I just picked up this 1938 plymouth coupe. I guess I just love punishment. The body is pretty straight and very minimal rust. The engine and transmission are non existent. I have no idea what direction I want to go with it other than install an original flathead 6, white walls and lower it a little. Im new mopars.
Love that body style. Had a 38 Dodge business coupe once, the flat six moved the car well. Good score!
Lots of info here over the years. The flathead was used even after HAMB cutoff in forklifts and stuff. I don't know of a site for that year, but the P-15 D24 site is active and has lots of tech for the drivetrain. Looks like it has good bones, but needs someone to fix 'er up. You won't find any junkyards in So.Cal. with these, but there are places that still have some to pick through. Check Francis Moore and DVAP for a start. https://mooresautosalvage.com/about-us/ https://www.dvap.com/
My uncle Johnny had a similar coupe sitting in his farm yard back in the 50's, by that time they were driving something else, even in my preteen years that old coupe looked good, thanks for bringing back a warm memory
There are a lot of the old flathead 6 Mopar motors still out there, and there are still a lot or parts sources for them (as long as you are looking for stock parts). The old flatheads grew in size (displacement), physical size was limited to either a long head version (Chrysler or Dodge) or a short head version, (Plymouth or Desoto) and compression pretty steadily until Mopar quit using them in 1959. An internet search for "Chrysler flathead 6 motors" should provide a lot of reading material.
Thanks for the advice so far. Over the last 2 days I managed to get the tan paint job off and down to the original green paint. A small dent on the passenger door led a previous owner to wire wheel the passenger door paint off and apply a skim coat. The trunk also has a small dunt lurking under that primer patch. Now I really am at a loss for direction lol.
Continue working the original paint. There will be other spots. Get the paint scanned and matched, and touch up the bare and bondo spots. It will look complete, be protected and let you move on to mechanical stuff. You have done well! You can practice by prepping and painting the wheels first. Those are studs, not nuts and the left side is left hand thread, if still original. Go easy and make sure. I'd assume you washed down the underhood and undercar some too. This is my broken record suggestion; do a full lube and spray down anything that's supposed to move with penetrating oil, including any fasteners you plan on turning in the next month. It beats having one break and having to drill!
From my personal experience..... before you get it torn down any farther... STOP!!!! Put the wrenches down, step back, and REALLY look the car over. Decide what you want the final outcome to be (in detail). Formulate as complete a plan as you can. Evaluate what needs to stay in place while you work your plan. Remove ONLY what is needed to get you to the next phase of the project. Too many projects get stripped to the bone and either parts get misplaced, or more frequently, the owner gets overwhelmed and burned out before the car is finished, and thus the car gets sold as a truck load of parts. Enthusiasm is great, but restraint is needed to avoid future issues. Good luck!! By the way..... I really like '38 Plymouth coupes!!! It would be cool with a baby hemi and an automatic!
I don't know your skill and financial levels, but @'28phonebooth speaks the truth. clean up the firewall, scrub and paint the frame, plan on front suspension mods and execute if possible, source and fit the engine. all this can be done with the front clip removed, but don't tear in further yet. You can clean and paint all the inner sheetmetal, replace or replate the hardware, and get the radiator up to snuff, too.
I get what you are saying but I'm somewhat kidding. Here's a vw bug for example I did a few years back. Wire wheeled every spec of of it the frame, welded in a air ride and painted it . Not sure if I want to go to that detail with this plymouth. This is a father son project too
Gah, my eyes, a VW! Hey, so long as you have everything bagged and tagged and can follow through, go for it. I'd still slow your roll until an engine is fitted.
Decided to strip all 4 fenders down to bare metal and paint them gloss black like a 40s dodge truck. I will leave the body the original green paint. I need to figure out what to do with the passenger door.
Rebuild the front suspension and add disc brakes...Find a good running 327 w / power glide..Hurst cradle mount..That'll keep you busy and low budget
Well, at least it looks like you found a good motor. With the front axle under the leaf springs, its going to be more difficult to lower the front "a couple of inches", a lower profile tire could be enough to make you happy. Moving the axle above the springs will drop the front end the thickness of the axle and spring pack, which is quite a bit (6" maybe?) You will be pretty limited on the amount of drop on the front if you keep the leaf springs and beam axle. Other options are not cheap or easy. Dropping the rear is much easier. that axle is on top of the springs, all you need is a pair of lowering blocks, 2" would be good (I would not suggest more then 3"). You only need the lowering blocks and new longer U bolts. Do you have plans for the brakes? There used to be several disc brake conversions available for the beam axle. With the flathead 6, the current original brakes, even rebuilt, would still be scary in today's modern traffic (they were among the best brakes available in 38, but this is not 1938), but I suspect most of the needed parts to rebuild them are still available. I would suggest a disc brake conversion, unless you live in an area without traffic congestion. I don't know what the paint deal is in CA, but here in the Midwest, we can still buy custom mixed single stage paint at our local auto parts store. The parts store around here that supplies most of the paint locally, can do a color scan on your existing green paint and provide you with a pretty close match to your existing color, then you just need to paint the parts that need to be painted. Might be a shade or so off, but if you paint all the parts that sit against what you are painting, not many will know the difference.
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