On New Year's Day 49 years ago, I got my '47 Plymouth, my first car. I bought it sort of sight unseen, having been told about a late 40's era black Plymouth that was for sale. Hoped that the car wasn't one of those ugly 3 window things. Was told that it had a slant six swap so that made it a hot rod of sorts. I remembered seeing an old black Plymouth with chrome reverse wheels in front and 5 spoke mags cruising the high school, and sure enough, this was it. It belonged to the brother of a friend of my brother's. Can't remember his name but I can clearly remember his girlfriend Myrna who was sitting beside him when he delivered it. It came delivered in front of the house at the end of a rope since it was not in running condition. I had been reading car magazines since I was 11 and here now was the real thing. Totally clueless as to what to do, didn't even know how I was going to get it around the block and into the little garage. Still have it and it has gone through all kinds of butchery at my hands. Engine swaps, different transmissions, suspensions, shifters, and just about every mistake possible. I really need to take the whole thing apart to do it up right but newer projects keep getting in the way.
Very cool. Thank you for sharing the story and your stewardship of the car. Had to chuckle about how you remembered the girl’s name but not the owner. She must have made an impression..........
There's something eerie about '46 - '48 Plymouths … hearing a black 4 door with a split manifold when I was 8 is why I'm here today.
I have always liked these cars. I'm going to inherit a 48 Club Coupe and build plans are shaved emblems,bull nosed hood and steel wheels,very much as your 1st car appears.
Those are a good looking overlooked body style. The only thing I dislike about them are the rear wheel well openings, if they are modified to match the fronts they look so much more better IMHO.
49 Years! Wow, you've got me beat. I've only had my first hotrod for 35 years. Give us some more details, like photos of past incarnations, and where your going with it now.
Thanks everyone for the positive comments. My avatar is an oil painting I did of the car back in 1988 but sadly, it still isn't done. Back in about 1980 or so, I was chumming along with the leadsled guys with their chopped Mercs and shoebox cars at a rod run and after I came home, I cut the roof off. Took out about 4" at the windshield and lowered the back until it felt good. This was way before the Hamb, internet, and readily available English wheels and such. There was a December 1978 article in Street Rodder on a Plymouth chop and that was it. I wasn't quite happy with the fit of my doors so I asked a bodyman friend for advice. He said I could stuff a portapower in the door opening and crank on it until something moved. Put a nice dent in my A pillar, but that was all it did. After this, I measured my doors and the door opening and discovered that they fit nice around the window openings but the door gap went down to nothing at the bottom. Finally got that Eureka moment. Suddenly I remembered that the doors had never fit good before the chop but they only latched good due to the bearclaw latches. I had replaced the hood with a really nice hood that I had a gazillion louvers punched but it had a nasty case of overbite and as I sighted down the fender, I noticed that the top edge was rather swaybacked. My car had been hit squarely in the front way back in its past and had never been fixed properly. To do a proper fix, I think that I should pull it back in place down at the floor level, get all my gaps good and start over. That isn't going to happen until I finish the T coupe and the Austin which seems to have snuck in there somehow. Something to do with available garage space and money. The Plymouth will sit neglected for a bit longer.
Had a 48 Plymouth coupe but it had a 68 Camaro sub frame and a 396 chevy with vintage air. Really like that body style. Don't see them as much as other couples in this area.
My first car was a 51 Plymouth. Always wanted another one, found a nice one on here from a fellow hamber. Over the last couple of years, built the engine, new interior, cleaned up the patina paint and created and old school hot rod.
They didn't pull it up any hills with that shoestring hanging on the front bumper, did they? This isn't a photo of your Myrna, but another Myrna that was pretty hot. Myrna Loy was an actress way back when, but she'd have been about 65 years old back when you got the car. Probably not as hot at 65 as she was in her prime.....
The car I really learned to drive in was a Plymouth like this but it was a four door. One day my dad called me to go for a ride with him. We ended up on a sandy unpaved road, or maybe trail would better describe it. He stopped the car and told me to get in the driver's seat and drive. My job had for quite awhile to check the oil every day when he got home from work. It burned so much oil that Dad would by "new" oil but glass bottles of what Sears called "reconstituted" oil. One day I remember having to put 4 quarts in that old engine to fill it up. We looked through junk yards looking for a replacement engine, but as I remember they all were as bad as the one in the car. I remember him selling that car and got a '58 Dodge station wagon. Ugliest thing ever in my young opinion. I think I cried when the old Plymouth was gone.
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