Is there an exciting story about your car build???

[54Illinois]

There is for my 54 Belvedere...

 

My engine came from the Plymouth that turned into the Sniper build.

 

I saw the ad on Craigslist for a 230 P25 and a PowerFlite transmission...$200 for both.  The ad said the motor came from the original car used from the Sniper build, and it still turns by hand.  So my father and I drove down to Manteno and picked up the motor and trans. 

 

Of course you always buy the product, not the story.  But i had to ask how this guy happened to have the engine for so many years, and how he acquired it.  Well, he said, I work there.  Then we went to the shop for a tour!

 

 

 

http://www.amcarguide.com/custom/1954-plymouth-custom-the-sniper/

[Dan Hiebert]

Other than fending off self appointed code-enforcers who wanted to enforce non-existent codes in Horizon City, TX because we restored our D24 on the driveway in front of the house, the only exciting thing about our build was the expansion of my handy list of expletives - which I still use to this day. 

[BobT-47P15]

My biggest excitement was simply finding the car in the first place.......back in 1973.  It's the only P15 convertible in usable condition I have ever seen in this

part of the country. 

 

 Back then I saw two more in salvage yards, in such bad condition they were not usable in my opinion.  They were damaged and rusted

out and I don't recall they had any parts I needed.    

 

Fortunately, the owner of the small junkyard where I found the car felt it was valuable enough to store it in a building out of the weather.  Not sure how

long he had it, but the tires were flat and sunk into the dirt floor, so it had been there a while.  I had to crawl in through a window to see the car due to

all the other "stuff" he had stacked around it.     Otherwise, my excitement was finding parts here and there over the years to make it better.....and  

finally being able to drive it and make it look nice. 

[desoto1939]

I have a 39 Desoto and i am the 3rd owner of the car. I sent of to Chrysler Historical and received the build sheet for the car.  The car originally was sold to a gentleman that live in Brywn Marw PA which is near Villanova College in PA.

 

I found out the the car was delivered to the Wolfington Desoto Dealership on 3400 Chestnut stret in Philadelphia, PA. Just the other day I was able to aquire a metal key fob from this very same dealership.

 

The next part of the story is the interesting part. This dealership has closed but the great Grandson is the the President of the Wolfinton Bus Company which produces school buses. They are currently located inthe Exton,PA.  I stopped by their main offce with the pictures of the 39 Desoto and all of the information that the Chrysler Historical had sent me. I was able to meet with the GreatGranson of the original Wolfington Dealership.

He was very surprised that one of these cars was s till onthe road.  The car came off the assembly line on May 19.1939.

 

The Wolfington body works also made custom bodied for cars in the Philadelphia area.  Some of you might have heard of the Durham Body works company that was also located in the Brwyn MAwr area.  This comapny closed shop but the building that they occupied is not stillbeing used to sell Ferrari's. The greatgranson told me that when his greatgrans father need extra help when building a custom bodied car and the Durham body compnay was slow they would swap the crafts from each others shop when ever either needed the extra help.

 

SAo my car has stayed in the local area around the suburbs of Philadelphia and has a real local hisrtory and this all came about because the Chrysler Historical had the history on the car.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Plymouthy Adams]

all my cars have an exciting story behind them...if not..why buy it...who wants mundane?

[Oldguy48]

Please forgive me if I posted this  before.  I may have, but don’t remember for certain.  Anyway, here’s my exciting true story about my P15 build.

 

This began on the day that we transported her on a trailer to my brother-in-law’s garage, to begin the bodywork.  We unloaded the car from the trailer, and had to negotiate her down an inclined driveway, with a sharp left turn at the bottom to line up with the garage door.

  The car was not yet running, but the brakes were hooked up.  They didn’t work very well at all yet, but it seemed that they would be OK for what we were doing.  I got behind the wheel, sitting on a loose wooden block since the interior was completely stripped out.  The brother-in-law, and son-in-law gave a little push to get the car moving down the driveway.  The car started to pick up a little speed, so I stepped on the brake pedal, whereupon the brake pedal went right to the floor. (This is where things began to get exciting) Now I’m beginning to panic, so I’m pumping the brake pedal to no avail.  I took a firm grip on the steering wheel for support and the steering wheel came off the shaft.  I am now feverishly pumping the brakes while maintaining a grip on the loose steering wheel in my hands.  Prior to beginning our trek, I had failed to replace the retaining nut after I slid the steering wheel into place on the shaft. (Stupid move…yeah, I know)  Now I’m still rolling, and trying to get the steering wheel back into place.  The car was heading right for a Kubota tractor parked at the bottom of the driveway.  I got the steering wheel slid back on it’s shaft, and was contemplating steering the car out into the yard to avoid colliding with anything, when we finally slowed down, and came to a stop.

  The brother-in-law, and son-in-law were still standing at the top of the driveway laughing hysterically, as they saw the whole episode unfold before their eyes.  I, however was not amused.  I regained my composure, and after recalling what had just happened, I had to laugh about it as well.  I just wish the whole debacle had been captured on a video.  I think I would have submitted it to “America’s Funniest Videos” or posted it on Youtube.

 

Wayne

 

[Smokeybear]

I don't know if you call it exciting but when I went to New York to pick up the 48, it was sitting on the only part left of what used to be the Vanderbilt mansion's original driveway (according to the previous owner). The PO was also once an owner of one of the original batmobiles from the 60s TV series. That he had proof of in the form of pictures and a copy of the pink slip in his name. 

[steveplym]

To my recollection more exiciting things happened after building the car and getting it on the road. 

 

Driving the last 50 miles on my way to Jackson, TN a couple April's ago, with little to no brakes was definitely exciting.  Hole being rubbed in the brake line at the rear was the cause. Not the kind of excitement I want to have on a daily basis though.

 

On a happier note taking that first drive after adding dual exhaust and dual carbs was really fun.  As was driving it for the first time with a BW R-10 overdrive. 

[Ulu]

Wow! Nothing quite so exciting to report, but there was one thing.

 

First, I bought my car more or less built. It had won trophies, but mechanically it had bugs. The steering box had one bad bearing (upper worm) & the car would only turn right under power. If you coasted and steered gently it would go left.

 

The thing is that on the test drive I somehow never made a real left turn and didn't discover this fact until, on the way home, I'd run it up to 55 on the freeway, then tried to take a fast ramp with a dogleg. The wheel turned 1/8 turn left and stuck there like it was welded. (The box had crushed bearing rollers smashed sideways.)

 

Fortunately I had lots of traction, because I chopped the throttle hard to make the car go left. On a wet road I woulda spun for sure.

 

Then the trans had very bad needles at the pilot which resides within the 2nd/3rd syncro. This aligns input and output shafts, and having a good one makes the syncros a LOT smoother. I stripped the trans and dressed the shafts, then installed an oilite bushing & reamed by hand to size. Worked great but I knew it wasn't going to last forever.

 

As it turned out, every day I drove past the shop of a briefly famous motorcycle customizer named Galen Olsen whose work I'd seen in several 70's chopper magazines; only I didn't know it was him. One day I stopped there because I was looking for some old bike part & I found he had an OD trans. It was in great shape & I still have it (since rebuilt) & it's the best $150 I ever spent on the car.

 

It wasn't until later that I realized that this fellow had been the same one I'd read about in the mags, 15 years earlier.

 

Finally, I had a tire blow out on the freeway at about 60 MPH. The car had 15" VW radials on it when purchased & one went bad. It had a bald spare which got me to a derilict tire shop on the outskirts of Visalia, Calif. There I bought a nice used tire that matched quite well.

 

Unfortunately, the guy who put my wheel back on never torqued the lugs properly. The next day, on the same road where I'd had the blowout, I lost the left rear wheel at speed. The tire knocked off the left skirt and bent the fender a bit, plus I'd lost all of the lugs!

 

Using two jacks, I got the car up and replaced the wheel using a lug from each other RH wheel, plus the one from the spare mount. (The car has 2 RH rear hubs.) I made it to work late, and with a spot of mud on my Farrah's, but with a story to tell.

 

BTW, in both the blowout and the lost wheel, Edith d' Plymouth behaved like a dream. A very tractible and stable car IMO, and I've always loved that about her.

 

Have a Merry Christmas Folks!

Edited December 25, 2014 by Ulu