Plymouth-The Engineered Car

[larryconnors]

Plymouth had a reputation as a well engineered car. I know they were early to have hydraulic brakes compared to Ford which stayed with mechanical brakes longer. What are some of the other engineering advances that Plymouth came up with first or incorporated earlier than their competitors in a similar price range and what models and years were did the innovation first appear? I've had in the back of my mind that it might be nice to compile a list and display it on a poster when I show my car.   

[plymouthcranbrook]

Hardened valve seats

[Frank Elder]

Dodge desoto and chrysler had rear wiper options on their 46-48 sedans.....I don't have a plymouth parts book....

[knuckleharley]

My 31 PA business couple has a oil pump and a fuel pump. Ford and GM were still using splash lubrication then,and Ford was still using gravity fed fuel.

[greg g]

Independent unequal length A arm front suspension, open drive line, insert bearings, full pressure oiling, first low priced all metal body, safety rims wheels, Safety Sentinel Speedometer Changed colors at known speeds.  hardened valve seats rubber body isolaters. Oval ground duraluminum pistons. Super finished crankshaft journals.

[Young Ed]

first convertible power top. they had elec wipers as standard in 51(plymouth) when others were using vacuum into the 60s. little later on torsion bar suspension and alternators.

[Bobacuda]

Roller bearings -vs- ball bearings in the front hubs.  I repacked the front bearings in my cousin's '46 Chevy.  I was stunned to find ball bearings rather than roller bearings.

 

When I worked at a gas station as a kid, I never saw a '40's - '50's Mopar 6 cyl without an oil filter.  I rarely saw a Chevy 6 cyl with one.

[TodFitch]

Every Plymouth ever built had four wheel hydraulic brakes and full pressure feed lubrication.

 

Plymouth went to all steel bodies in '30. I think GM made the transition around '36. . . I think Chrysler owned fewer forests than GM

 

For '33 your Chevrolet had a three bearing crank with splash feed babbit bearings on the rods and cast iron pistons. Plymouth had four bearing crank with modern inserts through out, full pressure feed (with oil filter standard) and cam ground aluminum pistons. Also silicrome exhaust valves and hardened exhaust valve inserts. Timing chain rather than noisier steel (or wear prone fiber) timing gears. Standard in '33 was an impulse neutralizer, not sure if Chevy or Ford had that. Don't really know what Ford had other than a V8. . . Plymouth used a lot more roller bearings in places the competition often used ball bearings or bushings.

 

The '34 Plymouth independent front suspension was unequal A-arm style very similar to the design used into the 60s while Chevy had the "weak knee" Dubonet unit and Ford had buggy springs.

 

Not Plymouth, but I think Chrysler firsts in the 1920s include adjustable driver seat and indirect lighting on the instrument panel. Mopar was first to transition to alternators in, I think, the late 50's.

 

I know the '61 Ford we had when I was a teenager had vacuum wipers while the '56 and '63 Plymouths were electric. That Ford steered like a tank compared to the Plymouths too.

[Young Ed]

Mopar was first to transition to alternators in, I think, the late 50's.

 

1960 on the new Valiant only then in 1961 it rolled out to the rest of the mopar lineup.

[Dave72dt]

I know the '61 Ford we had when I was a teenager had vacuum wipers while the '56 and '63 Plymouths were electric. That Ford steered like a tank compared to the Plymouths too.

Ford had electric wiper at least as far back as '51.  Did a '51 F-3 that had electric 2 speed wipers. Top of the line "5 star" package in it.

[Young Ed]

Were those elec wipers optional though?

[TodFitch]

Ford had electric wiper at least as far back as '51.  Did a '51 F-3 that had electric 2 speed wipers. Top of the line "5 star" package in it.

 

Been a long time but I have very clear memories of the wiper action when accelerating away from a stop light in the rain. . .

 

Were those elec wipers optional though?

 

Might be. The '61 Ford was my Dad's commuter car and he typically got a bottom of the line used car for that.

 

Manual transmission, non-power steering, non-power brakes, etc. for all of our cars. He viewed that stuff as gimmicks that were just more things to break.

[Dave72dt]

Were those elec wipers optional though?

They could have been part of the 5 star package.  There were 5 things included in the package, hence the name.  Addittional stainless trim, passenger visor, arm rests were in the package.  Electric wipers could easily have been in it.

[Uncle-Pekka]

My d24 has stabilizer bars, I suppose they were std accessories... Makes big difference in driving.

[TodFitch]

My d24 has stabilizer bars, I suppose they were std accessories... Makes big difference in driving.

 

Front and rear or just front sway bars?

 

Front sway bars were introduced on Plymouth with the PJ in 1935.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Most of the D24 came with sway bar in the front and the panhard rod in the rear..they were there on both my town sedan and the standard 4 door I owned..the panhard is a big plus in my opinion...

[larryconnors]

I was just reading some articles on the internet and found that the 1942 plymouth had an automatic illumination system when the door opened that was innovative and the 1935 touring sedans had built in trunks that were also innovative.

[Uncle-Pekka]

Mine is as Tim said: stabilizer bar in the front and the panhard rod in the rear. Most likely the panhard rod makes it handle so well. Much better than other same era cars I've driven.

[B-Watson]

1960 on the new Valiant only then in 1961 it rolled out to the rest of the mopar lineup.

 

For Canadian-built Chrysler Corp cars the alternator was optional in 1960-1962, including the Valiant.  In 1963 the alternator was made standard in all Canadian-built Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler and Valiant cars.  Some Ford Motor Co. cars still had the generator standard in 1965.

 

By the way, both Fisher Body and Graham-Paige Body were late switching to all-steel construction.  G-P built its last wood-steel body in 1937 and then sold the tooling to Nissan.  G-P's first steel bodies came out in 1936, supplied by Hayes.  Fisher started its switch in 1937 with GM's A and B bodies. Both companies had large hardwood holdings in the SE USA.  

 

Budd, Briggs, Hayes, and Murray used all-steel construction - Budd was the first to build all-steel bodies.

[BobT-47P15]

The power convertible tops on the Chrysler products were vacuum operated cannisters until the late 40s or early 50s, I think....

then they went to a hydraulic/electric system.  Seems like I have or have seen a Plymouth ad that said there were maybe

55 "new" items on a 47 or 48 Plymouth.  Some things were pretty minor in reality.......like different style covers on the

exterior door locks.  

 

What;s kind of interesting is:  look at the window stickers on today's new vehicles.  They still play that old game of

listing stuff that is basic to a car and in reality every car made has these things.  There ARE some true options you

can add still.......but they tend to package those up so you have to take more than one thing.  

[larryconnors]

Today I was told that the sealed beam headlight is a chrysler innovation that the government subsequently made mandatory for all auto manufacturors.

[TodFitch]

Today I was told that the sealed beam headlight is a chrysler innovation that the government subsequently made mandatory for all auto manufacturors.

Carl Brewer's autobiography claims that they came up with the idea for a better headlight design while consulting with GE lighting guys. Not sure if the ideas directly lead to the sealed beam or if GE people came up with everything on their own.