plymouth duces 32, 42, 52, 62... econo runs

1942 P14 Special Deluxe convertibleDenise Brady

and Dakota, her German Wire-haired Pointer

SHEILA NAWROCKI PHOTO

F15747 Plymouth B

ulletin 288 Created By Patty DesautelC

MY

K

Founded 1957

Founded 1957Founded 1957 Sixteen Time Old Cars Weekly “Golden Quill”: Award WinnerSixteen Time Old Cars Weekly “Golden Quill”: Award Winner

RA

CH

EL

ST

YE

R P

HO

TO

Gary a

nd C

arolyn

Gra

y’s 1932 P

B roa

dster

1932 - 2

008

Destroyed

in a

fire on J

anuary 2

9, 2

008

test test test test

TThhee PPllyymmoouutthh BBuulllleettiinnTThhee PPllyymmoouutthh BBuulllleettiinn__________________________________________________________________________

No. 288 January-February, 2008__________________________________________________________________________

LANNY D. KNUTSON, editor (204) 889-8008288 Strathmillan Road, Winnipeg, MB R3J 2V5 CANADA

[email protected] / [email protected]

PPllyymmoouutthhPPllyymmoouutthh®

OOwwnneerrss CClluubbOOwwnneerrss CClluubbBox 416

Cavalier, ND 58220-0416

Phone: (701) 549-3746Fax: (701) 549-3744e-mail: [email protected]

_______________________

FOUNDER-DIRECTORJay M. Fisher

Acken Drive 4-BClark, NJ 07066-2902

(732) 388-6442

TECHNICAL DIRECTOREarl Buton, Jr.

2366 Glasco TurnpikeWoodstock, NY 12498-1013

(845) 679-6185

OFFICERS 2008-09OFFICERS 2008-09PRESIDENT

Robert S. Kerico4640 Boardwalk

Smithton , IL 62285-3662(618) 473-2412

VICE PRESIDENTBobbi Berkheimer36640 Hawk RoadHazard, NE 68844

(308) 452-3980

MEMBERSHIPSECRETARY-TREASURER

Jim BenjaminsonBox 345

Walhalla, ND 58282-0345(701) 549-3746

CORRESPONDING SEC.Tom Nachand

5215 NW Cavalier Ave.Lincoln City, OR 97367

(541) 764-2011

BULLETIN EDITORLanny D. Knutson

288 Strathmillan RoadWinnipeg MB R3J 2V5 CANADA

DIRECTOR 2004-09Philip Volpe

40 East Edinburgh DriveNew Castle, DE 19720-2908

(302) 322-5705

DIRECTOR 2006-11Carl D. Wegner

19,600 Cardinal DriveGrand Rapids, MN 55744-6189

(218) 326-5965

DIRECTOR 2008-13and of JudgingJoe Suminski

68226 Winchester CourtWashington, MI 48095-1244

(586) 752-3140

-1-

DDeuces euces WWildildPlPlymouths from the “deuce”ymouths from the “deuce” yyearears s

DA

VID

YO

UN

GPH

OT

O

2

2

4

DDeuceseuces WWildild

2

2

3


2

2

7


Billy and Rickie Beardmore’Billy and Rickie Beardmore’s 1942 P14C Special Deluxe sedans 1942 P14C Special Deluxe sedan

Project8 3/3/08 1:24 PM Page 1

WWhere were you in‘72? The questioncame to me while

going through the surprisingnumber of articles on 1972Plymouths that came together forthis issue. I don’t know whereyou were, but LeeAnn and I weregetting married! Yes, we cele-brated our 35th anniversary thispast summer together with ourthree children, their spouses andsix grandchildren.

Parked in front of FirstLutheran Church in Glasgow,Montana, on July 10, 1972, wasour own new ‘72--not aPlymouth but a Dodge, aSportsman 200 wagon, as it wasofficially known, though we andeveryone else called it a van.Vans were an “in” thing at thetime and we had just gottenours. We rationalized our pur-chase, telling ourselves of themoney we’d save camping onour honeymoon rather than pay-ing for hotel rooms. (We’d dothe latter now, but then we wereyoung.) And we stayed true toour word as we trekked throughCalgary (unaware that it would beour home within six years)and on to Banff and JasperNational Parks.

When we met, wewere both driving sim-ilar cars--I, a ‘70‘Cuda; she, a ‘67Firebird. At first itseemed these carswould be okay for trans-porting us and her two chil-dren, Rob (then known asBobby) and Mandy, aged 5 and 3, both

of whom I would later adopt. The rearseats were certainly large enough for

the two kids, but I soon learnedthat, even seat-belted in, they

needed more room thanthat, giving us anotherreason for the van pur-chase. So, theFirebird was traded. Ijust couldn’t let the‘Cuda go, at the time,

but two years later itwas necessary, and I did.

The van stayed withus for 13 years, serving as our

primary vehicle for most of them. On

July 9, 1974, it brought home ourdaughter Signe. During its last yearswith us, the van served as Rob’s highschool vehicle.

AS THIS BULLETIN was shaping up tobecome something of a 1972 issue, Irealized there were stories in myfiles of Plymouths from other yearsending with “2” and that in 2007each was having an anniversaryending in “5.” Most notable wasthe 1932 PB Plymouth, marking its

75th anniversary. Much has beenmade this past year of the 75thanniversary of Ford’s Deuce, butPlymouth’s ‘32, though not quitethe cultural icon its Ford counter-part has become, is a notable caras well. With this issue, wehonor that car as we doPlymouths from ‘42, ‘52, ‘62 and‘72. Since deuce means two, andeach of these years end with “2,”they all qualify as “deuces,” atleast in a generic sense, and we’repleased to feature them as such.

MY FILES, both paper and elec-tronic, are full of stories and arti-cles sent by members this pastyear. Normally, they would havebeen printed by now but last year

was not a normal year as our special50th anniversary coverage has pushedtheir planned publication dates on tothis year. I plan to give them coveragein the next two issues. Also in theworks is coverage of the 40th anniver-sary of the Road Runner, the 50th ofthe ‘58s and, of course, the GrandNational.

SO, what did you do in ‘72?

-- Lanny Knutson-- Lanny Knutson

The Plymouth BulletinThe Plymouth BulletinNo. 288; Jan/Feb 2008

LANNY D. KNUTSON, editorLEEANN LUCAS, asst. editor

-2-

From the EditorFrom the Editor

Where were you in ‘72?Where were you in ‘72?

288-FULL ISSUE 2/29/08 7:02 AM Page 2

Fire has claimed aprize PB roadster,

together with a sign col-lection and the businessof Gary and CarolynGray of Mt. Vernon,Ohio. Fire was detectedby a passing truck driverat 4:30 am, January 29, atRivers Edge Hunting andFishing, the Grays’ busi-ness, and quickly spread,eventually destroying thebuilding, also owned bythe Grays, which housedthe roadster and twoadditional vintage carsbeing stored for other own-ers. An extensive collectionof original porcelain andlarge neon dealership signswas also lost.

“No one was hurt andonly things were destroyed.That is the good news,”

Gray writes. “The bad newsis that a beautiful 1932Plymouth roadster wasdestroyed as were manyoriginal porcelain and neonsigns--a loss for me but, justas importantly, a loss for thewhole antique car communi-ty.” PB

Plymouth PressCLUB NEWS Plymouth Owners Club No. 288

TThhee

-3-

Golden Anniversary T-shirts available

T-shirts and sweatshirts bearingthe club’s Golden Anniversarylogo are now available. Seepage 63 of this issue fordetails.

PAUL “CHIP” STEVES passed away at his Columbia, Maryland,home on December 23, 2007. He was 82. In addition to being amember of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Plymouth OwnersClub, Chip and his late wife Jean were long-time members ofthe Maryland Chapter, Model T Ford Club International. Hejoined the POC when he bought a 1964 Barracuda from ClaytonMiller. After selling that car, he purchased a 1954 Belvederesedan which he upgraded to meticulous driving condition.

1932 PB roadster destroyed in fireGary and Carolyn Gray lose business, sign collection and car

Co-host of the 2005 4-cylinder tour in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Gary Gray, pausesfor a photo with his PB roadster. The car was destroyed in a January fire.

The Plymouth Bulletin (ISSN 0032-1737) is published bi-monthly. Subscriptionthrough annual dues: $28 new; $26 renewal. Published by the Plymouth OwnersClub, PO Box 345, 603 Central Ave, Walhalla, ND 58282-0345. Periodical postagepaid at Grafton, ND 58237. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ThePlymouth Bulletin, PO Box 416, Cavalier, ND 58220-0416.

SH

EIL

AN

AW

RO

CK

IP

HO

TO

Member remembered

Members’ Plymouths featured in newsstand magazinesLorraine Boyce's ‘49 P18 convertible is featured on the coverand in an article of the February 2008 issue of Cars & Parts.Lorraine, of Greenwood, Indiana, is a member of the HoosierRegion. Kay and Harold Norton's ‘50 P19 two-door fastbackis one of the feature cars in the February 2008 issue ofHemmings Classic Car.

288-p.3-new 2/29/08 8:21 AM Page 1

TThis BULLETIN issue is the first of“Year Fifty-plus-one” for thePlymouth Owners Club, and the

80th anniversary of the Plymouth auto-mobile.

As we wait for the spring and thenew driving season ahead of us, we allhave the memories of last year’s eventsto recall. You probably have yourfavorite. Is it Santa Maria? Tulsa?Concord? Someplace closer to home?For picking just one happy event, howabout Hans and Annick Reinhardt'sjourney from Beijing to Paris in their1950 four-door sedan? The BULLETIN

took you on that road trip with assis-tance by the Reinhardts. My friendBill Ward out of Sandy, Utah, providedme with a travelogue in the form of aCD of that special event. It featuresstunning photography from parts of theworld we hardly know or see anythingabout. We are grateful for that rideacross Asia into the heart of Europe,along with a little yellow Plymouth.

Bill Ward is known for the OldPlymouths website

www.oldplymouths.comwhich, as of February, 2008, is “NowUnder New Management.” The web-site was due to be shut down, becausethe website host he had been using wassold to another web hosting companyand a change to new web server wasnecessary. Bill, not having the timenor expertise to do what was needed,though he might have to shut down thesite, but Steve Conover, a POC mem-ber in Shillington, Pennsylvania, andhis son Rich have agreed to convert thewebsite and keep it going. I thankthem both for keeping that site “in the

family,” as it were. If you have aninterest in the 49-52 Plymouth models,have a look-see for yourself. Bill’sstewardship since he started the site isa continuing labor of love that will notsoon wane as he and wife Betty contin-ue enjoying the hobby with their “hisand hers” 1950s.

TTHEHE GGRANDRAND NNAATIONALTIONAL MMEETEET inAuburn Hills is on the docket for theyear 2008 and will be the only nationalevent scheduled thus year. This issuehas registration information for youfrom the Detroit Region. If you are“on the fence” about this event, talkwith those who have attended previousGrand Nationals--you might want tocontact me. That might convince youto head up to the Motor City this sum-mer. Just to be on the nostalgic autoplant tour might be all that you need tocrank up that Plymouth and head therewith us. Judy and I hope we will seemany of you in attendance in late July.I would like to see a large representa-tion in Auburn Hills from every decadeof Plymouth, and only you can makethat happen.

RREGIONALEGIONAL POC POC GROUPSGROUPS have seen adistinct turnover in personnel, withnew people heading up a good numberof the regions this new year. It isalways gratifying to see that our mem-bership is dynamic because it is goodfor the club overall. I salute those ofyou who have assumed new duties inyour regions.

IIFF YOUYOU COMECOME ACROSSACROSS an interestingPlymouth or perhaps even one youown that you want the readership toknow about, let Lanny know and hewill do a feature article on it for you.We are always on the lookout for greatstories, whether they be aboutPlymouths or a good human intereststory related to Plymouths.

We are adding a new product tothe club store merchandise lineup, avery high-quality shirt with the 50thAnniversary logo. See the separatebox with more info.

TTHEHE NEXTNEXT COUPLECOUPLE OFOF MONTHSMONTHS

should be busy, the weather shouldcooperate, we are getting the annualcabin fever and soon it will be spring,then summer. Let’s open the garagedoors, wipe off the dust, tune up thePlymouth, apply a bit of polish to paintand bright work and get out and take adrive.

-- Bob Kerico-- Bob Kerico

From the PresidentFrom the President

-4-

Hers and His: Hers and His: Betty and Bill Ward’s ‘50s flank their visiting compatriot, Bill Gellert’s ‘50from Illinois.

Open the garage!Open the garage!


TThe Plymouth Owners Club is 50years old and still has some of thesame questions it has had from

day one. Many of them center on judg-ing.

Most of the phone calls I receive arefrom members asking about restoration. Itell them that the purpose of the club is toencourage the use, preservation, andAUTHENTIC restoration of our cars andtrucks. The key word is AUTHENTIC.My advice is to restore your car to thecondition in which it was when it wasdriven out of the dealer’s showroom, butI always say, “It is your car and I cannottell you what to do with your car.”

If you choose to not restore your carto the original condition, you must beprepared to lose points under our judgingcriteria. If your early Plymouth did notcome with overdrive and you decide toinstall one anyway, be prepared to losepoints. Contact the technical advisor-- aslisted in the front of the BULLETIN--withyour questions for your particular year.

MY SON, CHRIS, AND I are in the processof setting the classes for the remainingyears to the end of the Plymouth history.I am also in the process of revising thejudging guides for Groups I, II, and III. Iam not making any changes, just con-densing and making corrections.

I am also in the process of creating ajudging library. These are binders thatwill contain information to support paintcolor, interior, engine, wheels, acces-sories, or whatever. I need your helpwith this task. Please send me documen-tary information that will back up whyyour Plymouth is equipped differentlythan expected.

SOME MEMBERS are also confused aboutthe way trophies are awarded. First-, sec-ond-, and third-place trophies are given ineach class. There are presently 10 class-es, plus a Senior Class. At three perclass, that makes 33 trophies that a hostregion has to prepare. Plus, there is Bestof Show in Groups I, II, and III, whichadds three more trophies, plus Hard Luck

and Long Distance (for an antiquePlymouth that is driven to the meet),which add two more trophies. This is atotal of 38 trophies. There is also a trav-eling trophy called the Mayflower Awardthat is supplied by the National Club forthe best four-door sedan. The regionswill be instructed that they must followthe practice of providing a sufficientnumber of trophies.

Also, there may be ties among theclass awards, but only those with true tiesmay also be awarded a trophy. You mustachieve more than 75 points to qualify fora trophy, but only the first three cars ineach class will be awarded a trophy. It isnot feasible to give trophies to all carsthat score more than 75 points.

WE ALSO HAVE THE TASK of recruitingjudges whenever there is a NationalMeet. Your help is needed if you want usto continue having judging at our meets.It is not difficult to be a judge. It is alearning experience, and it is a lot of fun.Plus, you get to meet new members. Wealways pair one of our newcomers withan experienced judge. Please step up,because we are always in need of judges.

Thank You!-- Joe Suminski-- Joe Suminski

Director of JudgingDirector of Judging

Some facts about judgingSome facts about judging

Director of JudgingDirector of Judging

LettersLetters

GrGreat asseteat assetI WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED

to get my Nov/Dec., 2007,BULLETIN and find BobManke on the cover in his1941 P12 Special Deluxe.Having met Bob only once, Ido not know him well, but Inote that he has recently beennamed technical advisor for Plymouth commercial vehicles.

Bob was of great help to me while I was restoring my 1940 PT105 pickup. He lives about anhour from me, and I phoned him to ask for some advice and whether he would mind my coming tohave a look at his ‘41 PT125. In no time I was on my way. Bob very graciously allowed me topepper him with questions and take plenty of photos of his prize-winning truck, all of which camein handy as my restoration progressed.

That ‘41 Special Deluxe was in a few pieces at the time; the body was off the frame in Bob'sshop. It looked like a dusty old relic, so it was great seeing the photo on the cover, evidence of thebeautiful job he did on the restoration.

I would heartily encourage Plymouth truck owners to get in touch with Bob if they havequestions or need advice. He is a great asset to the club.

George T. Conboy Rochester, New York

Engine spec infoEngine spec infoA GOOD WEBSITE for thePlymouth engine stats is

www.secondchancegarage.comAlong the left column. clickENGINE SPECS and then findPLYMOUTH CARS and pick theengine you want.

The site has specs forengine, including tune up, pis-ton and ring, valve and enginebearing, distributor and genera-tor, regulator and starter specsand engine tightening specs,along with capacity data andwheel alignment info.

I encourage anyone whoknows of internet sites that con-tain good information to sharethem with us.

Carl WegnerGrand Rapids, Minnesota

-5-


BB ULLETINULLETIN :: frfromomUSAUSA to Canada to Canada via Sweden!via Sweden!I GOT BULLETIN 286 yesterdayand it came from Sweden! Itapparently went from NorthDakota to Sweden and thenback to Canada. Any clue?..

Bob DavisWoodville, Ontario

I JUST RECEIVED BULLETIN

286 today, January 30. It waswell worth the wait and I spentmuch of the afternoon readingit. When disposing of theplastic wrapper, I noticed asticker in the corner overwhere it says the POSTAGE

PAID AT GRAFTON ND on theBULLETIN's jacket. MyBULLETIN was mailed fromSweden! Does this qualify fora Long Distance Award?Wonders of modern mail, Iguess. I wish I could blamethis one on Canada Post,whom I am sure sends BC'smail to Newfoundland forsorting! I am surprised thatthe Grafton PO has chosenSweden for this task.

Better late than neverthough. I have always saidthat the only problem with theBULLETIN is that once itarrives, it is necessary to waittwo months for another. Mynext one should be alongmuch sooner.

Best wishes, and kindestthoughts to Jim and Mrs. B.

David PollockShawnigan Lake, British Columbia

IT'S BEEN HAPPENING THIS WAY

for the past few years with theFirst Class mailings of theBULLETIN I get as editor. Theyput my mail in with the interna-

tional first class mail. The wayit works is that when a carrier,such as FedEx, has the contractto deliver a company's interna-tional mail, they ship in bulk tothe country with the lowestinternational first class ratesand from there the mail is sentout to the individual sub-scribers. Usually that countryhas been Sweden.

The normal periodical classmail to US and Canada hadbeen going the regular way.Now I guess all out-of-US mailis going this way.

I hope this explains themysterious postmark fromMälmo, Sweden, home of someof my mother’s cousins and/ortheir descendants. Who knows,maybe one of them is handlingthe mail. -- LDK

Plymouth badgePlymouth badgeI have collected severalChrysler and Plymouthemployee badges thru theyears. One has “Chrysler-Plymouth Division” and othershave “Plymouth” on its own.

Would any membersknow of someone I could con-tact to obtain information onthese badges? Most of theseappear to be from the thirtiesera.

Rob ElliottCalgary, [email protected]

BetterBetter than than TVTVWELL, YOU TWO HAVE DONE

IT AGAIN: put out a beautiful,packed BULLETIN (#287).And, since Stan got to it first, Iwound up missing most of my

two favorite TV shows--Wheelof Fortune and Jeopardy.Because I was so engrossed inreading the magazine, I onlycaught glimpses of my shows.Not that I really minded,because it was well worth it.

Jan PeelIndianapolis, Indiana

$69,000 Sp. Fur$69,000 Sp. FuryyAN INTERESTING BIT of newsfrom Richard Tibben whobrought his 1964 Sport Furyto the National Spring Meet in

Santa Maria (BULLETIN 285, p.36) and won a first-place tro-

phy. -- Nick Desimone

IN BARRETT-JACKSON NEWS,the twin to the brown 1964Plymouth that I showed at theSanta Maria meet and I hadalso restored (as a 426, 4-speed car) sold for $69,000. Isold it to my friend for$22,000 who in turn ran itthrough the auction.

Richard TibbenNipomo, California

LettersLetters

SSSSppppeeeeeeeedddd TTTTrrrraaaapppp DDDDiiiinnnneeeerrrrWOODVILLE, OHIO -- Plymouth Club members Bob Semichy,the club's 1937 Tech Advisor from Los Gatos, Calif., and PaulCurtis, Roseville, Mich., couldn't resist stopping by the SpeedTrap Diner for breakfast when they saw the 1951 Plymouthsquad car parked on the roof. Bob and Paul made the 1500-mile round trip to the Concord, NC meet in a 1935 Plymouthtouring sedan that Paul had purchased just two weeks earlier.Bob had flown to Michigan and kept Paul company as theydrove to Carolina in Paul’s 12th PJ!

Paul CurtisRoseville, Michigan

-6-

The latest addition to my Plymouth family: a California carand, being a 1971 Fury III with the 360 engine, still afford-

able…a nice driver, too. -- Clif Nelson, Adams, North Dakota


HHave you ever thought of how theadvent of the Plymouth RoadRunner during the1968 model

year changed the idea of muscle cars?Introduced in September of 1967, it wasan instant hit.

Some other cars have been claimed tobe the father of muscle cars, but I believethe Road Runner is the first truly afford-able muscle car. The ‘55 Chrysler C300has been claimed, in more recent years, tohave been the first, but the term “musclecar” was not even heard of in 1955. Abig-bodied car like the 300, even if it didhave the highest horsepower engine ofits day, cannot be classified as a mus-cle car. The1964 Pontiac GTO hasalso been proclaimed the first musclecar, but I am a bit biased, so it doesn’tget the title either. They did put a bigblock engine in a medium-sized car,true, but it was not affordable… atleast not as affordable as the RoadRunner would be. The ‘67 PlymouthGTX, it is true, did have a lot ofhorsepower (375 horses from the 440Magnum); but, being a fancy car, itdoes not qualify in my book either.

The first truly affordable musclecar has to be the1968 Road Runner,priced at $2831 for a coupe, if my memo-ry serves me correctly. I still think aboutall the ads for this car that appeared in notonly the car magazines but most of theother best-selling magazines of the day.

Think about it. Can it be 40 yearsago that our beloved Road Runner came topass? That basic coupe with rubber floormats, a vinyl bench seat and no arm restswas light and affordable. It came, at first,with only a four-speed transmission. Laterthe 727 automatic became available. Theonly two engines offered that first yearwere the venerable 335-horse 383Magnum and the incomparable 425-horse-power 426 cubic inch HEMI motor. Eitherway, what a choice! Although, for its

time, the HEMI was an expensive option at$700-plus.

The coupe is what they came out withfirst. Later in the spring or early summer,the hardtop line was added. The hardtopbrought you a bit fancier Road Runner,since the Satellite interior--called theDecor Group--was available in this model.

The coupe started life as theBelvedere two-door sedan. Can youimagine that light little coupe with thatpowerful HEMI motor in it? I can't, as Inever did drive one at the time. I haveridden with friends in them in recent

years, but drivers never get “on them”now like they would have in the old days,right? Wish I could have had the opportu-nity back then to just let it all hang out:HANG ON!

Just imagine all those 425 horses justwanting to let loose through the four-speed to lay rubber with the 7:75 x 14-inch tires (or maybe 8:25 x 15-inchers ifyou opted for that). Bias ply tires were“it” back then. Polyglas came on thescene anywhere from one to two yearslater, and radials followed a year or soafter that. I recall the polyglas tires (F70 x14s) being put on my 1967 Satellite,mounted on chrome reverse rims whichwere the rage at the time. The car was

jacked up with shackles so the rims andtires could fit under the fenders. So cool,compared to what we had availablebefore, eh? When what came to be knownas the “coke bottle” body style, like that ofthe Chargers and Road Runners, came outin 1968, we found that the wide tireswould fit under them nicely, but not on my‘67.

I’LL SIDETRACK A BIT from the facts justfor some enjoyable memories of the firstRoad Runner I got to “flog on.” That hap-pened during the early summer of 1970. Iwas working on road construction inSouth Dakota and I needed a ride homefor the weekend. My buddy Butch had a‘68 Runner. Since he had to drive thecompany truck to the next site up in north-eastern North Dakota, he asked me todrive his Road Runner there, a distance ofperhaps 400 miles. Interstate highwayspeed limits at that time were 75 MPH, andthey let you get away with a lot more. Iasked Butch “how fast can I run her?”His answer was: “Put ‘er at about four

grand; she runs good there.” It musthave had the standard 3:23 Sure Grip init, because four grand on the tach was115 MPH! YES, you heard me right!

I left Selby, South Dakota, a littleafter 6:00 PM and was at the site nearGrand Forks, North Dakota, four hourslater. My only stop was a gas stop /bathroom break about halfway there.Sunflower seeds and a beverage in myhand got me through. What a ride!

Yes, I do know that I was not runningaccording to “specs” at the time, but Iwas young (25) and young at heart. Tellme that none of you ever ran a good runlike that! You can see why the Road

Runner was popular with the moonshinerunners down south. After all, I had to seeif those ol' ads with the southern boys run-nin’ ‘shine were true. THEY WERE!

To be continued in the next issue, thiscolumn will give you more facts and talesof fun about the best car made for themoney: the Plymouth Road Runner! I willwrite mainly about the Road Runnerthroughout 2008, as this is the 40thanniversary year of our beloved RoadRunner… hard to believe, but it is!

-- CLIF-- CLIF [email protected]

Best car Best car for the moneyfor the money

-7-

ClifClif ’’s Notess Notes

1969 Road Runner 1969 Road Runner I had once owned. Now, it hasbeen restored.


Carolina RegionTHE FEEDBACK I HAVE RECEIVED aboutthe national fall meet has been very posi-tive. I think we pulled off a mini GrandNational, and all our members are to becommended for making this event happen.Dan Payne has done a fantastic job of tak-ing the photos of the meet and gettingthem to the editorof the PLYMOUTH

BULLETIN

It has been aneventful and histor-ical year. Weattended theLowe’s MotorSpeedway displayin both April andSeptember withgood attendance.One of our found-ing members, andour secretary andnewsletter editor,Dennis Dupuis,passed away, leav-ing a big void inthe operation ofour club. GreggErrett has steppedup to the task ofnewsletter editorand is doing a fan-tastic job.

We had peoplefrom 24 statesattending ournational meet and116 people at theawards banquet.Good commentswere heard from allwho attended themeet.

After 12 years,I am steppingdown as theCarolina Regionpresident, thankfulof the support Ihave enjoyed in serving the club as presi-dent.

Keep those old Plymouths rolling.-- Tommy Carroll

OUR JANUARY MEETING was held at theIHOP Restaurant in Winston-Salem, NC,

with 18 people present, including ournewest members Mark and HaydenPepich. Old business included a review ofour national meet and extending thanks toour corporate sponsors, Steele RubberProducts and Lake Norman Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. New business included discussionof elections and upcoming events.

-- Nancy Mitchem

Cascade Pacific RegionTWENTY-FIVE MEMBERS met for theMayflower holiday lunch at the AlbertinaKerr Restaurant in Portland, Oregon.Until the last couple of days we actually

had 34 wanting to fill the 28 reservationsthat Nancy Conner had organized, a fran-tic but nice problem to face. Volunteers atthe Albertina Kerr Center cook and serve anice lunch, model clothes from the ThriftShop, as well as run the Thrift andAntique Shops. Alexander Kerr, founderof the Kerr Glass ManufacturingCompany, helped establish a center in

1907 as a tempo-rary shelter forhomeless men.This evolved intocare facilities forchildren, an adop-tion home, amodel for privatefoster care, andgroup homes forindividuals withdevelopmentaldisabilities in thePortland metroarea.

Six membersattended the tech-nical meeting onSaturday, January5. President GaryRusher brought anold headlightreflector whichhad been restoredusing the tech-nique developedby Bill Atwood,who ownsUVIRA, Inc., inMerlin, Oregon.Gary explainedhow this processis done and why itprovides betterquality andbrighter lights.He has obtainedpermission fromBill Atwood toreprint an articlein the CPPCnewsletter detail-

ing the process. Part one of two appearedin the January issue; part two will be inthe February issue.

At the February technical meetingeleven members met to restore the frontsprings on Dennis Fisher’s 1953 Plymouthconvertible. After changing the coil

Regional ReportRegional Report

CAROLINA REGIONThomas E. Carroll

181 Charles St.Forest City, NC 28043

(828) [email protected]

CASCADE PACIFIC REGIONGary Rusher----------------

Wilsonville, OR --------(503) 638-5521 [email protected]

COLONIAL REGIONBetty Kibbe

456 Holyoke St.Ludlow, MA 01056

(413) 589-9854 [email protected]

DAIRYLAND REGIONDick Silhol

2404 W. Plum TreeMequon, WI 53092


DELAWARE VALLEY REGIONBill Tropia

52 Breece Dr.Yardley, PA 19067-1513

[email protected]

DETROIT REGIONJoseph B. Lewis, Editor

9145 HazeltonRedford, MI 48239

Walt Boelsler, pres: (586) 773-0410 [email protected]

GOLDEN STATE REGIONDavid Maxwell

4365 Carolyne Way Santa Maria, CA 93455-6642


GRAND CANYON REGIONGlen (Frank) Johnston

1509 North 106th StreetMesa, AZ 85207 (480) 354-6114

[email protected]

HEART OF AMERICA REGIONMike Schaefer

12221 NE 136thKearney, MO 64060


HOOSIER REGIONKevin Reeves, President

1002 S McDonald StAttica IN 47918 / (765) [email protected]

Jan Peel, Editor, [email protected]

HUDSON VALLEY REGIONRichard Wahrendorff

1471 Rt. 213Ulster Park, NY 12487


LINCOLN LAND REGIONTerry Lash

7078 North Rte. 159Moro, IL 62067


LONG ISLAND REGIONPeter Marks

47 Flintlock DriveShirley, NY 11967


MID-ATLANTIC REGIONCarl VanBibber

6650 Fox Meade CourtFrederick, Maryland 21702


MID-IOWA REGIONCliff Tribby

12 Main StreetMelbourne, Iowa 50162


MISSOURI "Show Me” REGIONTommy G. Pike1602 East Dale

Springfield, MO [email protected]

PA OIL VALLEY REGIONJim Stoudt

1290 Bankson Rd.Oil City, PA 16301

(814) 676-6678

[email protected]

PRAIRIE REGIONRoger Wermeskerch 8100 SW 24th Street

Lincoln, NE 68523-9391(402) 423-4109 [email protected]

http://clubs.hemmings.com/prairiepoc/index.htm

ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONBill Sullivan

1015 Redwood DriveLoveland, CO 80538


TALL PINES REGIONRichard Tetzlaff

23383 Malanie Trail NorthScandia, MN 55073-9745

(612) 759 2103 [email protected]: R.Ramberg [email protected]

TULSA REGIONJerry Burch

1111 South Florence Ave.Tulsa, OK 74104-4104

[email protected]

WESTERN CANADA REGIONBen Ostrander

Site 11, Box 52, RR 1De Winton, AB T0L 0X0 CANADA

(403) 938-5504Email: Rob Elliott [email protected]

NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT (responsible for regions)Bobbi Berkheimer


-8-


springs and making final adjustments, theyhad the car level front to back and fromside to side.

The Technical Committee is updatingthe CPPC vendor list so it will be avail-able for sale at the Portland Swap Meet inApril. The club and its members havefour stalls reserved to sell items that havebeen donated. -- Cari Catlow

Colonial RegionDESPITE THE IMPENDING THREAT of sever-al inches of snow, we managed to pull offanother of our exciting Christmas familyget-togethers at the Palmer house. It didsnow very lightly all afternoon; but, nev-ertheless, we continued enjoying our feast-ing, our frolicking, our fun grab-bag fes-tivity and our fruitful meeting. We aregetting “sooo” good at this food stuff--everyone seems to know just how much,and what, we need to make our dinnercomplete. We are also getting pretty goodat eating just about every morsel of foodso there are no leftovers. What’s that Iheard? Someone complaining about thegifts? Did someone say there were toomany candles as gifts? Maybe the giftbuyers were planning on a rough winterand power outages. Gee whiz, therecomes a time when you have enough ham-mers, screwdrivers, extension cords, oilcans or tarps. Oh well, there’s alwaysnext year. Thank you Palmers for hosting!

At the meeting part of our December2 festivities, we had an election with thesame officers continuing. A couple ofinteresting trips are in the works for the2008 season and we were reminded that in2009 our region will be 35 years young.

Jane Palmer’s dad passed away inDecember. John Gilman’s mom passedlast June. We express our condolences.We are an aging population and there willbe some unfortunate happenings along theway, so we enjoy ourselves with ourPlymouth family. -- Betty Kibbe

WE WELCOME new members Gerry andJackie Plummer of Brookfield, Mass.,owners of “Daisy Mae,” their 1955 Savoysedan, and Earl and Flora Harvey ofClinton, Mass., who own a 1934 sedan.

-- Kurt Oelmann

Dairyland RegionWE WILL BE MAKING PLANS to attend the2008 Grand National Meet in AuburnHills, Michigan, hosted by the DetroitRegion. Ten years ago our Dairyland

Region was one of the largest groups inattendance at the meet with a contingentof 30 region members with 15 Plymouthsas the1998 Grand National Meet inPlymouth, Mich., celebrated the 70thanniversary of the Plymouth car! Those ofus who attended the 1998 meet are still talking about the fun we had at themeet with sand-filled swimming pools,repairing blown head gaskets and replac-ing generators in a motel parking lot, driv-ing Chrysler products at Chrysler’s prov-ing grounds and the ferry trip across LakeMichigan on the S. S. Badger. Our Marchmeeting agenda has time allotted to discuss plans and arrangements for aDairyland Region caravan to the meet,possibly using one of the two car ferriesnow crossing Lake Michigan.

The 2009, National SummerMeet committee activities are beginning toshow results, especially in arranging fordonations for goodie bags and door prizes.

-- Dick Silhol

Delaware Valley RegionOUR NOVEMBER MEETING was called toorder by President Bill Tropia at theAmerican Legion Hall in Magnolia, NewJersey, with 16 members present.

Bill reported on our forthcomingChristmas party. Dave Verna reported thathe had submitted photos of cars at ourBerlin show to a new Mopar magazine,Mopar Enthusiasts. Jack Cipriano passedaround a bottle of wine, a 2006 PetiteSirah California, which has a red Dodgetruck, of 1940 vintage, on the label.

In place of our December meeting, wetraveled over the river and through thewoods to the Neusch’s house. We had agreat time at our Christmas party this year.Our club presented Lorraine and LarryNeusch a night out as thanks for the hardwork they do hosting this occasion.

-- Hank DeMayo

Detroit RegionPRESIDENT WALT BOELSTLER called ourJanuary meeting to order at the home ofRuss and Dorothy Nardi with eight mem-bers present.

President Boelstler led a discussion onthe 2008 meet. Paul Curtis presentedsamples of the various trophy sizes fur-nished by Will Knudsen. Paul also pre-sented several car drawings donated byBob Semichy for the silent auction . Adiscussion on the number of trophiesneeded followed. Joe Suminski spoke on

the judging changes currently being dis-cussed by the National Officers.

Member Clarence Clouse received apacemaker in January and is now back inhis apartment at Sunrise Assisted Living.

During Tech Time, we had a generaldiscussion on plating. Paul Curtis reportedon two higher quality companies he hasworked with. -- Paul Curtis

Golden State RegionTOM AND JAN REED hosted our Februarymeeting at their house in Whittier. A nicesurprise was waiting for us. Tom's friendJohn Manifor had shown up with his 1929Cadillac roadster; it is very nice indeed.After we checked out John's car, Tomopened his garage so we could drool overhis 1958 Plymouth with a Hemi in it. Tomsaid that he will be driving it soon.

We then traveled to Phil Reed'sGarage to see his collection. Phil is a carguy through and through, and his collec-tion is of quality cars. I liked the 1929Stutz Roadster the best. Phil has been intoeverything from quarter midgets that hisson drove to owning the winning car atDenver’s annual midget race, beating outKasey Kahne, of NASCAR fame. Phildrives his cars and will be driving an orig-inal Model T from Baltimore, Maryland,to California this summer.

We returned to Tom and Jan's houseand had a great lunch. Jan's cookies arethe best. We had a short meeting duringlunch. Margie Amos gave her treasurer’sreport. We are looking for students toapply for our two scholarship funds.Seventeen members and guests were inattendance. -- Tony Cipponeri

Heart of America RegionOUR JANUARY MEETING was opened byour new president, Mike Schaefer.Outgoing president Bill Krenzer presentedthe 2007 Points Performance Award toJerry and Doris Elwood. Awards werealso given to Bill Krenzer and outgoingvice-president Bob Yates for their sixyears of service to our club.

We discussed, at length, possibletours, the March potluck meeting, Julypicnic and Christmas party for the comingyear. It was also decided that we will par-ticipate in the Shriner’s Swap Meet thisspring.

Following the meeting, a number ofus enjoyed lunch at Tien Tien AsianBuffet.

-9-


JANUARY’S CAFÉ CRUISE was hosted byEd and Marilyn Ernat at The Corner Caféin Liberty. Ten members enjoyed a respitefrom the frigid weather and had a goodlunch and visiting.

SEVERAL OF OUR MEMBERS are or havebeen ill with flu symptoms. Don Wood isin a rehab facility. We hope that the bittercold (at this writing) will soon be anunpleasant memory and all will be feelingbetter.

Again, we discussed coming events.Then Karen Zammar expressed her enjoy-ment in belonging to our club and suggest-ed we tell others of the benefits we’vereceived from membership. GeorgeZammar, a retired grocer, also gave sometimely tips on interpreting dated itemswhile grocery shopping.

Several of us dined and visited at JackStack Barbecue after the meeting.

-- Winona Krenzer

Hoosier RegionWELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS Fred andGlenda Baker, Frankfort, Indiana, ownersof a yellow 1951 P23 Cranbrook convert-ible; Bob and Mary Best, Greensburg,owners of a 1954 P25 Plaza; Harrison andPam Collins, Mitchell, who have a 1965Deluxe business coupe; John R. “Bob”and Carol Cooper, Hartford City, 1953Cranbrook club coupe; and Jeff and TeresaWright of Portland, Indiana,who have a1961 green and white hardtop.

Loraine Boyce’s Plymouth is the pret-ty “lady” on the cover of the Februaryissue of Cars & Parts. An even prettierpicture of “Lady” Loraine beside herPlymouth is in the four-page article begin-ning on page 14. -- Kevin Reeves

OUR JANUARY MEETING was opened byPresident Kevin Reeves with 16 membersand guests attending. A thank-you notefrom Berniece Snider was read, thankingmembers for cards, calls and prayers dur-ing Marvin’s hospital stay following afive-bypass surgery. The Sniders werepresent at the meeting. Ray Scott sent sim-ilar thanks for members’ cards and visitsas he recovered from a compressed spinalfracture. Both are in a “Don’t hug me, I’llhug you” mode. Jan Peel passed around aget well card to be sent to ConnieBenjaminson (wife of MembershipSecretary Jim) who is battling cancer atRochester, Minnesota.

-- Jan Peel

Hudson Valley RegionOUR FIRST MEETING was held January 20at the Olympic Diner in Kingston, NewYork, with six members present: EarlButon, Jeff Buton, Bruce Buton, DanKiIlpatrick, Fred Schwarz, and myself.We discussed plans for attracting newmembers. We also discussed a possiblechapter meet at the Dutchess CountyFairgrounds at the annual Rhinebeck CarShow and Swap Meet held in May. Tourswere also discussed. We decided that thename of our chapter will be the HudsonValley Region. We planned to hold ourFebruary meeting at Foster's Steakhouse inRhinebeck. -- Richard Wahrendorff

Lincoln Land RegionOUR PLANS FOR 2008 include “work days”at Terry Lash’s home as we work to getArnold Sommerfeldt’s 1941 P11 back onthe road. In March we’ll be at Spanky’s(Wayne Cox) for a “Parts Car Teardownand Meeting.” Spanky has a list of cars hecan pull up to the house for stripping. Asunny day will mean working outdoors,and he can provide up to four cars for usto work on. A rainy day means workinginside and on only one car. Members areasked to give their number one picks ofthe car they’d most like to tear into. Mostremoved parts will be available at a goodprice.

In April there will be an evening atthe G. I. Jukebox Conklin Barn Theatrefor a “tuneful and hilarious USO spectacu-lar” recalling visits of Hollywood starsand starlets to entertain “the boys” duringWorld War II.

A visit to a car museum in Columbia,Illinois, and nearby Jefferson BarrackState Park is planed for May. Our chapterpicnic is slated for Beaver Dam State Parkin June.

Another work day and other trips areplanned, including one to Auburn Hills,Michigan, for the 2008 Grand NationalMeet.

The year will wrap up with aChristmas banquet at Diamond MineralSprings in Grantfork, Illinois.

-- Kathy Taylor

Long Island RegionOUR JANUARY 9 MEETING was called toorder at 7:43 by Sgt.-at-Arms Kinane witheleven in attendance.

In his report, President Marks statedthat we have a firm commitment for the

use of Calabro Airport for our June 22 carshow which we will jointly run withKiwanis. The proceeds from the showwill be evenly divided between theSunrise Fund for children with cancer andthe children's charity chosen by Kiwanis.Vice President Kniotec will make inquiriesabout having Hot Wheel cars up for theJune show with Plymouth Club andKiwanis logos printed on them.

Bill Hayden, owner of a 1966 Fury Itwo-door, was accepted. D. Wegenaarmoved to adjourn the meeting at 8:33.

-- D. Wegenaar

Mid-Atlantic RegionGOING, GOING, GONE: these words couldapply to the food as well as the auctionitems at our annual Christmas luncheonand auction on December 2 at the CozyRestaurant in Thurmont, Maryland.

The tables were loaded with over 40auction items of interest to nearly every-one. First, David Young and DianneTaylor presented a great pictorial historyof Mid-Atlantic Region activities during2007. Soon we were called through thefood line to load our plates with fried andsteamed shrimp, clams, chicken and beef.Desserts numbered better than a dozenhomemade pies, cakes, cookies plus icecream with toppings.

Each year we look forward to theawards ceremony, especially the awardingof the Byard Award that recognizes theclub member who has made significantcontributions to the club as voted by clubmembers. This year’s recipient was AlHerold, a long-time member who hadserved three years as club secretary but isbest known for the entertainment he pro-vides at the end of each meeting with hisrenditions of old time favorite songs of the‘50s and ‘60s.

Roy Kidwell was also recognized forhis two years of serving as president ofour club. As Roy was at home recuperat-ing from a recent operation, Pat Kidwellaccepted the plaque on behalf of her hus-band.

After a brief business meeting, theauctioning began. It took a couple ofitems before the bidding really took off,but then no holds were barred. At onepoint, Jerry Seitz found he was biddingagainst himself for a Plymouth steeringwheel. Some had side businesses going attheir tables as they’d win a bid and thenput the item up for sale to their table-mates. In the end the auction netted

-10-


$1413 but the greatest richness came toeach of us as we shared the beginning ofthe Christmas season with a very specialgroup of people. -- Peggy VanBibber

OUR JANUARY MEETING was held at theOlive Leaf Restaurant in Mount Airy,Maryland, with 35 members present.Following dinner, President CarlVanBibber called the meeting to order. Heintroduced the 2008 officers: Fran Byard,membership; Jack and Mary Ann Veara,historians; Peggy VanBibber, Mayflowerreporter; Pat Kidwell, Sunshine; Claytonand Evaline Miller, Maude Streett andTom Kenney, photos; Roy Kidwell, tech-nical advisor, chief judge and email coor-dinator.

Clayton Miller spoke about a memori-al for our deceased member Chip Steves.We decided to put funds together withthose from the Model T Club to purchasea brick at the National AACA Museum.

The meeting was then turned over toDavid Young for discussion of, and plan-ning for, our 2009 national meet. Thetheme of the meet is “Let your Plymouthshine in ‘09.” Discussion was heldregarding a theme car, an honoring of ourdeceased members and tour possibilities.

The meeting was closed by Al Heroldand his renditions of “What a Difference aDay Makes” and “Don’t Know Why ILove You But I Do.” -- Karen Fowler

Prairie RegionOUR JANUARY 20 MEETING, held at Rogerand Bethine Wermeskerch’s barn, wasattended by 20 members, plus guests.

The first order of business was theelection of 2008 officers. The followingwere elected: Roger Wermeskerch, presi-dent; Frank Shemek, vice-president; Larry

Stanton, secretary; Linda Lape, treasurer;Crystal Dewey, editor; and Lee Lape,membership coordinator.

Roger discussed adding the new clubposition of Events Planner to coordinatearea events with club meetings andencouraged all members to investigateevents of interest in their communities andoffer to host a monthly club meeting dur-ing the event. Bethine Wermeskerchoffered to serve as Events Planner. JerryFletcher, Linda Lape and Pat Stantonoffered to help her as needed.

A vote by email and mail on continu-ing our annual club swap meet was dis-cussed. The total vote was 8 votes to con-tinue, 8 votes to discontinue. As therewas no majority, the club swap meet withbe held, as scheduled, on May 18, 2008.

Roger and Val Cutshall reported onthe publication of the car council directo-ry, available at the Lincoln swap meet inMarch 9. Roger thanked Dennis and Valfor their work on this project. Our clubwill buy an ad in the directory advertisingour club swap meet and Plymouth nationalmeet. - Larry Stanton

Tall Pines RegionOUR JANUARY MEETING, and the first one of2008, took place at the home of Jack andGinny Schultz near Medford, Minnesota.No old cars this time, though, as we werelocked in the midst of an upper Midwestwinter. The temperature as we started themeeting was right at 0° F., but sunny with nowind, so it wasn’t too bad. Jack had thegarage warmed up nicely for the guys tomeet there, and the women went up to thehouse where it was comfortable.

Along with the 16 members attendingwas national officer Jim Benjaminson. Asmany of you know, Jim’s wife, Connie, wasat the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for treat-ment of leukemia. Jim was invited to drive

the 45 or 50 miles from Rochester to join usfor the afternoon. He agreed, and we’re gladhe did.

After some car talk and looking atJack’s latest project, a beautiful ‘41Plymouth four-door, we got around to ourbusiness meeting. We discussed taking atleast two tours during the year, preferablythree days or longer, each, not including thetour many are planning to take to the GrandNational Meet.

Talk revolved around a possible trip upto North Dakota (about 400 miles from theTwin Cities), to see Jim Benjaminson, hiscars and whatever other activities he couldarrange. Mentioned was a Pioneer Museumand a couple of private collections Jimknows of in his area. Tentatively, we agreedto go to Jim Benjaminson’s in mid-to-lateJune, depending on his wife’s health and hisschedule.

There was talk of leaving a few daysearly to go to the Grand National Meet inDetroit and seeing some sights along theway. A show of hands revealed that aboutfour to six couples are planning to go toDetroit this year.

Short reports on the current happeningsat the national club level were presented byCarl Wegner and Jim Benjaminson. Jimtalked about getting all the past issues of thePLYMOUTH BULLETIN on DVDs.

Don Rohweder reported that he hasbeen working on our Tall Pines website.Our new web address is:

www.tallpinesplymouth.com. I just visited it and it looks very professional,with many pictures of Tall Pines Member’scars, a statement about us and what our clubdoes, and an e-mail link to field questions orcomments.

Following some more car talk and alook at the vehicles in Jack’s storage shed,we enjoyed a pot luck dinner. Thanks go toJack and Ginny for hosting our group.

-- Happy Plymouthing!Rog & Jean Ramberg

New membersNew members (as of Oct. 31/07)Nick F. Bangar1878 Peterson AvenueSouth Pasadena, CA91030-4035

Dana Billingsley8311 East Via De DoradoScottsdale, AZ 85258-3805

Thomas J. Conca62 Ledgewood DriveCranston, RI 02920-3015

Terrance ConklinP O Box 372West Winfield, NY 13491-0372

John L. DeMoss4010 East 24th CourtDes Moines, IA 50317-4113

Jerry Estes573 Vesper WayCamano Island, WA 98282-7632

Gary Guevin906 River RoadWeare, NH 03281-5216

Don Haugen411 LaForet DriveMorganton, NC 28655-8094

Lee & Carolyn Hughel221 North Jefferson AvenueIndianapolis, IN 46201-3139

Dennis A. Jennings6554 Peniel RoadTryon, NC 28782-8829

Gunter Kramer10563 Joplin StreetCommerce City, CO 80022-0621

Fred Long625 San GabrielSt Louis, MO 63125-1165

Chris Marrone80 Greenbriar LaneNewtown, PA 18940-1680

J. Trent Metcalf3382 Zuercher RoadDalton, OH 44618-9763

John McCormick19704 Old Lincoln HighwayCouncil Bluffs, IA 51503-1201

Bob McCoy706 East Wyndwicke DriveSt Joseph, MI 49085-9608

Daniel R. McCoy8467 Varina RoadRichmond, VA 23231-8243

Mickey W. Pond220 North Douglas StreetSedan, KS 67361-1313

Brad Starks428 Rice StreetIonia, MI 48846-1417

Martin H. ZeekRR 1 Box 1756 Henryville, PA 18332-9123

-11-


-12-


Plymouth Owners Club sponsors….Plymouth Owners Club sponsors….

The 1st Vermont Harvest Tour1928—1932 Four-Cylinder

Plymouth Meet & TourAll Plymouth Owners Club members are welcome,

but should hitch a ride with a four-cylinder friend for the tours.

September 11th - 14th, 2008Thursday, September 11th

5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. - Registration at Hilltop Inn of Vermont (3472 Airport Road, Berlin)

For reservations call 802-229-5766 or visit www.hilltopinnvt.netThe room block rate is $65.00 per night (3 or more nights) plus tax. There is parking for RVs at the Inn at nocharge (please call to let them know you are coming). To take advantage of the room block rate, reservations must be made before August 11, 2008. Make sure to Mention the club when calling.

Friday, September 12th

• Drive across the famous Floating Bridge• Visit Porters Music Box Museum ($4.50 pp)• Lunch & Display the Cars at the Tunbridge Worlds Fair (no admission fee, lunch on your own)• Tech Talk & Flea Market• New England Famous Chicken Pie Supper ($9.00 pp)

Saturday, September 13th

• Tour the Granite Capital of the Worlds own Quarry - Rock of Ages ($4.00 pp)• Visit the Nation’s smallest Capital City for a photo opportunity• Tour Cold Hollow Cider Mill - see cider that's still made the old fashioned way. Lunch to follow (self pay).• Weather Dependent - Sun! Stowe Mountain Resort: Take the easy way up Mt. Mansfield in the gondola,

where spectacular views await you near the peak of Vermont's highest mountain. Or Experience an exhilarating 2,300 foot ride down Spruce Peak on the Stowe Alpine Slide. (pay on your own) Rain! Go shopping in Stowe, visit the Trapp Family Lodge or spend the afternoon on your own.

• Banquet at Suzanna’s Restaurant (at the Hilltop) ($20.00 pp)

Sunday, September 14th

• Breakfast at the Wayside Restaurant - a place to eat true Vermont food. (pay on your own)

R E G I S T R A T I O NNo judging / No trophies/Dash Plaques

Names of those Attending:_____________________________________________________________________________

Address:______________________________________________City/State/Zip:__________________________________

Phone:__________________Email:_______________________Plymouth Year______Model________Body__________

Please note how many will be attending each event:

___ Please register my car - $16.00 per car ___ Rock of Ages Granite Quarry - $4.00 pp___ Porters Music Box Museum - $4.50 pp ___ Saturday Lunch (location TBD) - self pay___ Chicken Pie Supper- $9.00 pp ___ Banquet at Suzanna’s Restaurant - $20.00 pp

___ Breakfast at the Wayside - self pay

Total Due:________________ please enclose with registration and return by August 11, 2008.

Please return with payment to: ~ Dianne Stephenson ~ PO Box 171, Williamstown, VT 05679 ~ 802-433-5442 ~

-13-


GrandNationalDETROIT’S FAMILY-ORIENTED EVENT SCHEDULE IS THE BEST ONE EVER!

NEWSLETTER

Here's a look at the Wednesday “YouCruise” events!Wednesday, July 30 — We've put together four short tours ranging

from 4 to 27 miles (one way) & you can do one or more tours withoutreservations!

The Detroit Zoo-PolarBears to Penguins! (12miles)The Detroit Zoo features 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits with 1300

mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates of 250 dif-ferent species. http://www.detroitzoo.org/

MorleyCandyMakers—AHistoryofChocolateExcellence!(27miles)Since 1919 Morley Candy has been producing great tasting, quality

chocolate products. At the end of the tour, you'll sample Morley favoritesin our Candy Shop. http://www.morleycandy.com/

Walter P. Chrysler MuseumOn Wednesday evening we'll cruise 4 miles over to the W. P. Chrysler

Museum where we'll enjoy a cook-out and a tour of the Museum!http://www.chryslerheritage.com

FridayTourEvent-Nostalgic Bus Tourof Old Auto PlantsRegister for this 3-hour historic bus tour passing all the old manufactur-

ing plants of marques like Chrysler, Maxwell, Dodge, Plymouth, DeSoto,Studebaker, Chalmers and many more. Lunch will be served in the re-stored original Ford Model T manufacturing plant located on PiquetteStreet. The tour is narrated by noted historian and Plymouth Club mem-ber Don Wood and National Automotive History Society member TomDeptulski. Visit the website for the Piquette Plant at:http://www.tplex.org/1_overview.html

THE SHOWHOTEL!The Marriott at Centerpoint is a centrally located facility

that is no stranger to car club events. They have hosted manyof the National Events of Car Club from around the country.The Plymouth Club will have a special show area on thegrounds of the hotel for our SATURDAY SHOW! There isexcellent, secure trailer parking in a special connectingstorage lot. A standout among hotels in Detroit and itssuburbs, the Detroit Marriott Pontiac at Centerpointintroduces you to the utmost in responsive service,outstanding amenities and expansive meeting space withinthe Centerpoint Business Campus. Here, richly appointedguest rooms offer solitude and welcome conveniences likehigh-speed Internet access. For dining, the Parkway Grilletreats you to award-winning cuisine and alfresco dining.There are fitness options, including a pool and sauna. AlsoAvailable: Scheduled Van Service within 5 mile radius andGreat Lakes Shopping Mall.

TO BOOK YOUR ROOM CONTACT THE HOTEL AT:3600 Centerpoint Parkway - Pontiac, Michigan 48341USA

Phone: 1-248-253-9800Fax: 1-248-253-9682Toll-free: 1-800-228-9290

Make sure to mention the Plymouth Owner’s Club GrandNational Event!

For information about other hotels in the area, camping in-formation, or other important information about the GrandNational Meet, visit the Detroit Region website atHTTP://WWW.PLYMOUTHCLUB.ORG and click on theGrand National Meet Logo.

MuseumBronze-(4miles)Museum Bronze is a collection of more than 1000 hand-made work-

ing models that demonstrate the precision building of machinery formass production and the historical impact of the Industrial Revolution.Http://www.museum-bronze.com/

ThursdayTourEventThursday, July 31 - The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village is

our destination. This is a 25 mile bus ride to the 90 acre site inDearborn, Michigan. Some of you will want to drive your owncars, which is a great way to see more of the area. If you desirebus transportation, it is by reservation only and you must indicatethis on your entry form. The Museum & Village are separate admis-sions and you can choose one or both attractions. POC Group and sen-ior rates apply but reservations are not necessary...simply pay as you go!http://the henryford.org/

-14-


!!!!"#$%&'()*+,-./)0"&12)3,4)) ) 5-(64"-)7,8)94'6:6'#);-<6/'.7'6%,)

=>>?)@.7,8)A7'6%,7")B--')9&1&.,)C6""/2)B64(6<7,)DD)E&"#)F>)G)9&<&/')=2)=>>?)

B-$1-.)A7$-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)IJ%&/-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH))988.-//HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)!(%,-)K)0-"")!(%,-)LM/NHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH))06'#2)I'7'-)O!.%:6,4-P2)Q6JHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH))RDB76")988.-//HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

5RC30SR);R@3IT;9T3*A)U-7.HHHHHHHHHHH)B%8-"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)V%8#)I'#"-HHHHHHHHHHH)W--)J-.):-(64"-)HHHHH)X)YFZ)J%/')$7.[-8)1#)E&"#)?'(2)=>>?NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNYHHHHHHH)) ) ) ) OY\>)7]'-.)E&"#)?'(2)=>>?P)OS6$6'-8)R86'6%,)<%%8#)17</)<6:-,)'%)7"")$-$1-./).-<6/'-.-8)1#)E&"#)?'(2)=>>?NP)

90T353TU);R@3IT;9T3*A)W%.)7''-,8--/)'(7')+6/()'%2)/(%JJ6,<)74'6:6'6-/)+6"")1-)7:76"71"-)7')@.-7')S7[-/)0.%//6,<)7,8)I%$-./-')B7"")-:-.#)87#)O876"#)4%$J"6$-,'7.#)/(&''"-)/-.:64-PN))"#$%#&$'()!*+,(!-.)!/..01)^)9B)*,D#%&.D%+,)4.&6/-/)'%)B%."-#M/)0(%4%"7'-2)B&/-&$)V.%,_-2)`-'.%6')Q%%2)`-'.%6')07/6,%/NNN)7"")J7#)7/)#%&)<%)) a)!B)0.&6/-)'%)'(-)0(.#/"-.)B&/-&$)K)4%%[D%&'NNNNNNNNNNNNNN)!7#)7')'(-)8%%.))23+4&$'()!*+,(!-51)^)9B)0.&6/-)%.)V&/)'%&.)'%)C-,.#)W%.8)B&/-&$)K)@.--,]6-"8)56""7<-N)) C-,.#)W%.8)B&/-&$)T64[-'/)Yb=N>>)-74()D)!7#)7')'(-)`%%.)) @.--,]6-"8)56""7<-)T64[-'/)YbcN>>)-74()D)!7#)7')'(-)`%%.)) V&/)W7.-) ))))))))HHHHHHH)J-./%,/)X)Y=>N>>)-74(NNNNNNNNNN) ) YHHHHHHH)

0&')%]])87#)]%.)1&/).-/-.:7'6%,/)'%)'(-/-)7''.74'6%,/)6/)E&"#)?'(2)=>>?))647$'()!8+9+&:!51)^)9B)V&/)'%&.)%])(6/'%.647")7&'%$%16"-)$7,&]74'&.6,<)J"7,'/)G)T(-)V&/)'%&.)7,8)!6d&-''-)!"7,')7.-)/-J7.7'-)-:-,'/N)3])#%&)8%),%')+7,')'%)'%&.)'(-)!6d&-''-)!"7,'2)#%&)47,).-$76,)%,)'(-)1&/N)T(-)!6d&-''-)'%&.)]--)6/)4(7.<-8)1#)'(-)J"7,'M/).-/'%.7'6%,)%.<7,6_7'6%,N)) V&/)T%&.)HHHH)J-./%,/)X)Y=>N>>)-74(NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN) ) YHHHHHHH)) T%&.)W--)]%.)'(-)B%8-")T)W%.8)J"7,'HHH)X)Yb>N>>NNNNNNNNNNN) ) YHHHHHHH)) V%e)S&,4()7')'(-)B%8-")T)W%.8)J"7,'HHH)X)Y^N>>NNNNNNNNNNN) ) YHHHHHHH)) 0&')%]])87'-)]%.).-<6/'.7'6%,)'%)7''-,8)'(6/)'%&.)6/)E&"#)?'(2)=>>?));':+4$'()!8+9+&:!/1)a)!B)@.7,8)A7'6%,7")9+7.8/)V7,d&-'2)B7..6%'')7')0-,'-.J%6,')) V7,d&-')HHHH)J-./%,/)X)Y\>N>>)-74(NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN) ) YHHHHHHH)

V--])HHHHHHH)0(64[-,)HHHHHHHH)W6/()HHHHHHHHH))<&#,#=:!>#',!?@4!#'=3!A#4&@%B)0&')%]])87'-)]%.)'(-)17,d&-')6/)E&"#)?'(2)=>>?)D)*;2)+(-,)F>>)17,d&-').-/-.:7'6%,/)7.-).-4-6:-82)+(64(-:-.)%44&./)]6./'N))A%).-/-.:7'6%,/)744-J'-8)7')'(-)$--'N))

) ) ) ) ) T*T9S)!9U9VSRNNNNNNNNN) YHHHHHHH) )B7[-)4(-4[/)J7#71"-)'%f))!"#$%&'()*+,-./)0"&12)3,4)B76")'%f) ) ) "@@$(!C'D)!/EF5!8=@4%!G@'$)!H,@@>?7#,$!I7,,&)!JK!L0-./M5..F!

W%.)7886'6%,7")6,]%.$7'6%,f) g%%8#)7')O=\?DFF=DF>\ZP))%.))+%8-X4%$47/'N,-')

-15-


[email protected]@towson.edu410 876 0702

Annapolis

Baltimore

Washington DC

Western Maryland

• Tour: Car Restoration Shop• Collection of Case Automobiles.

Mopars,Tractors, Farm Machinery• Antique Belt Driven Machine Shop

antique cars and memorabilia• Gettysburg and Boyd’s Bears• Carroll County Farm Museum

CrabFeast

Conowingo DamLadew Gardens

Tour

bbeeloloww

-16-

286-New p.16 11/20/07 8:17 AM Page 1

TTHEHE YEARYEAR OFOF THETHE DDEUCEEUCE is what 2007 hasbeen called by many who marked the 75thanniversary of the car known as the Deuce,

the 1932 Ford. The car picked up its monikerbecause of the Fords favored by early hot rodders--roughly from 1923-1934--it, the most favored, camefrom the year ending with “2”--hence, the Deuce.

Celebrations of the Deuce’s 75th year took placethroughout North America, likely around the world.Member Trevor Landage of Calgary, Alberta, left hisPlymouth at home and took his ‘41 Ford to join theCross-Canada Hot Rod tour when it came throughhis city and drove to its conclusion in Victoria, British Columbia.

Plymouth has its deuce, too--a 1932 model known as the PB,which matches, and in many ways exceeds, the famous Ford ver-sion. Actually, in a generic sense, Plymouth (as do other manu-facturers) has several deuces, since any year ending with “2”technically qualifies. This issue takes the generic route, begin-ning with Plymouth’s offerings for 1932 and continuing througheach decade to 1972. Here is a rundown of Plymouth’s deuces:

1932 PLYMOUTH ENTERS THE YEAR with four lesscylinders than Ford but with twice as many springsand hydraulic brakes to boot. With its FloatingPower engine mounts, it boasts “The smoothness ofan eight; the economy of a four.” It matches Ford’s

V8 horsepower, as both produce an advertised 65 BHP.Plymouth’s four, in its final year of production, is at the zenith ofits development while Ford’s V8, rushed into production, hasnumerous problems, oil leakage and overheating chief amongthem.

Ford’s Deuce is, admittedly, a good looking car, its EdselFord-directed styling being inspired by no less than theDuesenberg Model J. Not to be outdone, Plymouth (as JohnHendricks claims in BULLETIN 246) derives its 1932 styling fromthe famed L29 Cord. Ford’s Lil’ Deuce Coupe is to becomefamous; but Plymouth’s coupe has the lower roof lines that Fordcoupe owners have to “chop the top” to achieve. The lines ofFord’s roadster are appealing but cannot match the curves ofPlymouth’s last true domestic roadster.

1942 WAR, RAGING throughout much of the world,is poised to engulf the United States as the 1942models are introduced. Plymouth updates the bodyintroduced in 1940, making it more massive with thelower edges of the doors curving to cover the run-

ning boards. The production run of these P14 models is to bevery short, coming to a halt on January 31, 1942. With their nor-mally bright chrome or stainless trim replaced by painted metal,the latter of these cars become known as the “blackout” models.

Although its actual production time is short, the P14 will goon to a long lifespan following the war when, slightly revised in1946 as the P15, it will stay on the market into 1949.

1952 ANOTHER DECADE; ANOTHER WAR. TheKorean Conflict does not halt automotive productionbut certainly affects it. Plymouth basically carriesover its 1951 models without even changing the P22and P23 designations. There are slight variations to

distinguish the years. The ‘52 has a round hood medallion, the“waves” are gone from the hood ornament ship and, on the trunk,the PLYMOUTH nameplate is combined with the license platebezel. On the front bumper, the license plate bracket is replacedby slots punched into the bumper. The bumpers themselves are

plated with a very thin coating of chrome that needsa special protectant to keep them from corrodingduring shipping, but they quickly became pitted withrust once the cars are in customers’ hands. Mostrestored ‘52s are “inauthentic,” having chrome supe-rior to what the car had when it left the factory.

A bright spot for the year is gorgeous two-ton-ing that spreads from the roof onto the trunk of theBelvedere hardtop. Mechanically, with a mid-yearintroduction, the ‘52 becomes the first Plymouth tobe factory-equipped with overdrive.

1962 PLYMOUTH’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL models,the ‘62s are considered by many as “ugly duckings.”Searching for the next step after his successful finnedForward Look cars, stylist Virgil Exner introduceswhat he calls Forward Flair, a European-inspired

look with a long hood/short deck configuration that will be a hitwith the Mustang a few years later. Well on his way in creatingfull-size models, Exner is suddenly ordered to downsize the cars,based on a cocktail party rumor that Chevrolet is coming outwith a smaller car (it is but with an additional car, the Chevy II,not as a replacement for the big Chevrolet). Exner does well toget the smaller car into production--and its styling is criticallyacclaimed by the automotive press. The buying public, however,firmly rejects it. After years of the excess of fins and chrome,buyers are yearning for conventionality, which Ford andChevrolet provide, leaving Plymouth in their dust, sales-wise.

One place Plymouth is not in the dust is at the race track.The combination of the downsized bodies’ lighter weight andhigh-output engines makes the cars hard to beat at the drag stripsand even on NASCAR tracks, boosting a Mopar performancelegacy that will continue for years to come.

From the perspective of a time, 45 years later, when carsneed a certain “edginess” of style to succeed in sales, the ‘62Plymouth “doesn’t look so bad.” Exner’s “edgy” Forward Flairhas become just that, a flair that has reached forward in time.

1972 THE HEMI IS GONE. The convertible is gone.The horsepower race is over. The crunch of highrates from the insurance companies combined withincreasing government regulations has brought theburgeoning muscle car era to a screeching halt. Only

the big Fury is available with the big block 400 (no longer the383) and the 440. The biggest engine for the rest of the line isthe small block 340, still potent but detuned from earlier ver-sions. And horsepower is now measured in more accurate netamount which seems lower, because the numbers are lower, butreally isn’t. The big Fury gets a new rendition of the fuselagebody introduced in 1969. The rest of the line carries on withwhat it had in ‘71.

1982 PLYMOUTH “DOWNSIZES” AGAIN by movingits Gran Fury badge from the discontinued mid-sizeR-body of 1981 to the M-body, new to Plymouth inthe USA (but not in Canada where it’s been availablesince 1978) which, in the USA, previously carried

only Dodge and Chrysler badges. During its eight year exis-tence, this Gran Fury will become the favorite of city policedepartments everywhere. The bulk of Plymouths sales, however,will come from the K-car Reliant and the compact Horizon andits T3C coupe variant.

No Plymouth Owners Club member has yet registered a1982 Plymouth with the club. -- Lanny Knutson-- Lanny Knutson

2

2

3


2

2

3


2

2

4


2

2

5


2

2

6


2

2

7


8

-17-

288-new 17,47 3/3/08 12:20 AM Page 1

by Wayne AugsburgerCollinsville, Illinois

BBetween my third and fourth years of high school, I worked as a gandy dancer on theIllinois Terminal Railroad and earned enough to buy my first Plymouth. It was a four-cylinder Floating Power coupe with freewheeling. I sure was proud of that car.

The motor rocked when it ran and eventually broke the upper radiator hose. It happened to bethe same size as the air hoses on rail cars. When the hoses broke on rail cars, they always broke atthe top end, so there was enough good hose left (about 18 inches) to be used on my Plymouth.

Once I put the stiffer railroad hose on my car, the motor wouldn’t rock nearly as much as it hadbefore. That lasted about two days; then it pulled the snout off the radiator.

One time I was called out of a movie theatre because my brother-in-law’s car had broken downwith a thrown rod on the road between Flora and Xenia, Illinois. I went home and got some minecable and headed back. It was very cold, about five degrees above zero.

On these Plymouths, the third brush in the generator sets the charging rate. I had it set too lowfor using the headlights and the heater at the same time. “Like to froze.”

When I got to them--seven in all--they were warm and comfy because they had blankets. Mysister said, “Damn, he brought that #*@* coupe!” She was trying to figure how they could all fitinto the trunk. I replied, “I’ll tow you home” and tied the bumpers together.

My brother-in-law’s car was a 1934 Oldsmobile 8, a big, heavy car. There were many hillsbetween there and home and to pull all that weight uphill, I had to shift down… but downhill, Ihad to floor the Plymouth to keep it from getting bumped!

We made it home, safe and sound.

REPRINTED FROM THE LINCOLN LAND PLYMOUTH BULLETIN, NOV/DEC, 2006

MMyy FFiirrsstt PPllyymmoouutthhMMyy FFiirrsstt PPllyymmoouutthh2

2

3


-18-


LarLar oo y & Catie Smity & Catie Smit hh ’’ ss

‘32 Pl‘32 Pl ymoutymout hh

TThe saga of Laroy andCatie Smith’s ‘32 PBsedan began more

than 40 years ago. Laroy’s sister, then-

recently married, found her-self in need of money, andshe and her husband justhappened to have a 1932Plymouth. Its engine hadblown, and the disassembledfront end was in boxes.They offered the car andparts to Laroy for $175.

Assuming he could have it running in a short period oftime, 17-year-old Laroy borrowed his dad’s pickup, found atow bar and was off to Sheridan, Oregon, to pick up his newprize. Reattaching the PB’s front bumper, Laroy hooked upthe tow bar and was off to the northern Oregon coast. A fewmiles down the road from Sheridan, one side of the tow barcame unhooked, resulting in a near disaster.

Arriving at his home in Seaside, Laroy was ready to go towork. He quickly realized that he knew nothing about fixingup an old car. It took him a couple of weeks to find someoneto repair the engine. A shop in Portland was willing to takeon the job. So all the parts went into a box and off to townthey went.

The engine was bored and the bearings were poured.Two weeks later, Laroy got a phone call that the engine wasdone, so off to town he went again.

Having never worked on a vehicle of this age, Laroy dis-covered that assembly would take a while. Finally, hethought, everything was in place. He turned the key.Nothing. He tried towing the car to get its engine to fire. Itwas not a good move. After two blocks, the engine froze up.

Being unfamiliar with these engines, Laroy didn’t knowthat the oil pump had to be primed before the engine was firstturned over. So, there went the new bearings.

The shop people were not impressed when the block andparts showed up after yet another ride to the city.

Three weeks later, the phone rang again, and Laroy wastold that his engine was ready for the second time. Arrivingat the mechanic’s home, he found his engine on the garage

floor, purring like a kitten. Now it was time for its secondtrip to the coast.

A few extra nuts and bolts later, the engine was in and thefenders, hood and all the parts in the boxes were installed.Finally, the PB was running and turning heads on the streetsof Seaside.

The last time the car was licensed was in 1982. Then itsat in semi-storage for some 20 years. During that time, the‘32 got a new paint job (which took about six months), and in2003 a new interior was installed.

In 2004, Cascade Pacific members Jimmie and BonnieFox were vacationing in Seaside and stopped at the BridgeTender Tavern, the downtown Seaside landmark which Laroyand Catie have owned and operated for 30 years. After sam-pling the establishment’s famous clam chowder, Jimmie andBonnie went outside to admire the Smiths’ Plymouth.

That visit resulted in the bug hitting Laroy again, and hedecided to make the PB roadworthy. Many minor adjust-ments had to be done, and some hard-to-find parts were locat-ed by phone and eBay, taking more time than he had expectedit would.

The car did have new tires, but after sitting on them for20 years, it needed another new set. Then it was ready to rollfor monthly Cascade Pacific get-togethers.

Laroy, having joined the Plymouth Owners Club inOctober, 1966, is number 22 on the list of currently activemembers and is pleased to have a region located in the PacificNorthwest.

REPRINTED FROM THE CASCADE PACIFIC REGION NEWSLETTER, MAY, 2004. EDITED.

PlPlymoutymouth Sagh Sagaa2

2

3


-19-


Owned by Billy and Rickie BeardmoreDeale, Maryland

FFor 27 years, Billy and Rickie Beardmore’s 1942Plymouth sat in a garage not far from their home inDeale, Maryland. It could easily have still been sitting

there except that its elderly owner happened to mention oneday in 2006 that she “probably ought to be thinking aboutselling it.” The word got back to Billy, and he ended up buy-ing the car, bringing to seven the number of antiques he andRickie now own.

Their favorite antique is a 1931 Model A coupe. Theyalso have a ‘29 Model A four-door sedan, a 1941 Cadillaclimousine (with a liquor cabinet built into the back of thefront seat), a red 1965 Buick convertible, a 1957 Chevroletfour-door sedan and a 1959 British taxi called--are you readyfor this?--a “Beardmore.”

During his visit to Billy and Rickie’s place south ofAnnapolis to shoot photos of their 1942 Plymouth, DavidYoung had a close look at their antiques and learned of thetaxi. “It’s a ‘50s car that looks like a ‘30s car,” Davidexplains. “It has a little British Ford four-cylinder engine anda 35-gallon petrol tank, so it would only need filling once aweek. With no window cranks, its side windows are raisedand lowered manually.” The president of the company was agentleman named William Beardmore who, so far as Bill andRickie know, is not related to them.

An An AACAAACA AAward ward WWinnerinnerTheir all-time favorite antique is their Model A coupe. “Werestored it in 1990,” Billy explains, “and have driven it almost

80,000 miles since then. It hasbeen on trips to Key West, toCanada, twice to Breckenridge,Colorado, to Branson,Missouri, and our most recenttrip to Rapid City, SouthDakota.” In 1993, it wasawarded the AACA’s national“Henry Ford Award,” an honorthat can only be won by a carthat is driven, as opposed tobeing a show car. It had justreceived its AACA SeniorAward when it won the HenryFord Award.

Billy and Rickie’s ‘42Plymouth had 22,890 mileswhen they bought it from itssecond owner in 2006.Initially, Billy had to unstickthe brake shoes to get the carmoving. The gas line wasclogged, but he was able tostart the motor by hooking itdirectly to a can of gas. Oncehe got the car home, he fixedits brakes and fuel system andwas able to drive it to Hershey

that year. Although the car doesn’t burn oil, it loses it throughthe main seals which have dried up over the years.

Otherwise, the ‘42 is in amazingly good shape; and, asDavid observes, “It purrs like a kitten.” Both Billy and Davidcommented on the condition of the seats and seat covers andthe door panels, all of which appear to be original and showlittle or no wear. While the car has an after-market radiounder the dash, it appeared not to have an antenna until Billylocated it under the driver’s side running board. (Actually,David notes that under-the-car antenna are also found in earli-

er eras, noting that his 1932 Plymouth PB roadster has onesimilarly located.)

Interestingly, the ‘42 Plymouth does not have a heater,though, as Billy points out, it has all the knobs for one, butthey are all dummies. “You can’t pull them and you can’t turnthem,” he says, noting that it probably had something to dowith where the car was to be sold. If it were going to Florida,for example, it certainly would not have been equipped with aheater. “Back in the old days, heaters were always an extra.”Why buy one if you were not going to need it? Nonetheless,he notes that there are punch-outs for a heater on the firewallof his Plymouth, but they are all intact.

2

2

4


CCoouulldd bbee ……CCoouulldd bbee …… AA KKeeeeppeerrAA KKeeeeppeerr

The radio antennaThe radio antenna is located under the right running board.

-20-


AA firfirefighterefighter forfor 29 years29 yearsA native of Washington, DC, but raised inMorningside, Maryland, Billy graduated from highschool with a vocational (auto mechanics) degree.He went to work as a firefighter in 1965, risingthrough the ranks until he retired in 1991 as a bat-talion chief.

Rickie, too, was born in Washington, DC, buthas also lived in Colorado, California, Florida andMaryland. She worked for the National Bank ofWashington (DC), writing programs for the bank’schange-over over to computers. “She and her col-leagues,” Billy recalls, “would write the programsin Washington but would have to travel to NewYork to test them because there were no computersin Washington at the time.”

Long before Billy’s retirement, he built a bodyshop at their home and began restoring wreckedcars and re-selling them. Over 25-plus years, he has restoredmore than 20 antique and classic cars and repaired a few hun-dred “total loss” cars. At one point, he was doing regularinsurance work as well. In those days, he notes, “Rickie didmost of the raising of our three kids (Shelley, Jim and Jerry)while I was working 60 hours a week for the fire department,plus whatever hours I had to work at part time jobs. And shealso took care of the paper work of the body shop.”

Billy and Rickie have been married for almost 44 years,and over those years Rickie has been very much involvedwith the cars that have come though the body shop and withthe antiques they have owned. (“She tried to have my brotherbuy our 1931 Model A so she could give it to me as a surpriseon my birthday,” Billy recalls, “but he refused to buy it with-out me looking at it first.”) She also helped a great deal in therestoration of that car and others. She did the sandblasting ofall items that would fit in the sandblast cabinet,” Billy recalls,“helped with sanding, upholstering the seats and chasing partsat flea markets and at Bratton's Antique Auto Parts."

What’s more, Rickie drives all of the cars, putting morethan 15,000 miles on the Model A alone. She also enjoysplanning trips and locating historic hotels and restaurants atwhich to stop along the way.

Memories of Bill Memories of Bill ThomasThomasBilly recalls hearing about the Mid-Atlantic Region throughthe late Bill Thomas, a long-time Mid-Atlantic and POCmember. “Bill and I worked together at our body shop for afew years. This was after Anacostia Chrysler-Plymouth,where Bill worked for many years, went out of business,”Billy recalls. “I was supposed to be teaching Bill about body-work, but I think I learned more from him about mechanicalwork than he learned from me about body work. Bill Thomasknew more about cars than any person I have ever met.”

Billy and Rickie are also good friends of Darcy Erionand Bobbie Cox and have met other Mid-Atlantic members atvarious functions, including those of the National CapitalRegion AACA, to which they also belong.

The Beardmores’ P4C Special Deluxe is one of 68,924built that year. It was a short run for civilian production that

year and theirs was probably built early in the production run.As pointed out in the Chrysler Chronicle, the “final ‘42s wenton sale the end of January and were sold without chrometrim; as elsewhere in the industry, they’re called “blackout”models. With the demand by the armed forces for cars, manynew models that were not on order or not already in consumerhands were impounded by the government for use by the mili-tary.”

According to the Standard Catalog of Chrysler, manyinnovations were to be found in the 1942 models. “The newbody sat lower on the chassis and, for the first time, runningboards…were concealed by the doors, which flared out overthem.” It was the second year for “alligator” hoods that openat the front. Also for the second year, a vacuum controlledshifting mechanism was offered, but was not sold in greatnumbers. Essentially, these cars became the P15s sold afterthe war. The Chrysler Chronicle refers to the P15s aswarmed-over ‘42s, noting that the industry did not have tointroduce new designs since the public’s pent up desire fornew automobiles was so great.

Once again, most of the four-door sedans sold had “sui-cide” doors, so-called because the rear doors opened frontward. A four-door, five-passenger Town Sedan was alsooffered that year with rearward opening doors, but only 5,821were produced as opposed to the 68,924 four-door sedans pro-duced with suicide doors, Billy’s and Rickie’s Special Deluxebeing one of them. Nor does it have the vacuum shiftingmechanism. However, the seat covers appear to have been afactory installed option inasmuch as the upholstery under-neath seems to be in like-new condition.

Although many cars of various ages and models havepassed though the Beardmores’ multi-bay restoration shop andtheir multi-car garage, it is quite possible their rare 1942 four-door Plymouth Special Deluxe sedan could be a keeper. Afterall, their oldest son, Jim, has a 1967 Plymouth convertiblethat he has almost finished restoring; their youngest son,Jerry, has a ’29 Model A roadster pickup that he has fullyrestored; and now their daughter, Shelley, “seems to be veryinterested in the ‘42 Plymouth!” -- -- Paul MoorePaul Moore

REPRINTED FROM THE MID-ATLANTIC MAYFLOWER, NOV-DEC, 2006. EDITED

-21-


by Denise BradySan Francisco, California

InInthe spring of 1966, my dad, Joe Brady, a SanFrancisco firefighter and father of four, stumbledacross a 1942 Plymouth convertible parked sideways

across the back inside wall of a garage that my grandfatherrented. The car had been there for years and could barely bediscerned under the pile of junk that had accumulated on topof it, including a dining room table that had broken throughthe canvas top.

Dad bought the car for $25 from the original owner, a

woman who worked as a civilian employee at the Presidio ofSan Francisco Army base during World War II. She boughtthe car new in January, 1943, and drove it 15,000 miles beforeputting it in mothballs in the back of her garage at 17th andNoe streets.

A couple of hydraulic-jacks later and the car was mine,because I had the good fortune to be the next Brady childpoised to get a drivers’ license.

I had a blast driving that car around San Francisco in1966, but I was always getting into trouble. Like a lot ofteenagers, I was frequently tooling my girlfriends aroundtown when I was supposed to be studying at the library.Some fireman would inevitably tell my dad: “Hey Joe, I sawthe Plymouth out at the beach yesterday!” So much foranonymity.

I also learned the hard way about the consequences of theenormous blind spot presented by the canvas top. In 1942Plymouth was among the last to have a “Victoria” style con-vertible top. The convertible coupe has a full back seat but norear side windows and only a small glass rear window. I sup-pose that in 1942 there weren’t a lot of opportunities in townto be making lane changes, but I’m here to tell you that thingshad changed a lot by 1966. My family lived off of GearyBlvd., a six-lane road. I would dutifully use my arm signals,then speed up, slow down, speed up again and slow downagain and then cautiously move into the right lane, whichworked pretty well until I ran into a Metropolitan. From thenon, warm coats were required clothing, because I drovenowhere unless the top was down. I remember nights sofoggy I had to use the windshield wipers. There we were, me

BBlaclackkout out in in RReded

2

2

4


AA rear viewrear view shows the painted trim pieces of a blackout model.

RA

CH

EL

ST

YE

RP

HO

TO

-22-


and my Star girls, bundled up in our pea coats and mittens,smelling like wet wool, with the top down, of course.

I tooled around the city with my girlfriends in tow thatschool year until I banged up a few fenders and blew themotor. Dad, realizing that the ‘42 was a real gem and that itsfuture was in serious jeopardy, wisely took swift and decisiveaction. With 17,000 original miles, back intostorage the ’42 went; off came thefront end; out came the motorand that’s how it remainedfor 40 years. I visited thecar regularly to treatthe leather seats andreminisce, but overtime, I admit, myattention waned.

For the next10 years or so,there were manypassionate debatesover the dinner tableabout what shouldcome of the Plymouth,but Dad didn’t budge.

In the fall of 2004, my sib-lings’ (Bob, JoAnne and Mike)sense of “fair play” prevailed, and theyhappily allowed me to take possession of the ‘42Plymouth as part of the distribution of our parents’ estate.The timing was perfect; getting the ‘42 on the road becamemy first retirement project. However, after the first brokenfingernail I might have given up if it weren’t for the supportof Jimmy O’Keefe and the late Dick Richardson, two fixturesin the San Francisco car restoration scene. Jimmy and I goway back. You could have found the Plymouth parked next toJimmy’s 1947 Ford woody on 3rd Avenue in front ofGrandma’s house in the summer of ‘66, and Dick Richardson,

a SF firefighter, worked on the Plymouth with my dad to getit running earlier that year. Bill Leonhardt, the PlymouthOwners Club's technical advisor for '42s, was an enormoushelp. I've pestered Bill and his wife with numerous phonecalls over the past three years and I always got the help Ineeded and, on occasion, parts too.

This is what I’ve learned about thePlymouth’s pre-1966 history: In

1942, Plymouth only made 2,804Special Deluxe convertibles,

of which only nine areknown to exist today

(registered with thePlymouth OwnersClub). It’sbelieved that Imay have the only‘42 convertiblefrom the Los

Angeles plant andthe only “blackout

model” known toexist. Early in ‘42 all

available chromium wasdiverted to making military

equipment; the cars remaining tobe assembled at that point (at the tail end

of production), as identifiable by their serial andengine numbers, have painted trim and other slight modifica-tions. These cars are called blackout models.

Regardless of what the records indicate, this was my firstcar, and every time I slip behind the wheel, memories of highschool come pouring back. It’s definitely got a lot to do withthe familiar smell of leather seats and soggy wool.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE PUBLISHED A STORY WITH PHOTOS ABOUT THIS LOCAL CAR

ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2007.

Progression in restoration:Progression in restoration: ten years of storage; body work begins; after final paint and awaiting bumpers.

RA

CH

EL

ST

YE

RP

HO

TO

RA

CH

EL

ST

YE

RP

HO

TO

-23-


by Lanny Knutson

AAfter the United States entered World War II inDecember, 1941, and before its last passenger carwas built on January 31, 1942, Plymouth joined other

manufacturers in producing what have become known as“blackout” models.

With chromium and stainless steel being in high demandfor the war effort, items made of these materials were substi-tuted with those made of regular steel and painted. Bumpersseem to have been excluded from such substitution, but not inall cases.

Don Butler, in The Plymouth-DeSoto Story, reports that“generally” the substitute trim on P14 models was painted alight color on dark-colored cars and dark on light-colored carswhile the grille was painted a gray color. He adds, in whatseems an understatement, that there was “some minor varia-tion in the formula.”

According to club technical advisor for 1942 models, BillLeonhardt, in BULLETINs 134 and 197, the steel side trim wasof a different contour than the stainless version and lacked thecenter groove that had borne a red stripe. However, to keepall things equal, on blackout cars on which existing stock ofstainless trim was used, the trim was painted in the samemanner as the steel trim. Over time, some owners discoveredthe bright stainless under the paint on their cars’ trim andremoved the paint for a brighter look.

Bill Leonhardt gives the following serial numbers as theapproximate beginnings of the blackout models:

Only two blackout models are known to be on the clubroster: Denise Brady’s convertible and the Town Sedan of BillCall. (Also, Call’s is one of only two ‘42 Town Sedans onthe roster; the other, a regular model, belongs to BillLeonhardt). Bill Call’s Town Sedan is painted as it originallywas for the US Army. Such cars had not only the usual black-out trim but also the grilles and bumpers painted the army’solive drab body color. In the case of this car, its restorer,Lloyd White, had it painted in a gloss color as it might havebeen for a high-ranking officer. It had first been painted insemi-gloss but he found it to be far too drab in displaying thegreat amount of work that had gone into restoring the car.

(According to some reports, a few ‘42s actually weredelivered to the military with wooden bumpers!)

Likely, no two blackout cars are the same. On all, thefront fender trim was shortened and the rear fender trim waseliminated. Everything else seems to have been up for grabs,as Denise Brady reports regarding her car:

The thing about blackout models (Bill Leonhardt agrees) isthat there is no one true standard. In the case of my car,the headlight trim, the hood emblem and the bumpers areactually chromed. Presumably, the LA factory already hada supply of these parts in stock. The trim piece that wrapsaround the front fender is the flat short piece with nogroves that Bill refers to. The fender skirts also haveSumac Red-painted trim.

As a 16-year-old, I scraped some of the paint thatwas already flaking off the trim pieces because it lookedprettier than the red trim (for example note the half stain-less/half painted trim around the windshield.) However,the grille has always been stainless and has the original redpinstriping in the grooves. The inset in the center of thegrille with the inlaid Plymouth ship was originally black,but I had it painted red this time around. There was onlyone coat of original paint on the car, according to the shopthat took it down to bare metal. That is what I had expect-ed, considering that the car had 15,000 original miles whenI got it from the original owner in 1966.

My feeling is that the factory used whatever it couldscrape together to assemble these last pre-war cars and, inthis case, painted the trim the same color as the car.Maybe they left the grille unpainted because, otherwise,there would have been no contrast whatsoever to the body.Note that this car was not sold until January 1943.

I am absolutely confident that, other than the redinset in the front grille, this paint job matches the original.

PBPB

P14SDetroit 15150781Evansville 20160112Los Angeles 3136084

P14CDetroit 11474830Evansville 20160112Los Angeles 3305324

BBlaclackkoutout

Blackout TBlackout Town Sedanown Sedan as painted for its original owner, the USArmy, now belongs to Bill Call of the Cascade Pacific Region.

TTown Sedanown Sedan in regular production trim was restored by 1942 TechAdvisor Bill Leonhardt.

DE

NN

ISD

UP

UIS

PH

OT

O

-24-


by Ken BartzBlanchardville, Wisconsin

HHaving a 1940Plymouth businesscoupe, I thought it

would be nice to get a latermodel version like a 1950,‘51 or ‘52. So I started surf-ing the internet and foundone in Georgia. It seemed tobe a bit far away, but I wassent some pictures, and thatdid keep my attention.

Meanwhile, I found afour-door sedan, located nearMilwaukee, on eBay. It waslisted for $300 with no reserve, but did not sell at that price. Iemailed the owner and asked if he would take a hundredbucks for the car. He said no, as he had $45 in a new battery.Within an hour of replying to my message, he emailed back,writing that he would take the deal because if he didn’t, hiswife would leave him. Well, I hooked on my trailer the nextday and left to get it.

The car was located almost in downtown Milwaukee. Ifound a place to park the truck and trailer combination, whichis not easy to do in a city. I drove the car onto the trailer (yes,it ran and drove). Then I went in to the house to pay. When Icame back out, I discovered that I was getting a ticket forparking in a bus zone: $35. Ouch, that hurt!

I got the car home and then placed an ad on the internetthat I had 1952 Plymouth four-door parts for sale. I sold theexterior visor and a few other parts on eBay, recovering myinitial cost. Then I got a letter from a guy who wanted manydifferent things from the car. I asked where he was located:Tennessee, just west of Nashville. I asked if he would give

$500 for the whole car, delivered. “Yes,” was the answer. Inow had one car to deliver and one car to pick up. Here ishow events unfolded:

“Hey Bill, how would you like to take a trip with mefor a couple of days?” I explained the plan to him.“I’ll talk to Nancy to see if anything is going on…

Sure when do you want to leave?”

I then emailed the guy in Georgia with the ‘52 businesscoupe and said I’d be there in a couple of days to pick it up.

So, Bill Abels and I started, heading for a place outside ofNashville to unload the junker ‘52. We pulled into the placelate in the afternoon, unloaded the car and collected themoney.

We stayed at a motel south of Nashville that night. Thenext day we made our way via I-75 to north of Atlanta,Georgia. From there, we went through several small towns tofind our destination. The owner was waiting for us. He letme take the car for a ride around the neighborhood. Theengine seemed a little rough, but the brakes worked. I paidthe guy the money and loaded the car on the trailer. After itwas tied down, he treated us to some refreshments and alsoloaded up a box for us with some locally grown fruit and hisown bottled beer.

On the road again, we headed back to Nashville,Tennessee. We stayed the night outside the big city. I dread-ed going through Nashville during morning rush, but Bill dida suburb job of directing me through the city’s highway sys-tem.

After that, driving the whole length of Illinois seemed totake forever, but we made it home without any bad thingshappening.

Wheeling and DealingWheeling and Dealing

for a 1952 Plymouth business coupe for a 1952 Plymouth business coupe

2

2

5


‘52 junk,‘52 junk, but it paid for itself.

-25-


WWITHITH THETHE BUSINESSBUSINESS COUPECOUPE HOMEHOME,,I put a compression tester on each ofits cylinders after the engine waswarmed up. The1952 engine was pret-ty tired, as three of the six cylindersshowed 30 PSI. So, I put the car intothe garage and proceed to remove thefront clip. (See my instructions onhow to remove the front clip.) Oncethe front clip is off, getting the engineout is much easier.

Fellow Dairyland club member EdHochmuth told me about an enginerebuild place in Green Bay that does agood job at a very nice price. I loadedup two P23 engines in the truck andtook them to their shop. The follow-ing spring I made the three-hour driveto pick them up. They sure looked nice!

I proceeded to make an engine stand sothat I could run the engine out of the car.I’d seen engine stands at swap meets thatwere meant for V8s, and I thought that Icould make one for a flathead six.

After installing all of the acces-sories on the engine, I was able tostart it, or at least try. It would noteven pop nor sputter; just spin. Ithought, “What is the problem?” Islept on it overnight and tackled the itin the morning. The problem was thatthe float on the “rebuilt” carburetor was setwrong. As soon as the carb was pulling vacu-um, the engine was instantly flooded with gaso-line. I removed the carburetor and took it apart to resetthe float level. The gasoline was so plentiful in the intakemanifold that I had to take a rag to soak it up.

Then the engine started, but, the fan belt kept comingoff. The pulley on the crankshaft was meant for

the wide V-belt, and I could not get the prop-er tension on a narrow belt. There were a

couple of narrow pulleys on my shelf, butthey had groves where the front crank-shaft seal is located. I took one to thelocal welding shop which put weld inthe groves and then turned it smoothand polished the shaft. It came backlooking like new. With the pulley

installed back on the engine, it wasstarted again. It sure “ran smooth!”

Then the oil leaks started to show.The first were from the connections to the oil

filter. I had used the old tubing, and the flairends were not very good. So, I then had to learn how

to use a double crimp flaring tool. The next leak I encountered was at the point where the

coolant enters the engine from the radiator. I found that theproblem was that the engine rebuilder had sprayed the entireengine with a grey primer. The primer was not allowing thegasket to make a good seal, even with silicon sealant. Oncethat was repaired, I ran the engine on the stand for 10-plushours.

Fellow club member Bill Farrell and I had made a junk-yard trip to several salvage yards in northern Iowa and inMinnesota. During that trip, I was lucky enough to find anoverdrive transmission from a 1954 Plymouth station wagon.What a find!

With the front clip off the car, it was easy to clean anddetail the front suspension. The next step was to get theengine back in the car and then install the overdrive.

The P22 business coupe’s transmission is much shorterthan the overdrive transmission. The shifting linkage hookedup with no problem. The drive shaft was taken to a shop tobe shortened by seven inches. The universal joints wereinspected and lubricated. Having the total drivetrain installed,I could not wait to drive it. Put the front clip on first or you’llget into trouble!

Everything is now back together and the car drives even

Bringing it home. Bringing it home. The coupe’s right there, in the rearview mirror!

-26-


better than I had expected it would. With the 3.73:1 rear endand the overdrive, it is pleasant to drive. I did not use the car-buretor kick-down switch; but, instead, installed a toggleswitch on the lower dash. The wiring configuration that Iused allows the governor to do all of the switching of theoverdrive solenoid. Once the car is over 28 MPH, I just let upon the gas and I can hear the solenoid shaft move into place.Then when the speed falls below 28 MPH the solenoid dropsout and the transmission is in normal drive. I installed a lighton the dash that comes on when the overdrive solenoid isengaged. This configuration works great. On a long trip to aDairyland meeting, I got 21 MPG.

What is next? My wife is in the process of sewing for theupholstery to be installed this spring. Then I will need tolearn how to do body work and painting. Maybe this 1952

business coupe will be ready to show at the 2009 DairylandRegion’s 2009 National Summer Meet in Oconomwoc,Wisconsin. PBPB

ElectricalElectricalRemove the battery. Labelthe wires as you removethem. Remove all of thewires from the starter sole-noid located on the left sideinner fender. Remove thewires from the terminal blockon the left side of the radiatorhousing that pertain to thehorn, turn signal and the headlights.You may have to cut the pairs on thesame terminal.

RadiatorRadiatorDrain the fluid from the cooling system.Remove the upper and lower radiatorhoses from the engine. Remove the twonuts that hold the bottom part of theradiator to the frame. Use 5/8” deepsocket. (+2)

HeaterHeaterDisconnect the wire to the fan motor.Disconnect the remote heater controlcable. Remove the two screws thatattach the heater fan to the radiatorframe. Remove the two heater hoses.Remove the two nuts from the undersideof the fender that hold the heater core.Remove the two screws that hold theband around the cardboard heater box.Now you can slide out the heater core.Remove the five screws that hold thecardboard box to the firewall. Then pryloose the box from the firewall, beingcareful while breaking the seal to thefirewall.

BumperBumperEither completely remove thefront bumper or remove thetwo forward bolts and let thebumper tilt toward the floor.

BodyBodyRemove the rocker panelmoldings from both sides.Remove the bolt that is locat-ed at the bottom of the fender

behind the rocker panel molding (+2).Remove the kick panels from both sidesof the interior. Remove two nuts frominside the framing member on each side(+4). Remove one bolt on each sideunder the hood by the hood hinge (+2).(10 fasteners, total)

If the car is equipped with a radio, agrounding strap has to be removed fromthe antenna inside the fender. Pull theantenna cable from inside the car.

Now the clip is ready to be removed.With two people on each side lift thefront clip from the car. Three peoplewould be better, as it is bulky. The timerequired is about two to three hours.

-- Ken Bar-- Ken Bartz 2005tz 2005

Removing the front clip on a 1949-52 Plymouth Removing the front clip on a 1949-52 Plymouth My ‘51 club coupeMy ‘51 club coupe now has a ‘52 business coupe companion.

For the duration,For the duration, the clip can be a nice patio decoration.

WWithout the clip,ithout the clip, frame detailing andengine installation is easy (ier).

____________________________________________________________Front clip removal photosFront clip removal photos were taken byLanny Knutson during the 1991 enginerebuilt for his ‘49 Plymouth. The processwas repeated in 2003. The clip can beremoved by one person, as he can testify, butit’s better to have some help. The procedureis just as Ken describes it.

-27-


by L. R. FosterChico, California

OOne of theways Iearned

money when Iwas in my lateteens was buyingand selling usedcars. Between theages of 16 and21, I wentthrough hundredsof cars, almosteverything builtfrom the late for-ties to the sixties.I was also on thelookout for the“right” cars tokeep forever.

My usualway of shoppingwas to go to theChrysler-Plymouth-Imperial dealer(A.Volpato, Inc.).At the time, they rarely kept a used car more than five yearsold on the main lot. All the rest ended up in the “south 40” atthe end of the lot. Usually there were four or five cars I’dbuy, ranging in price from $15 to $50; most were less than tenyears old.

One week I remember in particular because I had intend-ed to keep one of the cars. The five cars that week were: a1957 DeSoto Fireflite two-door hardtop with full power andfactory A/C, and badly in need of a detail job but selling foronly $15; a white 1957 Imperial Crown two-doorSouthampton, likewise dirty, also $15; a 1955 Packard 400hardtop, red and white, in nice condition for $35; also a ‘57Buick Century four-door Riviera for $17; and one I was goingto keep, a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk with 21,000 miles,in perfect condition but higher priced at $125. I bought allfive, detailed each and sold all but the Hawk. I did end upnot keeping the Hawk, but that was a typical car-buyingweek. I also bought from nearly every car dealer in town atone time or another.

One week I walked on the lot and saw, in among the

other cars, afaded, dirty, butstraight 1952PlymouthCranbrook con-vertible: black-walls, hazedchrome, a whitetop that was sev-eral shades intotan from dirt, butno dings, a niceinterior and itstarted on the firstcrank. I felt sorryfor the little car; itneeded help. Itwas $19 and,many years later,though I know Ihad bought sever-al cars that day, Ionly rememberthe Plymouth. I usually went forV8s and mostoften with fins,but I liked thePlymouth. A cou-ple of days later, Idetailed it. Thefaded orange-brown paintturned a deep lus-trous red; the con-vertible top,sparkling white. Iput on a good set

of wide whitewalls that I had and did a simple tune up. Atthe same time, I had three 1957 Lincoln Premieres, a coralpink convertible, a turquoise two-door hardtop and a blacktwo-door hardtop; also a white ‘59 Dodge D-500 Coronettwo-door hardtop with every accessory and a 1957 Series 62Cadillac convertible in pale pink.

When I went cruising (I was still a teen, remember) I usu-ally took one of the flashier cars. But one night the Dodgewouldn't start, and it was blocking everything else in thedriveway… except the ‘52 Plymouth. It was a beautiful sum-mer evening and I wanted to cruise in a convertible. It wasalso later in the day than when I usually started cruising, so Ithought: “Why not? It’s a cute car anyway.”

The cruise then was up and down the Esplanade andMain Street and Broadway, which were all kind of the samestreet with name changes. The Esplanade is still a very nicedrive with timed stoplights. (As they were in the ‘60s--youcould make the lights at 28, 56, 84 or 112 MPH; each incre-ment more frightening.) And there were lots of trees andshrubs for scenery. I cruised around a while and no one reallynoticed the little Plymouth much, although one college guy in

AA NNiigghhtt ttoo RReemmeemmbbeerrAA NNiigghhtt ttoo RReemmeemmbbeerr

The Esplanade,The Esplanade, Chico, California, in the 1950s.

2

2

5


Outdone by a SixOutdone by a Six

-28-


a ‘51 Studebaker Starlite coupe yelled: “Nice car!” The usualturn-around point was the A&W drive-in but if you went pastthat, East Avenue was the turnaround. After East Avenue,there were less street lights and more open country with verylittle traffic.

I pulled up to the light at East Avenue and a nice black1950 Ford convertible, also top down, pulled up alongside. Ididn't really know the guy, but I knew his nickname fromschool. They called him “Jeep” because his initials were J.P.He had two other guys with him. The Ford sounded cool withdual glass packs (my Plymouth had one). Someone yelled:“You want to race?” and they all laughedhysterically. We were aimed in thedirection of the quiet part ofthe Esplanade: five milesof wide, straight road.The light changedand the Fordpulled ahead ofthe Plymouth but,after a car length,it didn’t get anyfurther. At aroundsixty, I put thePlymouth in overdrive andwas now even with the Ford.Ever so slowly, the Plymouth inchedahead of the Ford, then started widening the dis-tance to several car lengths. Jeep flashed his lights, which atthe time meant: “I give up.” We were both doing over 90MPH, which I had no idea the little Plymouth was capable of.

Before then, I had very little respect for six cylinders ofany kind, especially old flatheads. That little red Plymouthwas like the “Little Engine That Could,” and it did! I do

believe it was the slowest drag race I ever participated in, butstill it was more than I thought the Plymouth capable of…until then.

Jeep and I became friends; he bought a ‘57 Dodge D-500a few weeks later but would never race me again with any-thing he had.

I sold the little red Plymouth convertible to a local collec-tor who took good care of it, but eventually I lost track of it.Then one day a customer at my detail shop who normallydrove Imperials made an appointment for a ‘52 Plymouthconvertible. I didn't keep track of the serial numbers, and the

license had been changed, but it surelooked like my old convertible

though with fresh interior.I’d like to think that it’s

the same car. He’staking fine care of

it.From

that day on I’vehad a healthy

respect for sixes,especially the

Chrysler Corporationflatheads. A friend’s ‘70s

Volare with a slant six wasclocked at 120 MPH once by the

friendly California Highway Patrol. It was anamazing car too.

The '52 Plymouth had provided a teenager with a night toremember.

PBPB

Ford vs. PlymouthFord vs. PlymouthV8 vs. SixV8 vs. Six

The Little Engine That Could The Little Engine That Could

And Did! And Did!

-29-


Owned by Eddy, Angelina and Liam ZeppEllicott City, Maryland

EEddy Zepp, Sr., bought the family’s Fury convertiblenew back in 1962. Eddy, Jr., remembers, to this day,washing the car on Saturdays and how proud he felt to

be riding in it to church on Sundays. His dad still has that ‘62convertible and now Eddy has one as well. It is not an exactcopy of his dad’s, though. His dad’s Fury is black. Eddy,Jr.’s, on the other hand, was white when it came off theassembly line but is now red. And, while his dad is the origi-nal owner of his ‘62, Eddy, Jr., is the second owner of his.

Eddy, Jr., was still in high school in 1980—and too youngto drive--when he acquired his Fury. His dad’s Fury had beenin storage for a number of years when he lost his storagefacility. Having to get the car out, he and Eddy decided torestore it to its original condition. They turned to Hemmingslooking for a parts car and soon found one advertised inGreenville, South Carolina. It seemed to be just what theywere looking for, so they hooked a trailer to their Dodge vanand headed south to look it over.

What they found on arrival turned out to be a ‘62 Furyconvertible that was in better condition than Eddy, Sr.’s. Toonice, in fact, to be merely used for parts. Instead, Eddie andhis father bought it from the woman who was its originalowner, trailered it home and stored it in Eddy’s great-grand-

mother’s garage. And there it sat forabout a year. (Eddy describes thegarage as one that looks like it was builtto house old cars: tiny, with big swing-ing doors.) The Fury had 82,000 mileson the odometer when they bought it,and it now has 115,000.

Following his forFollowing his forebearsebearsWhile waiting to turn 16, get his licenseand begin to drive his Fury, Eddycleaned the chrome and stainless and“got it presentable.”

Meanwhile, he finished high schooland went on to attend TowsonUniversity for two years. He also beganto follow in his father’s footsteps, learn-ing the plumbing trade. Before long, hedecided to make a career of it, and he isnow president of Zepp Plumbing andHeating Company, Inc. On his waytoward heading the company, hebecame, at age 24, the youngest personin Howard County to qualify as a masterplumber. Later, he taught plumbing atthe county’s apprenticeship school forthree years.

Eddy’s late grandfather, Edgar W.Zepp, also a plumber, went into thebusiness in the late 1930s and workedfor more than 30 years before retiring in1972. Four years later, Eddy’s father

started his own plumbing business and is still at it to this dayon a part-time basis, with his son, Eddy, Jr., having taken overthe reins of the business. And yes, there is yet another Zeppto carry on the tradition should he chose to do so. At themoment, though, Eddy and Angelina’s son Liam, at only fiveyears of age, is preoccupied with his toys at the family’shome in Ellicott City.

Once he had his Sport Fury presentable, Eddy set aboutmaking it the show car it is today. To begin with, he had theseats recovered, the carpets replaced and added a new whitetop. He drove it for a while before having it refinished in red,

LLiikkee FFaatthheerr,, LLiikkee SSoonnLLiikkee FFaatthheerr,, LLiikkee SSoonn

2

2

6


-30-


taking care of a few rust spots in the rear quarter panels in theprocess. The original owner was a short lady who had hadthe rear view mirror moved for easier viewing and Eddy hasleft it in that position. The dealershiphad also added front fender markers,one of which is still on the car.The other fell off during a snow-storm in the late 1990s. Thefinal step in the restorationprocess took place approximate-ly ten years ago when Eddie hadthe engine rebuilt.

The collection expandsThe collection expandsMeanwhile, other golden oldies have come Eddy andAngelina’s way: a 1970 Sport Fury acquired in 1987 from itsoriginal owner, a 1966 Sport Fury in 1989 and a 1969 RoadRunner in 2001. The latter is undergoing a complete restora-tion and presently sits on a trailer ready for the project’s nextphase. They also acquired a ‘68 Chrysler New Yorker in2006. Needless to say, the garage at the Zepp home continuesto expand as each new acquisition arrives. Fortunately, Eddyis no slouch when it comes to do-it-yourself carpentry.

There was a time, Eddy recalls, when, as a member ofthe Convertible Club of Greater Baltimore, he was very muchinto parades. Don Royston recruited him to be the paradecoordinator, and it wasn’t unusual for him to line up dozensof convertibles to participate in such special events as thePreakness, the St. Patrick’s Day and various 4th of Julyparades, not to mention parades honoring Orioles’ andRavens’ post-season victories. Eddy is also an active memberof the Clarksville Volunteer Fire Company, having begun hisservice there in 1980.

While antique cars, the plumbing business and volunteerfirefighting are among Eddy’s preoccupations, Angelina’sinclude information technology and genealogical research, notto mention the care and feeding of a precocious five-year-old.A graduate of Carroll Community College with an AA degree,Angelina hopes to resume her studies toward a liberal artsdegree at some future date, possibly at the University ofBaltimore where she had begun her studies in that field priorto Liam’s birth.

Prior to joining the PlymouthOwners Club, Eddy was morefamiliar with the Chevroletclub, though never a mem-ber himself. Eddy’s dad isa charter member of thatclub, as is the PlymouthOwners Club’s DottieMiller. It was throughDottie that Eddy, Jr.,heard of the Plymouthclub and became amember a few yearsago. Dottie recallsthat Eddy, Jr.,, was atan all-make show atMeadowood Park inLutherville withAngelina and Liam andtheir ‘62 Fury when, in aconversation with Dottie,he heard about thePlymouth Owners Club.Subsequently, he became amember. He has also been amember of the National ChryslerProducts Club for more than 15years.

“Quite a rar“Quite a rare machine”e machine”That’s how the Standard Catalogue of Chrysler describes the1962 Sport Fury convertible. “Announced about four monthsafter the rest of the line,” the book goes on to say, “therevived Sport Fury became Plymouth’s premium offer.” Witha factory price of $3,082, it was Plymouth’s most expensivemodel that year. The “plainer” convertible Furys such as EddyZepp’s, were only $158 cheaper. Only the six and nine pas-senger Fury station wagons sold for more. The six-passengerwagon’s factory price was $2,968 and the nine-passenger was$3,071. A total of 4,349 Fury convertibles was produced dur-ing the model year. -- -- Paul MoorePaul Moore

REPRINTED FROM THE MID-ATLANTIC MAYFLOWER, MARCH/APRIL, 2007. EDITED

Liam,Liam, the next Zepp gen-eration, has his own car.

Liam Liam gets in the picture as Mid-Atlantic photographer David Younggets a shot of his family’s Fury.

-31-


‘Sixty-two-and-a-half:‘Sixty-two-and-a-half: This is the only known ad of the mid-year Fury with itsnew front-to-back belt molding (barely visible on the white car), added to visual-ly “lengthen” the car. The front fender trim is the simpler Sport Fury type. TheSport Fury also was given the new full-length moldings. The ad, which appearedon the inside front cover of the April, 1962, Plymouth Traveler, was provided byretired Chrysler designer, automotive historian/writer and Plymouth OwnersClub member Jeffrey I. Godshall.

Rare two-tone:Rare two-tone: This Sport Fury has both the ‘62-1/2 trim moldings and raretwo-toning with a molding-less paint break line along the C-pillar. Note, also,

the blackwall tires, body-color wheels and small hub caps.

PH

OT

OS

SU

PP

LIE

DB

YJE

FF

ER

YI.

GO

DS

HA

LL

““MMiidd--yyeeaarr SSppeeaarr””““MMiidd--yyeeaarr SSppeeaarr””

2

2

6

DDeuceseuces WWildildAA

lthough the 1962 Plymouth lthough the 1962 Plymouth was by and largea handsome car, the buying public didn’t cottonto Virgil Exner’s new styling direction, a

Valiant-derivative design that placed the emphasis on along hood and short deck, rather than soaring tailfins.When the model run figures were totaled, the publicbought fewer 1962 Plymouths than the incredibly ugly1961 model, a situation that unfortunately led to Exner’sdismissal shortly after the beginning of the model year.

When Exner’s replacement, Elwood Engel, arrivedfrom Ford in November 1961, he was asked to do some-thing to respond to dealer complaints and salvage thedesign.

The dealers had two principal criticisms: namely,that the exterior trim levels weren’t up to Impala/Galaxiestandards, and the “unconnected” bodyside moldingtreatment made the Fury look even shorter than it actual-ly was. To remedy the first problem, the number of tail-light/backup light pods was increased on Furys mid-yearfrom four to six.

To remedy the second problem, diecast belt moldingextensions were added to the upper front fenders and rearquarter panels to create a continuous bright molding run-ning the full length of the car from front to back. Whenthe belt molding extensions were added, the Fury’s heavyarrow-tipped front fender/door molding was deleted andreplaced with the much thinner Sport Fury molding,which in addition wrapped around the leading edge ofthe hood to the opposite fender.

These changes did not happen simultaneously; somemid-year Furys had the six taillight pods and the originalbody-side moldings, while later Furys had both the sixtaillights and the belt molding extensions.

Shortly after it entered production, the 1962-1/2Sport Fury also received the upper front-fender/rearquarter belt extensions, which definitely detracted fromthe purity of line present on the Sport Fury as originallyintroduced in January 1962.

Canadian Furys and Belvederes could be orderedmid-year with “Sportsweep styling” that included thebelt-high narrow color sweep moldings lifted from theDodge Polara 500 (thus adding a slim band of contrast-ing color running the full length of the car), together withthe Sport Fury-type (there was no Canadian Sport Fury)narrow hood/fender/door molding.

-- Jef-- Jeffrey I. Godshallfrey I. Godshallexcerpted from Collectible Automobile, April 1995

Plymouth’Plymouth’s mid-s mid-1962 trim changes1962 trim changes

-32-


Canadian Belvedere,Canadian Belvedere, belonging to Ralph and Sandra Stordeur ofWinnipeg, Manitoba, has the mid-year Sportsweep trim lifted from the Dodge

Polara 500, which differs from that of the U. S. Furys in that it adds a band ofcontrasting color. The car also has a Dodge dash (and a temporarily installed ‘66

steering wheel). From 1960-1966, Canadian-built Dodges and Plymouths sharedinstrument panels. Plymouth panels were used in all years expect 1962 when Plymouths and

Dodges both came with Dodge instrumentation. The car is powered by the uniquely Canadian 313V8 (looks like a 318) and rides on later-model Mopar road wheels.

2

2

6

DDeuceseuces WWildild CCaannaaddiiaann SSppoorrttsswweeeeppCCaannaaddiiaann SSppoorrttsswweeeepp

LAN

NY

KN

UT

SO

NP

HO

TO

S

LAN

NY

KN

UT

SO

NP

HO

TO

S

WWorld’orld’s lowest mileage ‘62s lowest mileage ‘62Plymouth?Plymouth? Just 47.6 mileswere on the odometer when

Steve Frizell of Holdrege,Nebraska, brought his Sport

Fury convertible (which alsobears mid-year moldings) to

the 1991 National Spring Meetin Hastings, Nebraska. It wenthome with a first place trophy.

Steve still has the carSteve still has the car..He doesn’t drive it much,so even now, 17 yearslater, it remains anextremely low-mileage car.He now has a powder-coating business for vin-tage and collector cars.

00000044770000004477 ..66..66 mmiilleessmmiilleess

-33-


by Hans & Kathy Rissi,Rocky Mountain House, Alberta

OOne of our daily drivers for the past 18 years has beena 1971 Custom Suburban nine-passenger stationwagon. We bought it while we were still living in

Switzerland and used it daily as well as on vacations. Themost memorable vacation was to Scandinavia in 1989, wherewe rolled out our sleeping bags in the back of the car.

We brought it to Canada in 1993 together with our 1968Road Runner and drove it summer and winter. It brought alot of building material from the local lumber store to ourranch, pulled a stock trailer before we got a truck and carriedour canoes to a lot of lakes andrivers. (Yes, for years we were theonly ranchers in Alberta without apickup truck!) Mechanically, the caris still sound today, with a healthy440 and 727, but all those years havetaken their toll on the body. Rust isshowing now, and it needs extensivebody work and a fresh coat of paint.

So we started thinking that find-ing a wagon with a solid body andfresh paint would be easier thanrestoring the ‘71 and probably lessexpensive as well. We knew thatwe’d only find a wagon without rustin one of the southern states.

In April this spring we found acar listed on e-bay that looked like itcould be the one. I talked to the sell-er in Los Angeles a couple of timesand placed the winning bid. Payingfor the car a week later, we had

become the new owners of a 1972 Plymouth CustomSuburban nine-passenger station wagon.

The next job was to make arrangements to get the carfrom L.A. to Canada.

WWEE HADHAD ALREADYALREADY PLANNEDPLANNED a vacation in June, 2007, tothe national parks in Utah and Arizona with one of our cars,so we thought we could fly to LAX, pick up the car and driveeast to Grand Canyon and then we would be right where wehad planned to be. Kathy and I had been to all these places in1990 and wanted to see them again and show them to oursons Joe (10) and Ben (4). I wrote the seller asking if I

should fly down there by myself rightaway and drive the car home, or ifhe thought it would handle the longtrip without any problems so thefour of us could have an enjoyablevacation. He wrote back: “Bring thefamily.”

So that’s what we did. On Sunday,June 10, we drove our ‘71 wagon tothe Calgary airport and flew to LosAngeles. The seller had told us hewould get the car ready for the tripby putting new shocks in the rear,installing new belts and hoses, flush-ing the radiator and mounting thestock rims with new tires and theoriginal hubcaps. He would wait forus at the loading area at the airport.

We landed on time and were wait-ing for our luggage when we sawour car cruise by and then comeback a few minutes later. I hadinsurance with me, and the seller had

FFFFaammiillyy aammiillyy VVVVaaccaattiioonnaaccaattiioonniinn oouurr 11997722 PPllyymmoouutthh CCuussttoomm SSuubbuurrbbaanniinn oouurr 11997722 PPllyymmoouutthh CCuussttoomm SSuubbuurrbbaann

(a good e-bay story)A stop at Lake Powell

2

2

7


Grand Canyon boys: Ben and Joe

-34-


organized a trip permitfor us.

So there we were,engine running, fulltank of fuel and readyto hit the road. Weput our luggage in theback and headed easttowards Arizona.

We had broughtour camping gear andplanned to buy a fewmore things at ourfirst stop in a biggercity; among them,some basic tools. Westopped quickly inBarstow and then inNeedles, California, on Route 66 to check the car and found asmall leak in the radiator. Having no tools, we left the carovernight at a 24-hour service station so they could take theradiator out and have it repaired the next morning.

Around the corner was a Best Western with an outdoorswimming pool which we used extensively. During the day ithad been 107 degrees Fahrenheit, and it stayed warmovernight. We bought another half a day at the hotel and byfour o’clock that afternoon, the car was ready to go. Therepair was very expensive, and during the time I watched themechanic that afternoon, he dropped everything from a ciga-rette to his tools at least once on the engine. The weak radia-tor was not something the seller could have known; he hadonly driven the car on short trips in the time he owned it andhad it prepared well for our trip.

So we were on our way again and stopped in Kingman,Arizona, to buy some basic tools and camping supplies. Thenwe drove on into the night. It gets dark there much earlierthan we are used to, and we wanted to make it to Seligman onRoute 66. We were only a few miles away when the lightsstarted to get weak, and we just made it to the top of the exitramp when the car stalled.

I popped the hood, and with my flashlight I saw that awire on the alternator had come loose, and I knew right awaythat the tool-dropping mechanic was to blame. I hooked itback on, but now I needed a boost to get going again. A ladystopped and said she would send somebody to help. Kathyjust laughed and got the sleeping bags out. Ben must havefigured that this was enough for the day and fell asleep. Theywere all real troopers, while I was hoping that these break-downs would not be a pattern for the rest of the trip.

After almost an hour, a sheriff drove up, checked ourpapers and gave us a boost. The car started right away andthe lights were back. We drove into Seligman and stayed at amotel. (If y’all seen the movie Cars from last year, Seligmanis “Radiator Springs,” with Mater parked on main street.)The Sheriff made sure we got safely to the motel.

The next morning we checked out the various Route 66cafes and stores and were on our way to Williams and northto the Grand Canyon. We would have no more problems withthe car for the rest of the trip!

The GrandCanyon was impres-sive again, and wewalked along the rimfor a while and pitchedthe tent at the camp-ground.

The next morn-ing we drove eastalong the rim intoNavaho country, stop-ping at a Navaho trad-ing post before drivingon to Lake Powell.There we stayed at thecampground and wentfor a swim at thebeach.

After supper from the stove, we went to the nearby swim-ming pool and sat in the hot tub under the stars. The nextmorning, we rented a 150HP power boat and explored LakePowell for two hours. Then, we boated to Antelope Canyonwith its beautiful red rocks, had a dip in the lake off the boatand everyone had a turn behind the steering wheel. We weresurprised at how fast the rental boat would go. This was oneof the highlights of our trip.

Our next stop was Bryce Canyon, our favorite nationalpark, where we tented again and walked at most of the viewpoints. The next day we hiked up a creek to a waterfall wherewe played for a while and then rented a cabin on a camp-ground, right next to the swimming pool and hot tub. Earlythe next morning, 7:00 AM, Kathy and Joe went on a horse-back ride along the rim while Ben and I got ready for theday’s trip. Following another dip in the pool after the ride, weleft and drove for eight hours (430 miles) to Pocatello, Idaho,and, the next day, we drove through Idaho into Montana.

While driving north on I-15, I noticed a highway patrolcar going south. About five minutes later, I saw one in therear view mirror and thought “That couldn’t be the same

Grand Canyon

Bryce Canyon couple: Hans and Kathy-35-


one,” but as it turned out, it was. He was about to pass, whenhe slowed down, fell in behind us and turned on his lights. Istopped and he told us he was stopping us because he noticedwe didn’t have a real license plate in the back. I showed himour trip permit on the windshield and he checked my driver’slicense. Everything checked out, and he told us he saw thecar going north while he was going south, that his friend usedto have an identical car and he wanted to have a closer look. Iasked him if I could take a picture with him andhis cruiser and I must have been the firstperson to ask him this question. Helooked at me with a puzzledlook and said " I suppose so."

So we were back on theroad again, headingtowards our favorite spotin Montana, the 1860sGold Rush towns ofNevada City and VirginiaCity. There we stayed at theNevada City Hotel in a muse-um-like hotel room, just upstairsfrom the saloon. This saloon was usedfor a scene in the movie Little Big Man withDustin Hoffman. A lot of western movies were filmedaround here in the seventies and eighties. Every weekend insummer, volunteers put on a show depicting events from thepast gold rush days.

After a good night’s sleep we were off to Deer Lodge,Montana, to check out a car museum. It turned out that wediscovered Deer Lodge to be the Museum Capitol of theNorthwest. We toured the car museum where, most notablyfor us, a 1957 Dodge and a couple of 1969 Road Runners areamong some other fine cars. Then we toured the StatePrison Museum, built in 1879 and closed in 1979 when theybuilt the new prison five miles out of town. Next, we wentto a old west museum and then a toy museum, all within acouple of blocks.

Having seen enough museums for a day, we drove on toGreat Falls where we stayed overnight and spent the nextday at the Charles M. Russell museum, right next to thefamous western scenes painter’s home and log studio wherehe did most of his work. Russell was an interesting fellowfrom St. Louis, Missouri, whose love for everything cow-

boy and Indian made him spend most of his life in Montanaand Alberta, including many months with the different nativetribes in both places, plus working as a cowboy.

After that, we spent one more night in the U.S., in Shelby,just south of the border. Early the next morning we stoppedat the US/Canada border to import the car. First we stoppedat the US side to clear the title (they need all the informationon the car faxed to them at least two hours before you arrive),and, after twenty minutes, we were on our way to CanadaCustoms. There we answered more questions about the car:manufacturing date, value, etc. They collected Goods andServices Tax and on we went. The whole procedure had onlytaken a little over an hour!

Our last stop was Fort Whoop-Up, a trading post insouthern Alberta that was founded by two American traders.The fort got its supplies from Fort Benton on the MissouriRiver in Montana by way of oxen trains that took three weeksto cover the distance we had just driven that morning!

We stopped in Calgary to get our ‘71 Fury and drove bothof them home the same night. It was a great vacation withmemories that will last us a lifetime!

TTHEHE FEWFEW THINGSTHINGS I’I’VEVE LEARNEDLEARNED about the car so far: itwas sold new in North Carolina and went to

Wisconsin where it stayed until 1984.Then it came to California and was

last licensed in 1986. It sat inLong Beach until 2006 when

the last owner bought it,freshened it up, drove it afew times and parked itwith his car collection. Theodometer shows 48,316

miles. It has a rebuilt 360two-barrel engine (the original

engine was a 400) with a 727automatic transmission. That little

360 engine proved to be a super-strongengine, bringing us through 107 degrees

Fahrenheit and over 7700-foot high mountains while gettingan average of 22 miles per gallon! Very impressive for such abig car! It doesn’t have the power the ‘71 has with its 440four-barrel, but it moves the car easily and cruises smoothly at70 miles per hour. I’m sure this car will stay with us for along time; we’d gotten to know it well already on our 2500-mile trip and we love it.

Have you ever seen a station wagon with a “cooler” frontthan the 1972 Plymouth? Plymouth makes it! PBPB

Montana cop: “I suppose so.”

Together in Calgary: The “new” ‘72 meets the “old” ‘71.-36-


by Michael NoeFrankfort, Indiana

OnOnApril 28, 1972, Willie andLouise Hendrix tradedtheir 1968 Fury II four-

door sedan for a 1972 Fury III four-doorsedan. Willie had started working at theKokomo Chrysler Transmission Plant in1945 and had at least three and a halfyears to work before he was eligible toretire. He did not want to drive his new ‘72 to work where“door dings” in the parking lot are common, nor did he wantto drive it in the Indiana winters when tons of salt are put onthe roads. So, the ‘72 was put in the garage and his ‘62Dodge Custom 880 sedan was used 90 percent of the time.The ‘72 was driven only on summer vacations and on thenicest of nice days for the next 25 years!

I hired on at Chrysler in 1963; yet, by the time Willieretired in December of 1975, his path and mine had nevercrossed. I met Bob “Hoot” Gibson within two weeks after Ihired on, and Hoot and I became the best of friends.Hoot retired in June of 1981.

One evening Hoot called and asked me tocome over to his house. For the past 17 yearsHoot and I had been “into” old cars--he, havinga ‘62 Chrysler 300, and I, having a ‘57 NewYorker and a ‘73 New Yorker Brougham.When I arrived at Hoot’s house, he said,“I’mgoing to show you a car you’ll really like!” Aswe pulled into the driveway to a house to which Ihad never been before, we were met by a short man. Hootintroduced me to Willie. Within a couple of minutes his wife,Louise, came out. We all became instant friends. Hoot said,“Show him your car, Willie” at which time Willie went to thetwo-car garage and opened one of the doors. As the dooropened, I could see the rear end and right side of the ‘62Dodge 880 sedan. I could see that the rear bumper was dent-ed and rusty, the chrome around the taillights looked likesandpaper, there was a station wagon luggage rack screwedon to the top of the car, and the bottom half below the chromehad been painted with a brush with no apparent masking ofthe chrome trim! I was speechless! I looked at Hoot with apuzzled look, and he said, “Go on in!”

The garage had no windows and was dark but as I enteredand as I turned to my right, the lights came on and there sat agorgeous ‘72 Fury III four-door in shiny emerald green or, asPlymouth called it, Sherwood Green Metallic. The car wasabsolutely new inside and out! Of course, the Plymouth wasonly nine years old at this time (1981) but in Indiana mostnine-year-old cars had been through several owners, were

rusted out and many were parts cars in the salvage yards! Tosay I was impressed would have been an understatement!

During the next twenty years, I was never in thatPlymouth but rode in (and drove) the Dodge. Meanwhile, the‘72 Fury sat in the dark garage all covered up.

On March 22, 2001, I lost my best friend of 37 yearswhen Hoot passed away at age 72. On May 15, 2001, I lostmy other best friend of 20 years as Willie, at age 80, hadpassed away. I still miss them very much. The three of usdid a lot of “old car-ing” together. Willie’s wife, Louise,passed away on September 9, 2003. On October 16, 2003,

one of their daughters called, asking me if I would liketo buy the Plymouth Fury. I had recently bought a

‘56 Chrysler New Yorker, so I said I couldn’tafford it at that time. But when they told methe price, I said I’d take it, as I could not affordto turn it down.

At first I thought I’d try to sell the car, asI’d never cared for the ‘72’s “odd-shaped” front

end and rear end; but the more I drove it, the betterI liked it. Even the A/C works! It is not a perfect car,

but for an original, it is probably one of the better ones in thecountry. It is totally as it was when it came from the factory!The cloth seats still have a “stiff” feel to them, and the plasticchrome around the armrests is like new.

Willie loved his 1972 Plymouth Fury III four-door sedanfor 29 years. I hope I can keep it that long. I’ll only be 87then!

PBPB

2

2

7


WWWW iilllliieeiilllliieelloovveedd iittlloovveedd iitt

…… ssoo ddoo II…… ssoo ddoo II

Michael’Michael’s Fury III s Fury III won the Mayflower Award as the best four-door sedan at the 2006 National Spring Meet in Indianapolis. He is

on the right in the center photo with presenter Wayne Brandon.

PA

UL

ME

LIN

PH

OT

O

-37-


Gasoline in his vGasoline in his v einseins

OOne of Willy’s most prized rides is his 1972 PlymouthFury II sedan. With 60,000 original miles on the

odometer and a 318-cubic-inch V8 under the hood, it’s alittle reminiscent of the dozens of police cars used in TheBlues Brothers. What makes it unique is that you don’t seeany of them on the road anymore. That fact caught the eyeof local movie makers.

With many vehicles over-restored, it’s often difficult tofind vehicles that fit in with the script and the director’simage. Willy’s Plymouth fits the bill as either a period-correct car or as an old cruiser. Included in scenes fromboth The Stone Angel and The Heaven Project due out in2008, Willy is ecstatic that his big Mopar cruiser will beimmortalized on the silver screen. -- Larry D'Argis

LARRY D'ARGIS WRITES THE "CLASSIC CRUISING" COLUMN

EVERY FRIDAY IN THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

KKnnoocckkiinngg oonn HHeeaavveenn’’ss ddoooorrKKnnoocckkiinngg oonn HHeeaavveenn’’ss ddoooorrby Paul WilliamsonJUNE 15, 2007

IfIfyou’ve spotted a convoy of cool-looking trucks and trail-ers, strange-looking vehicles with cameras attached to

them and a few bona fide Hollywood celebrities, consider

yourself blessed. You’ve been touched by The HeavenProject.

The film (was) being shot right here in Manitoba, and thecrew was practically set up in my backyard, shooting near theeast gate of Birds Hill Park (on the northeast edge of the cityof Winnipeg).

Allow me to put on my bold radio announcer voice andread directly from the website that bills itself as earth’sbiggest movie database:

The Heaven Project is a harrowing and frighteningthriller about a man who has everything he’s ever lovedstripped away from him; and to earn his life and familyback, he must face obstacles of mystical origins, endurecountless tests of his faith, struggle with his own sanity,and explore the depth and the power of his soul.

Sure hope I never have to walk a mile in that guy’s shoes.I’d be happy if I could just quit smoking.

Further prodding revealed that Linda Cardellini and PaulWalker star in the project, which is directed by John Glennand features a plot in which a criminal is sentenced to death.When he awakens from the supposed lethal injection, he dis-covers that God may have given him a second chance.

KKnnoocckkiinngg oonn HHeeaavveenn’’ss ddoooorrKKnnoocckkiinngg oonn HHeeaavveenn’’ss ddoooorr2

2

7


WWiillllyy’’ss FFuurryy iiss ddaanncciinngg wwiitthh tthhee ssttaarrssWWiillllyy’’ss FFuurryy iiss ddaanncciinngg wwiitthh tthhee ssttaarrssWWinnipeg’innipeg’s “Cruise Brothers,”s “Cruise Brothers,” Larry D'Argis and Paul

Williamson, automotive writers for the Winnipeg Free Press, posewith their respective rides.

PH

OT

OC

OM

PLI

ME

NT

SO

FW

ILLY

'SG

AR

AG

E

-38-


It’s been a number of years now since Hollywood discov-ered Manitoba but my first reaction when the movie typesstarted showing up was: “All right, I’m finally gonna get dis-covered.”

In the fantasy world I live in, I see myself as a SteveMcQueen-type in the classic movie Bullitt. The reality is I’mway more like Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys--this parallelreally seemed to gain some traction in the summer of 2005when I started cruising around in a rather large and somewhatbattered 1972 Plymouth Fury II.

The Fury’s star was born the previous summer when mybuddy Rosco, a local picture car co-ordinator, was lookingafter the cars for the locally-shot film The Stone Angel. MyFury was used in a background scene alongside my wifeMelanie’s 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass. I was feeling pretty darngood about my fledgling collection of vintage iron, but I hadno idea my Fury would one day achieve even more fame.

Let me recap:A couple years back, we bought the big green Fury from

my wife’s great-aunt Tena Gretchen, whose husband Michaelhad purchased the car brand new at Chyzy Sales in Arborg,Manitoba, back in the fall of 1972. Michael passed away inthe 1980s but Tena kept the house and the car in perfect orderwell into her 80s.

I spotted the car for the first time several years ago whenMelanie’s uncle Mitchell commandered the big boat to ourplace for a visit.

Although the car has a bit of rust and a few small dents, itscreams character, and for me it was literally love at firstsight. When Mitchell told me it would probably be for sale, Ipractically begged him to keep me in mind.

In the summer of 2005, a deal was struck, and we droveout to Gimli, Manitoba, to pick the car up. Initially, I waspleased with the fact that I had purchased a nice low-mileageMopar for a good deal and was excited to show it off to myfriends. Little did I know it would be in the movies, not oncebut twice…that the car would be a star.

Things really heated up in early May when Rosco intro-duced me to fellow picture car co-ordinator Scott Sullivan,who was responsible for all the on-screen vehicles in TheHeaven Project. Scott was looking for a green sedan, andRosco had a feeling mine might be the one. After sending offsome photos and crossing my fingers, I got the call a fewdays later.

In this film, the car is used for much more than just back-ground shots. My Fury was deemed a “Hero Car,” whichmeans that it’s driven in the movie by one of the stars. Theofficial name on the movie contact refers to my car as“Ricki’s Car.” I laughed out loud as Sullivan drew up thedocument in my shop. “So lemme get this straight,” Iquipped. “The character that’s gonna drive my car is namedRicki, and he’s gonna rob a bank. Dude, that’s awesome.”

Sullivan chuckled at my enthusiasm, and while he didn’tcompletely agree, that’s the story I’m sticking with until themovie hits the theatres. Finding vehicles can be tough, butSullivan’s biggest challenge is matching characters with cars,apparently my Fury was perfect for the role.

In total, the production had my car for two weeks. Uponreturn I was totally impressed. In addition to a full tank of

gas, the car was exactly as they had received it.Sullivan arranged for me to be on set for the Birds Hill

Park shoot, and it was totally cool to watch this army ofartists at work. They literally make magic.

When I arrived, the crew was busy tweaking a 1970 Fordpickup that was the star attraction for the late-afternoon shoot.The truck was placed on a massive platform trailer that waspulled by a Dodge truck that looked like it was built atMonster Garage.

The guys were installing a weird-looking wooden frameon the roof of the old Ford that had a bunch of pipes snakingthrough it and was covered with 10 sprinkler heads. Despiteour wet weather, the crew likes to control the climate for ashoot and effectively created a rain simulator.

Special effects technician Cole Hunter, whom I met lastyear on The Stone Angel set, was orchestrating the make-it-rain project. Cole is a talented fabricator and the second com-ing of Macgyver. In addition to keeping the film’s cars andtrucks looking and running right, guys like Cole also engineerand build stuff that not only looks cool but also actuallyworks.

After poking around the set for a while, I followed mynose over to a well-equipped catering trailer owned by a

PH

OT

OC

OM

PLI

ME

NT

SO

FW

ILLY

'SG

AR

AG

E

-39-


friendly dude known as Jeff the Chef. Jeff Nelson’s company,Meals for Reels, has been serving the film industry for sevenyears and is based out of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Jeffoffered me a tasty burrito and we shot the breeze for a while.

I was just about to call it an afternoon when the film’sstar, Paul Walker, strolled up. Walker starred alongside VinDiesel in The Fast and the Furious, arguably the most popularcar movie of the last decade. Among others, he also starred infuture cult classic Joy Ride P and 2 Fast 2 Furious. I’m nopaparazzi, so I asked Walker if I could take his picture, and hewas all smiles.

We talked for a few minutes, and I told Walker I ownedthe green Plymouth Fury that was part of the shoot the previ-ous week. He commented it was a cool car, and that he wasin it near the opening scene, so that pretty much made myyear. As Walker wandered away with a healthy helping ofpoached eggs on toast, Jeff the Chef offered that he was oneof the nicest actors he’d ever met. Judging by the candidmoment I got to share with Walker, I’d have to agree.

Although I promised Sullivan I wouldn’t divulge hisbudget for movie cars, I will tell you that the money the pro-duction paid me for use of the car was exactly $150 morethan I paid for it in 2005. I’m treating it like found moneyand plan to clean up the old Fury and give it a fresh coat ofpaint. It's also time to clean out a stall in the shop and startparking it in the garage. This isn’t just any old PlymouthFury; this is Ricki’s Car, from The Heaven Project, and It’sgoing to be treated like a star.

I’m betting Tena, who passed away a year ago lastDecember at the ripe old age of 91, had something to do withall the positive karma that surrounds the Fury. She certainlywouldn’t approve of he car being used in such a sinister sceneas a bank robbery, but I’m betting she would have loved thetitle.

PAUL (WILLY) WILLIAMSON IS A FULL-TIME AUTOMOTIVE

WRITER/EDITOR WITH THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

[email protected],ca

PH

OT

OC

OM

PLI

ME

NT

SO

FW

ILLY

'SG

AR

AG

E

-40-


1972 1972 VValiant Scampaliant ScampOwned byBrett PapineauWinnipeg, Manitoba

“I“I’ve got an oldPlymouth, too. Notas old as yours,

though. Want to see it?”That was Brett Papineau’sgreeting to his and his wifeAnastasia Meseman’s homefollowing the baptism of theirdaughter Zoë. My usual sum-mer Sunday transportation ismy ‘49 P18 sedan, and itcaused a bit of a stir as itpulled up in front of thePapineau/Meseman home.

Before sitting down tolunch with the grandmas,grandpas, aunts, uncles andlittle Zoë, Brett took me out to the garage. There sat a verynice Valiant… not as old as a ‘49, but a very well-preserved1972 Scamp hardtop.

Brett had found the car five years ago, advertised in thelocal Auto Trader. When he drove out to St. Malo, a smalltown outside of Winnipeg, and first saw the Valiant, he“knew” he had to have it. His grandfather had owned Dartsin the late ‘60s and early ‘70s which he drove in his dailycommutes from his home in Souris, Manitoba, to the nearbycity of Brandon. The Scamp, with its Dart body, broughtback the good memories Brett has of his grandfather and hiscars.

The Scamp came to Brett with full documentation andservice records, including the factory build sheet and the orig-inal bill of sale from Midway Chrysler-Plymouth, a dealershipin downtown Winnipeg that just closed its doors in 2007. Thelisted price of $3506.75 was for a fairly basic car powered bya 225 Slant Six and having an automatic transmission, AM

radio and a rear window defroster as its only options. Thefirst repair bill is dated May 3, 1973, for the “princely” sumof $9.28 for turn signal switch repair.

Appraised in 2004, the now 29,000-original mile Valiant

was given a rating of 76.1 out of 100 and called “excellentoverall.” It has never been winter-driven, a remarkable featfor a car that has spent all of its 36 years in the Winnipegarea.

Zoë will grow up hearing of her great-grandfather andpossibly of his Dodge Darts. She will be growing up with herdaddy’s “old Plymouth.” It may not be as old as her pastor’s‘49, but for a car 35 years her senior, it will be old enough.

-- Lanny Knutson-- Lanny Knutson

Old EnoughOld Enough

2

2

7


-41-


FFOROR USUS, , “Wanda the Wife” and me, the most enjoy-able use of the old Plymouths is to go on road trips toexplore parts of the country we have never seen. Wedrive to places where there are no TransportationSecurity Administration searches and no passportrequired (yet). Our Plymouths have no seat belts, noalarm systems, and no gps navigation systems. We donot have a cell phone. The original purchasers of thesePlymouths did fine without these features; so do we.For us, the Plymouths are time-travel machines to asimpler, freer time. They still deliver dependable trans-portation. Load the family and supplies, and go.

WWeehad contemplated a trip to the Louisiana GulfCoast in 2005, but Hurricane Katrina struck onAugust 29 that year and changed our plans. We

went to the North Carolina Outer Banks instead. In 2006, wewent to Louisiana.

The news was not good from New Orleans: corruption,displaced families, unrepaired hurricane damage, and highcrime were among the news items. A news story about thou-sands of people living in Federal Emergency ManagementAdministration (FEMA) trailer parks interested me. Why wasthe rebuilding going so slowly? The weather in Indiana wasabnormally cold throughout September and October. Finally,the weather forecast for early November promised above nor-mal temperatures. Good weather for a road trip.

Day 1Day 1 - - WWednesdayednesday, November 8, 2006, November 8, 2006The Plymouth has been serviced andwashed. We load luggage and suppliesand drive westward from Indianapolis onInterstate 70 to Illinois SR 1.

Shortly after, we turn south on SR 1,and the overdrive misbehaves by notengaging. I make a quick decision that,

even without overdrive, the road tripwill continue. I will just drive slower.The overdrive requires electricity tooperate; I pull to the side of the roadand quickly find a loose screw whichfastens a wire to the solenoid beneaththe car. Screw tightened; problemfixed. The overdrive is working again.

As wedrive on,we seemanytrucksfilled withsoybeansand corn.It is har-vest timein theMidwest.We drive

southward to the Cave-In-RockState Park in Illinois where SR1 ends at the Ohio River.

http://www.dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R5/CAVEROCK.htm

This cave was used for the river pirates scene in the movieHow The West Was Won. We walk over the hill and along theOhio River to explore the cave. Fortunately, there are no riverpirates lurking in the cave. As wewalk the return path, I spy asmall snake soaking upthe warm sunshine. Heconsents to a photo.

We quickly findour way onto the fer-ryboat which crossesthe Ohio River. Wecan see Kentuckyacross the river. Thecrossing is quick andeasy, and we find that theKentucky road leading fromthe river is covered with newly fallen leaves for us to crunchwith our Plymouth.

We drive westward and notice a machine shop, with ahuge crank as asignpost. I stopand ask what it isfrom. “An EMD,”

RRoad oad TTrip to rip to NNew ew OOrleansrleans

by Robert and by Robert and WWanda Vanda Van Buskirkan BuskirkIndianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, Indiana

-42-


says the man. I Rolodex the acronyms in my brain and quick-ly offer ElectroMotiveDiesel? My Lionel train collectingpays off; this crank was from a diesel locomotive. It may havetraveled to New Orleans before it became a signpost.

We drive westward to US 51, which smoothly leads us toMemphis by nightfall. A problem with road trips inNovember is that the shorter days leave less time for sight-seeing. We drive through Memphis without getting lost andbegin looking for lodging as soon as we cross intoMississippi. We drive and drive along Highway 61. The high-way is void of motels and restaurants. To the west, along theMississippi River, we can see the lights from the gambling

complex atTunica, the thirdlargest gamblingcomplex in thecountry. Also,there are dozensand dozens ofbrightly lit bill-boards along US61, to lure people

to Tunica. But no motels. Finally, 60 miles after we enterMississippi, we reach Clarksdale and find food and lodging.

Day 2Day 2 - - ThursdayThursdayAs I return from the motel office with the morning coffee, Inotice two huge Ford Expedition SUVs with US GOVERN-MENT license plates, towing big fishing boats. I see a manin one of the boats pouring ice into a cooler. I ask him aboutthe fishing boats. “The government likes to fish, too,” is hisreply. He has my attention. He explains that the governmentdoes fish population surveys for the Army Corps ofEngineers. He says that he uses trot-lines to catch fish. Ican’t imagine that the dam and levee builders have everchanged plans because of a fish. By this time, he is loadingfoot-long catfish into the re-iced cooler. He says that catfishis the only species caught the previous day. Ithink they are part of the government’s“filet and release” program.

As we drive south on SR 1,we see many huge bales of cot-ton and an old Plymouth inneed of love. More harvesting.We happen upon the GreatRiver Road State Park and paythe honor box entry fee. Wedrive in and park in the lot near theMississippi River. We climb theobservation tower and watch a deer crossonto a small island. It is a great sunny morning to be in

Mississippi. We continue south-

ward on SR1, and stop atthe Winterville Mound.In the visitors’ center is anexplanation of themounds which were built

widely over the Mississippi River Basin by the NativeAmericans for ceremonial purposes.

Next, we stop at a 1927 FLOOD sign. This worst floodin American history as been the subject of art and music,including “High Water” by Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman.Here are some 1927 Flood references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/timeline/timeline2.html

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/scienceques2001/20020405.htm

Next, we stop at the Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge.There was an alligatorsign, but noalligatorsin theswampwithcypresstrees. I had hopes ofseeing an alligator onthis trip, to satisfy my reptilian personality.

We continue on to Vicksburg National Military Park. TheCivil War battle at Vicksburg determined that the North wouldcontrol shipping on the Mississippi River. A 16-mile drivewith over 1000 monuments and displays explains the battle.My favorite display is the Cairo, a Union gunboat that wassunk in 1862 in the Yazoo River. It has been raised and exhib-ited with many explanatory displays.

Just outside of Port Gibson are the Windsor Ruins. Thereare 23Corinthiancolumns thatwere part of aplantation housethat burned in1890. Now, onecan only imag-ine what thebuilding lookedlike.

We stop for the night in McComb, Mississippi.

Day 3Day 3 - - FridayFridayAnother nice day, sunny and warm. We see several truck-loads of cut pines as we continue eastward across southernMississippi. We are in Southern Pine country. The first stop

for the day is Purvis, Mississippi, to see a storage area for the

FEMA trailers that are used to house hurricane refugees.There are 35,000 of these trailers in Mississippi and 75,000 inLouisiana. This storage lot contains over 1000 of the 200-square-foot travel trailers. The trailers come and go according

-43-


to need. I do not understand why the rebuilding process is soslow.

We speed on to Gulfport, Mississippi, where we see ourfirst Hurricane Katrina damage. The boardwalk along the

Gulf and all buildingsnear the Gulf of Mexicohave been badly damaged.We arrive at lunch timeand eat a tailgate lunch ina gulfside parking lot.While we eat and gaze atthe damage, a group of

Presbyterian church workers from Pittsburgh pulls alongsideus. One of them feeds the gulls. We talk about the hurricaneand the recovery process. They are gutting the Katrina-dam-aged interior from the home of an 84-year-old woman. Theytell of stripping flooring from still-wet-after-a-year floors. Ivolunteer an afternoon of work and they refuse, saying thatsecurity checks are required. I am rejected and puzzled.Wanda and I are very good at rehab work. We have workedon dozens of houses, we have even platted two subdivisionsand built new houses. We are experts. Rejected experts.

I drive westward on the highway along the gulf and gazemy rejected mind away at the damage. The Katrina stormsurge has removed nearly all structures for a distance of up tomile inland from the gulf. A few have managed to get rebuiltbut mostly what is left is cleared land. There are some FEMAtrailers, indicating that the owners are still present.

We use the Interstate to get to New Orleans faster. Westop at a Louisiana rest stop, where I take a nap while Wandagoes inside for maps. A catnap later, she appears with maps,including a New Orleans map which shows the Lower 9thWard and Industrial Canal levee break points. Things areabout to get interesting.

When we enter New Orleans, we can see that damage iseverywhere and many businesses are closed, never to re-open.The reports of high crime run through my head. We could getmugged. As we drive through the Upper 9th Ward neighbor-hood (upper, because it ison higher ground) we seemany FEMA trailers, withabove-ground sewer,water, electric and gas,located on the lots of dam-aged homes. We see manyhomes that are beingworked on, including anew Habitat forHumanity house. We stopand talk with a pair of menwhose home had beenrecently wrapped inLOWE’S wrap. I take theirpicture and, before I driveaway, one asks if we havebeen across the bridge yet.I say no, and he says thatwe have not seen anythingyet. We drive further down the street, and I stop to photograph

a house with big browndog rescue markings onthe front.

I take the picture andtalk with two nearby men.They also ask if we havebeen across the bridge yet.The bridge across theIndustrial Canal leads tothe Lower 9th Ward. Levee breaks in the Industrial Canalcaused the flooding in New Orleans.

We are soon there. It is an OH-MY-GOD experience. Whilewe scan the horizon for non-existent criminals, we survey thetotal desolation. Very fewhouses are left. Most ofthe lots have been cleared.Shortly, we stop in front ofa house that is resting ontop of a truck. It hadfloated in the flood watersand come to rest on top ofthe truck as the waters receded.

Soon, we are joined by a group of church workers fromUtah who are taking a break from their rebuilding work.There are other church groups about, soaking up the devastat-ed ambiance. Everybody is stunned by what they see. I pho-tograph the new levee wall and we leave.

The light isfading fast. Wemake the decisionto return to thevery moving envi-ronment of theLower 9th Wardbefore returning toIndiana. We high-tail it out of town,crossing theMississippi Riveron the white-knuckle, very narrow, Huey P. Long Bridge. Westop for the night at Morgan City, Louisiana.

Day 4Day 4 - - SaturSaturdaydayToday, we will see alligators. We drive southwesterly towardthe wetlands near the Gulf ofMexico. We spend most of theday driving westward alongthe gulf, through bayouand Cajun country.(Cajun is a shortening ofAcadian. The French-speaking Acadians weredriven from Canada over200 years ago and settledthe area west of New Orleans.)

The first stop is at the Tabascoplant at Avery Island. We pass up an opportunity to buy a gal-lon of Tabasco Louisiana Hot Sauce for $36.99. Death in a

-44-


jug. Outside, workers are painting storage tanks green. I lateremailed Tabasco for information about the green tanks andreceived this reply:

Subject: Re: Green TanksDate: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:23:58 -0600From: "Kali B. Quibodeaux" <[email protected]>To: Robert Van Buskirk <[email protected]>

Hi Bob, The new green tanks are for vinegar. We put them there togive us more capacity in the event of another hurricane and oursupply is interrupted. If you have any further questions, pleaselet me know. Sincerely, Tabasco Country Store Customer Service

We drive around Avery Island, but the weather is windy andchilly, and just a few birds are sighted, one of them a giantegret. And no alligators. We see sugar cane fields and a sugarrefinery, as we continue our drive toward the coast.

Soon, we see our first alligator: road killed. We seethree alligators and several turtlesthat day, all were road killed.Some people use their carsfor weapons.

We stop at the CajunDiner, where we eat a finelunch of a crab cake sandwich,

butterfly shrimp,and fried okra. We are

in bayou country. A bayou is a slow-movingstream through wetlands, smaller than ariver.

We drive westward along a roadthat goes through wetlands for long dis-

tances. There are many kinds of birds, includ-ing egrets and roseate spoonbills. We begin to

see damage from Hurricane Rita. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=24499

At Cameron, we see buildings that have been stripped tothe metal girders by the high winds. The hurricane damagecontinues to get worse as we drive west. After a ferry ride,we drive ahead on the Creole Nature Trail. We pass a salvageyard for Rita debris, another FEMA trailer park and manydamaged and demolished homes.

We stop at a place where we can drive onto the beach ofthe Gulf of Mexico. We drive the Plymouth onto the beach,watch the sunset and gather some seashells. Before we leave,we talk to some fishermen.We speak with amazementof the damage that we haveseen. One of the fishermenasks if we have been toHolly Beach, and explainsthat Holly Beach was wipedout by Rita. Three hundredpeople had their homesdestroyed by Rita. Holly Beach was gone. The twenty-footstorm surge had scrubbed the homes away.

We drive westward to see Holly Beach. It is like theLower 9th Ward, only on a beach where 300 people oncelived. There is mainly vacant land. A year later, a few people

have set up trailers and are starting to rebuild. The destruc-tion by Rita was total.

http://geology.com/news/2005/11/holly-beach-louisiana-hurricane-rita.html

The light is fading fast. We spend the night in Lafayette.

Day 5Day 5 - - SundaySundayWe head eastward to the gulf coast west of New Orleans.There are many bridges in southern Louisiana because of thebayous and the Intracoastal Canal, a system of water high-ways within the border of Louisiana.

As we drive, we see pelicans andshrimp boats. A sign at the GrandIsle State Park warns that Katrinahas been here. We walk the longpier and see no damage until afterwe have walked over a rise and seethat Katrina had removed much ofthe pier. We walk along the beach

and leave. As we

drive toward the Lower 9th Ward,we see a beautiful pink and bluehouse. When we arrive at the Lower

9th Ward in the earlyafternoon, our firststop is at the blue tentof the CommonGround ReliefCenter. The tent isused to distribute thetools and help to helpthe people of theLower 9th. There, wetalk with KeithBernard, who tells ofhow, when the evacua-tion for Katrina was ordered, he had stayed behind to watchpeople’s homes. When the neighborhood flooded, after thelevee had broken, he located a boat and was soon joined by adog. They paddled to a two- story house where they waiteduntil they were rescued. He points to a sign of progress: anew line of utility poles.

A year and millions of donated dollars later, gas, waterand electricity have not returned to the lower 9th. There aremany church groups in vans that have come to the Lower 9th

this sunny Sunday afternoon to lookat the devastation. We see

water gurgling from a bro-ken fire hydrant and a bro-ken house supply line, a

1954 Dodge, a chicken, a

-45-


church with a hopeful messageand a closed school.

The Lower 9th is still largely aghost town. Two more recent occur-rences that slow the recovery inNew Orleans: 1.) The TravelersInsurance of St. Paul, the largestsupplier of commercial insurance inNew Orleans, has announced thatthey will not be renewing most poli-cies in New Orleans because theydo not have faith in the levee system; 2.) The city governmentis going ahead with plans to demolish 5,000-plus housingunits that have been closed since Katrina, in spite of the hous-ing shortage. It seems that nature and the government haveconspired to change the (pardon this word) complexion ofNew Orleans. Billions of dollars will be spent. So far, verylittle of this money has reached the neighborhood level.

We see a huge oil refinery as we leave New Orleans, andwe spend the night in Gonzales, Louisiana.

Day 6Day 6 - - MondayMondayWe cross the MississippiRiver again and drive bythe Nottoway pre-CivilWar mansion near WhiteCastle, Louisiana. We alsosee trucks being unloadedat a sugar refinery. Then

we go to Baker,Louisiana, to seeRenaissance Village,one of the largestFEMA Katrina trailerparks. There are 600trailers that house about 2000 Katrina refugees. A high fenceand a guard shack restrict access to thistrailer park. FEMA is required to fur-nish housing for 18 months after adisaster. Since the damaged areasare not yet rebuilt, another problemwill happen when FEMA shutsdown Renaissance Village.

We leave and head north alongUS 61. As we drive to Natchez, we

see anold pancakerestaurant built in the mimicstyle of a large woman. Wesee a riverboat casino, then wefind a riverside park at thebottom of a steep drive downthe levee wall, and eat a tail-gate lunch in the afternoonsun.

Heading north, we drive

20 miles through the mossy live oaksof the Natchez Trace Parkway

before rejoining US 61. We spendthe night in Cleveland,Mississippi.

Day 7Day 7 - - TTuesdayuesdayToday is get-home day. We cross into

Tennessee and after a gas fill-up, I notice a bar stickingbeneath the front end of the Plymouth. The stabilizer bar isbroken.

The stabilizer bar improves handling of the car when athe car hits a bump. When the left side of the car hits a bump,the stabilizer bar transfers the rising force of that wheel to theside without the bump. This causes the non-bump side also tomove upward while reducing the travel of the bump side. Thefront of the car stays more level.

The broken sta-bilizer bar causesthe car to be moredifficult to handle.The problem is mostnoticeable when Ipass large trucks,and the wind aroundthe trucks causes thecar to lean and pullto the left.

We are in a race with the weather. Rain is moving intoIllinois from the west. We race to get through Illinois beforethe rain makes driv-ing difficult; we arepretty successful.We meet light rainfor about an hourbefore we reach I-70and outrun the rain.The rain arrives athome about an hourafter we do.

AfterthoughtsAfterthoughtsEvery day, I still think about what we saw in New Orleans.Just this morning, (Dec. 27, 2006), there was an article in thepaper about billions of misspent Katrina dollars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/26/AR2006122600789.html

We saw few signs of this much money being spent to rebuildthe damaged areas. I hope that there are no more Katrina-type disasters for a long time.

Anyway, we went 2903 miles in the Plymouth. Thanks toLouie Pippen, who donated a stabilizer bar, the stabilizer barhas been replaced. The Plymouth has been serviced and isready for the next road trip. We are looking forward to anoth-er Plymouth adventure.

PBPB

-46-


by Dave HermansonLoudon, Tennessee

SSince the first automobile was produced, all types ofreliability and endurance runs have been staged in aneffort to show and publicize one manufacturer’s suc-

cess over all others. One such event occurred in 1921 whenan informal economy run sponsored by the Los AngelesMotor Car Dealers took place over a course from Los Angelesto Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, a lack of definiterules and supervision left these early mileage results open toquestion.

In 1936, the Gilmore Oil Company, already known on theWest Coast for its sponsorship of automobile racing (includ-ing competing in the Indianapolis 500 and other racingevents) began sponsoring an economy run. The AAA ContestBoard, under the direction of Art Pillsbury, sanctioned andsupervised the run, which included inspections of each car toensure stock status was maintained. They provided observerswho rode in each car during the course of the run to ensurethat all rules and procedures were followed. These earlyeconomy runs were one-day trips, traveling from Los Angelesto Yosemite National Park until, in 1941, the destination waschanged to the Grand Canyon.

Gilmore Oil merged with General Petroleum in 1945, and

the Mobilgas Economy Runs were resumed in 1950. In 1956,the United States Auto Club (USAC) took over the supervi-sion of the runs.

In the early days of the economy runs, cars were usuallyentered by new car dealers or distributors located in the LosAngeles area. DeSoto-Plymouth dealer Harry A. Shortell wasan active entrant in the Gilmore Economy Runs. As the1950s progressed, well-known Los Angeles area dealers par-ticipated, among them, Andrew J. Crevelon, Art Frost,Greene-Halderman and W. R. Shadoff. As the 1960s dawned,Chrysler Corporation became more and more involved withfactory participation on behalf of individual dealers who,along with dealer associations, could be named as entrants.Factory engineers and test drivers were tapped as drivers andco-drivers, replacing many of the dealership employees andprivate individuals who had performed these duties.

During the 1950s and well into the 1960s, a good deal ofpublicity was generated in both newspapers and magazines bythe annual economy runs. Each year, articles appeared insuch publications as Motor Trend, Motor Life, Hot Rod, andSpeed Age, to name just a few. The articles covered aspectsof the year’s event along with the gas-saving techniques ofthe winning drivers. In addition, Floyd Clymer publishedyearly books covering the economy runs in the 1950s.

From 1936 through 1958, results were determined byusing a ton/miles-per-gallon formula which was calculated by

PlPlymouth and the Economymouth and the Economy Ry Runsuns

A Look aA Look at Plt Pl ymouth’ymouth’ s perfs perforor mance in the Gilmormance in the Gilmore and Mobilge and Mobilgas Economas Economy Ry Runs fruns fr om 1936 to 1968om 1936 to 19681957: 1957: Crossing the finish line in Sun Valley is Mary Davis, driving a Plymouth Belvedere 8, placing first in the Low Price Class. Mary

is the first woman to score a class win in the Mobilgas Economy Runs.

-47-

288-new 17,47 3/3/08 12:20 AM Page 2

multiplying the weight of the car, passengers and luggage intons by the number of miles traveled and dividing this figureby amount of gasoline consumed. This formula was devisedto put all competing cars on a relatively equal basis by com-pensating the weight differences between each entry. Overtime, the results would show that this formula over-compen-sated the heavier cars, and this formula (along with theSweepstakes Award for the highest ton/miles-per-gallon) wasdropped after the1958 run in favor of using a straight miles-per-gallon figure.

From a beginning of disappointing results, Plymouth, in1957, started a tradition of economy run successes. This erasaw Plymouth collecting 19 first-place trophies, the most byany make competing in the history of the runs. This record ofvictories included a string of 12 consecutive years in whichPlymouth was found in the winner’s circle. A PlymouthValiant 100 6 also recorded the highest mileage of all carscompeting in the 1967 Economy Run.

PParar t 1t 1TThe Gilmorhe Gilmore Ye Yearear s -- 1936 to 1941s -- 1936 to 1941

1936 –1936 – The inaugural Gilmore Economy Run, held on

January 9th, was a 352-mile contest extending from LosAngeles to Yosemite National Park. Every car that wasentered finished the run within the time limits specified,although the drivers encountered a driving rainstorm in themountainous terrain approaching Yosemite. Plymouth placedsecond in its price class, finishing behind a Graham Crusader6. The Sweepstakes Award was captured by a GrahamSupercharger 6 scoring 55.47 ton/miles-per-gallon. A Willys4 recorded a figure of 33.21 miles-per-gallon, which was thehighest figure ever achieved in the history of the economyruns.

Class 2-A TMPG MPGGraham Crusader 6 47.61 25.33Plymouth Deluxe 6 43.10 22.42Chevrolet Master 6 41.43 25.70

1937 –1937 – Yosemite National Park was again the destination of

the Gilmore Economy Run, which, held on January 7th, cov-ered pretty much the same 352-mile route. Frigid winterweather played a factor in this year’s event, as ice-coveredroads, snow and cold temperatures resulted in the need to usetire chains as the cars neared Yosemite National Park.Plymouth again placed second in its price class, finishingbehind a Chevrolet Master 6. The Sweepstakes Award wasagain captured by a Graham Supercharger 6 scoring 53.4ton/miles-per-gallon with a Willys 4 again recording the high-est figure of 28.16 miles-per-gallon.

Class B TMPG MPGChevrolet Master 6 41.8 19.45Plymouth Deluxe 6 41.3 20.83

1938 –1938 – Yosemite National Park again was the destination of

the Gilmore Economy Run, although this year’s event, held

on January 13th, followed a more difficult route which cov-ered 314.5 miles. More exact mileage measurements wereintroduced this year, and, beginning this year, all cars compet-ing were impounded several days prior to the start in order tobe thoroughly checked for stock status. Plymouth placed adisappointing third in its price class. Ford, competing in theeconomy run for the first time, placed first. For the thirdstraight year, a Graham Supercharger 6 captured theSweepstakes Award scoring 55.927 ton/miles-per-gallon witha Willys 4 once again recording the highest figure of 30.534miles-per-gallon.

Class B TMPG MPGFord Deluxe 60 8 50.767 28.850Chevrolet Master 6 43.491 21.993Plymouth Deluxe 6 40.460 21.250

1939 –1939 – Weather played havoc with the cars competing in

this year’s Gilmore Economy Run, held on January 5th. Afterbattling treacherous road conditions, driving rain and snowfor most of the day, the drivers then encountered a severesnow storm 42 miles from the finish line in Yosemite NationalPark. This required the use of tire chains. As a result of theseconditions, 13 of the 29 competing cars failed to complete thedifficult 314.5 route within the prescribed 11-hour time limitand were disqualified. All of the disqualified entries, whichincluded all of the cars in Plymouth’s price class, had theirresults published, although none could compete for anyawards. Once again Plymouth placed a disappointing lastamong the four entries. A new Sweepstakes Champion wascrowned when a Studebaker Commander 6 scored an impres-sive 55.875 ton/miles-per-gallon with a Willys 4, once againrecording the highest figure of 26.88 miles-per-gallon.

Class B TMPG MPGFord 8 48.649 24.57Hudson 112 Deluxe 6 46.980 24.38Chevrolet Master 6 46.628 23.30Plymouth Deluxe 6 43.700 22.79

1967: 1967: Crossing the finish line at Cobo Hall in Detroit is the classwinning Valiant 100 6. Driven by Chrysler Corporation EngineerBob Checkley, it also scored the highest mileage of any car in the

1967 Mobil Economy Run and broke Rambler American's five-yearstreak for this honor.

-48-


1940 –1940 – In contrast to the weather problems encountered in

1939, this year’s Gilmore Economy Run was a muchsmoother event even though driving rain, snow and fallingtemperatures were once again encountered. Held on January4th, the route to Yosemite National Park covered 306.5 miles.All entries crossed the finish line within the 10.5-hour timelimit. The use of overdrive was becoming more and moreevident, with half of the entries being so equipped. Moreextensive inspections of each entry were made by AAA offi-cials prior to the start of the run, proof of their concern overstrict adherence to stock status requirements. Unfortunately,Plymouth once again placed last among the four entries. Forthe second year in a row, a Studebaker Commander 6 cap-tured the Sweepstakes Award with 54.750 ton/miles-per-gal-lon, with a Willys Deluxe 4 continuing to record the highestfigure of 30.05 miles-per-gallon.

Class B TMPG MPGStudebaker Champion 6 53.448 29.19Ford 85 Deluxe 8 51.420 24.92Chevrolet Master 6 48.022 22.87Plymouth Roadking 6 45.164 22.54

1941 –1941 – After five years of traveling to Yosemite National

Park, with contestants becoming overly familiar with theroute from Los Angeles, a new destination and route wereselected for the 1941 Gilmore Economy Run. Held onJanuary 9th, the run had cars headed toward the GrandCanyon following a 599.3-mile route from Los Angeles viaLas Vegas, which was termed by most drivers as a 14.5-hourendurance test, as they encountered every type of weathercondition including strong headwinds, which had a negativeeffect on mileage. Sponsors of all General Motors carsdeclined to participate in this year’s event, resulting in onlytwo cars competing in Plymouth’s price class. A newSweepstakes Champion was crowned when a Lincoln Custom12 scored an impressive 57.827 ton/miles-per-gallon. Thiswas the highest ton/miles-per-gallon figure achieved in thesix-year history of the Gilmore Economy Runs. A WillysAmericar Plainsman 4 recorded the highest figure of 29.06miles-per-gallon.

Class B TMPG MPGFord Super Deluxe 849.557 23.05Plymouth Deluxe 6 43.417 21.71

PREPARATIONS HAD ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED and entrantshad signed up for the 1942 Gilmore Economy Run when theattack on Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into WorldWar II. In 1945, Gilmore Oil Company completed its mergerwith General Petroleum. In 1949 plans were finalized with theAAA Contest Board and General Petroleum to renew theactivity in 1950. A new era of the economy run was about tobegin.

PlPl ymouth’ymouth’ s perfs perforor mance in the econommance in the economy ry r unsuns1936 - 19681936 - 1968

TON M.P.G. M.PG.1936Plymouth Deluxe 6 sedan 43.10 25.70Yosemite: Driven by Don Langmo – Entered by Sweitzer & Shortell, LosAngeles, California. Finished 2nd out of 3 Entries in Price Class 2-A

1937Plymouth Deluxe 6 4-door touring sedan 41.5 20.83Yosemite: Driven by Jimmy Walker – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, LosAngeles, California. Finished 2nd out of 2 Entries in Price Class B

1938Plymouth Deluxe 6 4-door touring sedan 40.46 21.250Yosemite: Driven by Ben Cole – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, LosAngeles, California. Finished 3rd out of 3 Entries in Price Class B

1939Plymouth Roadking 6 sedan 43.700 22.79Yosemite: Unknown driver – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, Los Angeles,California. Unofficially finished 4th out of 4 entries in Price Class B($801 - $1000)

All cars in Price Class B were disqualified for taking longer than theallotted eleven hours; however, their performance was still published.

1940Plymouth Roadking 6 4-door touring sedan 45.164 22.54Yosemite: Driven by Ben Cole – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, LosAngeles, California. Finished 4th out of 4 entries in Price Class B

1941 Plymouth Deluxe 6 sedan 43.417 21.71Grand Canyon: Unknown driver – Entered by unknown. Finished 2ndout of 2 entries in Price Class B

1950 Plymouth Special Deluxe 6 4-door sedan 43.8372 21.254Grand Canyon: Unknown driver – Entered by Andrew J. Crevolin,Alhambra, California. Finished 3rd out of 3 entries in Price Class B($1450 - $1750)

1951 Plymouth Concord 6 2-door sedan 48.954 24.145Grand Canyon: Driven by Lee Winchester – Entered by Greene-Halderman, Los Angeles, California. Finished 2nd out of 4 entries inSpecial 6-Cylinder Lightweight Class

1951 Plymouth Cranbrook 6 4-door sedan 47.934 22.090Grand Canyon: Driven by Eddie Bishop – Entered by Art Frost, Glendale,California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A ($1400 - $1750)

1952Plymouth Concord 6 2-door sedan 47.0250 23.0797Sun Valley: Driven by Bill Cameron – Entered by Andrew J. Crevolin,Alhambra, California. Finished 1st out of 2 entries in Special 6-CylinderLightweight Class

1952 Plymouth Cranbrook 6 4-door sedan 49.0433 23.5220Sun Valley: Driven by Eddie Bishop – Entered by Art Frost, Glendale,California. Finished 5th out of 5 entries in Class A ($1600 - $1950)

1953Plymouth Cranbrook 6 4-door sedan 46.9501 22.8301Sun Valley: Driven by Eddie Bishop – Entered by Art Frost, Glendale,California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A (Low Price –Standard & Overdrive)

1954Plymouth Belvedere 6 4-door sedan 47.7067 22.4397Sun Valley: Driven by LeRoy Schlick – Entered by Plymouth Dealers ofSouthern California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A (Low Price– Standard & Overdrive)

1955Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door sedan 43.7723 19.3683Colorado Springs: Driven by Ak Miller – Entered by Plymouth Dealers.Finished 5th out of 6 entries in Class A (Low Price)

Beginning with the 1955 run, all cars were equipped with automatic transmissions

Dave is still looking for information and pictures from the earlierdays of the economy runs, particularly the Gilmore events from 1936to 1941, and is always happy to correspond with other enthusiasts.Dave Hermanson, 205 Gadusi Way, Loudon, TN 37774-6840.(865) 408-0262

-49-





1938Plymouth Deluxe 6 4-door touring sedan 40.46 21.250Yosemite: Driven by Ben Cole – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, Los Angeles,California. Finished 3rd out of 3 Entries in Price Class B



1940Plymouth Roadking 6 4-door touring sedan 45.164 22.54Yosemite: Driven by Ben Cole – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, Los Angeles,California. Finished 4th out of 4 entries in Price Class B

1941 Plymouth Deluxe 6 sedan 43.417 21.71Grand Canyon: Unknown driver – Entered by unknown. Finished 2nd outof 2 entries in Price Class B


1951 Plymouth Concord 6 2-door sedan 48.954 24.145Grand Canyon: Driven by Lee Winchester – Entered by Greene-Halderman,Los Angeles, California. Finished 2nd out of 4 entries in Special 6-Cylinder Lightweight Class




1953Plymouth Cranbrook 6 4-door sedan 46.9501 22.8301Sun Valley: Driven by Eddie Bishop – Entered by Art Frost, Glendale,California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A (Low Price – Standard& Overdrive)

1954Plymouth Belvedere 6 4-door sedan 47.7067 22.4397Sun Valley: Driven by LeRoy Schlick – Entered by Plymouth Dealers ofSouthern California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A (Low Price –Standard & Overdrive)



PlPl ymouth’ymouth’ s perfs perforor mance in the econommance in the economy ry r unsuns , , 1936 - 19681936 - 1968

TON M.P.G. M.PG.1956Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door sedan 47.7381 20.6793Colorado Springs: Driven by Art Rene – Entered by W. R. ShadoffPlymouth, Pomona, California. Finished 2nd out of 6 entries in Class A(Low Price)

1957Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 52.6211 21.3907Sun Valley: Driven by Mary Davis – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 10 entries in Class A (Low Price)

1957 Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 51.4061 20.8968Sun Valley: Driven by Dick Griffith – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 8th out of 10 entries in Class A (Low Price)

Entrants could exercise an option to enter a second car of the samemake and model, provided the second car was operated by a qualifiedwoman driver and relief driver. The official score for that make and modelwas determined by whichever of the two cars achieved the best Ton MilesPer Gallon Average over the entire course. This scoring rule was used onlyin the 1957 Economy Run.

1958Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 48.3264 20.0088Galveston: Driven by Pierce Venable – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 7 entries in Class A (Low Price)

1958Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 48.1804 19.9897Galveston: Driven by Mary Davis – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 2nd out of 7 entries in Class A (Low Price)

Beginning with the 1959 Run, the Ton Miles Per Gallon formulawas dropped and all cars competed strictly on a Miles Per Gallonbasis. From here on, there are no official overall winners, only

individual class winners.

1959Plymouth Belvedere 8 2-door hardtop 21.1548Kansas City: Driven by Pierce Venable – Entered by W. R. ShadoffPlymouth, Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 8 entries in Class C(Low Price – 8 Cylinder)

1959 Plymouth Belvedere 8 2-door hardtop 20.9880Kansas City: Driven by Mary Davis – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 2nd out of 8 entries in Class C (Low Price –8 Cylinder)

1960Valiant V-100 6 4-door sedan 27.2992Minneapolis: Driven by Ginny Sims – Entered by Los Angeles ValiantAdvertising Association. Finished 2nd out of 10 entries in Class A(Compact – 6 & 8 Cylinder)

1960 Valiant V-100 6 4-door sedan 27.4700Minneapolis: Driven by Art Rene – Entered by Los Angeles ValiantAdvertising Association. Finished 4th out of 10 entries in Class A(Compact – 6 & 8 Cylinder)

1960 Plymouth Savoy 6 2-door sedan 24.8265Minneapolis: Driven by Mary Hauser – Entered by Plymouth Dealers ofGreater Detroit. Finished 1st out of 7 entries in Class B (Low Price – 6Cylinder)

1960 Plymouth Savoy 6 2-door sedan 24.7360Minneapolis: Driven by Pierce Venable – Entered by W. R. ShadoffPlymouth, Pomona, California. Finished 3rd out of 7 entries in Class B(Low Price – 6 Cylinder)

1960 Plymouth Belvedere 8 2-door hardtop 22.8899Minneapolis: Driven by Mary Davis – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 11 entries in Class C (Low Price –8 Cylinder)

1960 Plymouth Belvedere 8 2-door hardtop 22.5256Minneapolis: Driven by Jim Fosdick – Entered by Plymouth DealersAssociation of Southern California. Finished 2nd out of 11 entries in ClassC (Low Price – 8 Cylinder)

-50-





1938Plymouth Deluxe 6 4-door touring sedan 40.46 21.250Yosemite: Driven by Ben Cole – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, Los Angeles,California. Finished 3rd out of 3 Entries in Price Class B



1940Plymouth Roadking 6 4-door touring sedan 45.164 22.54Yosemite: Driven by Ben Cole – Entered by Harry A. Shortell, Los Angeles,California. Finished 4th out of 4 entries in Price Class B

1941 Plymouth Deluxe 6 sedan 43.417 21.71Grand Canyon: Unknown driver – Entered by unknown. Finished 2nd outof 2 entries in Price Class B


1951 Plymouth Concord 6 2-door sedan 48.954 24.145Grand Canyon: Driven by Lee Winchester – Entered by Greene-Halderman,Los Angeles, California. Finished 2nd out of 4 entries in Special 6-Cylinder Lightweight Class




1953Plymouth Cranbrook 6 4-door sedan 46.9501 22.8301Sun Valley: Driven by Eddie Bishop – Entered by Art Frost, Glendale,California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A (Low Price – Standard& Overdrive)

1954Plymouth Belvedere 6 4-door sedan 47.7067 22.4397Sun Valley: Driven by LeRoy Schlick – Entered by Plymouth Dealers ofSouthern California. Finished 4th out of 5 entries in Class A (Low Price –Standard & Overdrive)



PlPl ymouth’ymouth’ s perfs perforor mance in the econommance in the economy ry r unsuns , , 1936 - 19681936 - 1968

TON M.P.G. M.PG.1956Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door sedan 47.7381 20.6793Colorado Springs: Driven by Art Rene – Entered by W. R. ShadoffPlymouth, Pomona, California. Finished 2nd out of 6 entries in Class A(Low Price)

1957Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 52.6211 21.3907Sun Valley: Driven by Mary Davis – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 10 entries in Class A (Low Price)

1957 Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 51.4061 20.8968Sun Valley: Driven by Dick Griffith – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 8th out of 10 entries in Class A (Low Price)

Entrants could exercise an option to enter a second car of the samemake and model, provided the second car was operated by a qualifiedwoman driver and relief driver. The official score for that make and modelwas determined by whichever of the two cars achieved the best Ton MilesPer Gallon Average over the entire course. This scoring rule was used onlyin the 1957 Economy Run.

1958Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 48.3264 20.0088Galveston: Driven by Pierce Venable – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 7 entries in Class A (Low Price)

1958Plymouth Belvedere 8 4-door hardtop 48.1804 19.9897Galveston: Driven by Mary Davis – Entered by W. R. Shadoff Plymouth,Pomona, California. Finished 2nd out of 7 entries in Class A (Low Price)

Beginning with the 1959 Run, the Ton Miles Per Gallon formulawas dropped and all cars competed strictly on a Miles Per Gallonbasis. From here on, there are no official overall winners, only

individual class winners.

1959Plymouth Belvedere 8 2-door hardtop 21.1548Kansas City: Driven by Pierce Venable – Entered by W. R. ShadoffPlymouth, Pomona, California. Finished 1st out of 8 entries in Class C(Low Price – 8 Cylinder)

One of my all-time favorite One of my all-time favorite Mobilgas Economy Run photo-graphs is this picture taken by one of Mobil's photographers. Yes,

I know it is not of a Plymouth but a Chevrolet. Thiswas at the start of the 1960 Economy Run at

Exposition Park in Los Angeles. There is a youngman of 14 years standing in the background (look

at the car’s right-side A-pIllar; see the boy withdark hair, wearing a light jacket) who happens to

be yours truly! The starter leaping in the air israce promoter J. C. Agajanian who served in thiscapacity from 1951 through 1966. The driver of

the Chevrolet Biscayne 6 is one-time Chevrolet TestDriver Betty Skelton.

-51-


OnOnhearing the name “Duster” associ-ated for the first time with a car, I

have to confess that I thought the fit wasjust right. Knowing that it was a Plymouththat was proudly bearing that monikermade it seem even better to me. It couldn'thave been a more appropriate badge for acar, and I am certain that most readers can-not help but agree with me.

The name “Duster” brings up manyimages, all which are easily applicable to acar, especially to one that is a formidablelittle Plymouth. Think, for instance, of apitcher throwing a duster at a batter: maybenot the most legal of pitches in today's ster-ile baseball world but a duster or dust backis a stern warning to a batter that he’d bet-ter be aware of the pitcher and his space.And, taking the baseball imagery a bitfurther: how about the ump dusting offhome plate, which is to say, “gettingrid of any dirty competition” thatbuilds up around his home plate.

The “dusting” off (or away) ofany competitors is an image that canbe transferred from the ballpark to thehome. Remember when you didn’tbehave and had the seat of your pantsdusted off? It was a message you like-ly did not forget for some time. Canyou likewise remember that vintagecan of scouring powder in the kitchencupboard (what was that brand now?) withthe image of the old women giving her sur-roundings a good dusting? No doubtthings around the house would turn up spicand span for some time to come or thatfrantic female duster/cleaner would get herdust rag loose again. In short, cleaningsomeone’s clock or taking care of a mess iswhat a duster is all about, and Plymouthwas the car that took the task seriously.

During its automotive lifetime, whichwas seven model years, the PlymouthDuster appeared in one basic design con-figuration. The Plymouth Scamp, whichcame on the scene a year after the Duster,was really nothing more than a rebadgedDodge Dart. When the early ‘70s compactDart proved to be a competent little car anda brisk seller, Chrysler made the decision toadd it to the Plymouth line in order toexploit to the maximum the sales potentialof the vehicle. Chrysler, for sure, was notplaying fair with its Plymouth line, but life

in the world of Detroit auto-making was just that: anythingto make a buck. The Dart outsold itsScamp twin by a big margin, I am sure,even though I don't have the sales figuresto back up my statement. It doesn't taking amarketing genius to explain the reasonswhy. Who was going to look twice at aScamp when the Dart was the first prettygirl to arrive at the party? As for me, Iremember seeing some ad shots of theScamp back then and maybe one or two onthe streets, but my memories of the car arevague, to say the least. Regarding minia-tures of the first Scamp, I cannot point myfinger at even one, but then again not manyDodge Dart models come to mind either.

The Plymouth Duster, on the other

hand, was a direct descendent of theValiant and the Barracuda, an amalgam ofthe two, so to speak. It combined theroomier, sedan features of the Valiant andgave Plymouth a lower-priced vehicle withthe sporty heritage and distinct features ofthe famous ´Cuda. With the passage oftime, Plymouth presented a number of dif-ferent versions of the Duster coupe butnever really altered the coupe’s styling. Inan obvious attempt to make an attractivecoupe even more attractive to prospectivebuyers, especially among the younger mus-cle car crowd, a high-performance Dusterwas offered. The result was a positive one,as I know of no car freak friends of minewho weren’t and still aren’t enthralled withthe hot 340 CID Duster. For some reason, amuscled-up Duster will stop me dead in mytracks if I see one on the road or at a carevent, a reason I attribute to its uniquestyling features coupled with what was avery reasonable original sticker price.

Cheap and good-looking horsepower iswhat made Plymouth an icon name in themuscle car field.

I might add, too, that the Demon wasDodge's twin of the Duster, but it sufferedin comparison much as did the PlymouthScamp reported above. The Duster was theone to have if you had to choose. Sorry,Dodge fans, but that is a fact.

MINIATURES OF THE FAMED DUSTER are thereal issue here, and the news is not toopromising. There are only a few of them,and you might just find it easier to locate areal, nicely restored or original Dustervehicle than a couple of little ones.Pictured is a model of a 1/24-scale plastic,

promotional ‘72 Duster 340 with itsoriginal Rapid Transit System box,made by Product MiniaturesCorporation (MPC) of the USA, andsold in Plymouth dealerships andother selected retail outlets at the timethe real car hit the showrooms. Notmany other miniature versions of thelittle Duster exist (but stay tuned tofuture columns). If it is realism inyour miniatures that you are after, youcannot go wrong if you invest in apromotional model. Your initial out-lay will be a bit on the high side,because promos are among the prici-

est of miniatures, as most collectors wellknow. My Duster is finished in Gold Leaf,a factory color according to the box flap.With its original box, it would likely sell inthe $125 range on eBay or at an old carevent, and quite possibly a good deal more.Besides the Gold Leaf-finished Duster,other factory colors were made. Possibly,you might find one in the color of yourown car.

The MPC Duster is the only plasticDuster miniature I know of. As to anyDuster models made in other materials, Ionly know of one, which die-cast. I'vebeen unable to “dust off” any others, eitheron my shelf of miniatures or in my memo-ry bank.

A Duster was known to”'dust off” thecompetition, and the Rapid Transit SystemDuster promo takes care of business evenin the miniature world. Nuf´said!

-- Bill Brisbane-- Bill Brisbane

Dusting ofDusting off the Dusterf the Duster

-52-

Plymouth MiniaturesPlymouth Miniatures

2

2

7



1942 P14 Special Deluxe convertibleDenise Brady

and Dakota, her German Wire-haired Pointer

SHEILA NAWROCKI PHOTO

F15747 Plymouth B

ulletin 288 Created By Patty DesautelC

MY

K

Founded 1957

Founded 1957Founded 1957 Sixteen Time Old Cars Weekly “Golden Quill”: Award WinnerSixteen Time Old Cars Weekly “Golden Quill”: Award Winner

RA

CH

EL

ST

YE

R P

HO

TO

Gary a

nd C

arolyn

Gra

y’s 1932 P

B roa

dster

1932 - 2

008

Destroyed

in a

fire on J

anuary 2

9, 2

008

test test test test

plymouth duces 32, 42, 52, 62... econo runs

Documents