Meet Elbert

[Normspeed]

I was thinking for a while about black tinting the rear and rear side windows on mine, darkest tint available, to give it a sedan delivery look. Got talked out of it though. I still think it would look pretty good.

[PatS....]

Thanks Harold !!!! Zabasearch worked. Jackie's address and phone number and date of birth were listed there. She was born in 1927. I gave the phone number a try and after a few rings I hear Helloooo, in a very chipper voice. It was her !!!!!!and she remembers the car very well. It was her uncle Elberts car and he use to let her borrow it in the early 50's while she was attending college in Idaho. She was very talkative and kept going off on little tangents but would apologies and get back to stuff about the car. I told her not to apologies of course and that I was very interested in what she had to say. I wonder if she could tell I was jumping up and down like an excited school girl. Eventually I asked her if she could maybe wright me up a little story about what she remembered about the car and the people involved and she said she'd be very happy to. Then she said "ya know, I think I have some old photos of that car in a box around here. Would you like me to send them to you? She asked for my address and phone number and said she'd send them right after Thanksgiving. She was very sharp for an 80 year old and repeated my phone # and address to me perfectly. If she follows through I'll be sure to post them here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all !!!

Love the way an old car can bring strangers together and put a big grin on the faces of everyone involved.

I keep saying it's not so much about the car as about the stories.

Love the stories:)

Great find Reg!!!!

[Johnny S]

Reg, in all of the threads and communications on this very nice '49 Suburban did you ever run into an offer for a grill? If not, I have two (or three?).

John - Colorado

[Johnny S]

Some additional 1949 Plymouth Suburban Photos - Some may be familar! Some are new!

[Johnny S]

More photos

[Johnny S]

And more

[Johnny S]

And almost last but not least

[Johnny S]

And last.....................

[Johnny S]

Reg, I think your's is the only one I've seen with the split window....

So.....please... pls....as novel as it might be......no panel delivery please....this one deserves original or close to it. They are few and far between.....maybe more unusual than the convertibles! They got used a LOT harder and my bet is that the survival rate is quite low.

[BobT-47P15]

Some factory sedan deliveries.....

1951 Pontiac sedan delivery street rod.....

1949 Chevy sed del......

1955 Chevy.

[Normspeed]

Dashboard ought to clean up pretty nice.

[48Dodger]

Yeah Tim, this all happened very quickly. I spotted the auction late Thursday and by Friday at around 10:45 am I was high bidder. The seller called later that day to say that he could only deliver it from Idaho on Saturday afternoon or I would have to find another hauler.

Did you guys get anything figure out for next springs BBQ ?

I'll be posting a thread soon. Bob and Jim seem to like the layout for the "Q" and we worked out some ideas, so if feel pretty good about how its shaping up.

48D

[Reg Evans]

Reg, I think your's is the only one I've seen with the split window....

So.....please... pls....as novel as it might be......no panel delivery please....this one deserves original or close to it. They are few and far between.....maybe more unusual than the convertibles! They got used a LOT harder and my bet is that the survival rate is quite low.

I hear ya Johnny. I'll be putting it back into original condition ( paint,upholstery,trim ) Someone removed the original 97 hp engine and replaced it with a 1959 Dodge truck engine so I can enjoy the extra horses guilt free. I might as well go ahead and upgrade the intake,exhaust,and compression ratio too.

Any idea where I can find the production numbers for this model?

[Johnny S]

1949

P17 Suburban Wagon - 3105

1949

P18 Convertible - 3323

That confirms it to me........your Suburban is probably more "rare" than the very desirable convertible! And was probably used up at a faster rate too. Suggesting that the survival rate of nice '49 Plymouth Suburbans was less, maybe much less, than the convertibles.

[Reg Evans]

Hey thanks John ! They made ~2000 more of my 42 Dodge bizzy coupe and I thought that was kinda rare.

[Plymouthy Adams]

The wagon enjoyed a bit more success than stated..I can say this also..it one model that is very hard to dind a lot of information on also..here is the production count I found when looking to confim data for my 51 Suburban...

The Suburban was a radical departure for Plymouth as far as station wagons go. Not only was the body all steel, but it was a down-sized version as well. The Suburban, which was built on the Deluxe P17 chassis, had a wheel base of only 111". Passenger capacity was limited to 5 people, down from the 7-8 passenger rating of the previous line of station wagons. Other wagons had all been four doors version but the Suburban was only a two door model. The spare tire found a home in the well in the rear of the body floor. The car was short and stubby looking--truly one of those vehicles that are best described as being so homely that they're cute. Priced at $1,840 it was an immediate sales success. Production stood at 19,220 units, by far the best wagon sales Plymouth had ever seen.

[HughForrest]

Reg-

I have an early '50 (some 49 trim...)Special Deluxe (woodie)wagon here in Santa Cruz if you ever want to come look at anything. My body is all original cept for a few repairs over the years.

FWIW onthe woodie vs. the steelie, the taillight housings have a different curve where they meet the body pillar in addition to the other apparent differences. Don't know about interchanging the lenses though.

[49roadster]

Reg,

You have an early 1949 Suburban. The first ones were only in Trinidad Brown and had that split rear window. A mid year change was to the one piece rear window and a selection of 9 more colors. My Suburban was built on Oct. 5, 1949 and has the one piece window and is Salvador blue.

The tail lights are not the same as the wood wagon. I can not locate the part number but both left and right lens are the same.

The light in the tailgate was added by someone at a later time. In '49 the hinges are painted, in '50 they had a deluxe and a special deluxe Suburban. The special deluxe had chrome hinges. If I can answer any questions e-mail me.

Ross Horton

[49roadster]

By the way production of '49 Suburbans was 19,220 and in '50 it jumped to 34,457

Ross

[Reg Evans]

By the way production of '49 Suburbans was 19,220 and in '50 it jumped to 34,457

Ross

Yeah...I found that production number the other day on the Allpar site but wanted to savor the earlier stated lesser number of units for a while.

I wonder how many of the early split rear window models were made???

I'm glad I like the Trinidad brown color cause that's the color it'll be.

[Plymouthy Adams]

now that is where you will fit back into the more RARE realm of ownership...congrats...I really like that look and would like to have a split glass for my 51 'burb

[Johnny S]

Sorry about posting the "wrong" number the other day gents.....I'll double check the source and let them know that another number is out there....probably the correct one!

[Plymouthy Adams]

it may have been the number for the last of the wood wagons..they were called wagons ..

[Johnny S]

Here's some of the text from Jim Benjaminson's article on the wagons....he quotes a number of 19220 for 1949 all steel wagons if I'm reading this correctly. The 3443 looks to be the woody version.

Quoting from Plymouth wagons and woodies: Suburban, PT, Westchester, and Others by Jim Benjaminson.

"The high cost of production of the wooden bodies, plus the nearly constant upkeep required, were distinct disadvantages of the station wagon. Clearly something had to be done to make the car more practical--and less costly to own. The industry had laughed when the first all steel car bodies had been built years before. Wood framed steel was the answer they all said, but pioneers such as Ed Budd had proved them wrong on that point. The all steel body was stronger, safer, required less upkeep and was cheaper to build. So why not apply those principles to the station wagon? it was a good idea, or so the production people at Plymouth thought. And for 1949--they acted, introducing the industry's first all steel station wagon. They called it simply the Suburban.

The Suburban was a radical departure for Plymouth as far as station wagons go. Not only was the body all steel, but it was a down-sized version as well. The Suburban, which was built on the Deluxe P17 chassis, had a wheel base of only 111". Passenger capacity was limited to 5 people, down from the 7-8 passenger rating of the previous line of station wagons. Other wagons had all been four doors version but the Suburban was only a two door model. The spare tire found a home in the well in the rear of the body floor. The car was short and stubby looking--truly one of those vehicles that are best described as being so homely that they're cute. Priced at $1,840 it was an immediate sales success. Production stood at 19,220 units, by far the best wagon sales Plymouth had ever seen.

In addition to the Suburban, Plymouth also offered a wooden bodied wagon on the special Deluxe P18 chassis. This wagon was more true to form for Plymouth; it was a four door, 7-8 passenger car. Although still carrying the wooden body it was the first woodie in Plymouth's history to have an all steel roof. The spare tire found a new home in a neatly sculptured housing molded into the tailgate. The woody sold for $2,372. At $1,500 more than the steel bodied Suburban only 3,443 of them were built.

For 1950 Plymouth offered two versions of the all steel Suburban. The regular version on the P19 chassis was the Deluxe Suburban which sold for $1,946. A more dolled up version, called the special Suburban, also on the P19 chassis, sold for $1,946. Production of these types amounted to 34,457 units.

1950 was the last year the woodie was built. Essentially the same as the previous years offering, with a wheelbase of 118 inches and a price tag of $2,372, only 2,057 were built. With the end of the woodie so ended an era -- the last of the wood bodied cars. Progress had marched ahead several steps and the woodie wagon could no longer compete effectively in the market place. The cars were expensive to build, and expensive to maintain."

Again....my apologies to Reg and all for posting an incorrect number........ but I still like the car Reg!!

John - Colorado

[Reg Evans]

Again....my apologies to Reg and all for posting an incorrect number........ but I still like the car Reg!!

John - Colorado

No problem John....I still like it too !