Cruisin' Bruce Palmer has owned his 1959 Plymouth Sport Suburban for close to three decades now, and has been spinning oldies on the air for over four. You can catch him weekdays at 2p ET on MyFM 101.3, and Saturdays 4 to 7p on the WOON "Saturday Block Party".
And if he weren't busy enough, Bruce also regularly DJs at Classic Car shows in southern New England. You can find his schedule of events on his website.
Bruce wrote:It's a 9-passenger model with power steering, brakes and rear window. She runs like a charm and turns heads everywhere she goes. From time-to-time, you'll catch a glimpse of her..or one of my other classics...on my website.
True to his name, Bruce loves to cruise! To start off, here are some pix of Bruce cruisin' the highways and byways.
10/24/1923: "Heading to and from the last BassPro Cruise of the season..over the Scituate Reservoir - it was a great final working drive for the '59 Plymouth this season."9/15/2024: "24 9 15 Cruisin' the '59 Plymouth... Headed home on a perfect weather day after hosting the annual Milford Lions Club Car Show with a magnificent 300+ turnout. Do I see a little color coming into the trees? BEST time of year!""I honestly have no idea who shot this video... I was just rolling in to the annual car show I host at Waters Farm in Sutton, MA. The farm is on the historic register in Mass and dates to the 1750s. We usually draw between 250 & 300 cars each year."
Bruce" wrote:After a year of driving the '59 Plymouth wagon with a cracked windshield...finally, a company manufacturing new "Forward Look" windshields was found and it was time for a little late off-season work on the grand dame of the CruisinBruce fleet.
"Upon removal, more rust & missing metal was found in the windshield channel than expected, so it was off to Josh at Gailey Sandblasting Restoration for repair.""The dried-out original gasket came out, literally, in little pieces.""While the wagon awaits the new glass installation by Rossi Auto Glass, a little interior upgrading takes place. What better time to repaint the dashboard while the windshield glass is out?""She’s finally home, safe & sound, with a repaired windshield frame and new glass. After 27 years of looking thru all the scratches, haze in the corners, one big bullseye and recent crack...it’s great to see clearly again!"
Bruce wrote:A huge thanks goes out to Ron Rossi of Rossi Auto Glass in Warwick and Josh Gailey with Gailey Sandblasting/welding in Moosup, CT. I highly recommend both.
In rough chronological order... Apologies in advance for duplicates!
"Searching for an old wagon to add to my collection, I stumbled across a '59 Sport-Suburban that was less than an hour's drive away (in Boston) via the local swapper. That was back in 1996. It had originally come from California (and still had the city of Santa Monica parking permit on the rear-bumper). A local flower company was using it as a delivery vehicle, but they no longer had room. I bought it for $1200 and drove it home (swaying back and forth because of a worn-out steering box.)""Over time, I've replaced the original wide-block 318 with an original, still-in-the-crate wideblock 318 manufactured in 1962. I've also rebuilt the tranny, updated the exhaust system and had the body and undercarriage redone. Originally, the color was a fade yellow which now glistens in a bright yellow '93 mopar hue."
