'59 Plymouth Forum

Fantastic looking car Dick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks better than factory. The convertible top and frame looks great.

Your upholstery shop does nice work. I am picky on upholstery and this looks really good.

Good luck with the side window alignment.

I's is so happy and cited I can't stand it. It's official, Bertha Irene is finished!!!!! Got her home, cleaned up for pictures etc. I got to tell you guys this is the best driving and riding car out of all of them. Smooth as silk, tight as a tick, and as quiet as can be. Really looking forward to our trip. I want to thank all of you for your indulgence, encouragement, parts and support. WHOOOPEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Dick.

Omigosh, Dick. This car is perfect. What a tribute to the 1959 Plymouth!

Have a wonderful trip!

Dan

Wow! I Just beautiful, I like white cars even more! GREAT JOB!

The car looks fabulous. There are very few convertibles and very few white convertibles. Enjoy the car on your trip!

Looks great!!!

Have a wonderful trip, and enjoy it with the top down [Hopefully weather permitting]

---John

Dick, Very Happy and pleased with your efforts to bring this convertible back up to brand new status and getting yet one more Belvedere convertible on the road. Your attention to detail is amazing.

Only thing better would be a Turquoise convert...

Now lets park those Run-of-the-Mill Sport Fury's HT ( ) and really start collecting the awards and trophies!

Well Done!


John Q.

Dick, I must say that you did a fantastic job!
Can't wait to see this one in person, maybe early 2015. As long as the weather is good and we can cruise with the top down.

In 10 years you restored all the 59 Plymouth's that survived so far!

Hi Guys - While waiting for the upholstery and the top I got bored, so to keep myself busy I turned my Champion luggage trailer into a 1959 Plymouth luggage trailer. Pictures attached. The rear brake drums I installed on the convertible were some I tried to salvage by bolting a front drum on a rear tapered hub. Worked OK on Charleen for a while except for the out of round surging when coming to a stop (hub not centered) but on the convertible with single plane brakes on the rear those drums set up a real bad chatter at the end of a stop. I didn't think I would be able to make my trip until I remembered I had two SF with the same drums (DUH). I used the rear drums on Greenie and everything is fine. Stops true and straight and smooth as silk now. Have a couple of drum from John Fowlie on the way. I did something else you may be interested in, Mopar electronic ignition (not Petronics). Richard Jones a MOPAR fanatic that can do anything talked me into it. He has 22 Mopars with this system and has never had a failure. I decided to go ahead and Richard installed it for me. You cannot tell it's there, it looks just like the original. The system is a rebuilt electronic distributor for a 1973 340 engine, it has the correct springs for a 318. A new cap and rotor for that distributor. A modulator that he installed inside the old regulator housing with a 1/4: aluminum heat sink he installed on the modulator. A MSD BLACK high vibration coil that you can lay on its side. (the red MSD coil has to be installed upright). He timed the distributor internally 36 degrees at 2500 RPM. the spark plug gap at 45 thousandths. The two barrel carburetor idle was set at 600 RPM. Richard told me to expect 20 more HP and 4 to 5 more miles per gallon of Gasoline. I was skeptical but I got to tell you, he was right. You eliminate the ballast resistor (connect the two wires together) because you are getting 12 volts not 6 volts at the plugs. Acceleration almost doubled and it runs very smooth. He eliminated the vacuum advance entirely. I'm going to install this system in all my cars.
Leaving on our trip in the morning. It's the one thing I have always wanted to do, take a long trip with one of the old cars. Our return trip home from New Orleans will be as leisurely as we can make it staying on all the roads as close as we can get to the Gulf of Mexico. Oh, I forgot, this car runs and feels like it just came off the show room floor.
Dick

Dick; ever think of writing A book,or A movie.She is beautiful!!!!!!!! I now know who I would like to be when I retire!!!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Mark M

Hi Dick,

Sorry I've been outta touch lately.
I just wanted to say how great your car and trailer turned out.

My car has been sitting many months without being started and over a year without driving. Although I'm retired,
I am raising a 12 year old Daughter who keeps us very busy and outta funds!

I love the whole fleet!

Curt

Hi Curt - Thanks for the compliments and good to hear from you. After this restoration I know what you are talking about when you say "outta funds". get that car going and next time you need groceries take that 59.
Dick.

Car and trailor look fantastic-amazing work!

Hopefully the Convertible is Finished. Went to a Car Show last January at River Ranch Dude Ranch about 30 miles west of Yehaw Junction (Florida Turnpike and SR 60). They have a small Flea Market, we went over early to look at stuff, they never have anything for older Mopars but we go anyway. Well low and behold, right at the entrance one of the vendors had four almost brand new 205/75R/14 Silvertown Wide White Wall Radials with inner tube for $150.00 total. I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough and found out I only had $102.00. Thank goodness I have some well to do friends, my friend Tony loaned me $50.00, the tires are on the car now. I also got my bent antenna base back from being Chrome Plated and have them installed. Changes the look of the car totally. See the pitchuhs.
While on the way to the show at River Ranch we were heading west on Hwy. 60 at about 8 AM. My Friend Tony was behind me. We had the top up but the sun was so bright it was shining thru the back window with a bright reflection on the speedometer glass. I looked down trying to place my hand to block the sun, when I looked up there was a huge pickup truch or van halfway in my lane. I swerved as hard as I could to my right going off the road into the swale. Fortunately the other driver woke up in time and he also took a hard right (all this at 70 MPH). Tony said we missed each other by about 2 inches. Well, after I recovered and was able to get back on the road I made a decision I would never leave home again without an extra pair of pants.
Dick.