Pictures of my 48 Plymouth coupe

[Cold Blue]

She's about 90% complete! I have a few minor things that I still need to fix, and do a front end alignment because I just replaced the tie rod ends. I think she looks super cool! Check out those leopard skin seats...

[rhelm1953]

Looks like a very nice 50's style mild custom.  I like car builds that pick a theme and stick with it, what do you have for power?

 

 

[knuckleharley]

7 hours ago, Cold Blue said:

She's about 90% complete! I have a few minor things that I still need to fix, and do a front end alignment because I just replaced the tie rod ends. I think she looks super cool! Check out those leopard skin seats...

You have GOT to get yersef a leopard skin jump suit,high heel boots,preferably with goldfish swimming in the clear plastic heels,and a leapord-skin fedora  with a wide brim and a peacock feather in it.

[Cold Blue]

At my age, a leopard jump suit would be a bit much...and walking in high heel boots is out, but I would consider a fedora. LOL!

 

[Dodgeed]

Great looking car. Looks like lotsa fun ??

[Cold Blue]

Thanks! It is fun, but I gotta do a few other things to it. I am running the original 218 flathead six with (2) one barrel B&B carbs on an Offenhauser intake. I am having carb leakage problems at the throttle shafts I gotta iron out. I also have some clutch chatter that baffles me. Everything looks fine, but she'll chatter a little off the line. The steering's a bit heavy with those bias-ply whitewalls, but I will sacrifice that for the looks. 

[40plyrod]

Beautiful car! I really dig it. What type/size tires are you running?

[classiccarjack]

Cold Blue, your car looks fantastic!

 

Thank you for the photos. ?

[Cold Blue]

Thanks for the compliments! The tires are B. F. Goodrich Silvertown's 7.60 x 15's, 4 Ply, (Bias) from Coker Tire in Chattanooga. I have the almost original spare in the trunk; it was made in 1953, and has never been used. It is a Goodyear 'Super Cushion", whitewall. Of course, it's not useable, but it is a collector item, and neat to have to let people see what a tire looked like way back when. Being a 1953 tire, I think it was bought when the original tires on the car were replaced for the first time. I have converted the car to a 12 volt system, with all new wiring. The speedo works fine, but the original gauges don't. I have an aftermarket fuel and temp gauge installed, but am unsure how I can get the old gauges to be in working condition being that they are 6 volt.  Any input would be welcomed! 

[Andydodge]

The water and oil gauges should still be mechanical so as long as the tube to the temp guage is o/k it should work, same with the oil gauge...the amp gauge just reads amps, it doesn't care whether they are 6 or 12 volts.......I have the stock gauges on my 1940 Dodge working with the 318 poly, 12 volt system and has done so since 1973 when i stuck the V8 in it......and the fuel gauge works o/k with just a voltage drop resister wired into its power lead.............are the original gauges still ijn the car and in working condition?....................welcome aboard from Oz........andyd.

[Cold Blue]

The original gauges are still in the car, so they should still work.  Thanks for the info!  Australia? Too cool! That explains the right hand drive...beautiful car!

[Andydodge]

Blue, when I started restoring, then hotrodding the car in the early 70's I had the water gauge checked by an Instrument repair place and had them replace the bowden(?) tube and wire that goes around it and the bulb at the bottom, its actually older now than the original one was when it was replaced,...........lol......... the gauge is the original tho, the oil pressure gauge reads oil pressure and doesn't know whether its from a 6 or V8, the speedo works, sort of, I think it may need the inner cable lubed but its a stock mopar cable, can't remember whether its the 1940 Dodge one or the 1962 Oz Chrysler Royal cable that came with the 318 Poly/Cast Iron Torqueflite, the speedo with the auto, late Falcon diff and 275/60x 15 tyres is not overly accurate but either way it screws to the speedo & trans no problem......lol............the Amp gauge as mentioned just reads amps and the Fuel gauge is reasonably accurate tho' once it gets down around 1/4 tank then its refill time..........I like your Plymouth...I had a 41 coupe for a while tho' sold it like a dope........lol.........still got the Dodge, coming up for 47yrs next week.......lol...............regards, Andy Douglas

[Cold Blue]

Thanks for the background info Andy! Your Dodge is super cool! My 48 Plymouth is the first "old" car (Tee-hee) I have restored. I found the car locally, from a gentleman in Rover, Tennessee, which is not far from where I live. I don't know it's background, but it must have been a western USA car, with an arid climate, as it does not have any rust! It does have some light surface rust on the undercarriage, but no body rust at all.  I was amazed that it was really rust free. I lowered the rear of the car about 4" , and installed a late model GM rear end and driveshaft with U-joints, and got rid of the old ball and trunion setup. I am still running the original flahead six (218 cc) which I rebuilt, and installed an Offenhauser aluminum 2 barrel intake with (2) one-barrel B&B carbs. She still has the 3 on the tree tranny. She ain't fast, but I didn't want a muscle car. I drove muscle cars back in the 60's - had a 64 Chevy Impala SS 409 4 speed, and a 70 Camaro 350. I am going tackle those old gauges next, and see if I can get 'em to work. I am going to Google Map South Grafton to see where you live! Later, Blue.

[Don Coatney]

Who did the pin stripping on your car?

[Andydodge]

Blue........when you check google maps I'm at 188 Bent Street, South Grafton......on the corner of Bellevue Street...........let me know when you'll be looking and I'll go outside & wave......lol.......regards from Oz.........andyd

[Cold Blue]

Don Coatney - the pin stripping was done by Darin Allen of Killer Designs.

[classiccarjack]

Find a 6 Volt Voltage Limiter for your gas(fuel) guage.  The rest are mechanical...  Other than the Ammeter as Andydodge correctly mentioned.

[Dartgame]

I used a runtz resistor for the fuel gauge to step down the 12 volt to 6. Seems to work fine. A lot of restoration and fat fender speed shops sell these resistors.

[classiccarjack]

2 minutes ago, Dartgame said:

I used a runtz resistor for the fuel gauge to step down the 12 volt to 6. Seems to work fine. A lot of restoration and fat fender speed shops sell these resistors.

I took a Voltage limiter out of a 1969 Valiant, and soldered ends on it to hook up wires to it once.  It was for a 1939 Dodge Coronet gas(fuel gauge).  It worked fine.  Anything is possible with motivation and a multimeter.  ?

[Dartgame]

Hey Jack - Good idea, I forgot that the muscle car era mopars used a bimetallic limiter that drops 12 to 5 volts...there is an outfit making a solid state limiter as well. I think its called real time engineering. I bought a couple for my darts but had not installed them, the old ones are still functioning.

[countrytravler]

48 under construction. Has a 1955 331 Hemi.

[knuckleharley]

Doesn't your side info say you have no project cars anymore?

[countrytravler]

55 minutes ago, knuckleharley said:

Doesn't your side info say you have no project cars anymore?

If you're talking about me, I did not say it was mine. Its one of our customers that we sell parts to. We still have the shop and business. I am on the road hauling cars full time. Only home about every 3 months for a week at a time. I run between FL and WA and back with an open 9 car.

Edited September 9, 2018 by countrytravler

[knuckleharley]

19 minutes ago, countrytravler said:

If you're talking about me, I did not say it was mine. Its one of our customers that we sell parts to. We still have the shop and business. I am on the road hauling cars full time. Only home about every 3 months for a week at a time. I run between FL and WA and back with an open 9 car.

Ok,thanks for the explanation.

[Don Coatney]

On 9/6/2018 at 3:58 PM, Cold Blue said:

Don Coatney - the pin stripping was done by Darin Allen of Killer Designs.

 

 

When I lived in Murfreesboro I knew a guy called Gator who was a member of the poor boys car club and he did a lot of pin striping. Not sure what his real name was but he did very good work.