1932 Plymouth Sedan ... turned Coupe
In October 2002, John purchased a 1932 Plymouth 4-door sedan project with the idea he would eventually find the time to do SOMETHING with it. The body was in wonderful condition and it looked to be a straightforward restoration project.
However, a "straightforward" restoration didn't seem to be what John was looking for ...
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John was never totally convinced that he wanted to restore this lovely old car back to its original, stock configuration!
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He kept thinking about what he COULD do ... what he SHOULD do ... what he WOULD do ... with this beautiful, old car!
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One day in May 2004, while I was away helping our son get moved to Arizona, John began to play around with some ideas. He took some photographs of the car, and then began to "cut and paste" ... the old-fashioned way (with scissors and glue ... not on the computer) ... and eventually discovered a style he liked.
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He came up with a design that is quite pleasing to the eye of any "rat-rod" enthusiast!
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From there, he grabbed his torch and began cutting this once elegant, functional, family vehicle into unrecognizable pieces ... and then began welding them all back together again to end up with this sweet, little, 2-door coupe!
John had to fabricate a trunk lid for his little coupe since the original 4-door sedan did not HAVE a trunk!
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He also liked the idea of installing tear-drop shaped tail lights to further 'individualize' the car he had in mind.
New glass was required for all the windows. Since there was nothing 'standard' about ANY of the windows in this car, John had to make templates for the glass company to cut the correct shape for the windshield and each window. He chose a lightly tinted, blue glass all the way around.
There was no engine or transmission in the car when we purchased the project in 2002. That left it wide open for John to decide what he wanted to use to power this little 'rat-rod' he had created.
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He settled on a Chevrolet small-block that had come out of a Sprint-car, to which he added a dual-quad, tunnel-ram.
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He installed a 4-speed, Muncie transmission and a 9" Ford rear-end with ladder-bar suspension.
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John built set of custom exhaust pipes for the car.
John was able to work on this new creation a bit at a time, in between other more pressing projects.
By June 2009 he had installed new carpet. He decided he wanted a very basic, dashboard for the coupe ... but "basic" to him, still means music is required! He installed the speakers in the back to create a better 'sound' that could still be heard over the rumble of the engine when he was driving!
In 2013 John found an airplane he thought he'd like to have.
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He had already been approached by someone who really wanted to provide this little coupe with a new home, but he wanted it to be painted 'flat-black'.
John agreed to paint it black and then said "Good-Bye" to the coupe as he turned that money into the airplane he wanted.