And we're off. I have had a handshake deal with a friend to buy his 39 Plymouth coupe from him, since the winter. Just last weekend, we went and got the car from his sister's house in Grand Junction, CO. The more I look at the car, the more amazed I am with the overall condition. It has some dents and dings, but nothing that can't be fixed. There is no serious rust issues, only the floor was removed somewhere along the way, nothing that can't be fixed. It has some GM V6 & 3 speed that was never finished being installed. I'm going to yank that out and probably go with a modern EFI 5.7 or 6.1 driveline. I have a Ford 9" from my 74 Bronco that I expect to put in too. I want to update the suspension, brakes, and frame to make this a safe, solid driver. Since the car is so straight & solid I'm going to restore the exterior, and probably interior in stock condition. This is my first hot rod/resto so I have lots of questions. My first question, is that I've seen more pictures of 39's with split rear windows, but this one is a single pane. What's up with that? Did production change in the 39 year. I know it was a transition year between the 38's & 40's. I've already started combing the internet for stuff I am missing or know I'll need. I've found some NOS rubber pads that fit under the hinges, rear license bracket, etc. I'm not going to build a true restoration, so I'm wondering if that is money well spent. I know the Plymouth is not a high demand vehicle, and a 39 was a "one off" year, so I don't know if there are any aftermarket parts for this car. I'm not finding any. Or can these types of parts be made from sheet rubber, and still look and function well. The only trim I'm missing are the 2 pieces that run down the front/center of the grill, from the ornament down. Are there any good sources for reproduction or used trim? Or should I just pay the price and buy NOS if I run across it? I've found one of the pieces on ebay, but at $95 for the small lower piece, its tempting to keep looking. The grill was unique to the 39 Plymouth, so I know the used stuff will be hard to find. The car is also missing the headlight reflectors and lenses. I'll upgrade to 12v and hopefully modern bulbs. Can this be retrofitted into the stock stuff, or is there a better option. I want to keep the stock headlights, and not convert to round lenses. I haven't spent much time inside the car, it is FULL of rodent left overs, and I need to be careful and clean it up good before doing anything else. The Grand Junction climate was great for preserving the car, but it smells horrendous, and I'm sure poses a risk for Hantavirus, if not more. I've built a 74 Bronco into a highly modified rock crawler in the last 15 years, and spent 4 years working (mostly metal repair) at a bodyshop, so I have some skills to modify and fix things, but I'm not a restoration specialist. Looking for advice.
Nice find, count yourself lucky that your P8 coupe has a lot of the hard-to-find parts on it. FYI, there's virtually nothing re-popped in terms of trim. I've only ever seen running boards and rubber for the windows and doors and floor boards re-popped. Unfortunately those two pieces of stainless trim will be pricey. Re the back window, Ply never made a split back window in these cars, they're one piece as in your car. Good luck with your project, keep us posted.
Thanks for the info. I guess the split windows I saw were modded. Maybe I haven't even seen that many, but one I pulled up last night had split windows, and I finally am getting a good look at my car. I keep running in and out of the house looking & comparing. I was hoping there was some stuff reproduced, but was realizing that was not the case. I've already found and ordered the headlight lenses and reflectors and the body seals. I get impulsive sometimes. Sounds like I'll need to keep watching a grabbing stuff when I see it. Do you know where you found the repoped parts were available. I'm starting my list of vendors, and those are all items I'm going to want in the future.
I suggest you check out the P15-D24 MOPAR site. There are links there to parts sources. Also Hemmings in the Plymouth Parts section and of course e-pay. I scan e-pay once a week and buy extra parts when the prices are right. My advice is to do plenty of research and shop the net to compare prices before buying. There are a few parts suppliers out there that think their parts are made out of gold (and price them accordingly), when in fact a lot of their stuff is poor quality that comes from China. I found this out when I bought axle seals from a MOPAR parts supplier in the Northeast. They didn't fit, absolutely over-priced junk. We ended up putting the old leather seals back in and they haven't leaked a drop of gear lube. FYI, you'd be surprised at how much stuff is still available for these old cars from NAPA. One of the first things I did with my '39 was to switch over to disc brakes. You can source those parts right here on the HAMB.
Nice coupe. These were some of the best years for Mopar. We've got a '39 Imperial in the family. Chrysler and Dodge had split windows.
Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. I'm reading as much as I can to get up to speed. I'll look at P15-D24. I bookmarked a page or two from there, but I'll dive into their classifieds. If I get time today, I may bleach and clean the interior.
I've found a local with, literally, a pile of 39 Plymouth cars/parts. It is made up of at least a coupe and a sedan. He wants to sell it all together and won't part it out. Most importantly, it has the grill trim I'm looking for. But it doesn't have the grill emblem. I've looked at ebay and it LOOKS like the 39-41 emblems are all the same, maybe 42s. Am I correct, or do I need to get a 39 emblem specifically. Looks like I'm going to buy it all, and sell off what I don't need. Anyone looking for anything for a 39 let me know, I'll sell it all. Motor & trans, 2 hoods (good shape), 1good frame, suspension stuff, steering columns, dash boards, running boards, gas tanks, trim, seat frames, fenders, nose cone, honeycomb radiators, almost everything, etc. I'll ship too. Body's are unusable whole, but I can section parts off. I'll pick it all up soon, and take pics and post up on the "For Sale" section. Not looking to make much, just get my money back.
Nice to see another plymouth coupe being saved. i've had my 40 for about a year now and am having a blast working on it..parts are a challenge to find sometimes. but thats all part of the "Thrill of the hunt right"?
I fell in love with the car from a 20 year old picture my friend showed me (my Avatar). I made a handshake deal on it, sight unseen. Everytime I open my garage and back my car out, I see this Plymouth in my rear view mirror and I get excited. I can't wait to start working on it, but its going to have to wait a while. I'm in the middle of remodeling my house, and my goal is to finish my house, before starting this car. I just acquired a storage locker where I'm going to stash the car, and the parts for the winter. I'm stoked I found a guy here that has all these parts, many I don't need, but hopefully I can get them out there to people who can use them. I'll keep updating as I take the scrap cars apart, and cataloging the parts I have for sale. Looks like yours is super nice. I'll be reading up on other's builds this winter, passing the dark, cold evenings when I can't work on my house or cars.
Nice man! I always loved the front end grill piece, on that year Plymouth. I have a 47 Plymouth Coupe myself!! I hear you, on getting those hard-to-find parts -it can be a bitch!! Luckily, your car isn't missing much. I remember couple years back, an old hotrodder told me, "If you buy a Dodge or Plymouth car, make sure it's complete..or you have a source for parts!" I never forgot that!! My Plymouth is in excellent shape and complete!! Keep up with updates. I really enjoyed reading your thread. Good luck man!!!!
The 39 Plymouth came with a fairly modern independent front suspension. The biggest issue with the front suspension is that the shocks are mounted between the upper and lower control arms, make a nice soft cushy ride, but sucks for the feel of modern suspension the car has. If you relocate the upper shock mount to the frame, it transforms the car into a modern feel, but looses some of the cushy ride. There are kit available to do this, but its not complicated to make your own mounts if you have fabrication skills and equipment. There are several disc brake conversions available, www.rustyhope.com for one. The steering box location is not ideal for mounting a V8, but the motor can be shifter to the passenger side 1 1/2" -2" and solve that problem. Several people have installed rack & pinion steering on these cars, there are a few options for those as well. I liked my 39 Plymouth coupe, but it fought me at every modification (of which there were many). Gene
Thanks for the info. I think I bumped into some info on this kind of disk brake swap before, but didn't save the pages. I appreciate the advice on the shocks and motor placement. Fabing shock mounts and motor mounts won't be a problem. What is involved with the Mustang II front suspension swap? What are the advantages/disadvantages? Any good links would be appreciated. I know its a common upgrade, but I don't know what is actually changed. Any links showing the work involved? Even if its on a different car than mine. Thanks Chad
Great find! Sweet car, I have to admit I'm a little jealous! Make sure to keep us posted and good luck!
Spent the afternoon today cleaning the interior out of the car. Bleach, rubber gloves, and a respirator. I think it is now free of most diseases. Horrible work. My friend came by, he's been in autobody for 25 years, and was my mentor for 4 years. He was amazed by the condition of the car. One question, I forgot to ask earlier. Why is there no key lock on the driver's side? Only on the passenger side. I know this is how they built it, but why? How are you supposed to unlock and enter through the driver's door? I'll take some pics in the next day or two of the cleaned up interior. Had to pull all the material off the seat frames, and dig mouse nests out from in between all the seat springs. But at least now I can feel safe opening the door and studying the interior.
Since I don't plan on working on this for a while, the least I can do is flood the thread with pictures. Here are some better pics of the inside. Floor boards behind the seats & inside the truck are a bit rotten. Still some rodent bedding stuffed in the glove box, inside the cowl, inside the seats, and in the nooks and crannies of the car. It still smells bad, and will need another good cleaning to finish up the clean up.
Looks like you have a genuine uncorrupted mouse house in your possession, that fu#king smell never goes away. Other than the floor pan behind seat, it looks to be in pretty good shape. There's no lock on the driver side because back then you were supposed to enter/exit the vehicle from the curb side (passenger side) and slide across the bench seat. If you watch an old movie from the 30's-40's where someone gets into a car parked on a city street they get in from the passenger side and slide over to the driver side. It must have been a law back then. It didn't matter if you were out in the country because they rarely if at all locked their cars.
That's just the mindset of the day when your car was built. People would parallel park and slide over to the passenger side to exit the car (less likely to get squished by a crazy cabbie) so there was no need for a driver side lock. Quite a few cars of that era are like that.
It was a genuine, independent, mouse nation before I cleaned it yesterday. I'll keep plugging away at finding the last of the little bastards and maybe someday I wont' have to hold my breath while I'm in it. Thanks for the info on the door lock, that is what a friend thought. Funny how things change.
Don't change that over to a Mustang II. The IFS in her is awesome. Just relocate the shock mounts as stated before and disk brakes.... And please don't ruin it by putting eFI in her.
Thanks for the info on the MII. Great to know I've got something solid to start with. Relocating shocks is no problem. Motor choices are a long way off. I've become a convert to factory EFI systems since I injected my old 302 in my 74 Bronco. Love the way it runs and the reliability. It will be MOPAR whatever ends up in it. I won't do a 350, that I promise. I'll be bringing home a stock flathead 6 cyl and trans, soon. One part of me wants to put a factory motor back in, but I'm just not sure that is the direction I really want to go. Lots of decisions to be made.
Remember, you are on a traditional hot rod site... Many, Many folks will chastise you for doing EFI. Traditional....
Thanks, I understand. What is considered "traditional"? Warming over the stock motor? A carb'd 440? Something in between? A Chevy 350 with chrome valve covers & alternator?J/K. I didn't realize the site was rooted in a certain method of hot rodding. Not that I want to abandon this site, everyone has been really nice and helpfull. Haven't been flamed once. But is there a hot rod site that I should be looking at for more info on modern motors. That was my plan, maybe the NAG 5 speed trans. I've got an 06 300C AWD that I love driving with that combo. Shhhhhhhh, keep that on the QT.
Oh and no need to replace the front suspension. Just do the upper shock relocation, maybe a new set of springs, and a cavilear rack and pinion. It will ride like a new caddy! I'd put in my 2cents about the engine but my 47 coupe has a SBC so what do I know?
Thanks. I appreciate the info. I'll look into the Cavilear r&p. To each their own. I think the cool part of building a car like this is that the options (and opinions) are endless. In the end it will be MY car, no one else's. I suppose there are a bunch of guys who think this car should be brought back to 100% stock (they probably aren't on this site). In high school & college, I worked for a guy who restored GTO's, and won national championships with his cars. I appreciate all forms of builds. Part of me thinks this car should go back to stock, its just not what I want. Again thanks for all the help and opinions. I appreciate everyone's posts.
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