Hi,
Glad I found this Forum, So much information to digest. If I Had found this forum years ago it would have saved me from myself and my dumb teenage mistakes.
I digress. My name is Jeff and live in Lakewood, Ohio. My mechanical love is a 1959 Plymouth Savoy. I bought her in 1991 for $100. Total Basket Case. She had 157,355 miles on her 230 flat-head 6. Interior was gutted, paint past shot, Ohio rust (rockers, floor pan, trunk floor, top of fenders, roof, etc, etc.) power flight leaked bad, and didn’t run. The previous owner was selling it for his son who was away at collage. His loss my gain. He was generous enough to let me get it running in the drive instead of towing it. 6 hours, plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter and some fluids later I drove her home. She made it! All mine! 
Just wish my dumb teenage self had been smart enough to take pictures in its original shape.
Then the first sacrifice for my car happened, I had to make a choice. Still living at my parents, I wasn’t allowed to have 2 cars. Well one had to go. I still miss that 69 Mach One, but I had a new love. I cleaned her up, din some light body work, and painted her on a teenage budget (i.e. spray paint) and reattaching the trim that was in the trunk, a bit was still missing.
She was my daily driver (cringe), She had to be reliable, and she was for another 3 years and 100,000 miles, @ 259,997 miles catastrophic engine failure. Head gasket I think, oil full of coolant, 5 cylinders with broken rings and badly scored cylinder walls. I thought she was done, I didn’t know much about engines, I parked her and there she sat for a few years.
I joined the Marine Reserves where I trained as a diesel mechanic, by the time I got home I felt comfortable enough to be a bit more ambitious. I wanted more power, but I wanted to keep the push button transmission, thus the search began for an 8 cylinder that would bolt up began. I know, I still cringe that I would get rid of the original 230 but i figured she is a base model, thus not as collectible, and well she’s mine and that’s what I wanted at the time.
I found a 4 door Belvedere that someone had done an engine and trans swap on, but still had a 318 that he had pulled, I bought it all, the body on the 4 door was beautiful, but the frame was really rusting out. Figured I’d strip it for backup parts. I really should have. This is where I made a major mistake, a good friend of mine had gone with me to pick up the car and engine said he fell in love with it. Convinced me it was stupid to strip such a beautiful car, and wouldn’t it be great to go to car shows with a 2 door and a 4 door. I caved and gave him the car, he promised to restore it. 2 weeks later, without contacting me he junked it for $75 bucks, the crushed it for scrap. I’ll never forgive him.
Then to make matters worse the 318 was rusted solid. I dissembled it the best I could, and brought the block, heads and crank to a local shop that basically told me I had a bunch of scrap, block was cracked. Bad day, good day? Either way it Was the birth of my Frankenstein Motor. I salvaged my crankshaft, had it turned, and to not drag this on too much longer ended up with mid 70’s 318, .30 over, heads off a 340 with the larger intake and exhaust valves, a high performance cam, and a 1959 318 crankshaft was a perfect fit. Now mt torque converter and trans could be used on a more modern power plant. There were a few other obstacles, new motor mounts welded in, and had to remove the alignment pins on the bell housing, but the bolt holes all lined up. I don’t remember all the details, its been awhile.
Since then I’ve added an Edelbrok intake manifold, and carb, and a Mallory Unilite Ignition. The only major modification was a posi rear axle swap from a 1969 Raodrunner, I don’t remember the gear ratio, but the brakes were way cheaper and bigger, and the axle was a bit shorter so I could fit bigger tires and rims.
I’ve redone a lot of my old bodywork, re-re-painted, and paid to have all of my chrome re plated. Major disaster number two. When I got my chrome back some still looked pitted, I brought it back to the shop, the agreed and offered to repair those parts. Unfortunately the shop got shut down for environmental reasons with my parts. I never got them back. I lost 1 savoy emblem, both Plymouth scripts, 1 interior door handle, and both windshield wiper arms they were supposed to polish.
Well this post has grown out of hand, so I’ll wrap this up. She hasn’t been driven much lately, I want her done before driving her too much, the I bought a house which always needs something done, so work on her has been slow. Thankfully I am getting married in August and my fiance wants to use it for the getaway car, just the motivation I need to finish her. I’m so glad my fiance is so supportive.
I’ll post to the parts wanted section for what I still need.
More Current photos
