Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Driving down to So Cal to pick up my "newest" old car. Part One.

I finally made the leap!

Driving down to So Cal to look over my "newest" old car.

I called the seller of the '40 LaSalle that I had seen last Summer, and he advised me that the car had been sold. Drat! It had been a good car and a good deal. I had been hoping that the car was still available, it had been listed twice, and I knew that it sometimes takes a long time to find a buyer. 

Thinking about the LaSalle, I got to thinking that maybe I should look for a car in similar condition; a driveable, usable car that was already in good shape. I would have to expect it to cost me more upfront.

CraigsList is my usual hunting grounds. So I took a look. First I searched the Bay Area listings. No luck.

Then I searched the Sacramento area listings. Many of the same cars I saw in the Bay Area were also listed in Sacramento.

Then I checked the Fresno area, that's where I had found my '97 Riviera. Also no luck.

I usually have good luck looking in the L.A. region listings. I've found and bought a couple of cars from Southern California.

I didn't find anything that interested me there. I was a bit disappointed, so I started looking in some of the subheadings. I clicked on the Inland Empire region and started scrolling through the listings. This is when I found it!

A listing for a 1946 Plymouth Special Deluxe club coupe. 

It was important to me that it be a coupe, not a two door sedan or a four door. Nothing wrong with sedans, but if I was buying a popular priced make, instead of something fancy, I wanted it to be a coupe.

It was listed as a daily driver. The seller had owned it for 37 years and it had conventional registration licensing. That struck me as significant, as the owner didn't face any restrictions that go along with the use of historical vehicle plates.

It looked pretty good to me in the pictures. This wasn't a rusted out, abandoned derelict, a barn find, or a hopeless old project that was partially disassembled with a bunch of parts thrown into a ruined interior.

This was a real car. Unlike a museum car that had sat primarily unused and undriven for decades. It was also different from a typical garage queen, that is fussed over and stored away, but is also seldom used. This was a car that was frequently used. It was, in reality, a 78 year old used car!

The seller advised me that it was still in the shape that he had bought it. He had maintained it over the years, but any restoration had been done before he owned it. While he didn't go on long trips, he drove the car around town and the surrounding area on a regular basis.

Based upon my close inspection of the '47 Dodge, I had gained some familiarity with this type of car. As I've said before, Chrysler corporation cars had never been specifically on my radar. However as I examined the Dodge, I found many things that I liked. The Plymouth and Dodge are very similar in size and design. 

I found the coupe styling to be quite attractive, and since this design actually dates from before WWII, it has a very definite mid Forties appearance. I was impressed by the exterior and interior dealing of the Dodge which was quite nice, especially the dashboard and upholstery design.  

During my research, I discovered that Plymouth shared all of the engineering refinements of it's more expensive siblings, except for Fluid Drive. I learned that this was a very interesting system, but the fluid coupling added a bit more complexity to the drive train. The regular three speed manual transmission is as basic and simple as it gets, which was something that really appealed to me. 

The flathead six enjoyed a very good reputation based upon it's reliability and longevity. The basic engine was used from the late 1930's until 1959, when it was replaced by the new Slant Six. It continued to be used in Dodge trucks for a few more years and enjoyed use as an industrial engine up into the 1980's.

While it was never considered to be a fire breather, it was certainly adequate for the period that it was built for. 

Another attraction was that the Dodge and Plymouth were a more compact design than the old Buick Roadmaster I'd seen in Sacramento, and even the LaSalle. I'd noted how easily the Dodge had fit in a regular two car garage, which was a big attraction, since I was planning on keeping the car in my garage.

I had started to develop quite a bit of respect for old Mopars!

Look at the pictures in the CL ad.

Nice and tidy with a little sunburn
visible on the hood and fender.

Look at those bumpers! Looks like a bit of sunburn on the deck lid. 

Can't see much in this shot, but the trunk lid stays up
by itself, no broomstick in use.

The engine looks to be original, and most importantly
the original air cleaner is present.

The seat looks nice, and maybe redone in the original type fabric.
The dash looks intact.

Original steering wheel.

A handsome face and it's in great condition!

The car was located near Pomona, so I couldn't just casually drive down and check it out. I contacted the owner via the CL e-mail connection and I asked about the car. I told him that I was serious about looking at it, but I would have to put together a projected itinerary for the trip. Then I'd get back to him and confirm the date.  This would include lodging for two nights, and reserving a car trailer at a nearby U Haul dealer, in case I decided to buy the car. Actually my Wife handled the planning, as usual. Her only request was that we stop at several quilt shops on the way down. I was happy to do that.

I decided to take the Navigator on this trip instead of my truck. I'm glad that I did.

We left on Super Bowl Sunday and stayed in Anaheim. The next day after one more quilt store stop, we drove out to see the car. 

The seller arranged to show the car in a nearby Albertson's supermarket parking lot.

I liked the car on first sight.

It was a real time capsule.

It appeared to me that the car was restored to popular standards back in the mid 1970's or early '80's. 

What I mean by that, was that it is was repainted in two stage clear/ base coat, the upholstery was redone in similar-to- original fabric, and modern style carpet was used on the floors and trunk. The chrome looked so good, it was either replated or the bumpers had been replaced with new units. 

The car started up and idled smoothly, always a good sign. The test drive revealed that it ran fine, the clutch, transmission, and brakes worked well and there was no smoking from the engine. The entire driveline was stock and in great condition. I was immediately impressed by how positive the brakes felt, they are very confidence inspiring. The steering felt a bit loose, and the bias ply tires liked to follow road irregularities. The owner told me that he had the car rewired and turn signal functions were added to the original lights. I asked if the engine had been rebuilt during his ownership and he told me no, but he assumed that it had been during the restoration, and that he had only put around 6,000 miles on it during his ownership. The odometer read 68,621 which the seller believed was original.

The underside of the car was in amazing condition, not a hint of rust, It was like looking at a twenty year old car!

I really liked the car! I especially liked that it was a real, almost "daily driven" example of a vintage machine. Maintained in good original stock condition, and repaired and driven very frequently. Cars like this don't show up on the market very often. The '40 LaSalle was a similar example, and I'd lost my chance to get that one through indecision. I wasn't going to let this one get away!

The asking price seemed pretty fair to me, 9,800.00 and I thought that the car was definitely worth it. I certainly wasn't going to try and engage in hard bargaining to try and save a few bucks, and turn the buying experience into an adversarial confrontation. The seller was a very nice guy, maybe a few years older than me, and it was obvious that he loved his car, and wanted it to go to someone that would value it. I know all about that, that's how I felt about my '96 Mustang.

Besides, if you commit to the expense and trouble of driving over 300 miles to look at a car, would you really turn around and leave over a few hundred bucks? 

There is an old car collector saying that it is always better to have paid more for a good car upfront, than to have paid a lot less for a bad car. You'll come out far ahead in the end.

If the car was not as represented, or if it had been in poor condition, then that would have been a different story. I made an offer of 9,500.00 for the car and he accepted. The 300.00 savings just about covered the cost of the trailer rental. 

I actually paid more for this Plymouth than I did for my '06 Mustang, but it was a similar situation. I'd been looking for a good one for a long time. I finally found the right one, in the right color, condition. and mileage. I'm glad that I pulled the trigger on that purchase.

We completed the transaction and signed the paperwork at a local bank.

Now it was mine. 
I was as excited as a 70 year old teenager!

Now all I had to do was to go rent the trailer, return and load the car up.