Mysteries abound, unfortunately. :(

Exhibit A - Passenger side bent control arm

July 10th - The first time Stella ever came home on that flat bed (See the first post!), the tow truck driver had absolutely no idea what he was doing.  This was completely evident by his carelessness to his job and lack of attention to detail.  What happens when people don't take the time or pride to do their jobs?  Mistakes are made, and often mistakes that cost people in the long run.  Enter into Exhibit A, one passenger side control arm.  Bent ever so slightly on both sides indicated that his chains were not attached to the frame...but to the control arms.  Both were bent, and there was no one that I could cry wolf to.  Tom added that to the list of things to work on.

Exhibit B - Missing speaker, void in housing.

Even more of Stella's past history had begun to show themselves.  Having a fascination with older vintage radios, I was curious what the radio and the speaker looked like from under the dash.  This was yet a mental diversion from the other pieces that awaited me.  The stock MoPar 802 radio was not there, but another smaller radio was in it's place.  The speaker was a whole different story.  When I reached back there with my hand, there was a void where the speaker should have been.  If it had indeed been there, a 63 year old speaker would surely have crumbled.  One less thing to worry about.  But that will go on the list for later on in our story.  But if we fast forward onto July 15th, Tom discovered a couple of other things.  Before removing the existing tires, he noticed that these were MoPar wheels, but not the stock wheels that came with the 6.00x16 Bias Ply tires.  Also, before I rescued Stella from the hot rodders (not Jim and friend, they were cool) they managed to put strange sized tires on the wheels.  The fronts were P205/70R15 and the rears were a whopping P275/60R15.  Therefore the tires were rubbing and screwing up the fender walls.  This could be why the turning radius on Stella was horrible.  I intend on buying the appropriate wheels, hub caps and tires.

A tale of two wheels.

When he attempting adjusting the rear drums, he could not get them to adjust at all.  This puzzled him and he couldn't figure out why one tire would only rub on the passenger side and yet the drivers side was fine.  With the MoPar Streamliners Parts Catalog and the Plymouth Service Manual I provided him, he went searching for answers.   And find answers he did.  He had worked on other P15s before, but never had he come across one with some many gremlins.  One other discovery that was made was that there was one remaining wheel being used as the spare tire.  And the tire that was on the stock wheel was a tractor tire.

Each time I had the opportunity, whether before work during a lunch hour or on a weekend I'd go and visit Tom and Stella.  In blistering heat, he'd be under her working.  At times frustration and other times would be joyous.  One morning, I had decided to call Tom early.  He was always an early riser from his days on the farm as a kid.  And I knew that he had a work ethic like most older folks do.  He let me know that he had taken apart Stella's rear end to check out the axle rod shafts and such.  He also wanted me to do some research on how long each axle shaft rod should be.  He needed to find out as what he found was also perplexing.  One axle shaft rod was SHORTER than the other.  After some research and speaking with Neil Riddle of Riddles in Washington State the length was found to be 32 1/4"  The passenger side axle shaft rod was 31 1/2".  Previously, axle grease had been oozing out of the driver's side rear wheel.  This was the source of the leak.

Passenger side Axle, waiting for a rod.

This needed to be replaced post haste and Neil had it in the mail and delivered to us within a few days.  Tom and Stella waited patiently for brake parts from Jeff at Moose Motors and the axle shaft rod from Riddles.  And while we were down there, the king pins, shims, and seals needed to be replaced.  Those came from Kanters in New Jersey. 

Fuel Line Moved ABOVE the Axle.

The hot rodders, also in their infinite wisdom decided that they would place the fuel line going from the fuel tank to the front of the car under the rear axle.  Therefore, stress was pulling and stressing the fuel line.  This bothered Tom and eventually he became sore at the previous 'tinkerers' shoddy workmanship that he moved the fuel line himself.  The day however was not over as of yet as there were more surprises in store.  Moving to the front of the car, the control arms were not the only troublesome affair.  The driver's side brake drum and it's components were frozen and needed to be replaced.  The condition of the car was almost one of neglect.  I was on a mission to get her to where she should be.  And I thought that the VWs I had owned in the past had nicked and dimed me to death.  Not even close yet.  But the fun in getting on the road was beginning to kill me.  All I wanted to do was drive her, but patience and a cool head were my constant companions.

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If you ever need ANY brake work done, and by the most honest man in the business at a good price, see Tom over at Duarte Wheel and Brake.  He's a little known secret and he has been in the same shop since 1963.  He works on classic and modern cars. He is meticulous, detail oriented and very friendly. 

Rear passenger side brake drum with short axle shaft rod.  This speaks loads to Tom's attention to detail.

Mystery of the Missing Parking Brake!

Missing Parking Brake Drum (Between exhaust pipes)

July 6th was a visit not unlike every Saturday I'd gone to see Stella in the morning.  It was almost like visitation rights.  And this Saturday was the beginning of finding out more about what little hidden morsels Stella had in store for me.  The brake and wheel mechanic Tom had her up on jack stands to expose Stella's under carriage (The view is from the passenger side).  Other than the brake cylinders frozen up front on the drivers side, the entire parking brake assembly was missing.  As you can see in the picture, working from the right hand side of the photo at the transmission and working to the left there is an brake drum.  There is no armature, no brake shoe and also if you look carefully...a dried out rubber boot.  You'll see closer to the driver's side the master cylinder (new) and in front of that a small hose.  This is where the parking brake cable SHOULD be, but it is not. 

Driver's side view

Side of the Transmission, and no parking brake!

A closer look at from the drivers side shows the detail quite well.  The drum is there, the springs, mounting plate, arms, parking brake cable and such were pulled out by the hot rodders.  Perhaps the thought was to convert the entire car to disc brake all the way around.  Yet one of many little things over time that I will begin to realize what the hot rodders logic was.  When speaking to Tom, the handle inside the car was there and everything else was completely missing.  This was yet another opportunity to leverage the wonderful resources of P15-D24.  Those gents have had their cars for quite some time and knew what parts I needed to get.  Thanks to Bob from P15-D24, I was able to find out about the MoPar Streamliner Parts Catalog.  I was able to find an electronic copy and soon had that printed as a reference to both Tom at Duarte Wheel and Brake and myself. 

Below is how the parking/hand brake SHOULD look.  After calling up to San Francisco and speaking to an old drinking buddy, Johnny he referred me to Jeff Adkins at Moose's Obsolete Brake Parts.  Jeff had everything I wanted for the car, would need for the car and one extra thing.  Currently at this point, the car had man made brake pads.  Jeff, however had asbestos pads.  This was a huge win.  The parts I needed, he had.  I was able to put together my first order, of what would become a myriad of parts from Jeff.

Excerpt from the Streamliner Parts Catalog

So what is a 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe Club Coupe anyways?

Original 46-48 Plymouth Ad

So what is a 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe Club Coupe anyways?  Well, it's a coupe that I've been dreaming about since I first saw one on television in the 1980s.  At that time, AMC was a small television network before projects like 'Mad Men'.  If memory serves, I was watching a Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in some movie.  A convertible was shown and then a coupe.  Of course, I fell in love with the convertible first and the coupe second.  Having owned two convertibles in the past, my rage for all things 'vert have passed.  Replaced are my love for a coupe, but not just any coupe.  A Club Coupe.  Well that opens up many different questions and one of them being...what is the difference between a Businessmans and a Club Coupe?  A Businessmans coupe was a two seater and didn't always have a back seat.  Some businessman's coupes did, but as far as I know 46-48 did not.  The Club Coupe could fit 6, or rather 5 comfortably.  Both are two doors, and both came with the same power plant.  There were also two trim levels.  One was Deluxe, and the other was Special Deluxe.

My 1947 Club Coupe is a Special Deluxe.  But by jove!  What specifications come with the Special Deluxe?  In 1947, they sold for $1,254 and were made in Detroit, Los Angeles or Evansville.  My car indicated by the Briggs body tag was built in Detroit.  At time of original manufacture, she was 3,057lbs.  Goodness only knows what she weights now with the modified tires, wheels and custom exhaust.  From 1946 to 1949 they built 156,629 of these Special Deluxe Club Coupes.  Who knows how many of them still exist. But what were the specifications?

The Original Plymouth Specifications Chart, click to enlarge

From the actual brochure. . .

The body styles came in a Club Coupe, Businessmans Coupe, 2 door and 4 door Sedan.  The brochures came in Deluxe and then highlighted the Special Deluxe for the up sell to the customer.  Plymouth after the war was able to convert quickly from wartime to peacetime production. 

But, let's remember 1947 shall we?  Our boys were coming home the Pacific and European theaters and America was about to be introduced to their Congress being televised.  In 1947, a young woman by the name of Elizabeth Short was soon going to be known as "The Black Dahlia".  The Truman Doctrine proclaimed to stem the spread of communism.  While back here at home in the United States, the baby boom was beginning and American families were going to need automobiles.  That, is where Plymouth came in.  You hear of Ford, Chevy, Mercury, Buick, Hudson and others.  However, MoPar/Plymouth barely gets a mention.  Hailed as a common man's car, everyone has a story from those days about their parent's Plymouth.  

Special Deluxe Trim from Brochure

Women went back into the home after helping in wartime production and even Plymouth was showing that these cars were for everyone.  These cars were favorably three on the tree manual transmission, as Stella is.  Although the Borg-Warner R10 overdrive was available, these cars did not come from the factory with them.  I will someday be putting my newly acquired Borg-Warner R10 overdrive in Stella when I feel the time is right.  These engines from 46-48 were designated P15, flathead V6 with a 217/218 displacement, single carburetor.   

Back to Stella!

Stella has the stock engine and apparently it has been rebuilt.  The engine starts and runs like a top and hasn't had any problems (so far...).   She has her stock P15, stock Carter carb, with two slight modifications.  She has been converted to 12V from the original 6V and also she has dual custom exhaust.  I am unsure how and when she was rebuilt, but she sounds fine with no pings, knocks or anything of that sort.  

Initially when I drove her for the first time, I was impressed by how easy and quick the push button ignition brought her to life.  When you turn the key before starting, you hear the voltage regulator spring to life.  When pushing that starter button, she's ready to go.  As with most older cars, I let her idle for a bit and then consider driving her.

1947 P15 Flathead V6 Engine

The heater core is completely gone.  However, in Southern California I'm thinking that won't be much of a problem.  And if it gets cold, I'll just wear extra clothing.  As I've stated previously, the previous owners before Jim started out hot rodding the car.  I have no idea what is inside of that engine block other than the fact that a) The exhaust makes her sound like a bad mutha, b) It runs like a top.  I'm thinking of taking her from a single throat carb and adding a single Holley or Carter Weber dual throat carb.  This should help some to gain some horsepower.  The exhaust is custom and definitely without a doubt not stock.  In other blog posts, you'll see how strange the exhaust system is.  In some places, it is downright mind boggling why they would create such a menagerie of unnecessary pipes.  Here is the picture of the exhaust out of the engine block making its way down to the under carriage of the Plymouth and split to the rear.  For those of you that are wondering, Stella has pea shooter exhaust tips.  She also has dual fatboy mufflers.  I ran the same fatboy mufflers on my VW Karmann Bug Convertible.  

Intake Manifold, carb and Exhaust

The oil filter is not a screw in FRAM like every modern car out on the road.  This is a drop in oil filter with two seals, one at the top and one at the bottom.  Oil is filled by removing a breather on the drivers side of the engine.  The dip stick is in the middle of the drivers side of the engine next to the distributor.  The cooling system of course is new to me as I have previous experience with aircooled engines.  This would be my first water cooled engine.  I will need to keep up on the maintenance to make sure that Stella stays in tip top shape.

For more pictures of Stella's engine compartment, click here.

Brakes, Suspension, Rear end and the parts saga.

CK Farnsworth, Purveyor of Ice Cream Goodies

July 2nd started out as a normal day to start a long weekend.  Cary had come over and couldn't resist sitting in the car to take a photo.  And I hadn't quiet decided exactly how I was going to get the car over to the brake shop.  Before acquiring the car a couple of weeks before, Jim told Lee and I that the brakes weren't exactly stopping all that well.  He had driven the car to Long Beach and back a couple of times with some slight hesitation at the pedal.  And, not to mention that there was no emergency/parking brake at all to speak of.  I hadn't been under the car to see how much was missing.  And in retrospect, perhaps I should have. 

And so the next morning, Lee, a good friend and partner in MoPar crime came over to follow me to the brake shop.  The brake shop is 10 miles from where I live, and I figured. . .what the heck, drive the car.  The car of course started right up, like a top and didn't even bat an eye.  And so, my journey back out of the courtyard in the car began.  The first few blocks seemed easy enough.  I couldn't believe that there I was, in this huge vintage car tooling down the street where I live.  The first stop at the light, the brake pedal hesitated and then the brakes stopped me with a shudder.  Not too bad, until I drove a couple of more blocks to a slight grade.  At the bottom of the grade was a stop sign.  I went to engage the pedal and the pedal fell to the firewall.  Slightly panicked, I downshifted and pumped the pedal.  The brakes eventually came back and I was fine.  Well, as you may guess after this scare there was only one logical thing to do.  Drive it to a filling station and wait for the CSAA calvary. 

Going the safe route

Watching the second tow truck driver, I was a bit pensive as the first bent two of the front tie rods.  However, this gentleman from the Auto Club was the consummate professional in his job.  If you click on the photo, you'll see him photo bombing our photo of me and the car.  Lee and I made our way over to the brake shop and patiently waited for the tow truck driver to arrive.  He was slow and careful, and definitely knew what he was doing.  While waiting for the car to arrive, we had the opportunity to meet Tom, the brake and wheel mechanic.  A wonderful gent, older but brimming with all the knowledge about my brakes and suspension that left me frankly impressed. 

I told him of my little 'journey' and he shook his head.  When the tow truck finally arrived with the Plymouth I knew I was in good hands. 

***

Fast forward to a couple of days later to where the fun begins.  Upon removing the tires, fluid was leaking out of the drivers side drum.  Upon taking out the drum, he found that it was not the brakes but rather the axle rod.  He also found that there was no parking brake, but I needed to know what was there in order to find parts.  The driveshaft boot also was dried out and needed to be replaced.  However, this was only the beginning of the month and a half long part saga. 

Missing parking brake and dried out boot

A couple of discoveries also was that of a custom exhaust system with dual fat boy mufflers.  This perhaps indicates that one of the previous three owners (not Jim) decided to hot rod the car out.  The parking/emergency brake was missing everything from the handle down.  All the linkages, all the springs, the drum, the arm assembly...everything. 

Dual exhaust, parking brake drum and new master cylinder

After calling around, I spoke to an old buddy up in San Francisco.  He told me of a great vendor by the name of Jeff Adkins over at Moose Motors in Penngrove, CA.  After talking a couple of minutes with Jeff, I told him that Tom and I would be ordering a couple of things.  Tom had also discovered that the wheel cylinders needed to be replaced, the return springs, and a lot of other miscellaneous brake parts.  Drums, return springs, cables...these parts and more were to become an obsession.  And so, I went to work ordering things like king pin kits, rear bearings, seals and everything that I needed.  Tom and I decided that if this was going to be done it was going to be done well.  In a couple of days, Tom also found out that the axle shaft rod on the drivers side needed to be replaced.  And so, I found Neil Riddle up in WA state to which he sent a new shaft completely greased and everything.  Tom took apart the rear (pumpkin) and lubed and replaced the shaft.  The brake parts wouldn't get here for another week, so he worked on what he could in the meantime.  Tom also found that the two front tie rods were completely bent.  Thankfully, he had a machine that he could use as a bender.

Bent passenger side tie rod

I didn't have much time either waiting for the parts and therefore decided that I would do more research.  I wanted to find out where the car was manufactured, and what were it's serial numbers.  Looking for identification and being able look it up was important.  Out of luck, I was able to find the MoPar Streamliner Parts Guide for 1936 to 1949 online.  I was able to print a copy to which would help Tom and I figure out a couple of things.  We were not quite sure whether we would need a new drum yet, nor did we know whether we would need any other parts.  It had to be taken slowly one step at a time. 

June 23rd, The day Stella was brought home. . .

1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe Club Coupe

June 23rd was the day Stella was brought home from her 3rd owner.  Not much was known about her, the history and nor did I have any knowledge about MoPars.  Heck, I didn't even know what MoPar stood for!  Interesting enough was that I was immediately smitten with her before I even handed over the check.  The previous owners, Jim and his friend had the car (They were the 3rd owners, making me the 4th) for a short term and I had a lot of faith that these two gentlemen had wonderful designs on what could be done.  However, life has a funny way of changing your priorities and therefore Stella was available for me.  Walking up to the car, my buddy Lee and I were enamored with the straight body, care to the engine and attention to some of the detail. 

Me in the new Plymouth, hat and all

The question was, would I be able to drive three on the tree again?  I hadn't driven three on the tree since I was driving a sixties Ford Falcon.  What was there to know?  While sitting in the driver seat, pull towards you and push up and that is reverse.  Pull it down and that was first.  Push up and away from you that was second.  And then finally pull down and away from you and that was third.  Sounded simple doesn't it?  Absolutely.  However, idle wasn't something that I had grasped.  And after a short tour around the neighborhood a couple of times, I had to come to a stop.  Jim had gone inside and to his amusement I stalled the car and chirped the tires. 

It fit the garage!

Once the flatbed tow truck arrived (CSAA tow compliments of Lee, thanks again!) I drove her around the blocks a couple of times.  She wobbled in the front, and Jim told me that she had been somewhat hard to stop.  He didn't quite know what was going on with the brakes.  Driving her up finally into the 1929 courtyard was strange at first, but then it felt right.  Now to get her in the garage was going to be a whole different story.  My heart was beating fast hoping that I wouldn't have a problem parking her in the garage.  Well, my garage was built in 1929 for a Model A.  My neighbor Eric and I worked for what seemed like 35 minutes trying to get the car turned around without power steering and eventually backed her into the garage.  She barely fit.

Now that she was home, I had to find out all that I could about these cars.  Jim had pointed out to me on print outs he provided a site called P15-D24.  And so, I started there to find all that I could about the Plymouth.  I had no idea where she was manufactured.  No idea what her original color was and no idea if parts could even be found.  I decided to take pictures of the engine and anything I could do in my quest for knowledge.

The steering wheel and dash (Courtesy of Jen Howell)

The quest led me to that Plymouth community, information about my car, where it was built, the colors, the engine specifications and everything.  A couple of clues, in the door jams, was a blue paint that I eventually matched up with the 1947 Plymouth color, Chevron Blue.  There was a blue plate with some numbers to which I found out was the serial number, and not the VIN amazingly enough.  The engine had a stamp in it that started P15*.  Reading on the P15-D24 site, I figured she had the 217/218cc, 6 cylinder engine in it.  There was a plate that said "Briggs" on it, and I looked up the information in a table proving that she was manufactured in Detroit, MI.

Dash Special Deluxe badge (Courtesy of Jen Howell)

There was so much to learn, so much to read that one night I fell asleep in the front room with my laptop on a few technical PDFs that I had found.  Work got in the way, as it always does and I didn't touch the car for two weeks.  My tiki and CoFS buddies Jen and Bruce came over to check out the car.  Cary even came over that afternoon to check it out.  I knew some serious work had to be done on the car.

Until by which time, July 2nd rolled around and I knew I needed to take the car to the brake shop.  After all, she had brake problems, and a missing emergency/parking brake.

These MoPar cars have a strange emergency/parking brake that isn't on the drums, and it isn't on the rotor like modern disc brakes.  These cars have a parking brake that wraps a drum around the drivetrain and bolted to the end of the transmission where the driveshaft attaches.

Me in casual vintage weather wear with Stella

I had to figure out who I would take the brakes to as I knew no one down here in Southern California.  I called my friend Rob and asked him who he took his Plymouth to.  His answer, was a older gentleman named Tom.  And so that, is where she had to go.  Now to get her there, and whether I should drive her there was in question.


To see more pictures of Stella from June 30th, please click here.

One little ad on Craigslist started it all.

One little ad on Craigslist started it all, and I was somewhat smitten...

It was June 21st, 2010 that all of this started. I sat at lunch, with full intention to buy a car that I had owned once before. For me, after weeks of looking at cars I decided to go back to Volkswagens. And so, that afternoon I was going to goto the bank and get the cash that I needed to buy a 1962 Karmann Ghia Coupe.

Front shot from the Craigslist ad

Rear of the car from the Craigslist ad

Interior shot from the Craigslist ad

And all I did was browse Craigslist during lunch and the pictures above are what I saw. Anyone that knows me has a working knowledge that I have penchant to seeking out vintage. I put down my lunch and went to see my then fiancee to have her come and look at the car. If memory serves right, I was in awe and spoke in a quiet voice to denote how shocked that such a car was available. . . and at the right price.  This I could not pass up as a car like this doesn't come by every day.  Since being involved the aircooled Volkswagen hobby, I had never become involved with anything close to MoPar.  So this was out of my comfort zone immediately.

On the tow truck back to it's new home

And so, after short discussion I scheduled a time for my buddy and I to go and see the car.  Two days later on June 23rd, this is what happened.

I was told that the new object of my affection was called a 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe Club Coupe.

For more pictures of June 21st to 23rd, click here.