39 Plym. Conv. Coupe

Started by Wm Steed, November 20, 2005, 01:49:50 PM

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Bill Davis

Wm,

Your photos now need to be 225KB or smaller, which to me is very small.

-Bill Davis, Killen,AL
1951 Plymouth P-23 Cambridge 4 door
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Wm Steed

I attempted to add four pix to my earlier contribution. The pix I attempted to post had a note attached to them that they were to large, I attach many pix to various forums using the same format with no problem, why am i having a problem on the POC? Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Sorry that it has taken me three months to respond to the two comments, one by Go and one by Bill Davis regarding my '53 Olds.
As I stated in my Nov. 27,2022 write up about A '53 Olds I owned for several year during the early 1950's, which I sold in 1957,
I encountered an exact twin to my first '53 Olds in late 2021, the replacement '53 had 77k on the odometer, the original car had 80K on it when it was sold.
The 'new 'Olds' is basically an unmolested original car that needed some good TLC, general maintenance and cleaning up. The Car is a Super 88 which means it has a lot of the 98 features engine is a 303 CID V8 175 HP with auto trans. The car had been repainted it's original color in 1994. Records that came with the car indicated that an attempt had been made in '94 to freshen the car up to get it back into service, however, a picture that came with car showed it sitting in a barn type of building.
The major issue with the car was the chrome grille and bumpers, all of which were the infamous 'Korea Chrome' which was common on '51-53 cars.
I have a very good chrome shop that I have dealt with on many projects so I had them re-chrome the grille and bumpers. Fortunately the majority of the bright trim was stainless steel so I was able to polish it up.
The interior was in very good shape, it would appear that the back seat had hardly ever been used. The front seat cushion and back rest needed so attention, my upholstery shop was able to find replacement fabric for the seat, Fusic had replacement carpet for the Olds in a dark blue.
Mechanical repairs consisted of new water pump, new ignition wiring, Pertronix ignition, plugs, rebuild the carb and a new fuel tank with sender from 'CARS'
The chassis was in surprisingly good shape, a complete brake job had need done, along with suspension work, most likely in '94.
We did some touch up to the paint, buffed it out with 3M Super Duty compound and a good wax job.
Car looks very nice if I do say so. Take note of the lic plate on the front of the car. Wm   
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Bill Davis

Yes, we would like to see a photo of your "new" Oldsmobile.
-Bill Davis, Killen,AL
1951 Plymouth P-23 Cambridge 4 door
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Go Fleiter

maybe You could even oput a foto of Your new ride!
We have a big heart and we are not subject to Putin censorship!

Greatings from Düsseldorf!
Go
Living in Düsseldorf/Germany, retired Dentist, wife retired lawyer, 2 daughters Judge and psychologist, 3 Grandchilds-Sorry for bad English
I like- PennsyRR- travelling Europe in my very original 51 Ply- My whole basement HO Germany based Model Railroad- 50ties stuff- Italy
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Wm Steed

The time has really flew bye since my last contribution to the POCB. I have been very busy relocating my hobby shop into a new location. I had not planned on moving the shop, however, a man offered me a lot of money for the property so I sold it and moved in a vacant building we own. Actually the new location is much better, the former shop was fifteen miles from home, the new location is three miles.. With the price of fuel that is a big savings.
I have been trying to down size my collection of vehicles for the last couple of years, have made some headway, but then I run into something I just have to have.
In 1954 I bought a '53 Olds Super 88, all of my friends were buying '55 Chevy's, my Olds was only six months old and would run off and hide from the Chevy's. We had the Olds for several years until I got drafted into the US Army and was sent to Germany, had to sell the Olds. Always said that if I ever found another '53 Olds Super 88 like the one I had I would buy it.
Fate stepped in, I ran into a '53 Olds in September of '21 that was an exact twin to the one we had... I know, an Olds is not a Plymouth, sometimes when fate steps in, a person has to answer the call. Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Well now! been away for several weeks, quite a shock to see the new format for the POC forum.. My first thought was, O'Lord. did I sign in to the wrong web site, cool head prevailed taking the time to look things over.
As a test run for the new format I will attempt to add a new pix i just had made of my 39 Plym Conv coupe...
Well that did not go well,  Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Nice looking '39 Lindsay. I wrote a very nice article about my '39 Convertible for the 2014 anniversary of the '39 Plymouth's, unfortunately the powers that be ruled against including the article in the Plymouth Bulletin because my car has a few mechanical modifications.
One of the modifications that I made to my '39 was a change to Halogen head lights in lieu of the original reflector type. The halogen lights just do not work very well with the prism's in the '39 lens. It took a lot of doing to find a set of reflectors that were re-plateable, I should have the reflectors I sent to Uvira in Grants Pass back any day, after much searching I finally found a set of NOS original bulb sockets, the bulbs will be Ron Francis' B-2337 Bright Bulbs..
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Lindsay McConnell

Sold mine two years ago. Nice family bought it from Burbank. Who knows, might see it again someday in a movie!
I was lucky enough to make the cover of the Bulletin 3 or 4 years ago.
I have been in the midst of moving cross Country the past few years, and the POC could not keep up with my forwarding addresses, so sadly I am no longer a member. I do still have the REAL OLD roster from the early 90's though. Always wanted to see an updated one. Curious if someone could post the total membership at the time of print? [attachment id=0 msg=20670]

Go Fleiter

it is always nice to see, from where to where these cars go!
Greetings from Düsseldorf!
Go
Living in Düsseldorf/Germany, retired Dentist, wife retired lawyer, 2 daughters Judge and psychologist, 3 Grandchilds-Sorry for bad English
I like- PennsyRR- travelling Europe in my very original 51 Ply- My whole basement HO Germany based Model Railroad- 50ties stuff- Italy
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Wm Steed

POB Member '22 Roster
I was quite pleased to receive the 2022 POC Roster about ten days ago.. A job well done by everyone involved.
Reading through the section covering the 39 Plym Convertible Coupe's I noted that there are 21 members of the POC that have convertible coupes. The membership has fallen from the 31 members when I joined in 1994. I knew three members that have passed away in the past three years.
I know of three 39 convertibles that are owned by people that are not members of the POC, one of them has a car that the family purchased new in North Dakota in 1939. The 39 convertible that I referred to as the Alabama Car in several of my contributions to in the POC Forum, now resides in Boise Idaho. The 39 convertible that is listed as belonging to George Shumway resided in my home town in Idaho Falls from 1940 until it was sold the Shumway. The original owner of the car was a music teacher at the High School I attended in Idaho. Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

I was recently reviewing a recent issue of the POC Bulletin and noted that the POC had finally set up a category for modified cars..
When I was in the process of trying to restore my '39 Plym, having found it sitting in a field in Montana in 1995, where it had sat for many years. I encountered a lot of negative comments from several POC members because I was having to resort to non DPCD parts to rebuild the chassis and power train.
I went on a quest to find as many original DPCD parts as I could over a 16 year period for the Plym, which resulted in one of the nicest P8 convertible coupes in the country.
When the Golden State Region of the POC was active I attended several Regional Meets, parking my orphan in an out of the way spot because it was not welcome.
During the years that I have been involved with Plymouth's and the POC I have been able to assist people from all over the world with locating parts, etc., for their cars, the majority of which have been '37-40 convertibles.. Wm. 



39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

I was quite surprised that I had not made a contribution to my 39 conv. cpe topic for over three months, where does the time go!
I am in the process or converting the head lights on my '39 from the halogens we put in the car to original reflector style. Fortunately I had an extra set of reflectors that I had nickle plated so they could be glass coated by UVira Corp.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

After much searching through the new format for the POCB I finally found my '39 Plym. Conv. Coupe thread that has enjoyed the most amount of readers, over 31k since I joined the POC in 1994 and started the rebuilding process of my '39 Plym shortly thereafter.
I guess it will take a little re-education for some of us to adapt to the new format, this seems to be the trend now with many of the vintage car forums.
I contribute to several vintage vehicle forums, Buick, Classic Oldsmobile, Stovebolt six', Early Ford V8 and  P15 D24, on a regular basis. The Buick and Oldsmobile forums have undergone considerable overhauls in the last couple of years, which in some cases makes it very hard to navigate around the forums.
I can truthfully say that for me, I have found the P15-D24 forums to be very user friendly, which is probably why they enjoy a lot of traffic, whereas the POC does not.
I think that 'Go' pretty well summed up his opinion of the problems that the POCB has experienced in the past few years, and I second that. Wm 
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Quote from: Bill Davis on April 24, 2021, 11:22:13 PM
William,
Do you know of any L.E.D. headlight bulbs that would be adaptable to your car ?


Hi Bill,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your inquiry, with the changes to the POC forum I was having trouble getting access.
I converted my head lights to 12v LED lights and was very unimpressed with the results. I had to change the bulb sockets and modify the reflectors which ruined the reflectors. The wiring in my '39 is all new modern 12v wire, however the headlight switch, which is a new modern 12v unit kept burning out due to the high voltage draw.
I changed my headlights back to original type 12v Bright Bulbs made by Ron Francis... They work very well.
I don't quite understand all of the hype about LED, etc., lights, I have two vehicles that have 6v lights, sealed beams, and have no issues with them. Both cars are wired through relays on the headlights so they don't have voltage loss in the system.
To make tail lights brighter on the old cars I paint the inside of the light with white paint. Surprisingly, white is more reflective than silver. wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Bill Davis

William,
Do you know of any L.E.D. headlight bulbs that would be adaptable to your car ?
-Bill Davis, Killen,AL
1951 Plymouth P-23 Cambridge 4 door
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Wm Steed

ORIGINAL '39 HEADLAMPS AND OTHER TRIVIA:
In a thread to this forum that I posted in April 2020 I made mention that I was in the process of converting my halogen headlamps back to reflector/bulbs on my '39 Plym Conv. OK, why was I doing such a thing, halogen lights are supposed to be the hot setup in the retro world, wrong..
Yes the halogen lights throw out a lot of light, however, the style of the halogen bulb is not compatible with the shape of the stock reflector. The stock bulbs are pre-focused to match the shape of the reflector where-as the halogens are not. An additional problem is the lens, the prisms of which are designed for the stock bulb.
Finding the original headlamp parts became a very difficult task. Converting the '39 reflectors to halogen ruined them for the '39 bulb receptacles to attach to. The reflectors then had to be nickle plated and then sent off to UVIRA Corp in Oregon to be glass coated.
Finding a good pair of correct '39 bulb receptacles with the wiring harness was like looking for 'hens teeth or frogs fur"..
TRIVIA: I recently had the good fortune to encounter an owner of a '39 Plym Conv Cpe  from the Bakersfield, CA area. A lady that had become the owner of a car her brother had owned for many years contacted me because her car had a bad transmission which she was having trouble getting fixed. I had a good spare '39 trans so I transported the trans to the garage that was trying to fix the car. I kept the bad trans and she paid me for the replacement trans... Everybody was happy.. Continued... Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Wow!! just noted that 28952 people have viewed my 39 Plym Conv coupe topic, that is incredible and very rewarding...  8)
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

I noted that the traffic her on the POC has continued to slack off, sorry to see that, it was a good forum for many years. I have to admit that I do visit the POC Facebook from time to time, have even made a few contributions it. I am not very interested in Facebook at all, I respond to very few requests to be 'friends' therein.
I like just about everyone else I know in the car culture have spent the last several months hunkered down, avoiding crowds and car club gatherings. Kinda boring but I manage to keep busy tinkering with my toys. I have down sized my collection of toys, have sold off six vehicles in the past year and a half, still have a few more to get rid of.
Hope all of the citizens here on the POC have stayed healthy, looking forward to 2021 being a better year.
Happy New Year...  Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Go Fleiter

Living in Düsseldorf/Germany, retired Dentist, wife retired lawyer, 2 daughters Judge and psychologist, 3 Grandchilds-Sorry for bad English
I like- PennsyRR- travelling Europe in my very original 51 Ply- My whole basement HO Germany based Model Railroad- 50ties stuff- Italy
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Wm Steed

HI Go.. Thank you for the note.. Yes I am still messing with cars, it's in my blood been doing it since I was 14. Vintage vehicles are all the same, they constantly require attention.
My '39 Plym is not to bad because everything mechanical was new starting in 2002, got it operational in 2009, actually done in about 2013. I had an ongoing problem with the car not wanting to shift right. Did not expect to have problem with a modern AOD trans, wrong.. had big problems getting it to shift correctly. Had many mechanics try to fix the problem to no avail. The problem finally got solved when I got tired of the car being hard to start when it was warmed up. The engine is a V8, turned out the fuel was boiling in the carb and thereby vaporizing in the bowel.
The addition of a 'Phenolic' spacer block between the carb and the intake solved that problem.. Remember back when most of the old cars had that funny brown spacer under the carb.
The funny thing was that the spacer block raised the carb, thereby re-positioning the TV cable to the trans.. Wha-la, the trans shifts properly.
I converted the headlights to halogens from the original bulbs which all '39's and earlier had. This sounded like a good idea, Wrong... In my next contributions to my 39 Plym Conv topic I will detail the rebuilding of stock '39 Plym headlights.. Not quite as easy as most people would think. Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Go Fleiter

nice to see You still doing car work!
We always find new and unexpected hazards, like Your halogen lights.
Mine is a new gas level sending unit, beeing unreliable - but only sometimes...
But the Plymouth are a beautiful hobby!
Greetings and good health!
Go
Living in Düsseldorf/Germany, retired Dentist, wife retired lawyer, 2 daughters Judge and psychologist, 3 Grandchilds-Sorry for bad English
I like- PennsyRR- travelling Europe in my very original 51 Ply- My whole basement HO Germany based Model Railroad- 50ties stuff- Italy
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Wm Steed

It has been quite some time since I have made a contribution to this forum, been busier than a one armed wall paper hanger.
I have checked into the POC FB , lots of traffic over there. I did encounter a couple of guys on FB that had '37-38 Plym conv, both of which were in very poor shape. I reached out to both of these people, offered my help with the restoration of their convertibles.
I have been dealing with a headlight problem on my '39 Plym. When we built the car I wanted to keep the original style of headlights, however, since the car had been converted to 12v I had to upgrade the bulbs to 12v. At the time the most practical way to convert the headlights was to use a 12v halogen conversion. The halogen bulbs required a modification to the reflectors which rendered them useless for original type bulbs.
The halogen bulbs were not a good idea, lots of light that went nowhere because the prisms in the lens did not function well with the bulbs.
The project to correct the lighting problem turned out to be a very daunting task, just like about everything else on the car. The '39 Plym conv cpe turned out to be the most difficult car I ever attempted to restore.
As my project progress' I will share it with the POC members here on the bulletin. Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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twpoulter

Wm, the FB pages are great for quick answers but also at times the wrong answers, photo posting in any size is sorted by the software so it's user friendly (idiot proof). the thing I don't understand is why this platform is so archaic, I know that the website is slowly being revamped, with in income the club generates why can't it be done by an experts instead of putting it on the shoulder of a fellow member. We are loosing a lot of valuable info with the restrictions on photos, take Chet's 29U thread, I sure we would have seen much more detail. (yes Chet give us the link and thanks go out for that), also Tod's First Decade, sures there are many new members on the FB page that don't know that database exist. Sorry Gents end of rant but it make the red mist moments happen from time to time.
Tom in the UK       1933 PDX R/S Coupe RHD
1934 PE PU if there was one              1941 PT125 
  https://ctrestorations.com/
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Wm Steed

Within the last week or so a new posting was made to the POC Facebook regarding the finding of another '39 Plym conv cpe. Several pix were attached to the topic which showed the car to be in pretty sad shape. The owner was looking for impute on parts, etc., Some contributors to the topic felt the car was beyond repair. I made a few comments, one of which was a suggestion that the owner of the car should come over to the POC Bulletin, accessing my 39 Plym. conv. Coupe topic to scroll through the many comments I and others have made about the P8 conv's. Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Bill Davis

WOW !!!!  Sounds like you did some serious house cleaning. 
-Bill Davis, Killen,AL
1951 Plymouth P-23 Cambridge 4 door
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Wm Steed

I have not been on the Bulletin for several months, I have been busy down sizing my collection of cars & parts. Until recently I had four facilities that held several parts cars and parts for same, I am now down to one building.
My '39 conv is still the crown jewel of my collection, however, I must admit that I don't drive it as much I should. Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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TodFitch

I think that is on all posts now. Gives a person a button to press if they become upset with your posting for some reason. I'm not a moderator here so I don't know exactly what happens if the button is pressed. But with the traffic on this forum and the lack, so far, of animosity displayed by anyone here, it would surprise me if the "report this post" button has been used much.
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Wm Steed

I just noted that a notation to "report this post" and remove, has recently been added to my recent postings to this topic.. What is going on, did I step on someones toes?... Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

A tread was recently started on the POC Facebook forum about a 38 Plym conv cpe that the owner is looking for parts to restore the car. He really has his work cut out for him.. The body on the '38 is in far worst shape than mine was.. Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

39 Plym being retrieved from the open field in '96..Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

#135
Looking back through my early postings to this topic I noted that there are hardly any pix attached to any of my comments. Since the forum is now a lot more user friendly I think I'll up-date things a bit.
The attached pix was taken when I found the '39 sitting in an open field in Montana where it had sat for over 38 years.. I must have been nuts to gather that car up, most of my friends were. Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Low and behold I was able to back track and found my 39 Plym Conv. Coupe topic.  I'll have to see if I can print off the topic so I can ad it to my hard files. Wm
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

I have to agree with GO' and Todd about Facebook, it is just to public and open for me.. Because of my g kids, and a few friends, I am on FB, however I delete most of the posting there-in because I don't care for all of the political nonsense, etc.
The photo program part of FB is a nice feature, however, since the speed on the POC has been improved, I can now post pix to the POC without having to go through a long drawn out process.. Wm 
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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TodFitch

Quote from: RC Drown on May 03, 2017, 11:44:25 AM
Go, face book is safe enough and it gets lots of use my friend, the POC site there is fantastic,  you are missing out on a lot by not being on the POC face book page, take my word for it

I think you should reconsider my friend,
Bob

Don't do Facebook and I am trying to avoid Google, etc. I feel no need to volunteer any more information than I have to about myself to companies whose business model is basically for for profit spying.
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RC Drown

Go, face book is safe enough and it gets lots of use my friend, the POC site there is fantastic,  you are missing out on a lot by not being on the POC face book page, take my word for it

I think you should reconsider my friend,
Bob
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Go Fleiter

nice to see You back.
This forum lost nearly all of its traffic because of slowing down too much.
All of the members are gione to Face book or other Ply sites.
I don?t like both alternatives.
And nice to see Your 39 beauty again!
Greetings from D?sseldorf!
Go
Living in Düsseldorf/Germany, retired Dentist, wife retired lawyer, 2 daughters Judge and psychologist, 3 Grandchilds-Sorry for bad English
I like- PennsyRR- travelling Europe in my very original 51 Ply- My whole basement HO Germany based Model Railroad- 50ties stuff- Italy
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Wm Steed

I recently made a contribution to the forum that I was "Back" from my unplanned absence from the plymouth bulletin.
My last addition to this topic left off with the '39 awaiting completion of the upholstery and top, both of which are now done.
I am going to make additions to my topic about the '39 Plym Conv. Coupe covering the rebuilding of the car and the nuances associated with that process: Wm.
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe

Wm Steed

I wish that I could report that the interior and convertible top on my Plym is done and that I could finally enjoy an "all weather car"... Wrong.. My car has been in the upholstery shop since early March, progress has been made, however, about like "molasses in January"..
For the life of me I cannot understand why body men and upholsters have such terrible work habits.. I have always thought that body/paint men sniffed to much paint fumes, maybe the glue that upholsters use has the same effect..
I threatened to take my car out of the upholstery shop in early May because of no progress.. I was assured that I would see great progress in the following weeks.. I did for about two weeks, then everything stopped while a set of dinning room chairs was recovered with natural steer hide... Yes.. with the hair and all of the brown/white patterns still on the hides...
I have to admit that the man is really doing a nice job.. He uses 1/8" black ABS panels for all of his backing, this will insure that moisture will not infiltrate into the backing material, like the old paper based backing material, which causes the panels to warp, etc., over time.
I covered the entire floor pan and body panels with "Road-Kill" sound deadening material, prior to the start of the upholstery work...
I decided last week that life is to short to get all up tight about the lack of progress... After all it's taken fourteen years to get the car to the point it is, whats a few more weeks.... Bill 
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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Wm Steed

Now that I am closer to the end of the restoration on my '39, finishing up the upholstery and putting the convertible top on, a whole new set of problems have cropped up.
We took the belt-line tack strip off of the body prior to doing the paint work.. Did not want yuck bleeding out from under the metal tack strip and thereby staining the paint and/or top material..
Nothing on a DCPD car is simple.. The original tack strip material is some kind of a treated paper like material.. Of course after being exposed to the elements for over 60 years the material was junk. It took some doing to open the crimped edges of the channel up to remove the old material. It was a welcomed surprise to find that the steel channel was in good shape, only requiring bead blasting and paint. I found a plastic tack strip material, 3/16 x 3/4, installed it into the channel and crimped the edge over using a body hammer backed up with an anvil. I installed the restored strip back on the body using 3/16"x 1/2 pop rivets...
The rumble seat cushions have been put away since 1998, they still had fabric on them.. Removing the fabric revealed that the most of the seat assembly was badly rusted out from exposure to water that infiltrates into the rumble area as a result of the poor drainage that is typical of all rumble seat equipped vehicles.
Checking with several sources drew a blank for new cushions.. Doing several searches on the internet finally turned up Snyder's Antique Auto Parts in Springfield, Ohio.. Snyder's has a seat spring department.. Naturally there main business is Ford, A's and V8's.. Since the rumble area in the Plymouths is very similar to the '35-39 Fords, my weather seals are for a '35-39 Ford rumble seat.. I figured I could use the Ford springs.... Wrong again, close but no cookie..
I am shipping my spring cushions to Snyder's so they can use them as patterns to make new ones for my car.. I have instructed Snyder's to hang onto my cushions for use as templates in-case someone else needs new seats for a '37-39 DCPD vehicle.. I know of three people around the country, and one in Australia that are currently restoring '38-39 Plym rumble seat vehicles..
I am having to pay a setup charge for my cushions because Snyder's has never seen a '37-39 DCPD rumble seat.. They have made front/rear seat spring assemblies.. The shop foreman made mention to me that the front seat for a '39 is as large as a small couch.. I agree.. They kind of over power the whole front seat area, especially in the front, that's why I discarded my front seat in favor of buckets. 
I could have opted to try and adapt something from another vehicle for use in the rumble area, that is what my upholster suggested, I passed on the lame suggestions, with all the money and time I have wrapped up in the restoration of my car, this is not the time to cut corners.... Bill
39 Plym. Conv. Coupe
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