Hi, I'm new to the forum and thought i'd post my new ride. I found my Coupe on line , I was in Sweden at the time , I owned a 57 Chevy a long time ago but I had to sell and always wanted to own something from the 50's again and when I first found a 1941 Chevy Coupe , still for sale, I was very close to buy it but just a few days later I found a 1948 Plymouth Business Coupe in Portland and I changed my mind , and the day before I came back to Florida the car was standing on my drive, love it , it is a beautiful car. I will do some small changes to the car , disc brakes ( Scarebird) in the front , stainless and new gasket for the windshield , the stainless was missing but found on Ebay, a thicker front sway bar ( Jeep) and relocate the front shocks (Rusty Hope). An overdrive gearbox was included and will be installed soon. The white walls is nice but I will now order 17x7 , 5 spoke just to change the look a little bit Will try to post some photos. Claes in Melbourne FL
Awesome car! I have a 39 plymouth coupe, check my avatar. Do you still have the original flathead in there?
Wow, really nice car! Will be interesting to see how it looks with the new wheels you have planned for it.
It's your car, but those 17 x 7's you've got planned will kill it for me. It will look like just another Hot Wheels street rod. Sorry. As an alternative, why not hang around the HAMB for a while and look at some of the more traditional wheel/tire treatments both on Plymouths and others. Maybe they'll grow on you in time. You will run into some significant fitment problems as well, but that's not really the issue. These cars look great mildly lowered with conventionally-sized wheels and tires, but become somewhat less-than-attractive with trendy rubber and the suspension compromises it takes to get it all to work well together. Street Rodder Magazine shows the Hot Wheels-look cars on a regular basis, but be aware that these cars have been modified extensively to get all that stuff under the sheet metal and for the car to still ride low. Please, do some homework before spending your bucks.
I will keep the white walls, and always have the option to put them back on, the car is all over the place and I guess the reason is the tires, so I want to get radial tires on the car.
Good plan, but the tires on the car now look like they'll be problematic as well. It looks like the front end has been jacked up to get turn clearance and I'll bet you can't change a rear tire without dropping the rear end out. Am I right? The reason I pipe up without being invited is that I've been through all this with my '48 coupe and am trying to save you the hassle and expense of doing it on your own. That's one of the big benefits of the HAMB. There are a number of other HAMBers with '46 - '48 Plymouths done in the traditional mode - and some not-so-traditional as well. Hopefully they will chime in here with their $.02 worth of experience as well. Here's a quickie photo of my car. Looks pretty stock, eh? But trust me it's heavily modified underneath to keep it looking stock while still running low and with traditional hot rod rubber front and rear.
Very cool, with that OD transmission you should be able to cruise pretty comfortably. Any plans to swap the rear end for something with more modern brakes and a better gear ratio?
thank's for your advice I appreciate it, I have been in contact with newstalgiawheel.com and vintagewheel.com and all the measurements is done, I put my Sebring wheel on 215/60x17 on to check clearance, one of the reasons to this is to get radial tires on the car, I like your 48 just a little low for my taste, my 48 is a little high in the front , those new springs the previous owner installed feels a little high so I guess I will lower the front but keep the rear as is.
looks good I guess 1 inch lower in the front compared to my car, what do you guys think , cut one lap of the spring ?
Moody Blue, your car looks like its in nice shape. I like the disc brakes, sway bar, shock relocation, and the flathead 6 & overdrive. I too have concerns about your tires & wheels, both the current whitewalls & the planned wheels. The white wall tires (tires, not the whitewalls) look awful big for that car. I suspect it doesn't drive or ride well. These cars really were designed for small tires, compared to the wheel openings. Large diameter tires interfere with the fenders when turning or encountering bumps. My car has 235 x 75 x 15 tires and all of my fenders were cut for clearance, (don't worry, they are very rusty to begin with) for the car style I was after. Though very little of my current car is original any more, I have had several of this era Plymouth cars before, in every one of them, large diameter tires caused problems with fender clearance. As far as the planned wheels, the spokes are probably OK, but the modern style band tires will look out of place on your car with all the original chrome intact. I believe the older style sidewalls will look more correct, as long as they are not as tall as the current tires, they are too tall. Gene
Great car! I love those 46-48 Plymouths. I've owned two of them and wouldn't mind having another some day.
The rear of the example car is much higher than yours so you'll have to do one of two things to yours: raise the rear AND cut the front...or cut the front considerably more than 1". The latter would be my choice since the example car appears to have been raised in the rear and left stock (or perhaps raised just a little) in the front and still looks really high...in my humble opinion. If it was my car I'd keep the wheels you've got and purchase some new, smaller tires in "big and little" sizes. Then cut the front coils so that you end up with a 2-degree forward rake with the new tires installed. Then reposition the front shocks so that they fit between the lower control arms and the frame. Here's a very early photo of my car when I'd done just that much. I was driving it every day and loving every flippin' mile!
How is it that were both from Melbourne and I've never seen your car? I have a 48 plymouth 4 door, soon to be 2 door, but it never really leaves my shop
The tires on the car are Denman L78-15 and the diameter 29" the new tiers should be 27.2 ", BFG's 215/60x17 and until 1947 these cars came with 16" so if I change from 70 to 60's I need to have 17" to keep the diameter close to original ?
It's my opinion that you are over-thinking it. The idea is not to recreate what was original (unless that's what you want) but to improve the car's appearance by giving it a proper stance. A little bit of lowering and an appropriate choice of wheels and tires will result in a car that is much, much improved in appearance with hardly any modifications which, as I understand your first post, is what you are looking to accomplish. Am I wrong?
could be that I just had the car for a few months and don't drive it that much, not a daily driver I live close to Murrell - Wickham
exactly what my wife always tell me seriously I don't want to change to much just improve handling and other tires , relocate shocks , sway bar and lower the front is on top of the to do list. Dual MC is also something I will do soon..
I say sell those whitewalls (someone will snatch them up FAST) and get an appropriate size put on (235/75/15's are 28.9 high and 225/75/15 are 28.3 high), cut 1 coil on the front to start with and maybe a 2" block in the back. I think the large tire size is throwing me off. I hate to say it but the 5 spokes don't work on these cars. I initially tried it on my Desoto and it didn't fit the period, I then bought a set of Salt Flats, which didn't fit and ended up sticking with stock steelies.
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