Here's some photos of Betty from the weekend. It's cold, and her heater isnt hooked up but a few blankets on a 30 degree night and your good to go. We had the big snow storm at the end of October but we've had several bouts of rain to wash the salt and chemicals off the road....so she's back out on the road!!! Its supposed to rain this week but at night its supposed to get below freezing; hopefully the roads dry off before night and they dont lay anything down. We have plans on friday night to take the car an hour up to Springfield Mass to do a 4 mile Christmas Light park tour. Its a family tradition to go see the lights and how much better would it be in the '50!! On Sunday there is a holiday parade in Putnam, CT and its filled with old cars. apparently quite the attraction. Hoping to take her to that too. anyways; enjoy the Betty update
here's a BIG THANK YOU to the HAMB. Today; i woke up to an email in my inbox that was sent through the HAMB. I opened it to find an email from the grandaughter of the lady who originally owned this car. How cool is that??!! She must've been googling her grandmother's name and this thread popped up in the search. She joined the HAMB, and sent me an email! The information that this site is able to pull up never ceases to amaze me. Thanks HAMB
for those that are interested: I have been put in contact with the grandaughter of the original owner of this car through the HAMB. We have exchanged several emails and now she is searching through old photo albums for any photos of the car. She told me that her and her husband (then very young at the time) visited her grandmother in Kansas City in 1965. They had driven from California to Kansas City to visit with their brand new baby. Her grandmother had offered the Plymouth to them in 1965 during their visit but they turned it down because they didn't want to have to deal with the troubles of transporting it all the way back to California. She said that decision is probably the reason why the Plymouth is still around today! She said they probably would've driven it; then sold it and it would've likely ended up in a junkyard out there. Shortly after their visit; her grandmother sold it back to the dealership (Jerry Smith) in 1965 and he had the car until the early 80's when it was sold to CT. anyways she sent along some old photos of the residence that the car called home for many years. The black and white photo was from when they first purchased the home in the late 20's, very early 30's. The color photos were taken in the late 80's when the family returned to Missourri for family matters. The house was no longer owned by the family and it was now owned by a lady who grew up a few streets over and always loved the house. The photo of the woman is Mrs. Claudine Hancock Boyle in her younger years (no date given). They are currently still looking for any old photos of the car; although we are doubtful of any that exist. I hope you enjoy
Wow, is that house gorgeous! Glad to hear that you have been able to get in touch with some family members who can fill in the history. Awesome!
Wouldn't it be cool if the lady found a picture of the house with your car parked in front of it? I've wondered about the history of some of my cars and trucks and think it'd be kinda cool to trace the vehicles history. I know the '51 F1 I sold last winter came to Hawaii from Arizona in the early '80s and didn't move under its own power from 1985 till last fall. The previous owner thinks it belonged to the son of an Arizona rancher who got stationed here in the Navy. If I remember correctly someone on here bought an old '30s or '40s Ford and discovered a tank hidden in it that may have carried moonshine.
thanks guys; it is a beautiful house! She did tell me that her grandmother hated to have her photo taken in her later years and they are very doubtful that she would pick up a camera and snap photos of the car . Thats okay though; i think we're blessed enough to be able to talk to them and get the info we have recieved!
Very cool, very impressive Plymouth and awesome to find the pics and the history on it. BTW - did you get any farther with the paint problem after the Knobs from Dupont wouldn't stand behind their product? Haven't seen it in person, but it looks great in the pics.
we did not get anywhere else with the paint. Its finally hard, i can tell you that! haha. It needs to be buffed real bad. in the evening light the doors and side of it are foggy but during the day you can't even see it and it looks real good. Right now; we just dont have the ambition to attempt buffing it. We were going to send it to a reputable place to have it done but haven't got there yet
Getting into the history of that car...now that's MY interest too! These old cars are time machines to me, and the more I can learn about their previous life the better. I eat that up. Congrats on getting so much of the pedigree for your '50. I'm afraid the trail is cold on my '60 Olds. All I know is it came from Baton Rouge, LA and is a one owner car....but I can't prove it or get more info so it's driving me nuts!
well we created "show boards" with some nice photos and some nice print-outs about the "story" of the car as we knew it. We also threw in some print-outs of some fast facts (horse-power, engine, color, purchased new price etc). We're going to add to them before this show season with the new found info but you'd be surprised how many people read those darn things!! On windy days; they get perched up in the back seat and theyre big enough for people to peer in the windows and read. We're one of the few around who have boards like that on display and people seem to really enjoy reading the history on the car from the day it was purchased new.
Just wanted to let everyone know that once again; this forum and this thread has put me in contact with ANOTHER family member of the original owner/buyer of this car. As you know I was already in contact with her grandaughter. I got an email through the HAMB stating that the sender believed the original owner could be his grandfather's sister and he'd like to hear any information I may have about her! How neat! What is even greater is that the two of them live not far from eachother and dont even know it! I am now thoroughly well-versed in the history and family-tree of the Hancock family of Lynchburg, VA and Long Beach, CA....all thanks to the HAMB. It's amazing; and i was at an absolute loss for words when I opened my HAMB account yesterday. For those wishing to find out more about the original owner of their car, if you know their full name, post it in the thread about your car with any details you might know from original paperwork. You might be surprised who comes through when theyre out there google searching for family member info! And one picture to add of the car as it currently sits (click to enlarge)..... enjoy!
yes you do! The story just keeps getting better! It's been an honest blessing to here from the family and i can't thank the HAMB enough for closing the gap in this seemingly small world. Someday; i hope they get to see the car in person!
That is way too cool! I hope to find one day who originally bought my car and get in touch with the family. Glad to see you are back to posting on here and didn't let some wankers get you down.
i have red this whole post on your story and i think it touches home for me. i lived in kansas city for a while and then i moved to kansas and was looking for my first car. i might want to mention that I'm 17 years old for the rest of my story to make more sense. but i was looking for old cars and then i ran across this car. a 1950 Plymouth Special Deluxe we stopped and talked to the guy he let my grand pa test drive it and then we went back 4 days later and bought it for $3000 and boy dose she look great just some minor dents and paint and floor board work with alought of love and she will be running in tip top shape. I'm just very happy that at 17 in an age where all my graduating class mates of 2013 are buying the newest and smallest cars its kind of awesome. i also love the complements i got the first day i drove it to school they all loved it. I'm just happy that you went out and posted your plymouth online because i was afraid that this car was not posted on the web for mech help. here are some picks of my baby.
Hi Devin; Thanks for sharing your Plymouth; it looks GREAT! Sorry I haven't replied to you sooner; I've been off the radar for a bit. I'm only 24 and a lot of people look at us funny too for owning these old cars. Most people ask if it's our grandpa or dad's car...hahaha. The great news about these Plymouth's is that they are very easy to work on and real fun to fix up. That Plymouth of yours looks CHERRY! Our's had some minor dents here and there and one big trauma on the passenger side door. It took us 4 months to completely strip the car, fix the dents and then re-paint it. We had it on the road the following spring. It's not completely perfect (still has a very few minor dents) but it looks quite nice now! The interior on ours is still all original but I think it just adds to the character of it. We bring ours to all the shows we can. The shows are usually a good drive for us so we make an evening out of it (dinner and a car show) . It could be parked in rows of hot rods and no matter what; it gets attention. They're one of those cars that were insanely popular in their day and, yet, you hardly ever see them today. You'll discover lots of people who had them as kids, first cars, family drove them, etc. LOTS of stories will start coming out when people see it! We love it and I think it's one of those types of cars that a lot of people can relate to; on all levels. When we first started building our Plymouth we had all sorts of crazy ideas for the build but quickly decided against it. We kept it mostly stock with the exception of shaving the rear door handles and we painted it the original color (New Brunswick Blue) (which is gorgeous i might add). We kept the stock engine (which has 26K orig miles on it) and put Wide Whites on it. Keeping it stock was the best decision ever. We've contemplated selling ours on and off due to lack of room. We're currently building a Model A. I think the only way we'd ever sell it is if it went to someone who cared abotu it equally as much as us. We spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears fixing up our first old car and, even though its an old Plymouth, it has a special place in your hearts. If you have any questions along the way; feel free to send a PM and ask away- we'd be more than happy to help if need-be! Best of Luck!! -Caylei & Joey
That's cool that you're in contact with the family of the original owner. If cars could talk I'll bet these 60 + year olds would have some stories to tell. She's looking great!
thank you . Unfortunately the family was never able to find any photos of the car from when they last saw it in Kansas City in 1964/1965. I told them if they ever come to the east coast; please stop by. I think they were equally amazed to discover that this car was still around all these years later.
The car looks beautiful and i hope to get mine to look great some day. but i cant complain about that she drives and thats what I'm grateful for. i do have a question for you tho. me and my grand pa have tried every thing to find where the horn hooks up at or how to hook it up but due to the lack of info and diagrams we have nothing. could you perhaps help me out with that. we just need some instructions on where the wires are go and what dose what. if you could would you post some picks of the horn set up you have like say what the wires look like and that one wearied box on the fire wall under the hood that has that one female plug. i have two male ends to who knows what and i don't want to mess any thing up any thing up.
Hello Devin, Your horn relay is the small box next to the voltage regulator. There is a wire that runs up the steering shaft and is grounded by depressing the horn button. that grounding triggers the relay on the firewall that activates the horns. Try jumping batt voltage to the horns directly and see if they work. Try pressing the horn button and see if the relay on the firewall clicks. If the horns don't work with batt voltage applied, there is a set of contacts inside them that get rusty and can be cleaned. Remember, if you are still + ground, you must jump the neg. side of the battery to the horns.
when i connect 1 male end into the horn relay and press the horn it makes a clicking noise i have tried to find it and i think its coming from the voltage regulator where would these contacts be located. for example behind the small bolted door thats in front of the horns that has some wire contacts or at the horn relay.
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