As some of you might know from my previous threads I'm 17 and itching to get into hot rodding. Here is another one I'm looking at: Its a 1950 Plymouth Buisness Coupe, the seller seems to know nothing about cars. He thinks it has the original 6 cly flathead and possibly an automatic transmission. (How can you be selling a car and not know if it has an auto trans or not?) He says its all original. There is some damage to the drivers side door and it does not have a title. He wants $1000 for it. Has any member on here ever gotten an Oregon title for a old car like this? The Oregon DMV website makes it sound easy but a little expensive. Any thoughts? I'd really like a manual transmission, how difficult/expensive would the swap be? Is the car worth even close to $1k? Anything else I should know about this car? Thanks, Ryland
Plymouth did not have an automatic transmission at that time and Plymouths never had the Fluid-Drive, a torque convertor/clutch hybrid, used in the other Mopar cars. These are great little cars with plenty of parts availability.
I've got the same type up the road (minus engine/trans) and have considered making an attempt to buy it when I have money again. But these aren't common cars for customs, but might just start since these might be what's left available for a lesser price. Good luck.
Basicly there's not a lot of differences with 46-54 plyms as far as upgrades is concerened. Use search & start reading!
^^ Build this! Herb Thomas drove a '50 Plymouth Business Coupe in the 1950 & part of the '51 NASCAR Grand National season.
Lotsa plymouth infoat http://www40.addr.com/~merc583/mopar/framesets/welcomeframeset.html forum there is related to all thing flathead mopar, primarily 46-49 but all the mechanicals are the same.
Does it run and drive? Makes a huge difference in the answer to your question of is it worth $1000. It appears to be orange in your photo which was not an available color for that car so I doubt it is original. A seller who claims to know nothing about cars may just be attempting to hide the truth. Don't let your zest for getting a car interfere with your judgment of a good deal. Those early 50's mopars are nice rides and should be a few of them in your neck of the woods. Make a list of pros and cons for this car - Not much rust but has body damage, Available and nearby but no title, etc etc. Then figure out your budget to see if you can really afford this one or not. Consider a lower offer - Maybe $500 cash in hand. Sometimes seeing the money will make a seller sell faster. Not sure where you are in Oregon but check out Widcatmopars wrecking yard. They are a mopar only junkyard in Oregon and have lots of projects and parts. http://www.wildcatmopars.com/ Hope this helps and good luck in your quest.
Agree with SteppinOut, Call Ed at WildCat, 503.668.7786. He might have a project with a title. Regardless of what the dmv book says, getting a new title in this state is a complete PITA. Call the main Salem number and start asking questions and ask yourself if you can provide the needed documents. $1000 with a title, good buy, w/o title, buy it for parts. $300-500. Be sure to get a bill of sale with complete sellers info and vehicle data. If you want to swap to another type/style of trans you will have your hands full as a beginner. If the car runs and drives as is, then get familiar with the stock system first then consider making serious changes. If the stock trans is dead then make changes, as the rebuild cost is quite high. .
I have talked to the people at WILDCAT and they were very helpful and some interesting project cars. Be prepare for a drive into back woods of Oregon I hear just when you think you are lost you are there. Take care ,Rob
Thank you all for the replies. It looks like I'll pass on this one. I will try and get out to wildcat soon. Do you guys know of any other classic car yards in Oregon? Thanks, Ryland
Those coupes are cool. I've seen that on CL and been tempted, but without a title it's probably not worth a grand. Also, a buddy built one of those years ago with a small block and it was TIGHT. As in, custom-built headers/try getting the sparkplugs out tight. Not much room in there, but it ended up being a really fun car.
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