Features The 1955-1956 Plymouth and Dodge Thread

Checked with Fatman?

 

There was a company in the USA that was cutting and rewelding the kingpin boss for MOPARs for the years 1939 through to 1956 and thus created a dropped spindle. I did have a set but here in New Zealand they are not legal on our cars according to our beauacratic Govt (welded suspension items are illegal). If someone had enough orders to recast the whole spindle that product would find a good market down here in the South Pacific.

 

I used a set of drop blocks to lower the front of my 56 a bit.

 

I ordered new heavy duty coil springs and had them made to lower the front 1-1/4" from stock on my 56 dodge. No alignment problems when I had the front end aligned.

57 and on used torsion bars. Could just crank the adjustment to lower the front

 

As George said....check with Fatman as they did/do drop spindles & have done for years....and as 35DeSoto mentions they are illegal in NZ and here in Oz also......shorter coil springs and/or remounting the lower spring pocket on the bottom of the lower A arm have been used to lower our independant Mopar front ends...........andyd

 

I've dug through the thread and didn't come up with any solid answers. Has anyone physically tried to fit a 1956 Plymouth front end on a 1956 Dodge? I know the Canadian 1956 Plymouth Mayfair had a specially tooled Dodge front clip, but that doesn't help me. I think the biggest areas of question are the fender height at the cowl, the hood width at the cowl, the contours at the cowl, and the overall length of the fender from cowl to frame horn.

I ask all this because (1) I have a line on a nice Coronet club sedan, (2) I really like the Coronet body/trim lines from the cowl back, but (3) can't stand the fender and hood leading edges. No matter what I've seen people do to the Dodge front end, something isn't right about it when looking at the car as a whole. I think it is a combination of the headlights sticking out proud like tubes and then the cluster-f of angles where the hood front tries to peak in the middle, then curve up to meet the kick-up, and then curve up and around to go horizontal. Frenching the headlights seems to help, but then there's the hood. Splicing on Plymouth fender leading edges would probably look great, but then there's the grille. By the time I contour the fender leading edge, deal with the grille, and rework the hood, I surmise I'd have less work and a cleaner product in fitting a Plymouth front clip. At the end of the day, I'd be perfectly happy with a '56 Plymouth too.

Anyone ever physically play around with mocking up the front clip or building a template?

 

'56 Plymouth wagon I bought in '84. Surprisingly rust free for an Idaho farm county car, but with a whole bunch of dents & bumpers ripped to shreds. It started life as the absolute cheapest wagon offered in '56, black rubber on the glass, 1 stick of chrome on the sides, painted trim on the lights & hood... We thought the '55 "Sportone #1" side trim had been added by the dealer to help sell it when new. On the + side, it was a 277'' V8 with overdrive, big heater, & the 1 piece plastic headliner was flawless. I traded a Chev V8 Crower cam kit & a pair of fuelie heads for complete body & paint work, & Ogden Chrome performed a miracle on the bumpers. I gradually found Belvidere taillights, headlight rings, hood trim, etc. for it, & bought a windshield & stainless trim from Neil Freman in Whitehall, Montana. Used a '55 center section in the grille, & '55 parking lights - ever try to find '56 parking light rubber retainers ? Found a Weiand 4 bbl intake for it, & bolted on an AFB from something. Dual pipes with the $11 red "barrel" mufflers every parts house stocked. Traded a valve job on a Datsun PU for the upholstery, which was 2 tone gray tuck & roll on the front seat & door panels - somehow the rear seat came up missing over the years. I had the garnish rails & jockey box lid chromed. I had a '56 Dodge signal seeking radio which was about twice as big as a Plymouth, but by reversing the heater controls, it just barely fit & sounded sweet. I used Magnum 500 wheels with 165 & 225 - 14 rubber, & cut 1 coil up front - the crossmember & pan stick way down on those cars ...

I needed to pay taxes around 1996, so I put it in the "Thrifty Nickel" for $3500. Biker from Blackfoot rode up to look it over & offered $3 grand. We settled at $3200 & I kept the Magnums. We shook on it, & he came back a week or so later with the wheels, and the wagon was wearing the Americans in these pics.

A few years ago, it shows up in the HAMB classifieds looking exactly like it did the day the scooter guy brought the wheels back to me. Well, almost - the dorky hanging mirror got added, as well as the scrapes in the tailgate.
The seller made up a whole bunch of shit about how original everything was. He's asking $18,000 for it ...

 

Man that was a nice looking wagon !

 

A hard to find intake. You thinking of getting it back?

 

And you can't give away those cast iron factory 4 barrel one's...

 

"You can't give away those cast iron factory 4-barrel intakes," as in no one will take them even if you try to give them away? 4-barrel A block (1956 - 1966) intakes are selling for $500 and don't come up often since they only produced them from 1956 - 1962. They outperform the Weiand single plane on a street car. If you have a factory 4-barrel intake you can't give away, I'll give you $25 for your time and pay for shipping.

 

Working on bring this back to life. Been sitting since 78

 

Hi guys, thought I'd post as I was searching for some brake information on my 56 Coronet and found the HAMB (again). I don't want to over post, but here's some things I've done. I've rebuilt the door latches as they seemed to be somewhat of a common problem, the issue is the pot metal star wheel that breaks apart. I took my latches apart and made the star wheels out of steel using patience and a dremel and welded them back together. In the picture is my tail light treatment. The top lights are just bullet style plate lights that are now wired with the brakes/signals. The brake and reverse light lens' are 60 Impala that I machined down. The fish tail exhaust is homemade too. It's just a cruiser I have fun in.

 

looking good.....nice job on them tailights !

 

how many hours to make that gear(s)?

 

It took about 3 days, half day to get the doors apart and latches out. One and a half days to take the latches apart, make the patterns, turn down some rod to size, and grind the gears and reassemble the latches. Then half a day reassemble the doors. That's steady working 8hrs a day. What I found is any latches (if you could find them) for sale were used and already questionable, so this was a solid option. I have more pictures of the latches blown apart if it's something you're thinking about.

 

I'd be interested in seeing a write up, with pictures of the door latch rebuild. My son has a 57 Dodge wagon.

I've replaced those old latches on my stuff with modern post and claw setups because I drive my stuff a lot. Replacing the old latches with modern stuff is a lot of work on the door around the latch and handle area, adapting the handles to make them work, and then you need to add the door striker post to the door frame.

 

thanks!-was wondering if any other latch assy's are similar to rob parts from

 

1955 Plymouth grill insert, need some help with this fellows, how do I take off the grill insert. I'm prepping for paint and body work and this thing is driving me nuts. Where are the hidden bolts. Thanks in advance.

 

You have to get some inside the fender towards the front.....if no one beats me I'll take some pictures tomorrow - it's 8:30pm here at my place.

 

My former beater: '56 Plymouth Belvedere, 361/push button AT, '70 8 3/4 from a '70 B-body. Was my daily until she was sold to purchase a race car.

 

not to get the grill off - hope these back side pictures help......including the pan below also.....

 

That is very cool!