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Newbe to this forum, 1931 Plymouth PA

Started by PatrickSmith, January 27, 2014, 11:31:17 AM

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PatrickSmith

Just a quick hello from Apache Junction AZ! Looking forward to being a part of this forum.

I'm the proud owner of a 1931 Plymouth PA. A quick history. Nellie as we call her was manufactured on Aug 15th, 1931 (I sent away to Chrysler and received the build card). My Wife's great Uncle purchased her new in Younstown Ohio. He along with most the family lived in Jefferson County Ohio (NE Ohio) till he served and died in WWII. The car was parked in the family barn, yes a barn car. My Wife's Father pulled her out in 1985 and started the restoration. He was never able to complete the restoration as he passed after a battle with cancer in 1995. His very good friend then continued off and on to complete the project as a promise to my Father-In-Law. Three years ago my wife and I drove back to the family farm and brought her to our home in Apache Junction AZ.

Since arriving in her new home I have spent many hours along with my Uncle getting her road worthy. A short list: Resealed the fuel tank inside out, milled the head along with tracking down the head gasket, rebuilt the Carter Carb, NOS fuel pump, rebuilt the distributer, replace the coil, pulled and rebuilt all of the wheel brake cylinders as well as the master cylinder, tightened every bolt, and this past weekend completed the rear pinion. The rear was fun as I had to have a new flange fabricated since the old flange was fused to the rear spline.

I do love working on and driving this car.

Doug


chetbrz


Nice car Patrick, Welcome aboard.

Chet...
http://www.1948Plymouth.info           Web Master - Forum Administrator - AACA member

Crazydave


29roadster

Great looking car, I hope one days mine looks that good  ;D

frankp

Great looking car, Patrick!

Out of curiosity, what is your carburetor?

frank
frank p

PatrickSmith

She has the original Carter 1bbl updraft. In the picture I have a K&N filter which I prefer since we live in the desert and have lots of fine dust. I do have the original air silencer / air cleaner (HUGE) but prefer the K&N. I will include a before pic of the motor before I did the tear down and rebuild.

frankp

frank p

Old Man

Since you've done such a nice job of bringing it back from the dead, I thought I would play devil's advocate to take it back 100%. I apologize if you consider this straight criticism, it is not. I owned a barn fresh '31 PA 6 wire wheel DeLuxe sedan for many years and I'm quite familiar with them in their untouched condition. =The headlight bar should be chromed.=The headlights do not appear to be the large originals.The '28/'29/'30 and '31 all had basically the same headlights. (Anybody else agree?)=The rad cap appears to be '33 PD. The '31 PA/'32 PB were lower bodied than the '33PD.Could you give us a closer photo of it?= The front right hubcap appears to be '31 PA but the rear one appears to be fatter/thicker and could be '33. Closer photo?= That carb is a '32 PB BB-1. The '31 PA had a straight mouth on it. The '32 had the mouth pointing up like yours. And the '32 PB had the accelerator pump on the outside where yours is.= The sparkplug wiring was correct on the engine in it's original condition. Push the wire loom a little more to the right and put the caps on the plugs directly out of the loom not wound over the top. 

PatrickSmith

No hard feelings on my end! Since I was not around 82 years ago when she first rolled off the line (I'm 47) I use these forums for advice and guidance from the world of knowledge beyond my own.
I was not on hand when the car was pulled from the barn so I can only go by what I've been told or have learned on various forums.
Some items may not be exact matches to the original. For example as my wife says her father said if the wheels were ever painted the original "baby puke yellow" he would come back from the grave and take the car back with him!
I do have the original build card from Chrysler. All numbers match. The Carb was good for many conversations on the Antique Auto Club Forum. Some for the fact that it is original and some against. I do know from photos on web that it appears to be correct in my opinion and better then that it absolutely works flawless. It took some time to find the original silencer/air cleaner. I do not typically drive with this as the K&N is far superior to the original.
I do doubt the headlights are original but do feel they represent fairly close to original and they work well. I will not chrome the light bar, dollars and my own taste decided this. The hub caps are not original. The caps on the car were purchased in PA years ago. My guess is the originals were used for target practice on the farm years ago!
I have no idea if the radiator cap is original. Every picture I have shows this cap as well as examples on the web. It could be your seeing the cap in a bit of a raised stance because it's not seated entirely. I will check this.
As time rolls on and my son receives this car someday we will continue to get her as close to original as possible. Every bit of work has done by the family from the body to the mechanics. I will adjust the wire loom as you recommended. I needed something to do this weekend anyway.
Again, I enjoy the discussions and feedback these forums provide and take it all as constructive criticism.

Old Man

This is my '31 PA 30 years ago the day I received an award from the Ministry of Agriculture of Ontario. This photo ended up in the newspapers and in the Ministry archives. I'm the guy with the moustache. (Was I ever that young!) You can see the chrome headlight bar and the correct crankhole cover. The flying lady isn't very clear here either but she is the correct "low" bodied one. And these are the correct headlights. The car had been untouched in a barn north of Oshawa Ont. since about the end of WWII. It's last active owner I was told was a Toronto police detective,Albert John. The car was prestine and like a piece right out of a sales brochure.     

PatrickSmith

Thank you for the reference photo! Amazing car! I do understand the differences you noted. My guess is my light bar was from a "thrift" model as these came with black light bars and black radiator shells. My car was exposed to NE Ohio weather for over 40 years. While in the "barn" the roof leaked, doors were not tight, and kids played on her. I have no doubt during restoration parts were picked up from other era cars. The family has done all the work on a tight budget so getting as close as we can we are very happy. I did see the Flying Lady Rad cap referenced at www.33ply.com stating that the 31PA was low and 33 higher on the radiator. Years from now she may get closer to perfection but for now we will whittle away at the details. Thank you again and please send the light bar and headlights express ship:-)

frankp

Old Man,

Great looking car!  Thanks for posting.

frank
frank p