Evansville Plymouth Factory

[Djhall1950]

I live next door to the old Plymouth factory in Evansville. The main part of the plant is now an empty warehouse, although there are abandoned buildings and parts of the factory that are almost untouched since Plymouth packed up and left town in 59. Thought I'd share a couple pictures and treasures I've found around the place and will try to get more this weekend! Being a 50 Ply owner with an evansville built car, does it really get much cooler than that??!!

[Reg Evans]

You are right !  I doesn't get any cooler than that.

[Bingster]

Now go in there and find a Miller or Ammco brake adjuster tool!

[desoto1939]

It would be neat if you could acquire several of the bricks from the building just as part of your collection for the car. It is nice to say that you have one of the bricks from the original factory where you car was assembled.  I know several years ago the National Desoto club was able to get some of the bricks from the main Desoto plant.

 

Jus tplan nestolgia for any plymouth owner.

 

Rich HArtung

[Furylee2]

That is pretty cool.  My 58 Belvedere was built in Evansville.

[desoto1939]

Now go in there and find a Miller or Ammco brake adjuster tool!

Hey Bingster:

 

I already beat him to the find, becasue I have both of these two tools, the Miller MT19 with the 7 sleeves and also the AMMCO gage.  The Miller tool is like trying to find hens teeth in a rooster!!!!!

 

Rich HArtung

[Bingster]

I know!  I had a near miss with my local Mopar dealer.  They said they had some old tools upstairs but it turned out to be a false lead.

[Lloyd]

There's a 1750 on eBay right now current bid at $227. Biddings over tomorrow. Had one on there a couple weeks ago went for $400. I've been watching this one but I'm negotiating with another guy I have bought some parts from. Found him on Craig's list, his brother passed but was working on a 1939 P8 and this guy is trying to help the widow out by making what ever money he can from it. I've gotten a lot of parts from him, trunk lid, running boards, complete and restored double horn assembly and when I asked him if there might be an Ammco 1750 tool laying around he sent me a picture of one on the shelf and said "is this it?". I offered him $200 and right now I think he's doing his homework.

[steveplym]

Is this located downtown?  I've been to Evansville many a times in my Plymouth and didn't know the old plant even existed. 

 

Interesting pics, thanks for sharing.

[fstfish66]

There's a 1750 on eBay right now current bid at $227. Biddings over tomorrow. Had one on there a couple weeks ago went for $400. I've been watching this one but I'm negotiating with another guy I have bought some parts from. Found him on Craig's list, his brother passed but was working on a 1939 P8 and this guy is trying to help the widow out by making what ever money he can from it. I've gotten a lot of parts from him, trunk lid, running boards, complete and restored double horn assembly and when I asked him if there might be an Ammco 1750 tool laying around he sent me a picture of one on the shelf and said "is this it?". I offered him $200 and right now I think he's doing his homework.

he may not of givien a 50 dollar offer a second thought,,good luck on your bid

[fstfish66]

learn some thing new every day,never knew there was a ply plant in  indiana,,very  kool and what a shame  its falling apart

[B-Watson]

Is this located downtown?  I've been to Evansville many a times in my Plymouth and didn't know the old plant even existed. 

 

Interesting pics, thanks for sharing.

 

The Evansville Plymouth assembly plant,- built by Graham Brothers Truck in 1921 and acquired by Chrysler as part of the Dodge Brothers purchase in July, 1928 - is at the corner of Maxwell and Stringtown Road north east of downtown.  The administration building faces North Garvin Street.  Graham Brothers trucks were built there through to the end of 1929 and then Dodge Trucks into 1932.  Plymouth production began there for the 1936 model year and built 1937-38 Dodges as well

 

The plant was built with a saw-tooth roof and sometime in the near past all the glass windows on the plant were bricked up and the roof painted white.  The white would keep the building cooler in summer and the lack of windows would keep the building cooler in summer and warmer in winter.  The large number of windows helped in ventilation and vision back in the days before AC became common..

 

The Evansville Plymouth body plant is located on East Columbia Avenue between North Evans on the west side and the railway line on the east.  The original plant was much larger than the building is now, and stretched north - about twice the size it is now.   Chrysler acquired the building when it purchased Briggs Body in 1953.  Briggs purchased it from Graham-Paige in 1936-37.   And G-P built the plant in 1928   Yes, the Graham in Graham Brothers Truck and Graham-Paige are the same brothers.  Briggs/Chrysler would truck the bodies up Evans into the plant.   There is a railway crossing on North Evans that leads into what was the loading dock area.  

 

Grahan-Piage used the plant to build bodies for their assembly plant on West Warren Avenue - the plant Chrysler bought in 1947 and used for DeSoto bodies and engines from 1950 to 1957 and Imperial production for the 1958 to 1961 model years.   G-P built old-style wood-frame bodies at the plant and in 1936-37 for the Crusader series,   In late 1936 G-P sold the tools and dies for the Crusader and a 224-cid flathead six engine to Nissan in Japan.  Nissan used the equipment to build the Nissan 70 and also the engine for Nissan trucks. 

[pflaming]

Hey Plymouthy, you should buy that plant, move your cars there, form a museum, and and start an "old mopar reality show".  Your main source of advertisers might be hair shampoo companies!  LOL

[Plymouthy Adams]

pflaming, on 28 Sept 2014 - 12:18 PM, said:

Hey Plymouthy, you should buy that plant, move your cars there, form a museum, and and start an "old mopar reality show".  Your main source of advertisers might be hair shampoo companies!  LOL

it would be more a homecoming PP...majority of my cars are Evansville products..

[suntennis]

If you go to   allpar.com/corporate/factories/evansville-plant.html     the are photos of the plant.

[B-Watson]

The first photo in the Allpar article is the Briggs Body Plant.  The road (North Evans Ave) that runs along the side of the plant leads up (north) into the assembly plant which is just off to the left (west) in the top of the photo.

 

The last photo, taken in 1948, is the assembly plant.  The administration building today has trees covering the front of the property..  

 

In the 1948 photo you can see the train tracks on the right (south side) of the plant.  If you follow the tracks toward the top of the photo (east) you will come across a road crossing the tracks.  That is North Evans Avenue which was used to truck bodies from the body plant into the assembly plant.

[Djhall1950]

Got a couple shots from around the place earlier. Different areas of the plant.

[Djhall1950]

Can't seem to upload them all at once, so here's a few more..

[Djhall1950]

The last picture is the body tag on my 50, hope to get a photo shoot with her in front of the factory soon:)

[B-Watson]

You could get two factory shots - one at the assembly plant on Maxwell and one at the body plant on East Columbia.

[BobT-47P15]

I was born in Evansville in 1943 while my father was working at the Republic Aviation aircraft plant.

Have never been back there since........my parents moved back to Missouri when the war ended.

 

I think my car was built in Detroit........so no connection there.

 

My sister went through Evansville on some trip a few years ago and went by to see two different

houses our parents rented while there......both of which have been well maintained over the years,

per the pictures she took.  

 

This is the first time I'd heard about the Plymouth plant there........looks like a biig ol place.  Thanks

for the posts.

[classiccarjack]

I am very fascinated with this post.  Oh...  If only I could afford to buy it, and reproduce my Favorite Plymouth parts there....  But it's just a silly dream.

[lepic56]

wow!!! I should put that stop in my route 66 trip,,,

thank you Djhall1950

[Dan Hiebert]

Very cool!  When that plant was expanded to rebuild tanks during WW2, my grandfather, a welder, did a lot of work there.  At first he did  construction welding to help erect the plant, and he did such a good job that he was picked up to weld on the tanks when the expansion was complete.  He was 4F for poor vision and lived in Centralia, IL (where my Dad was born) at the time.  Working in Evansville played a role in his relocation to Carmi, IL (where I was born) after the war.  My brother and I would spend part of our summers in Carmi after the family moved to Dallas, and every year we did a shopping trip with Grandma to Evansville, where she once pointed out the (by then former Plymouth) plant where Grandpa had worked.  I didn't remember much about it until "Djhall1950" posted - Thanks! I still have an Uncle and cousins that live in Carmi.  They take a lot of trips to Evansville, it's not far, and the "big city" in the region.

[lepic56]

wow!!! I should put that stop in my route 66 trip,,,

thank you Djhall1950

I remenber driving around Evansville, a very nice area,,  right on the Ohio river that divided Indiana from Kentucky,, 

Do we have on this site,   more location of other mopar historical plants..???