39 Plym. Conv. Coupe

[Go Fleiter]

Mercedes on most convertibles uses "Sonnenland" multiple layer heavy quality.
I didn?t want at first because I liked the old simple fabric very much.
As work costs were most of the top price, they convinced me to order Sonnenland.
It is really a fine quality, 3 years old it has nearly the color and patina of the old one.

[Wm Steed]

The top material that we are using on my '39 is actually the material for a Mercedes top in lieu of the more common canvas type of material.. I opted for the Mercedes type of fabric because it is a heavier fabric, and has a nicely finished back side. The color of the fabric is a dark tan to blend in with the saddle brown leather and the British Racing Green paint.
I know, my '39 is a Plymouth, not a Mercedes, but then again, Mercedes owned Chrysler for several years, so it's all in the family..
Go,.. It looks like your top shop tried their best to correct "their mistake" on your top, of course if they would have done the job right the first time, there would have been no need to redo the work... I still hear my father telling me... " If you can't find the time to do the job right the first time, when are you going to find the time to redo the job?".... Bill   

[Go Fleiter]

Bill, good top makers are rare here too!
They fitted my new top too tight at the rear.
After one Year it began to loosen.
They had to let it a bit longer and did so with a stripe, which seemed nice to me.
one more year later they had to redo: they hadn?t made it longer, they just did hide the crack of the canvas. And here and there they darnaged the varnisch too.
The third time I stood besides: now it is long enough, but it undulates a bit when closed (3. pic). The original roof did the same.
Well, my top linkage does not allow the canvas to be nicely stretched when closed: it needs to be a bit longer or it will break when open.

Greetings from D?sseldorf, 32 degr. F !
Go

[Wm Steed]

After a three months wait, my 39 Plym is finally in the upholstery shop to get the interior finished and the top put on.. I guess I should have found another shop, however, there was one big problem.. I had purchased all of the material for the top and enough leather for the interior along with a new back window and other supplies, all of which were being stored at the shop that was going to do the work.. Upholstery, body-fender/ paint shops all fit into the same category.. Unreliable at the best. Of course, anyone that has ever dealt with a convertible knows full well that good top makers are few and far between..
I made a posting to the "Parts & Paper thread here on the POC Forum a little while ago announcing that I was going to start selling off my excess '39 Plym parts.. Most of the parts I have are for the conv. coupes only, the left window assembly I have will fit the '38-39 conv. coupe.. A member of the POC has been telling me for two years that he was going to buy the window assembly... Nada, no show, no money, time to up anchor and move on...
When I was in the early phases of restoring my '39, I had found out that Briggs Manufacturing also built most of the Ford conv coupe bodies during the 1930's.. Research showed that many of the parts were very similar.. I purchased windows for a '36-39 Ford conv. coupe because I had been told the were the same a the Plym windows. Upon receipt of the windows I found they were similar, not the same.. I tried to sell the Ford windows several times, to no avail.. I recently ran into a guy I have known for years that has noting but '36-40 Ford conv's, I told him I had a left window assembly for a '36-39 Ford conv. He was in the process fo restoring a '39 Ford conv. cpe.. I made his day, sold him the window assembly I had...  Bill

[Wm Steed]

The new year is now twelve days old... Hopefully everyone has recovered from to much partying bringing in the new year... A good friend of mine always maintained that the only sure cure for a hangover was three days..
I am somewhat sitting on pins and needles, I had an appointment with the upholstery shop to get the top on the car, and finish up the upholstery work.. My appointment has been set back ten days because a '53 Merc convertible had a lot of problems that needed to be corrected..
As many of the "citizens here on PB might recall, I have been working on the car since 1998.. During all of the years since work was started on the car there has been great progress made, only to run into problems which almost derailed the project.. I do have to admit that the car is a real pleasure to drive, even with no top now that the side windows are in the car, and they are operational.. I guess I should not rub in Southern California's great weather... AH what the heck, even this time of the year is "topless" weather.... Bill

[Go Fleiter]

Glenn, that is what my wife sais to me (61 Yrs old)too, when italian girls whistled at me (?) while in Holidays.

They are more enthusiastic as ours here. Ours are too cool to show reaction usually...

[SD Glenn]

Glad you're back Bill.
You realize that the lady wants your car Bill, look out. lol
Take care,
SDGlenn

[Wm Steed]

For the last few weeks I have been able to work on my '39 Plym, after a hiatus of almost a year and a half.. The car had paint issues that I fought with the painter about for all most two years. He finally agreed to fix the issues, then screwed things up all most as bad as the original.. When I got the car back my attitude was not in sink with the Plym, I put it away in it's garage..
I got somethings back together on the car in the months prior to my lung surgery, since the first of November I have been able to work on the car for several hours every day.. Last week I was able to light the car up and take it for a spin.. I still don't have a top on the car, but I do have windows now that roll up and down at the touch of the switch.
I had the car sitting in the driveway wiping it off.. I have a new neighbor who came out to get her mail.. She had never seem my Plym, she has only lived next door for just shy of a year.
I should add that the neighbor is in her early forties, an attractive (single) brunette. Her and her mother bought the house, the mother is confined to a wheelchair, blended household to cut down on expenses..
Many years ago one of my daughters asked me what was the point in building the Plymouth.. I told her very simple.. I was going to put the top down and go out looking for "chicks" that wanted to ride in a neat car... My daughter said... Ya sure... Little did she know.
Anyway, the neighbor lady "Dawn" asked me if I was going to take the car out for a ride, I said I was as soon as I finished wiping it off.. Batting her eyes, as girls can do so well she asked.. I sure would like to ride in that car... Of course my response was to hit the remote door opener, telling the lady to step right in..
It was a beautiful day in Southern Cal, we went on a nice ride for almost a half hour.. A pretty lady makes a nice accessory to any car, especially a '39 Plymouth conv. coupe...
Life IS REALLY GOOD....Bill   
 

[Jim Benjaminson]

Bill - glad to hear your reports were good.  Had a message the other day from Bob Drown who is fighting mouth cancer - good to hear from him - and I'm waiting to hear from my work partner who's X-rays show a mass on his lungs.  He'd gone through a bout of thyroid cancer earlier.  They took a biopsy but no results yet from this setback......

[Go Fleiter]

nice news! You both enjoy life, families and hobbies more now!

Greetings from D?sseldorf!
Go

[RC Drown]

Bill,

I am so pleased that it all worked out and there was no cancer, and yes, life is good,

Bob

[Wm Steed]

I have not been very active on the POC forum for the last few months because of an unforeseen event in my life..
As Bette Davis said... "Hang it going to be a bumpy ride"... In early 2011 the condition of my back had become unbearable.. I needed extensive back surgery.. Modern medicine requires many tests prior to surgery.. During the course of a lung xray an item of concern was noted.. Further tests where ordered... Following many tests it was determined that the item was non malignant, however, it should be monitored.. Every four months I went in for followup tests... Everything was good to go..
During the course of a test in August 2012, it was noted that the item had changed. A pet scan in early September lite up like a Christmas tree in my lung and lymph nodes...
What to do? Radiation/Chemo?... Hmmm? Because the "growth" had changed so quickly and appeared in my lymph nodes, surgery was suggested.. My family and I conferred, we decided that surgery was the best answer.... Get the little buggers out of there..
I under went lung and lymph node surgery on October 3.. A 6 cm section was removed from my lung, smaller sections of the lymph nodes were removed...I am very happy to report that the growths were benign... Probably the result of an old infection or occupational exposure... The doctors told me I was one lucky guy, they said I was in the 5% group that escapes cancerous growths... A free pass to go and enjoy life.
I have been recovering very rapidly.. For the past several days I have been able to work on my Plym for a few hours each day.... Life is good.... Bill      

[RC Drown]

Bill, here is an ad from 1944 showing the duribilty of the 1940 Plymouth with an air plane in the back ground.  I had to take a photo of it as my copier isn't big enough to make a copy.

Hope this helps you out somewhat,
Bob

[furylee]

Pretty sure this is a 41. Lifted from a thread on the HAMB.

[Wm Steed]

This is a little off topic from my usual comments about the '39 Plymouth's, but not really....
I have been invited to show my '39 Plym at a museum in Paso Robles, CA that features World War II aircraft and WWII vehicles and other items. This is a special fund raising promotion featuring the showing of WWII War Birds... A few of which are; A P38, P51 Mustang, B25.. and several more. They want to have cars of the late '30's, early '40's era stationed in and near the aircraft. The special showing is the last weekend of September... 28th, 29th & 30th..
Through the years I have gathered up several auto related items from the WWII era.... ie; gas rationing stamps and decals for the windshield.... I think I have seen a picture/Mag Ad that shows a '39/40 Plym convertible sitting next to a WWII aircraft... I have one showing a '42 Studebaker sitting next to a P38.
If anyone has a picture, Mag Ad showing a '39. 40, 41 Plym convertible sitting next to a military aircraft, I would really appreciate a copy of same..
A pix/Ad showing a '40/41 Plym staff car in an aircraft setting would be helpful also... I know where there is an unrestored '41 Plym staff car that we are trying to buy for the museum.
This special showing of WWII aircraft will be attended by people/groups from all over the U.S. many of which will fly in, in their restored WWII aircraft...
Again, any pix help will be greatly appreciated by a friend of mine that works at the museum who has been assigned the task of securing the antic automobiles....Bill

[Wm Steed]

Thank you Go for your kind thoughts... I believe I have mentioned before that I have very fond memories of the time I spent in Germany....Bill

[Go Fleiter]

I rfemember a couple of years ago,  You  and some more of this forum were among those who kept our freedom and let this country  ( and Europe)
unite again. Thank You so much! We rember USA?s engagement in Berlin and here in Europe

Well, uniting was very expensive, and Europe will cost even more.
But a war, anyhow, costs everything.

[Wm Steed]

Sometimes the cobb webs in my brain are really thick.... I just finished making a comment on the Ford Barn Forum to a question regarding the location and possible decoding of the VIN for a '36 Ford coupe.. I have a '36 Ford coupe which I have owned for 60 years come September... I have been a member of the Early Ford V8 Club since the mid 1970's.
The VIN on my '36 is 324xxx, which in Ford lingo only means that the car was built in late September 1936, the car was in the last couple of thousand vehicles built for the '36 model year.
Now the somewhat strange thing that just dawned on me... The VIN on my '39 Plym conv is 323xxx.... Of course we all know that the VIN for a DPCD vehicle can be traced through Chrysler Historical which will reveal the origins of our cars.
The similarities of the two numbers might no mean much to most people, to me it was a little.... Do, Da, Do, Do (theme from Twilight Zone.)
Maybe I have a thing for numbers... Amongst my interests are old license plates and old chauffeur's, drivers badges... While looking online (eBay) for a YOM plate for a '49 Oldsmobile I am restoring I stumbled into a license plate site for 'Armed Forces in Germany'.... I was stationed in Germany in 1956-58 when I was in the Army, I had a '50 Opel so I looked through the plates listed... Coming upon a set of very nice 1957 plates I paused... The number on the plate caught my eye, ringing a bell in my head... I knew that the AFG plates in Germany were issued by zone, that is why the number on the plate seemed to ring a bell...  I placed a bid on the plates and went about my business.
In a few days I received an email from eBay, I had won the plates.. When the plates arrived I said to myself, 'self', there is something very strange going on here... I went to my photo albums, looking for the pix I had taken in and around Fulda, Germany.. Finding some pix of my '50 Opel I almost fell over, the number on the plate I had just received from eBay was only ten digits higher than the plates on my Opel.... Since the U.S. Army Provost Marshall traveled from post to post issuing license plates, the soldier that had bought the plates that I had just purchased, was standing in the same line, on the same day as I was.... More Twilight Zone theme is in order....Bill   

[Wm Steed]

Well now, my previous posting worked so I will try again.
I was really surprised when I opened this tread to find that I had not added to this topic in almost a year... Hmmm, time goes bye when one is having fun...
During the past several months I have ran into one frustration after another trying to get the window issues solved for 'Walter'... As quickly as I think I have one issue solved, another one jumps up. Each time a problem has arisen, with the window tracts, guide rollers, or the operators, it has fallen on my shoulders to solve the problem because the repair shops I have dealt with either did not have the skills to solve the problem and/or they did not want to be bothered.
As with many issues during the course of the rebuilding of Walter, I have encountered items that are not typical of the average '30 model car.. It would appear that Chrysler followed their own path, which involved a higher standard of engineering. In other words, a car built to a design standard, in lieu of a budget.
The delays in getting the door windows installed and operating has also delayed getting the top and upholstery done, neither of which could be done until the windows were in and working. I finished up the installation of the windows yesterday.
Of course I added to the window problem because I wanted power windows... This was going to be a slam dunk because I had been told by several company's that they had operators that 'would work' in my car... wrong... I ended up having to send my mechanical operators out to have electric ones made using mine as the patterns. I made mention in my 3/10 thread about the great work that Nu-Relics did in making my power window operators.
I have documented the rebuilding and installation of my window assemblies, with several photos and a written text, unfortunately the text and photo's contain more info that what this forum can accept. I am going to forward my info to Lanny @ The Plymouth Bulletin, he might deem the info interesting enough to incorporate it into the Bulletin.
Another issue that I have to deal with in getting Walter finished up.... Chrome Plating!! I had all of the chrome redone on the bumpers, etc., in 2006-07... The car has never spent a night sitting outside, nor has it been driven in bad weather... Since when does California have bad weather? The chrome started to blister and peal on both of my bumpers and guards. Some of the other pieces started showing signs of blistering...
I paid good money for the chrome work to a shop that guaranteed their work, ya sure, what good is a guarantee when the shop goes out of business..
I think a good friend of mine that is also a car guy summed things up pretty well when he said.. "we should have taken up collecting stamps in lieu of cars, stamps were easier to store and in the end achieved a higher value"....Bill

[Wm Steed]

I just finished composing an update to the progress detailing the near completion of 'Walter'... When I attempted to post the article the forum, it would not accepted the article....Bill

[Wm Steed]

Good things/Bad things;
I have an appointment with the upholstery shop for Aug. 15 to get the top put on and finish up the interior. I have been able to work for a couple of hours a day getting all of the stainless trim reinstalled after having removed it for the paint repairs.
I finally got all of the trim installed on the grille shell, the center trim had not been installed because I was looking for a good piece to restore... I had acquired a near perfect Plymouth emblem for the center of the grille which finally got installed... The front end looks really great. The '39 grilles and front end have a very "Art Deco" flair to them.
On the bad side.. I started installing the window guide tracts that I rebuilt a couple of years ago.. They have been sitting on the shelve awaiting the day they would be needed.
The right door went right together, the left door was a different story. Some how or another my tracts got mixed up with the "Alabama Car" tracts. The left front tract turned out to be a modified tract for the Alabama Car. The mounts are wrong for my car so I will have to make new mounts to fit the left front of the door... A minor delay.....Bill
 

[CHS]

It is always GOOD NEWS, to hear someones back surgery went well! It is better news that you will be able to get back to doing what you love, Working on your old Plymouth. I know I am always tinkering around with mine.

[Wm Steed]

AH Shucks.... GO & SD Glenn, you guys are very kind to make note about my car stories here on the POC Bulletin. In addition to what I babble about here on the POCB I have for many years  been writing an article I call "Rust In Peace" for the Golden State Region of the POC....Bill

[SD Glenn]

Hey Go, Thank you for mentioning that Bill had some good stories about the old cars. I went back to the begining of this post. There is very interesting reading here, keeping me intertained for hours. I would recomend ALL the newbee read some of Bills posts. I am enjoying them very much and can't seem to close down the PC right now. lol  Great posts Bill, and wish you the best of luck with the surgery.
SD Glenn

[Go Fleiter]

Best whishes from D?sseldorf!
Hope You recover fast and can take the scrwdriver soon!
Always nice to read Your car stories! Go

[RC Drown]

Bill,

I am pleased that your back surgery went well and you are on the road to a full recovery.

Not to worry about the photos, but thanks for thinking of me,
Bob

[Wm Steed]

The brief respite that the pain meds gave me from my back problem went away so I had to have an operation on my back... L1-L5 lumbar laminectomy. The operation was a huge success.
My doctor released me for limited physical activities on July 1 so I have been getting the grille trim ready to reinstall. Since the trim has been laying around for over a year I am re-polishing everything before I put the pieces back in place.

Unfortunetly my doctor will not allow me to go for a long car ride until at least six weeks following the surgery so I will not be able to attend the National Summer Meet in Pacific Grove on July 13-16. I was really looking forward to the meet.   

I, which I could accommodate RC's request for pictures of the rebuilding of "Walter".... For some reason the program (s) in my computer do not work well with the format of the POC Bulletin. If I try to post pictures they end up in cyber space, some times Mark steps in an rescues the pictures.. I don't quite understand, I have no problem posting to the other forum's, Ford Barn, EFV8 Club, Buick Club, and a few more.....Bill

[RC Drown]

Bill,

Sorry to hear that you have been under the weather, but glad that you are feeling better.

How about some photos to share with us on the progress of "Walter"

[Wm Steed]

After a hiatus from this thread for over a year I thought it is high time I updated "Walters" progress.

I made note in March 2010 that "Walter" was going into the body shop to get some paint issues touched up prior to finishing the top and upholstery. The car was in the shop for several days with no progress. I pressed the painter to get moving with the work, he had told me he would have the repairs done in a week. After two weeks of hardly any action, the man told me that some of the SS trim was in the way. I told him... DON'T TOUCH ANY OF THE TRIM, I WOULD REMOVE ANYTHING IN HIS WAY... Another two weeks went by, with very little action. i was starting to get very up set. I had and appointment at the upholstery shop which was quickly coming up.

A couple more weeks passed, with very little progress... When I tried to push the painter he got mad... The big problem was that the issues with the paint were his fault which were apparent before we started the final assembly of the body. Things went from bad to worse, I finally took all of the trim off because the painter screwed up several areas trying to spot the paint in.

To make a long story short, the guy ended up repainting the car twice, of course he wanted to be paid for all this work. Fortunately I had documented the issues with pictures and notes so I told the guy to go fly a kite. In the end he got even with me.. it took five months to get the paint fixed. By the time I got the car back I had lost my appointment with the upholstery shop and I had lost a lot of my enthusiasm to reinstall all the trim, bumpers, etc.

In January of 2011 I developed a problem with my back that has prevented me from working on my projects, Walter in particular. My back has gotten a little better so during the past couple of weeks, I have been working on Walter.

I did get the "Alabama" '39 conv. done for my friend... It turned out very nice.. He has been driving to car shows and general cruising, however, I understand that he is thinking about selling the car... He is not a car guy so he can't work on the car to do general maintenance....Bill

[36 Ply]

Cool boat story, Bill. And congratulations on the progress on your '39 convertible.

Regards,
Pat O'Connor

[Wm Steed]

Convertible tops and nice driving weather:
Finally after many months of frustration to get parts rebuilt and/or made for the top mechanisms, they (both cars) are assembled and installed on the cars. I had the assemblies powder coated in a "camel" color which is similar to the original color. The latch assemblies really look great with the new chrome. The "Alabama" car is going to the upholstery shop next week to get the top put on and finish up some misc. upholstery work.

My car is going to the paint shop tomorrow AM to get the paint touched up, a few issues here and there following all the assembly work. My car is going into the upholstery shop on the 10th of April to get its top and tidy up some misc. upholstery issues.

We had some issues with the power window assemblies that I bought from Nu-Relics.... Everything fit good, the windows went down very good, however, they needed a "hand assist" to go up. When I called Nu-Relic's they instructed me to return the operators to them and they would install assist springs on the assembly. I guess they had miss calculated the weight of the ChryCo assemblies.

Nu-Relic's modified the operators and returned them to me postage prepaid with-in a couple of weeks.... they now work great... If you need power windows for your car contact Nu-Relic's.... THEY ARE GREAT PEOPLE!!!!!  (336 699-8949)

Yesterday was a perfect topless day here in So Cal, 84 degrees. I got "Walter" out, dusted him off and hit the road. Great ride up on a two lane road called Foothill that traverses through citrus groves. I had to be careful because the road has a 55 MPH speed limit. When I came back to Ventura I dropped down to the 126 freeway and let "Walter" loose..... He does like to run at speed, just like a race horse with his ears back and nostril's flared.

Several years ago I read a story about a very famous race boat of the late 1920's. The boats name is "Baby Bootlegger", it was designed by George Crouch on a commission by Mr. Caleb S Bragg, a wealthy businessman who liked to race boats. Baby Bootlegger won several races in 1924-25, winning the Gold Cup Race in 1925 against three other George Crouch designed boats. In 1926 Baby Bootlegger disappeared following an engine compartment fire. Reportedly the boat had been sold to a boat breaker yard in the the Quebec area where the engine was dismantled for scrap and the hull cut up for fire wood.

In the 1970's a man named Mark Mason, who was very interested in old wood racing boats heard about Baby Bootlegger. He did a lot of research on the the boat finally finding a man who had purchased the boat from Mr Bragg. Further research found the boat sitting in a shed that the breaker had built to protect the boat because he could not bring himself to break it up...... When Mr Mason and the owner opened the shed the man told Mr Mason.... " I knew that you were coming. I  saved the boat for you. I did not think you would take so long".  According to the article Baby Bootlegger has been completely restored by Mr Mason and at last report resides in it's own all weather boathouse on Lake George.

In a sense "Walter" is like Baby Bootlegger.... "Walter" waited in a open field in Montana for 38 years for me to come to his rescue....Bill   

[Wm Steed]

Yes..... I knew it was Meg Ryan..... I could claim that I just wanted to see if anyone actually read the nonsense I wrote.
Actually.... I have to fess up... I had a brain hiccup....Bill ;D

[furylee]

Happy Birthday to my 39 Plym..... revisited
I...

After much thought I have decided that the Plym will be named "Walter". I did not choose that name because of Walter P. Chrysler, even tho it would be appropriate, I choose the name because of one of my favorite movies.... Sleepless In Seattle.... Everyone knows that Tom Hanks is the leading man in the movie and Melony Griffin is the leading lady.... so where does Walter come in? Walter is the "other man" that Melony dumps for Hanks. Poor Walter is the very stable guy from a good family, however, he has respiratory  problems always coughing and weezing, kind of sounds like a Plymouth, where-as Hanks is very verile, has a darling kid that needs a mother, and he lives on a house boat in Seattle.

Happy Birthday Walter..... has a better ring to it don't you think?   

Great movie, but it wasn't Melony Griffin as the leading lady, it was Meg Ryan.  Lee

[Wm Steed]

Happy Birthday to my 39 Plym..... revisited
I have been thinking about the earlier posting I made to the forum all day. It finally dawned on me that I was being very insensitive to the feelings of a great automobile when I referred to it as my Plym, at the very least I could have called it a Plymouth... As my remorse grew it dawned on me that the Plym needed a proper name.

For some reason, unbeknown to most people, it is common for a guy to give his car a female name. Of course Christine comes to name, however, that name works for a flashy late model Plymouth, but not a stogy old Plymouth. Butter Cup fits for a yellow '41 Plymouth convertible, however, my Plym is a sedate British Racing Green, so.... should I use a proper British name?.... Nah

Women relate to my car all the time. I am constantly being asked by women of all ages to take them for a ride. At a car show in September, my car received the ladies choice award. A male name would probably work very well.. but what male name. Many of the Bogart movies filmed in the late thirties had Plymouths, one of the leading ladies drove a '39 Plymouth convertible coupe in the movie the "Big Sleep"...... So should it be "Boggy"?.... Nah.

Maybe I am making a mountain out of a mole hill? After all I rescued the Plym from the wilds of Montana where it had endured at least 38 very cold winters. The Plym has had it's own warm comfy garage since 1998. I have also given new life to the Plym, with the transfusion to all of the key parts, and a complete new suite of cloths. However, the project is not complete until the Plym has a proper name.

After much thought I have decided that the Plym will be named "Walter". I did not choose that name because of Walter P. Chrysler, even tho it would be appropriate, I choose the name because of one of my favorite movies.... Sleepless In Seattle.... Everyone knows that Tom Hanks is the leading man in the movie and Melony Griffin is the leading lady.... so where does Walter come in? Walter is the "other man" that Melony dumps for Hanks. Poor Walter is the very stable guy from a good family, however, he has respiratory  problems always coughing and weezing, kind of sounds like a Plymouth, where-as Hanks is very verile, has a darling kid that needs a mother, and he lives on a house boat in Seattle.

Happy Birthday Walter..... has a better ring to it don't you think?   

[Wm Steed]

Happy birthday to my Plym.....
My '39 Plym conv. was built 71 years ago today in the Long Beach, CA Chrysler plant.  Chrysler Historical supplied me with that bit of info when I obtained the build sheet from them many years ago.

The Plymouth owners should be very glad that we have dedicated, knowledgeable people like Jim Benjaminson, and others, along with a Company like Walter Chrysler built.  The wealth of information available for the Plymouth's is staggering. If you owned a Ford built prior to 1949, the information available is very vague.

I have been a member of the Early Ford V8 Club for over 30 years, I have a 36 Ford coupe that I have owned for over 55 years. As a result of my interest in Fords I visit and contribute to the EFFV8 web site on a regular basis. Recently there has been a very hot topic about body identification on '37-38 & 39 Ford conv. cpe's. I have made several contributions to this topic because Briggs Mfg., the builder of Plym conv cpe bodies, was also the main supplier of Fords conv cpe bodies.

The debate on the EFV8 forum centers around the absence of body tags on many of the Ford conv's...... In doing research for an article about the wind wings on '37-41 ChryCo built cars, I have noted that many of the Plym's are missing their body tags, I am not sure why.... I don't think they fell off. The open bodied Fords have always been a much more popular car, compared to the Plym's, it is a known fact that many of the Ford's have doubtful parentage because of the absence of good records....  Ford did not document their cars like Chrysler did, a Ford can not be tracked. Ford only used a VIN that was assigned to the engine/trans unit, the number being stamped on the transmission.... When the power train was installed in the chassis, the VIN was stamped into the frame in three places. If a Ford body was supplied by an out sourced builder, the builder attached a body number for their tracking purposes, just like the ChryCo cars. Ford did not record this body number anywhere, Chrysler did.

I guess it is a good thing I can sit behind the safety of my computer screen and point out the plus's of owning a Plym conv in lieu of a Ford to the Ford people. 8) ....Bill

[POC-Admin]

Another file I had to restore.  The pentastars are back now.

Mark

[36 Ply]

It is faster, thanks Mark. I was able to log in; now, whatever is in the little boxes directly below Wm Steed's name, now there are small red X's. I tried "show picture" but it didn't help.

Regards,
Pat O'Connor

[Wm Steed]

CONVERTIBLE TOPS;
Today is the day we fit the top mechanism to my car.... I can hardly wait.
Since we have already gone through the fitting process with the Alabama Car, the process on my car should be a slam dunk....Bill

[Wm Steed]

CONVERTIBLE TOPS & THE INTERNET:
Happy days are here.... The top mechanism is installed on the "Alabama Car". Everything bolted right up, the wooden header and wood rear bow fit perfectly. Looking at the Ala.Car with the top assembly in place was almost as good as sex. Well...? ;D? maybe that was an over statement. George, the owner of the Ala. car was really pleased when he saw the assembly all mounted up. His car has been under construction for over four years with it costing him a suit case full of money. Unfortunetly,? George does not have the skills to do any of his own work, so he has to rely on other people.

I guess a person could wonder why we built the top assembly for the Ala. Car before we built mine... Very simple, since we had to have a lot of parts made, I, we, used the Ala.Car as the test car, once everything was fitted, etc. to the Ala.Car, it would be a slam dunk to mount my assembly.

The top assembly for my car will be ready to install within a week to ten days, then both top assemblies will be removed and taken to the powder coating shop. I stopped in at the shop that is doing my upholstery on Wednesday to give them a heads up that I would be ready for my top fabric and the finishing of the upholstery shortly after the first of the year.

I recently had an email forwarded to me by Tod Fitch, he had received the forwarded email from a lady that was looking for sun visors for a '39 Plym conv. Tod was kind enough to tell the lady that I was "very knowledgeable with the '39 convertibles". I responded to the lady, steering her to the Plymbul Forum, I also told her about the set of '48-50 Dodge (Pilot house) truck visors that were listed on ebay... The listing on ebay had recently been lowered from $225. to Buy It Now @209.

A word of caution about the Dodge truck visors.... The '48-50 visors were chrome/nickle plated from the factory, they are the closest match for the '39 conv.s. The '51 and later are not chrome plated, and they are slightly larger, however the bolt pattern is the same as the earlier visors. With the price and difficultly of getting good chrome now, the price of $209 looked pretty good to me.

An additional factor to keep in mind is that the visors are left and right and the backer boards, with attachments, can be cut down to the required 4.25", then covered with the proper material in lieu of the embossed card board coverings that the trucks had.   

The lady emailed me back, saying that after reading my Aug, 09 posting to the PB Forum, she went online and bought the visors. She also mentioned in her email how pleased she was with the help Tod and I were able to give her.... Maybe we made a friend for our group? ....Bill

[Wm Steed]

CONVERTIBLE TOPS:
During the twelve years or so that I have been trying to "restore" my '39 conv, I have encountered many frustrating parts suppliers and so called craftsmen that seem to have the same story pertaining to the quality, or lack there of, when it comes to the explanation (s) of why the parts don't fit or the repair leaves much to be desired:
I/WE HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR UMPTEEN YEARS AND YOU ARE THE FIRST PERSON TO EVER COMPLAIN. The rebuilding/repairing of the top assembly has fallen into this same category.

The readers of this topic should keep in mind that my car sat in an open field in Montana for 38 years and my friends car, the Alabama car, was a basket case. I will jump start this topic, omitting all of the false starts, etc.. and just get on with the most recent accomplishments to get the tops done on the two cars:

Since the window problems have been solved, attention has shifted to the tops. The wooden bows and front wooden header panel was in bad shape on both cars, Combining the two assemblies together almost resulted in one acceptable pattern. I finally figured out that I was headed down the wrong path trying to get steam bent bows and laminated oak header panels. The lights finally came on in the corners of my brain.... telling me to find a "BOAT-WRIGHT" e.g. a person who works on wooden boats.

In very short order I was able to find a boat-wright because I live very close to the ocean so there are a lot of boat yards in the area. Explaining my project to the boat-wright and giving him the patterns I had resulted in a phone call in a couple of days to come over to the shop and view the BW's plan. He had already made up a "buck" to use for the construction of the bows. His plan was to laminate 1/8" thick oak strips over the buck, achieving the required basic shape, then dressing the laminated wood to the desired shape. The BW rational in using laminated wood in lieu of steam bent was that the laminated wood is stronger once the laminating strips are reversed from strip to strip. The same laminating process would be used on the header panel, using 3/4" wood and finger joints to create a V over the windshield.

Two weeks have passed, both rear bows are done except for some final dressing. The front header panels are 90% done, only the hardware needs to be fitted to the wood. The metal parts have all been bead blasted and the assembly has been mocked up using the new stainless steel bolts I had made. Arrangements have been made to have the metal parts powder coated once the assembly has been installed on the cars and the fit checked.

I have told the BW to make up two additional rear bows and possibly two front header panels which I will attempt to sell to offset some of the expense of making up the buck, ect.... Bill