Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Taking stock of my newest purchase.

The tires look good but are quite old.
The hubcap and trim ring are in fine shape but need cleaning and polishing.

Once I got the Plymouth safely home it was time to take a more detailed look at it. As well to put some miles driving it to get better acquainted. 

The car is quite fun to drive because of the novelty of driving a vintage machine, not the performance. But It started up easy, and I was quite comfortable driving a three on the tree. This calls for relaxed, thoughtful gear shifting. With the non synchronized first gear, I quickly learned that it was best to only down shift into first while at a complete stop! However, cars from this period had flexible engines with a lot of low speed torque, and first gear is only needed for starting from a complete stop. Second gear is fine once speed is up to 25 mph.

Funny, but the last car that I drove with a column mounted three speed and a straight six, was my Dad's old '61 Dodge Seneca coupe. That was back in the early 1970's, another Mopar!

It had plenty of power to keep up with normal surface street and expressway traffic. I drove it at 50 mph. on a nearby expressway, and even ran it up to 60 mph. for a time. Based upon my research, the manufacturer claimed a 65 mph. cruising speed with a top speed of 80 mph. It does sound much busier at 50 mph. than a modern car, but according to my "ear Tach" it didn't sound overly taxed. 

A thorough cleaning of the car was done. The chrome and stainless was pristine, as was the seat upholstery. The paint was in overall good condition, and there weren't any signs of rust on the body or under carriage. As I have mentioned before, this is an older restoration, probably done in the late 1970's or early 1980's. 

The biggest problem with the finish is the patches of oxidation of the clear coat, this is commonly seen on older "modern" cars. Once the clear coat is damaged, it turns ashen gray, and as it weathers away it exposes the base color coat which also discolors. 

These oxidized patches were all over the body.

I'm going to post pictures of how the car looked when I bought it. This will document it's present condition and provide a base line of comparison for later improvements.

I find the styling to be quite handsome.

Sunburn.

The Sun will take it's toll, 
the deck lid sustained the most damage.

There's a shallow dent and scrape marks.

Taken as a whole,
I think that it looks pretty good!

The plastic light up hood ornament 
is quite weathered.

It looks like the Mayflower is taking on water!

The interior is delightful, clean and inviting!

I am very satisfied with my purchase.  Of course there are things that will need to be addressed, but that is part of the fun. My intention is to fix whatever it needs and to improve the overall condition of the car. I am so glad that I did the smart thing (finally!) and bought a good car to start with!

My mantra is to preserve, maintain, and improve. I have no intention of trying to re-do the entire car. I will try to improve the paint by carefully polishing and buffing. The chrome and stainless just needs a little cleaning and polishing with some Simichrome. Though the tires look good with minimal cracking, it will need a new set before I'm confident on extended driving. I also need to locate a spare wheel/tire as it is missing, though the original jack is still in the trunk.

This is not a project car or a prospect for complete restoration, in many ways it's more of a 78 year old used car. I mean that in the best way! It's like my Navigator or Riviera, a basically sound car in good condition. It just needs a bit of care to bring it back to looking it's best. That's going to be my intention and I'll post my progress as further developments are made.

Stay tuned!