So I just made a deal to trade my 1964 4 door falcon wagon. I've lost interest in the car and really haven't worked on it in the last six months. I've been wanting a car from the late 40's or early 50's i can build a custom car out of. I ended up making the deal on a 1949 Plymouth 2 door fastback. It's a failed project that has been passed around so it is missing the engine and trans. But the seats are in it and other than rust in the floors and a little rust into the rocker pans the body is pretty straight and rust free. The passenger side floor and rocker have already been repaired. My plans are to get it running and driving before I start customizing the car. I'm wanting to lower it and make a tail dragger. I also want to french the headlights, do something with the grill, shave the rear emblem and fill the licence plate mounting hole, remove the bumperettes, and eventually chop the top. I'm pretty stoked about this because I've wanted an older car like this for a long time. I've got one pic from the ad and as soon as I get the car to my house I will post some more pics and start a build thread. The build will be slow I lost my job a month ago and don't have a lot of money right now but at least I can get started on it.
Good for you. Take your time and do it right. Getting it running first is the best idea. Easy to lose interest in a major tear down even when you have money to work with let alone one that sets in the garage like a big sponge eating up every penny. heres a few to get your blood boiling..
Yeah I want a driving project so I can be enjoying the car while I customize it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Great beginning and I know how you felt. In my situation, a financial crisis, combined with a lack of excitement, drove me to sell my T Bucket. I never looked back. When real life stabilized, I started moving on to the next ride. Now I'm building a better T.
That looks like a great start after your Falcon. As you say, small steps at first until you get a chance to have some spare cash to take bigger strides. Get her running nice so you can enjoy it sooner. Looking forward to updates coming along. Cheers.
Bartikus,I had one of those Plymouth Concords many,many years ago. Mine ended up with canted lights that were actually a headlight and a Caddy parking light. Molded grille mouth with 54 Chevy teeth and 54 Chevy taillights and the license plate sunk in using a Corvair surround. My best advice is get rid of the stock transmission. Have fun!
Best of luck to you on the job hunt, bartikus. Looks like a nice project, on a side note. Hang in there.
Transmission is gone along with the motor I have a line on a 8" rear end out of a 76 Granada and I have a three speed top loader in the garage and I think I'm going to try and hook up the factory three on the tree to the Ford trans just have to figure out what motor to run I can get the 250 out of the same Granada but I have a 289 and a 300 inline in my garage Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here's my '50 Plymouth Deluxe that I've been slowly working on getting back on the road. I mainly lurk on here and don't post much about it as the previous owner fitted a non-Hamb friendly drive train (a440 and 727 from a '75 New Yorker hooked up to an 8" Ford rear end from a Maverick) and I don't want to get flamed for non traditional postings. Only reason I'm posting now is that you mentioned an 8" out of a 76 Granada which should be the same/similar rear end as mine. Not sure what my long term plans are for it really, I mainly just want to get it running and driving.
Very cool yeah the main reason I'm looking at Ford parts for the drive train is that I have a bunch of stuff stashed in the garage. The reason I want the Ford 8" is because the bolt pattern for the wheels is the same and from what I can find the Granada rear is only an inch or two wider than the factory and I can grab it for free. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I'm really not too worried about upsetting the mopar crowd if I didn't have Ford stuff laying around I would probably be stuffing in a slant six or a 318/360 but to me building custom cars is about using what you got I'm supper stoked and I think if the 300 will fit that's the motor I think I'll throw into the car. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I'm waiting until I have enough progress. I've put some pics of the 9" rear end I'm using, but that's it. I should have some real progress pics next week.
8 inch is a good move for the rear end, also investigate a front disk brake swap, as those dodges have 2 wheels cylinders in each wheel, rebuilding the stock brakes gets real expensive real quick and the parts are getting harder and harder to find, and it was a super bitch trying to get them bled! Seems like I remember someone adapting 60's gm drums to the front, but I could be wrong. ECI used to sell a real nice kit that we put on a buddies 47 coupe, same basic brakes.