My "new" (to me) 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook!

[silverh20]

Hi everyone, first time posting here. My 1951 Cranbrook was delivered to my driveway today after I closed the deal on it with the previous owner. I was looking for a classic that was ready to go and just putter around with, take my son to school in, get coffee or groceries, etc. It's not immaculate or flawless by any means but could easily bring to casual car shows. It has the flat 6 and was converted from 6v to 12v electrical. 
 

I'm pretty excited! First mini project is to add heat. I see the two lines under the hood but where a heater should be is just a gap and a louvered door that goes through the firewall. To be continued..

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by silverh20
added more pics

[Sam Buchanan]

Plum purty....enjoy!

[silverh20]

Thank you!! My 8 y/o son is already ecstatic. He wants me to keep it forever haha.

[Ivan_B]

Do you have more pictures? This car looks like it has been considerably customized.

[Los_Control]

5 hours ago, silverh20 said:

'm pretty excited! First mini project is to add heat. I see the two lines under the hood but where a heater should be is just a gap and a louvered door that goes through the firewall. To be continued..

I would think the dog that came with it is the heater?

Great looking car I love it ..... cant help you with the heater, I have a truck with a different system ..... for us it was a option you had to order.

I would think the cars came with a heater, but had options of which heater you would order.

 

Some came with a fresh air option ..... some came with a extra heater under the drivers seat or in the rear of the vehicle. ..... Lots of options when you ordered a car back in this time period.

Pictures of the area and what you have already will help to figure out what you are missing & need.

[Dan Hiebert]

Nice car, and welcome to the Forum!  As Los_Control notes, several original options for a heater, but unless you're going to be persnickety about original stuff on your car, there are a few aftermarket options as well.  It'll be interesting to see how you accomplish that.   

[silverh20]

11 hours ago, Ivan_B said:

Do you have more pictures? This car looks like it has been considerably customized.

I’ll take more pics today and update this post. I can see little custom things all over the place. AFAIK this Cranbrook was “restored” 2 owners ago but who knows what was really done when. 

[silverh20]

11 hours ago, Los_Control said:

I would think the dog that came with it is the heater?

Great looking car I love it ..... cant help you with the heater, I have a truck with a different system ..... for us it was a option you had to order.

I would think the cars came with a heater, but had options of which heater you would order.

 

Some came with a fresh air option ..... some came with a extra heater under the drivers seat or in the rear of the vehicle. ..... Lots of options when you ordered a car back in this time period.

Pictures of the area and what you have already will help to figure out what you are missing & need.

lol this model dog doesn’t produce enough BTUs for an interior of this volume unfortunately, must be because she’s a European model.

 

thanks! I love the styling of classic cars so much. I grew up going to car shows with my dad and I always wanted something unique of my own one day. 

 

 I’ll update this post with under the hood stuff and point out the heater area too.

[silverh20]

1 hour ago, Dan Hiebert said:

Nice car, and welcome to the Forum!  As Los_Control notes, several original options for a heater, but unless you're going to be persnickety about original stuff on your car, there are a few aftermarket options as well.  It'll be interesting to see how you accomplish that.   

Thanks! Haha I’m far from a stickler with cars, I love custom things. I’ll make a new post when I eventually figure out the heating situation.

[Sniper]

On these older Mopars the heater is in the engine compartment and a piece of heavy cardboard like duct work directs the hot air to that louver you mentioned.  I don't know what you have and what you need to make that work, an under hood picture would help.  But the duct work is (was?) reproduced.

 

nice looking ride though.

[silverh20]

26 minutes ago, Sniper said:

On these older Mopars the heater is in the engine compartment and a piece of heavy cardboard like duct work directs the hot air to that louver you mentioned.  I don't know what you have and what you need to make that work, an under hood picture would help.  But the duct work is (was?) reproduced.

 

nice looking ride though.

Thanks! Here's a pic under the hood.

 

[moparfun]

Nice Car, keep it simple and enjoy

[Sniper]

Oh, interesting, your heater core is inside the passenger compartment.  Mine is on the pass side inner fender with the fan ahead of the radiator core support.  Not sure how that louver is set up in your case.

[FarmerJon]

Look under the passenger side dash. Those hoses are running to somthing, most likely an earlier model or aftermarket heater. Does the hose coming from the back of the head have a shutoff valve?

What controls are on the dash? If none of them turn the fan, you may just need to diagnose fan switch/wiring.

[Sniper]

Looks like the battery is a 12v one, so that probably means the fan motor is not hooked up for a reason, lol.  I found a 12v heater fan motor that would work with my 51 Cambridge's setup.  But the OP's is different so I dunno if that motor would work there too.

 

http://www.yourolddad.com/blower-motor

[Los_Control]

Could always temporarily run power to the heater motor .... will just turn really fast 

And if it does work put a voltage reducer inline?

[JerseyHarold]

Welcome to the forum.  P23's are my favorite car and I've had several of them.   They did not come with a heater as standard equipment.  There were a lot of dealer-installed heaters as well as the 'official' Mopar offerings.  Yours looks like an aftermarket heater.

[Dodgeb4ya]

The heater hoses are only connected to the heater control valve for by pass purpose only.

The model 500/550 MoPar heater box and duct are missing.

[Sniper]

so, there should be stuff in the engine compartment?  Here's a snap shot of the parts book diagram showing that style heater.

 

 

[Dodgeb4ya]

For a upper line Plymouth Cranbrook that picture shows the typical 500 series heater that you usually find in the Cranbrook line of cars.

[Jack Bennett]

I’m not seeing a heater of any sort. The stuff you are missing from the shelf on the passenger side of the engine compartment IS the heater. The mystery is why they bothered to run the hoses to a connecting point on the firewall. The small hose coming from the right front of the water pump is your heater hot water input hose. The hose running from the firewall to the rear of the head is the heater core output line. Were a single hose (bypass) connected between the water pump outlet, and the connector at the right rear of the head, it would accomplish the same thing as the terminal block on the firewall. Your heater electrical switches and air/vent control levers are mounted below the dash, halfway between the steering wheel and glove box. This area of the dash doesn’t show up in a photo, so knowing whether or not they are missing is not possible. Looking at the engine compartment photo, look at the hoses about half way between the water pump and firewall.That shelf is where your heater radiator and air control damper is mounted. The hole in the shelf, between the hoses is where the bracket for the heater radiator mounts. A major problem you will have is getting the fiber board connector which connects the heater body to the rectangular (should be a door there) hole in the firewall. These things did not hold up well with weather and age, and they fell apart early in the cars life. If you see one in fair condition, scarf it up real quick and hold it until you get the rest of the heater parts.

My 1951 Plymouth Cambridge……dug from the grave and now flies among the clouds.

[silverh20]

17 hours ago, Jack Bennett said:

I’m not seeing a heater of any sort. The stuff you are missing from the shelf on the passenger side of the engine compartment IS the heater. The mystery is why they bothered to run the hoses to a connecting point on the firewall. The small hose coming from the right front of the water pump is your heater hot water input hose. The hose running from the firewall to the rear of the head is the heater core output line. Were a single hose (bypass) connected between the water pump outlet, and the connector at the right rear of the head, it would accomplish the same thing as the terminal block on the firewall. Your heater electrical switches and air/vent control levers are mounted below the dash, halfway between the steering wheel and glove box. This area of the dash doesn’t show up in a photo, so knowing whether or not they are missing is not possible. Looking at the engine compartment photo, look at the hoses about half way between the water pump and firewall.That shelf is where your heater radiator and air control damper is mounted. The hole in the shelf, between the hoses is where the bracket for the heater radiator mounts. A major problem you will have is getting the fiber board connector which connects the heater body to the rectangular (should be a door there) hole in the firewall. These things did not hold up well with weather and age, and they fell apart early in the cars life. If you see one in fair condition, scarf it up real quick and hold it until you get the rest of the heater parts.

My 1951 Plymouth Cambridge……dug from the grave and now flies among the clouds.

 

Appreciate the insight, and that's a clean ride! I located the fellow who restored the car (Facebook is good sometimes!) and I will ask him what he knows about the heat situation as well. Some historical context would be great.