Bob Riding

I have the Power Pack 2bbl setup (from a stock '56 Suburban) and from what I can tell, with the WW Stromberg, it is rated at 132hp.

I know the colors are a bit weird. This is what A.I. thinks humans look like, I guess. I used the "My Heritage" website colorization tool, which works better with trees, sky, etc. Flesh tones are usually pretty realistic, however it always seems to think cars are pinkish gray. Here's an old family photo that turned out pretty good. It is of my grandparents on a historic motorcycle ride from Fresno to San Francisco in 1910. She was the first woman to make the trip. When I was a kid, I remember her telling me that it took them 12 hours and they only went off the road once (into a ditch near Tracy). She said said took her meals standing up for a few days after! I assume the seats weren't what we would call comfortable.

And with a little color...

Congrats and welcome to the club! I believe the bulk of woodie owners are in the southern part of the state, but that's just my hunch. You should join the NWC (National Woodie Club. NWC The President is Wayne Yada from our Central Valley Woodie Club Central Valley Woodie Club We are active and support the hobby very well. Plymouths, Dodges, Desotos and Chrysler wagons are well represented. We also have alot of fun!

Mine is a '52 Suburban and because of steering box clearance issues, (I'm installing a Mopar 360 V8), I'm going with a '92 Cavalier Rack & Pinion setup, with the stock front suspension. See some of my previous threads for details.

I wonder what the different colors were? Obviously the head is much lighter than the block, and the generator doesn't look black...

Lots of options, for sure. My son has said he wants to help me so it will happen. I've never replaced the innards...I guess the gear cluster comes out as a unit once you remove the axles? I'll check my back episodes of Keith's Garage!

Beautiful P4! Do you know what type of paint was used? I may want to paint my '52 Suburban that color.

I will be swapping out the 4.11 ring and pinion from my '40 wagon and going to a 3.54. It's yours if you want it, although shipping to the frozen, north-of-the-border, might get spendy...

Ok Loren...choose!

Fascinating topic. Thanks for sharing!

I know what you mean about the sentimentality-I've been accused of that myself...I've seen pictures of the '56s with the red and black color scheme, and it is the best of the palette that Chrysler came out with that year. As for the V8 swap, I don't think I could do that to the old girl! I think the Power Pack 230 combo will be a big improvement. Besides, how fast do you want to go in a car made of toothpicks? Maybe I should consider putting it into my current project-a '52 Plymouth Suburban?

Tempting offer..As I get closer I'll let you know...

Great info. I like the idea of going with the 3.54 first. I don't remember if I used the original gearbox that came with the wagon (the whole thing was pretty trashed from sitting in the desert for a few decades) but I had George Asche rebuild it and add the overdrive. Is there a way to ID it to find out? Oh and why is the Power Pack Bendix-Stromberg WW carburetor your all-time fav?

That's just what I'm planning to do with my 1940 stock Plymouth wagon- install a '56, PowerFlite 230 with the "Power Pack" from a 2 door Suburban donor car. (The woodie currently has a 218 from a P20, so I should pick up at least 30 hp) This thread made me think about also swapping out the rearend or maybe just the gears. I also have another '56 Suburban parts car- this one has the 277 V8 and a gear ratio of 3.54 - the PowerFlite 6 has a 3:73 ratio. Do you think there would be much advantage in swapping out the stock 4.1 gears from the '40 (it's got an OD that works well), with either the 3.73 or the 3.54?

MarcDesoto has it now.

Whoa! What a great site! Thanks for the heads up. It would be interesting to see if the original PS unit in my '54 Chrysler has any life left in it. Next project for the queue.

I am planning on it!

I believe he called it Plywoodie. There are quite a few "phantom woodies" out there.

Yeah, our maiden voyage in 2016 was to WOW. I agree-very few Plymouths.

We are always hearing folks talk about how rare their car, wagon or truck is- this color, that option, only so many made, etc. I would be very interested in knowing exactly (OK approximately) how many of any one year or model have survived and are still on the road (or could be roadworthy soon.) I'm talking about essentially stock vehicles, with safety upgrades where necessary, such as radial tires, dual master cylinders, turn signals, etc. This subject is so broad as to be unmanageable so I've focussed my research on Plymouth station wagons (woodies from 1934-1950), since I own a 1940 Plymouth wagon. I belong to the National Woodie Club, which keeps an annual membership directory - I used the 2019 Directory as my guide. Here's what I found: PRODUCED LISTED IN THE NWC DIRECTORY % LEFT (THAT BELONG TO THE NWC) 1934 35 0 0 1935 119 0 0 1936 309 1 0.003 1937 602 3 0.005 1938 555 2 0.004 1939 1,680 3 0.002 1940 3,126 11 0.004 1941 5,811 22 0.004 1942 1,136 2 0.002 1946-48 12,913 41 0.0003 1949 3,443 43 0.013 1950 2,057 15 0.007 So there are 104 Plymouth woodie wagons left, based on the NWC data. We know there are more that that are out there and restorable, but probably not many more. So the rarest survivors (based on the NWC data) are the P15 wagons. The most surviving wagons are the 1949 woodies, by % and absolute numbers. For reference, Ford, which made alot more wooden station wagons than any other manufacturer, has 309, 1946-48 woodies listed in the NWC Directory, 7.5 times as many survivors as Plymouth for those years. The NWC lists 1,519 Ford woodies for all years, which when adding in Chrysler, Desoto, and Dodge to the Plymouth totals results in a 400% increase in surviving woodies (Ford compared to Chrysler) What is the rarest Plymouth that you know of?

Great catch! Looks awesome with the blackwalls. Paint is very period and pleasing.

I pulled the third member from my '52 Suburban -it's getting replaced by a Ranger third member so I can get a higher gearing and e-brake. One of our Forum members is interested in it if it substantially higher than his stock '49 woodie. I found this stamped underneath next to the drain plug. It says 4 29. The closest stated ratio list in the manual is 4:3 for overdrive models, which this wagon doesn't have. Would Chrysler have "rounded up"? Thoughts?

Great stuff! Thanks for following up. So I guess I have the "newer and improved" version.

Never seen that listed before. I've contacted the seller to see if it will fit '49-'52 Plymouths.