1939 Plymouth coupe questions.

[HotrodLono]

Greetings all, another newbie here.

I've discovered I've become a bit of a convert when it comes to ealy plymouths. I love 47's Super Deluxe and have an increasign affection for 39's as well. I think I've built my last ford.

I've got wind of 2 39 coupes for sale and to be blunt and honest, i dont know a thing about them in general.

Do 1939's use coils up front and springs in the rear like the 1947's?

thanks for the help.

Hotrod lono ... aka newbie from Vernon, B.C. Canada

[greg g]

I believe 37/38 was the last year for front leaves. So I do think the front on a 39 is ifs. Look close at this one and you can see a couple coils. Unfortunately this car has suffered from the late sealed beam conversion and lost the square lights of the original. The only wierd part of the stock front suspension on the later cars is that the shocks are mounted between the A arms not to the frame. This is easily remadied by relocating the shocks with several options for mounts. check member Jim Yergins posts for a how to of mountig f 100 style mounts to his 41 woodie.

Welcome to the board. Its good you will get a look at some advanced engineering for a change.

[HotrodLono]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm waiting to make an appointment with hte owner to get a close look at them.

Is the one in the picture lowered? It seems its sitting lower than the ones i'm looking at. Are these cars a simple lowering project?

[claybill]

simple...lower the front by cutting one coil off the front springs. yes IFS.

hope yours still have the square headlites..!

bill

[Young Ed]

Ya the square lights sure look cool but let me tell you they are DIM!

[Captain Neon]

A '39 might be a good candidate for a 12v conversion and then upgrade to the 9004 replacement halogen bulbs. Keep the cool square headlights, but have headlights with some oomph.

[TodFitch]

Ya the square lights sure look cool but let me tell you they are DIM!

Don't have to be, they can be as bright at any 6v sealed beam. Or brighter if you want to go to quartz-halogen. See: http://www.ply33.com/Repair/lights

If you are going with a modern engine then I would assume you will be going with a 12v system and I think you can get the equivalent 12v bulbs as listed in the link above. If so you can be up to current (non-HID) standards.

[dndrodshop]

Here's a photo on how I changed my front shocks.

[HotrodLono]

Here's a photo on how I changed my front shocks.

Thats pretty trick, thank you.

I got off the phone last night with the owner and it appears he's owned the car for 35 years. In the 1960's it was set up for a mopar small block that's long gone and so is the tranny, rear end and leaf springs. It still has it's original paint.

About 30 years ago he pulled it completely appart with the intent of building a rod out of it but energy peatered out after the tear down. One job will be to find leaf springs I can install that will lower the car.

[PatS....]

The front end on this 51 is very very close to your 39. This gives a bit of an idea on how the front end works and one method of lowering.

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/135_0501_1951_plymouth_suburban_wagon/index.html

New front end rebuild parts are available and

several disc brake kits are available, one from forum member "olddaddy" http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_...ad.php?t=15112

How about some pics of your new project???

[HotrodLono]

Photos... will do as soon as I've got the car in my hands. I'm going to see it this week.

[dndrodshop]

Here's one way to lo-buck way to disc brakes

http://home.roadrunner.com/~dndrodshop/disc.htm

As seen in TEX SMITH'S HOW TO BUILD CHRYSLER/PLYMOUTH/DODGE HOT RODS

[HotrodLono]

Been back and forth to the Haney B.C. where the car is.

When I got there, the 2 cars, a 39 coupe and a 46 convertible were parked in the back of a 4 car tent, where they have been for 30 years.The owner is a real gentleman and an old time rodder.

In 1974 the fellow bought the coupe for his wife. They drove it for a couple summers and then parked it so he could pull it appart and restore it. He had gotten as far as pulling it completely appart when he found the 46 covertible another driving car.

The 39 project was put on hold as he made a few modifictions to the 46. The two of them loved the open air and the desided to restore the 46. So the 46 was stripped down for a complete restoration. Then he found a 34 Ford truck, yes, you guessed it, the convertible was parked by the 39. They haven't seen the light of day since.

In an attempt to get a good look at the two, I had to crawl though a 32 Ford frame, past a 34 ford truck cab, over a 29 Ford roadster shell and 2 disassembled 48 chev trucks.

Pictures were pretty hard to get inside the tent, but this will give you an idea of what I could see:

the coupe:

I had to use the cameras flash to try to see if it had a floor, thats how dark it was.

The convertible:

The deposit was paid for both cars and I headed home, back to the interior of B.C. ( approx 300 miles away).

Once home a couple calls were made to friends and family and a truck, trailor and driver were found. A hotrod buddy named Duke came over Saturday morning, we picked up a uhaul trailer and out the door we went.

The coupe has no drivetrain or suspention in it and the cab is sitting on the body. We mocked up a plywood dolly on 6 inch casters and with the help of the owner, got it on the dolly. We pushed the car over the top of old black top warped and rippled by tree roots and up, though a second huge car tent ( for his 40 ft RV) and onto the trailer. The car is 90% complete, just stripped down to nuts and bolts.

The owner took me to his storage garage where he has all the parts stored like dash, chrome, labeled 1 gallon buckets of nuts and bolts and the new disk brake set up he had machined in 1977 that includes disks and calipers from a 69 charger that he never got onto the car.

Left to Right: Duke, Lono and Hemikid.

Duke and I got home sunday morning at 1:30. Around 8:00 I got out to the car and pealed all the parts off the trailor and washed them off to bake in the sun before going in my shop.

The coupe is incredible and the seat? It had been reupholstered in 77 in a stressed brown leather tuck and roll, put in blankets and stored in their house.

Now, next week I'll return for the convertible. I'm not sure when I'll get into it but it wont be this year, the coupe is priority #1. I'll submit pictures next week.

As for the coupe, I'm in love. I'm not sure but it might be a business coupe. The reason I think that is there is a window deck frame behind the seat under the window that has a door to access the trunk. Would that make it a business coupe?

[Merle Coggins]

I sense a trend. Does this guy have any finished projects? Buy a project, tear it down, loose interest for a new project, tear it down, loose interest for another new project...

[BobT-47P15]

Welcome,, Lono.

I would say that door to the trunk indicates a business coupe.

The seller probably only gave you a front seat, right??

Regarding the convert, there are, of course, certain convertible

specific parts. Otherwise, they use many parts in common with

any model P15. Trunk lid is the same as a P15 business coupe.

So be sure to get all the pieces you can get for that one.

There must be people out there that just like taking things apart......

[Roadkingcoupe]

Ya the square lights sure look cool but let me tell you they are DIM!

The 1939 Plymouth Headlights do NOT have to be dim (at all).

The inner reflector was "silvered" not chromed. As they age the silvering either tarnishes or completely corrodes. As a result they no longer have any reflective properties and yes I agree that they tend to look like a candle in the wind!

By removing the inner reflector they can be polished or replated. There was a mention on this site or the POC site that a member had some hi-tech process of resilvering the reflectors but I have not heard if it worked.

I have had good luck with bringing up the silver to a great shine HOWEVER the remaining silver is very thin and it is easy to go through the silver with a machine. Probably best to use manual buffing to bring them back.

Yes in 1940 the sealed beam headlight bulbs replaced the old bayonet style headlamps bulbs and they were brighter. In order to retro fit the 39's with the "NEW" sealed beam bulbs there were a # of kits that replaced the "square" head lamp lens with a bulky unit that sticks out and away from the fender. In my opinion this detracts from the unique look of the 1939 Plymouth ( actually all the 1939 Chrysler vehicles).

Best bet is to restore the shine to the inner reflector and then go with the new higher candle power bulbs as mentioned in an earlier post.

P.S. I had this discussion with the curator of the Imperial Palace car museum collection in Las Vegas. In the collection is the 1939 Chrysler Sedan that was owned by Johnny Carson's Father. Carson spoke of the car on his show and received a call from the then current owner. Johnny purchased the car and donated it to the museum. The car sits on display with the retrofit sealed beams. In our discussion the curator suggested that the car was "original". He was so animated that he went and got a clip of Johnny Carson as a young boy driving the car up and down the driveway (he was too young at the time to drive on public roads). In the rare footage it clearly shows the original style headlamps as the original equipment. He then asked about the rest of the car and we went over the car for accuracy. When he asked me about looking at a corvette in the collection I had to inform him I am clueless when it comes to vettes.

Here is a link including a picture of the Carson's car as it sits in the museum. If the link does not work just copy and paste it.

http://classiccars.about.com/od/classiccarphotogallery/ig/Auto-Collectors/Johnny.htm

[desoto1939]

I had the great pleasure last summer to to go Las Vegas and also saw this same. car. i have the sister car a 39 Desoto four door sedan. The curator was very pleasent and I was extend the opportunity to have the doors opened so I could get some close up shots of the interior, etc.

I also did point out that the headlights were not correct but were they after markert style with the sealed beams and also noted that they did not have the correct license plate lens on the car. Overall the car is quite ocrrect and has the optional overdrive. The runningboards were recovered but with not the correct rubber mat.

Even with these flaws it is not Senior or grand NAtional AACA award car. We should appreciate the car for its styling and that Johnny was able to get it back to a very presentable condition.

I am also ways available to look over any 39 Mopar vehicle to provide input on the condition

Attached is a picture of my 39 Desoto.

rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[BobT-47P15]

There is a guy here in town who "might" have some square headlights.

He has a front clip sitting outside which is for sale.

And has mentioned having some other things inside a storage trailer.

If any interest, I can contact the man to inquire further.

In southwest Missouri.

[Young Ed]

We bought a second set of reflectors polished them by hand so they were nice and shiney and installed them with new gaskets. Still dim.

[Powerhouse]

Attached is a picture of my 39 Desoto.

rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

Hey there Desoto1939! I saw your car at the redding air show! That's my old friend Brad in the photo...SMALL WORLD HUH! We went in our WW1 uniforms....that was a few years back. Wish I still had my uniform..and my friends too I guess:o . LOVE that 39!

[desoto1939]

Glad the picture of the 39 brought back so memories for you. Hope you can attend the show again. I live about 35 miles east of reading in valley forge pa.

This is a great show with the old mopar cars and the vintage aricraft. Spatz Field (reading Airport) was a training site for our WWII pilots.

I f you ever make it back to the show definately stop by the car and look for me. Its alwasy a pleasure taling to another Mopar owner. Yes it is a small world.

If you want a copy of this picture send me your email address and I will send you a copy for you and your friend.

rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com.

[HotrodLono]

I crawled into the trunk yesterday with a grinder and wire wheel.

Talk about impressed. The only rust out are pin holes in an area approx the size of a $5.00 bill.

I hung one leaf spring yesterday and it sure looks long. As I've said, i really want to lower this car down ( not into the weeds, but so the running board is about 4 inches off the ground).

To get that low, Am I going to have to get these re arched or are there other light duty springs from a later car that will fit?

[RobertKB]

I had the refectors on my '38 Chrysler redone by a firm I cannot remember the name of. The owner was an old car buff and did my reflectors at cost. They used the process common on the new cars to get the reflection and I think it was Lincoln that started this trend according to the man that did my reflectors. Anodized aluminum I think the process is called. Reflectors came back looking just like silver but will not tarnish. This was six years ago and my lights are still nice and bright and I do drive my car at night occasionally.

[Powerhouse]

in that last photo....is that a "bumper Jack-o-lantern"?

[RobertKB]

in that last photo....is that a "bumper Jack-o-lantern"?

Yes, it came from a "bumper" crop. I use it in case my handbrake fails.