59 SF convert for sale

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Here is a chance to buy your SF Convert if you have missed a chance before.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Plymouth ... 0366036535


John Q.

[rogerh]

Darn!. I just mis-placed my checkbook!
Sure love that shiny stainless!
Hey Matthew, what strange things did you notice on this car?
Pictures 11, 12, 20, 30, 31 show the passenger side medallion backround as white (or at least not black).
Pictures 19, 29, 32 show the drivers side medallion backround as black.
Picture 16 shows the same driver's side medallion backround as white.

I wonder if these are a mix of Before and After exterior restoration?
The gloss black in engine compartment looks nice, but I prefer the semi-gloss black, with grey inner fenders.
A red air cleaner also adds interest.
And I prefer grey wheel rims over these body-colored ones.
"all the desired options"..yet no power brakes, no power windows, no power seat, no Mirro-Matic.
The exhaust system looks nearly perfect, with the separate resonators and mufflers. Wish I could hear it run!

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Roger, you could hear it run if you find your checkbook! I did not even take the time to analyse the pictures, I will have to go back and check it out like you did. You have a sharp eye(s)!

Mostly I just find them and post them for all to see if they don't cruise ebay like I do.

John Q.

[rogerh]

I appreciate your efforts and I enjoy your posts, John!
The car speaks for itself in its magnificence...I am not here to knock it, or any of them down...I just like to look closely and report, since that's all I CAN do right now
68 THOUSAND dollars......

[Matthew Keij]

I don't see a lot of things wrong with this car. Mostly the medallions are weird.
Wheels are the wrong color and the exhaust system is incorrect. Plymouth's (for '59) only had 1 muffler on each exhaust pipe instead of 2.

It's a good looking car in a beautifull color!
This must be very weird as they had another Sport Fury convertible (in red that came out of florida) that has the VIN M293101863 and this copper vert has M293101861.
Did they restored it in this color and gave an incorrect VIN on one of the cars or does this guy owns 2 Sport Fury convertibles with 2 digits off?

The 318 should have red valve covers and a red air cleaner.
Heater hoses are also mounted incorrect on the heater control valve (thanks John Q)

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Roger, no problem, you have been doing the 59's a lot longer then me and just have a sharper eye! 68K is a little ( a lot!) for one of our VERTS! My wife would have certain parts of me on a Pike out front if I spent that much money on another convertible!

Matthew, On the VIN part, using what I know of the assembly line procedures from my brief tenure at Chrysler, is that the plants would do batch of certain body styles of cars. Especially the convertible with the unique rockers, quarters , windshield frames and other convertible only parts.

They (the plant) would do batchs of Staion Wagons too using the same similar batch processess, so they would have those SW rocker frames around and then push them aside to do more common body styles of two doors and 4 doors which made up most of the production efforts.



It is logical that they would do the converts in batch's to have some economy of scale in the production of having the convertible parts ready for a body build up, So similar/close VIN's Numbers would be possible.

I don't know if your registry of VIN's regarding convertibles would show this trend or not. But unique body batch construction was common in the late 60's and early 70's and may be true back in the late 50's too. Not saying it happened that way but is possible....

John Q.

[rogerh]

You'll be interested to learn that the convertibles had dual mufflers and dual resonators as well. I didn't know where to buy resonators which would fit the available spaces, so I didn't have them on my car.
While there is no diagram of Ply cvt exhaust layout in the 1959 Mopar Parts Manual, the extra parts with parts numbers are listed on p.11-1 and beyond.

[RICKYMOPAR]

Spooky, Looks just like a Sport Fury I have been supplying repaired parts for. just wrong engine option.

[Bernie B.]

This is an interesting car due to low mileage and claimed limited ownership, but as others pointed out there are restoration flaws that can be corrected. A question for Matthew, in your registry do you have build dates for any cars whenever that was known? I recall giving you that info on mine. Based on the serial number I'd guess it was built in October or November 1958. If anyone knows their build dates and gives them to Matthew then he could make the list even more meaningful. Not expecting that everyone's serial number gets published, but at least grouping them by "the thousands" such as M293 101XXX to 106XXX and dates would be interesting. Not sure if that was the intent of the list but it would be useful info to those who are deeply curious.

Also the dual exhaust with resonators is correct, I recall replacing my exhaust in the summer of 1967 and removed the resonators and ran a section of straight pipe back to the tailpipes. The bends in this one look a bit funny but it was a long time ago. One last tidbit, we started the replacement at night and couldn't finish so I drove it home about 5 miles with just the head pipes. Noisy but, hey, I was 19 and loved the noise... until, the next day, when we finished the job. It ran better with full exhaust and had a nice deep tone as I used mufflers from J C Whitney, think they were International #2436 (I do have a thing for numbers) and cost less than $7.00 each, but that was 1967 dollars which would be about 50 apiece today.

Another eye catcher is the upholstery, seeing the bold stripes running horizontally in this car, others have them vertical. Mine were horizontal, so there appears to be a lot of randomness as to how they were made up. Anyone have an opinion, too many cars out there with both types for this to be an "oops" at the factory, looks to me like they intentionally varied the patterns.

Lastly gotta agree this is a high priced car but someone will buy it.

Bernie B,

[Bernie B.]

I also meant to comment on serial numbers too. When I got my IBM card copy I could see that the cars immediately before and after mine were same color combo as mine, white with red interior. Back in 1969 I saw another SF convert in a nearby town that was being stripped for parts, and when I saw that it's serial number was just four digits before mine, thats what got me interested in the numbers game... but it was black with a blue interior. I suspect they built a bunch together and destined for the same shipment so it is likely to find close numbers in the same area, except that was more than 52 years ago so good luck matching up today. I do recall seeing or being told of about 6 Sport Fury convertibles in my general area after I bought mine in 1967. Two of the others were white, one more black and then a red one so putting them together on the assembly line then a single shipment makes sense to me. I also think they built convertibles in a bunch, separate from hardtops is very likely, but would they have mixed in Belvedere converts with Sport Furys? Good question for the "high value" Belvy boys to dig into.

BB

[rogerh]

Wanted to add that I thought the optional trunk light set up was cool too.
I went back to the 59 sportfury.net site and looked thru the Showcase, Sport Fury. I did not look at every cars, and not every car had a picture of their interiors, but my count was THREE "front-to-back" upholstery stripes, and NINE side-to-side upholstery stripes.
In my humble opinion, the front--to-back striping is correct...it certainly looks the best ,IMO. Of the three contrary ones, the actual fabric in the photos looks TO ME like a less-expensive reproduction. They don't seem to have all the variety of color threads that Mopar and SMS provide. In case someone is checking my research, the three contrary cars are/were Barry Beck's C. Aberg's, and Octie Ham's, and at least one of those owners says they used OAI for upholstery. OAI sells pre-sewn seat covers, they do not re-manufacture the fabric. That is done by SMS alone. Perhaps Mopar held a trademark on the upholstery, and after-marketers had to do something different to avoid patent infringement.

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Hi Bernie! Your Statement "I also think they built convertibles in a bunch, separate from hardtops is very likely, but would they have mixed in Belvedere converts with Sport Furys? Good question for the "high value" Belvy boys to dig into."

Would include the rare and valuable Belvedere trim level verts too with the SF vert builds (due to its low production number and the fact I own one!)

Now secretly, I would love to have a SF Convert, but they are harder to find then Belvy verts, but someday....Just have to keep playing Powerball I guess....


John Q.

[Bernie B.]

Follow up for Roger - My car has its original interior, save for the drivers seat which a friend red-did in red/white naugahyde about 1974 and it is horizontal, in my terminology. The front seats were covered in bubbled plastic covers when I got it and the rear was the clear plastic as seen on the bronze convert that Mark Evans was pointing us to recently. I still think they mixed them randomly but why? Had to be allowed by quality control. Take a look at old car magazines for road test articles, etc. There's a picture in my showcase.

Swivel seat interiors were optional on some other models, so here's a fair question. Did those swivel seats come only in the Sport Fury upholstery in those other cars? Which would have limited the exterior color choice, too. I know of a white Belvedere convertible in the Plymouth Owners Club having that combo, and saw it in print ads in a Fury 4 door hardtop as well as in an advertising movie for a 59 Sport Suburban. Looked like the same SF pattern to me. Just had a thought - I have a Chrysler annual report, think it is for 1958 (printed at the end of the model year) and it has a photo of the new swivel seats all by themselves on a display pedestal, will dig it up and check the upholstery pattern on that picutre. Think someone in the Detroit area had some of those display units for sale on eBay a few years ago. Oops, just remembered I also have a green SF parts car stored at a friends garage nearby, will have to look at it's interior for upholstery pattern, it was LA built in September 1958.

For John Q. - Belvedere converts were rare around here way back when, I remember seeing only one, a light yellow car with white top. Sport Furys more common, but everything rusted by the late 60's up here. I did come across a rust-free blue Belvedere hardtop with Arkansas license plates in a local junkyard in 1969 and its front fenders quickly became my front fenders. When I got out of the Army in 71 I had dreams of buying the rest of that car, only to find that it had been crushed a week before I got out! True story.

BB

[rogerh]

Bernie, I guess it just goes to show you that naything was possible and available from the factory (or thru dealer) back in the day.

[Ron Keij]

Maybe the stripes issue was diferent in one (or more) plant, it has been proven that some plants used different parts than others. Like the grille or a different diamond pattern on the speedo, and cars build in Evansville did not come with a data plate and cars build in other plants did come with one. Maybe Matthew can figure it out with his data base of VIN numbers.

Ron