'59 Plymouth Forum

Here she is finally. My buddy picked her up this past weekend. Was mostly as described, couple surprises but nothing too bad. Been told I overpaid, but I guess that's all relative haha. Let me know what you think

"It's just a flesh wound." - Monty Python

It's just some surface rust! You seem like a very capable body guy. Nobody buys a classic with the intention of making money! It's all a labor of love, and what you pay is what it's worth, in my estimation. As Dick says, it's like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. You will get there, and we will be here to help. Keep posting those pix - and congrats on joining an elite membership of '59 Plymouth owners!

Dan

Thanks and haha yea 'just a flash wound' thankfully the seller was really good working with me while I was deployed for work etc. Answered all the questions he could as best as he could. There was still a few surprises like how crunchy the interior was. And the headlight bezel being bad and the 2 vertical uprights etc. But overall I knew what I was getting. I did originally try to haggle on the price but the guy knew what he had. Meaning not just thst car, but about the DLI motor and he didnt want to budge off his price but I did try. And agreed, it's a labor of love and the money into it etc.

Thankfully I'm not looking to flip it, always wanted one of these now I have one. Just want to make her my own. And i am going to learn body haha. Cutting and welding I can handle, can probably even do a lot of the sanding and smoothing etc. But only time will tell.

It could be much worse, there is more than enough there to work with. I see the potential for a beautifull hot rod with that DLI motor. And it sounds like big M might have you covered for some sheet metal. I have a couple contacts that have some fenders, hoods, and deck lids in decent shape but they are all on the east coast. If you want thier numbers let me know. I'm excited to see your progress on this one. BTW where are home stationed?

Thanks I too can see the potential just have to see how it all turns out I guess. Thankfully the rest of the body 'seems' solid, but there may be surprises yet haha. Floor pans are covered. And I think BigM might have me covered on the rest but will let you know for sure.

Yea when I envisioned having one of these cars I always thought a restomod, drop in a Hellcat drivetrain etc. But with the DLI engine I think I should be good on power haha. I may upgrade it to a Edelbrock fuel injection unit and a gear vendor OD unit and should be pretty turn key. Which is my end goal.

The company I work/deploy for is in CA. Currently up in Vegas with the GF. So I bounce around. Am here until July of there are any Vegas members could always use some insight into the unknowns of what I am attempting.

Ken Josephson owns three '59 wagons and lives in Vegas. He's not an active member of this site, but I can e-introduce you if you like.

Dan

Yea that would be cool. Would be nice to have some experience in the area haha

Done! I copied you on an email to him. Good luck!

Dan

Yep got it, thanks everyone

So I was looking at the photos again of under the hood, dying to know more about that DLI motor but couple things I noticed. your battery tray looks pretty solid. My SF has some pretty bad rot there. But other than that is that a factory heater delete on the fire wall? I know it being an Arizona Car it might have been ordered that way and also what is up with the air horns on the passenger side? Look like the kind that play Dixie just like the general lee hahaha. And have you checked to see if its the stock rear end and what gear is in it?

william0431 wrote: ↑Tue May 01, 2018 8:49 pm So I was looking at the photos again of under the hood, dying to know more about that DLI motor but couple things I noticed. your battery tray looks pretty solid. My SF has some pretty bad rot there. But other than that is that a factory heater delete on the fire wall? I know it being an Arizona Car it might have been ordered that way and also what is up with the air horns on the passenger side? Look like the kind that play Dixie just like the general lee hahaha. And have you checked to see if its the stock rear end and what gear is in it?

Hey sorry for the delay. Aside from us getting the motor fired up, i don't have any other details about it. I wasn't even going to try and fire it up, but we checked all the fluids and they looked new and clean so we tried it and we actually got it to fire up Ran nice and smooth to and virtually no smoke. Going to actually pull the motor and have my buddy tear into it in and check it out, hopefully get me some specs on it and see whats what.

I have no idea where the batter tray even is honestly. The previous owner actually located 2 batteries in the truck I will "probably" move it back to under the hood, but undecided on that yet.

And with the heater, honestly not sure either. Did they come with factory heater deletes? Its looks like it was done pretty clean, just looked like a pane cut and pop riveted in, but have no idea if its factory or not. It has heater control inside, but dunno if that means anything. The car was bought in AZ, but it did spend most of its life in Michigan and Northern VA so i would think that it did have the heater but removed when they changed it into a drag car.

Haha, and i have no idea bout the horns, i took them out and threw them away, but they did work. I will have to try and post some more pics. The rust on the floor pans didn't seem to be AS bad as i or my buddy was expecting. Inner/outer rockers are trash, But not too much beyond that. Still talking with BigM for better fender and rear quarters but not to bad. Be a couple year project in between my work deployments so should give me something to do.

Biggest thing i still want to look into is making the dash shifter buttons work with the 727. I had asked that before and got some info, but need to look into that some more as well.

hi, must be a home made heater delete I was recently looking at some of Fury Jim Rawa's cars that he put Hemi's in to and he had deleted out the heater as well for valve cover clearance. With yours being pop riveted in to place I guess it is home made.

Super stoked you got it fired up! that's awesome! the battery tray is above the front driver wheel. Interesting that they mounted 2 batteries in the rear, guess with a car this big what's a few extra pounds when it comes to drag racing haha.

The pushbuttons can be made to work with the later model 727's and other mopar transmissions. Imperial services used to sell a conversion kit and A&A transmission ( they are a mopar race shop) sell a similar kit, involves replacing the shift detent spring in the trans and then connecting a conversion cable to the shift mechanism. I have not done up but I know on the forwardlook.net site there is a lot of info about it.

http://www.aandatrans.com/Products/Push ... AA351.aspx

http://www.imperialservices.net/Cparts.html