My name is Ed Prichard and I am currently living in east Tennessee and am trying to get a 59 taxi back on the road. It is an undesignated model 4 door which apparently served as a taxi in Atlanta in it’s early life. It has been stored since 1977, so it’s not as rusty as it could be. It has a Perkins P4 diesel engine that I have recently gotten running after having the starter and diesel injector pump rebuilt in England. They were both Lucas brand parts which don’t have a reputation for longevity, but they are working fairly well now. I wrote to Chrysler Historical and they have no build records. I have redone the brakes and the car is driving in the yard. It will only do about 45 MPH with the diesel and 3 on the tree…apparently it was set up for inner city taxi service. Any additional info anyone has would be welcome. It needs a front valance and upholstery most. Not sure what to do about the body/paint.
Ed, welcome! You have a very rare car indeed. I wonder if it was assembled in Europe, and arrived in the U.S. after service there? Could that account for why FCA does not have a build card for it? If I get permission, I will scan an article about Plymouth diesels from Jim Benjaminson’s book “Plymouth 1946-1959”, and post it here shortly.
Your trim appears to be that of a Savoy. Another clue that it might have been assembled abroad - the emblem on the fin matches that of my '54 Plymouth Suburban! …er, except, mine is missing the “h” 
Stay tuned for additional details. Again, welcome!
Dan
Jim graciously provides permission. Here is an excerpt from his most excellent book printed by Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-840-4. It’s now out of print, but if you should see one on eBay, grab it. Click on the pic to open the document.
Jim’s article makes it clear that Perkins-equipped diesels were to be found in the U.S. as well. Still, a rare find indeed.
diesel.pdf (5.79 MB)
This just in from Jim Benjaminson:
Could you send a pic of your VIN, Ed? You should find it on the driver’s side “A” pillar, when you open the door - unless it was built in Detroit, in which case it will be on the data plate on the cowl, generally above the master cylinder on the firewall. If you’ve got a data plate, send a pic of that as well! Matthew Keij - another Forum member - will be happy to decode what options your Plymouth may have been equipped with.
There is no vin tag on the door post, just the one on the firewall. I’ll attach a picture. I did contact someone at Perkins in Peterborough, England and they told me that most of their engines were installed in vehicles in a factory in the Netherlands. I also discovered the “shadow” of a dealership casting that had been installed on the trunk, but I can’t make it out, other than it appears to say ATLANTA under the name. Thanks for any help or information you can provide.
Welcome!! Ive seen pics of this one before but it has been a couple years.
I’ll try to decode the plate ASAP!
Any idea where the engines were installed in the Netherlands? I’d love to see if the place is still there 
Looks like it’s already been done! I’ll try to update it if I have new info on it.
Here’s a link from 2008
Weren’t they actually assembled in Antwerp, Belgium?
I think it very odd that the fin script is from several model years back. If there aren’t any extra holes in the fin - i.e., if it appears to be original - I’m betting it was assembled overseas, and reimported.
A couple of updates. Apologies to Matthew. I went back and looked at emails from last year and the guy at Perkins said that he believed that there was a Mopar plant in Belgium that did the conversions and that “most” of the vehicles with the P4 Perkins went to the Netherlands as taxis. This vehicle is the same one that was in the posting you shared. I bought it from Brian, who loved it, but really enjoyed working on newer VW diesels. I wish the old pictures would still display from that old post.
The paint is all original and there does not appear to be any old body work under any of it, so there are no filled trim holes. There are two holes on the left front door post where a number plate would have been installed, but there is no evidence that any fasteners have ever been in them.
An update after reading the old post: the P4 engine did not have glow plugs, just one “thermostat” in the intake manifold with a small primer pump on the dash that squirts a small amount of diesel on it to help it start on days when the temp is below about 50 degrees F.
Thank you all for the additional information!
Now If I can locate a front valance and some reproduction rubber matting for the floor!
That would be the plant in Antwerp, about 15-20 minutes from here. We have a couple ads from there
I took the liberty of enhancing the “shadow” a bit - it looks like it says “Lander”. Or perhaps, “Landers”, where the “s” went AWOL like the “h” in my '54 Plymouth emblem? Although, given the placement of the pins, I think it unlikely it’s missing an “s”.
I tried Googling for both names in the Atlanta area, without any luck.
Ed, I just read the extensive thread on www.forwardlook.net that Matthew found. At the end of the thread - almost 6 years ago - folks are speculating what happened to the car. If you’re not already a member there, consider joining and updating folks! And just because I’m a packrat, I’ve snagged Brian’s pix from there, to post here:
Thank you for your research into the dealer name and posting the other photos. I went over to the forwardlook board and attempted an update, but my pictures are too large to be uploaded there. Are there any freebie editors to easily shrink files for uploading there?
Post ‘em here! I’ll shrink them for you.
This car has 15 inch wheels that do not have the clips or notches to fit dog dish caps. I read the comments elswhere on the board about 15 inch wheels not being an option, but I think a possible foreign built taxi may be an exception. I’d like to find some 15 inch wheel covers that would be, if not correct, at least fitting to the year. Looking around, I have found 15 inch Dodge caps and supposedly 15 inchers from a 1960 Plymouth. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
That’s quite a car you have there - congratulations and welcome aboard.
My first ride in a '59 Plymouth was in a diesel-powered taxi just like yours! Except it was a white colored car.
My small town had a two-car taxi service, and I recall reading a write-up in a local paper about them getting a pair of these diesel Plymouths in used condition from a nearby city, quite possibly Boston - I’m 70 miles west of there.
I had only one or two rides that I remember, was back in 1960 or '61, quite a while back, and some years before I got a '59 Plymouth as my first car (still have it, in hibernation.)
Taxi was noisy, smelly, and I’m quite sure it was three-on-the-tree shifting. Interior was the brown vinyl seats, and I think they rode kinda hard too.
Upon realizing that these were pretty rare cars some years ago that memory came back and I wanted to share it that they were indeed prowling the streets of the USA at least for a little while.
.
And speaking of Plymouth taxis - Hey, Dan - I can also recall riding in a '53 or '54 Plymouth cab around Boston in 1956, the first time my folks took us there for a vacation. The Plymouth brand got in my blood long, long ago, my dad had a '33 coupe as his first car. The only other cars I recall seeing on that Boston trip were several '55-'56 Fords with the sweeping chrome strip, especially the black and yellow ones, there were many back then
Hope you enjoy this real oddball vehicle!
Bernie B.
Seriously, Ed, if you upload them here, I will reduce their size and replace them in the post. Then you can download them for posting on ForwardLook.net.
