the picture!

Great find,Mark - looking forward to seeing you on the road in it and here's another vote for keeping it's appearance as much 'as is' as possible!

Lucky break, Hubler. Carpets can cause a lot of smoke - I'll never forget when I was a little kid and the fire trucks rolled up to a neighbor's house and started hosing down the interior of their new '62 Fury. It seams that they had a glass gallon jug of distilled water on the floor in the back seat - the sun came around and the bottle of water focused a sunbeam like a magnifying glass on the carpet, which after time began to smolder. Actual damage (other than what came out of a 2 inch hose) was confined to the carpet. A real life science lesson from the days of Mr. Wizard!

The NCPC began in the late '70's/early '80's as an alternative to the WPC at a time when there was some dissatisfaction with WPC leadership. I had been a WPC member for a year or so (still am) and joined the NCPC their first year of operation. They were at the time "PA centric" -from '81 to '86 we would drive from Boston down to the Das Awkt Fest in Macungie for the big two day show, the Sunday being set up by clubs. As I recall, the WPC Liberty Bell Region and the NCPC yearly alternated organizing the MoPar Club Sunday show. The NCPC folks I met were good people (but what true MoPar people aren't?) but my contact with them stopped when we stopped making the trip to Macungie (house, kids, etc) and I let my membership lapse.

Don't get too comfy with that completion schedule - here are two pictures of my son in front of my '66 Satellite project!

Depends if you rubbed out the paint or not.....

I love the car!!! I looked for years to find a two door sedan. As for the paint, try "color sanding" the paint with very fine wet sandpaper: 1000 - 1500 - 2000 etc then use a polishing compound. It might seem to be a lot of sanding, but your arms will likely be less fatigued that if you went straight at it with rubbing compound, and if you use super fine paper, you won't burn through the paint like you might with a polisher if not experienced with one (I'm not). This is what I'm doing with my '41, and I am so happy it's black - I can spot in and blend any paint repairs to the older lacquer repaint. I know it's old school tech, but I am using premixed quarts of Duplicolor Black lacquer and clear through a $10 Harbor Freight HVLP gun for full panels (like when I had my hood louvered), or a Preval spray kit for small spot repairs. The nice thing about lacquer is that it's pretty forgiving under "barn job" conditions - if something lands in it when it's wet, sand and polish it out. Enjoy! It looks like you've got a lot of help to give rides too!

Very, very nice, Don!! "Phenolic saturated paper" is the description of "plastic laminate" (or Formica) - Didn't realize there was an automotive application that far back. As for woodgraining metal, Casper50's thread "Started the Teardown..." recently featured information on modern "hydrographic" woodgraining, including a YouTube link and photos of his bold and successful DYI efforts using it.

I like your idea of the pass-thru from the trunk - it worked for the '48 Chrysler Travelers! Those sheet metal hat section cross braces are doing something, but could be replaced with a more rigid open frame of scrap square tubing or 1 1/2 angle welded to the same points. Back seat.pdf

I think it was mentioned in similar strings on springs, but EATON Detroit Spring will make you front coil springs that drops the front two inches (I called them - that's as low as they will go) . The price is around $200 for the pair. I intend to go that route with my '41, with lowering blocks on the rear - the rest of the drop will be because of the big 'n little wheel/tire combo I have on the car now: 15 and 14 inchers (cuz I had them and a can of IH red paint laying around).

Back during the heyday of commercial slot car tracks, I remember the older kids using STP as a traction enhancer on the foam tires of their ready-to-run cars. Wasn't pleasing to the track owner - could make a gloppy mess of the track.

Very "period", but not necessarily low - buck; that's probably $100 worth of the cheapest pulls from Home Depot!

Another techniques from car modeling is to fill the letters, let it dry, then sand/polish the excess paint using successively fine sandpaper (600 to 3000 grit) or a paint polishing kit from Micro Mark - been taking my molding supplies out to the garage quite frequently lately.