10-12-99
To All Concerned:
Below is a little story I have written, detailing my 1960 Plymouth's
life, since the time I took possession of it from my Dad. I hope you
folks enjoy reading it.
Ben
BEN?S AUTOMOTIVE
NEWSLETTER, #7
A PLYMOUTH'S STORY
My 1960 Plymouth Savoy was purchased new by my father on June 13, 1960
from
Rossmeyer Chrysler/Plymouth in Metuchen, N.J. Since the purchase of the
60 came not
long after having moved into a new home, my father wasn't exactly flush
with cash with
which to buy, or run a new car. However, the 1949 Plymouth he was
driving was on its
last legs, and a replacement for it was imperative. Therefore, though a
new car purchase
had been decided upon as unavoidable, the car had to be reasonable in
cost to purchase
and operate, thus a six cylinder Savoy model became the vehicle of
choice for my father.
As time went on, and the miles rolled by, the choice made in 1960 proved
to be a wise
one, as the 1960 Plymouth provided many faithful, economical years of
service as the
family Taxi, grocery getter, etc. The Slant-six which powered what is
now my Plymouth
definitely gave the economy of operation my father needed from the car,
while giving
ample power to haul a full complement of passengers comfortably, (six at
least), and their
luggage .
My Plymouth was the household mainstay until June 1972, when it was
displaced
from its top dog position. By 1972 my Plymouth was starting to show the
effects of 12
years of heavy duty service, and my parents decided it was time to
purchase a new family
car. Unlike its predecessor though, my Plymouth was not traded in on its
replacement, but
as can be surmised, just demoted to second banana. Unfortunately for my
Plymouth,
demotion wasn't the worst fate it was to suffer. About a year after its
demotion, a "friend
of mine", convinced this then naive teenager that my Plymouth's engine
needed to be
rebuilt, and lucky me, he could help me in that endeavor. It seems that
my Plymouth's
engine would smoke upon start-up, and for short time thereafter. So
knowing little about
engines, or cars in general, I believed my friend had to be right about
the need to overhaul
the engine. Well, you know 20/20 hindsight is wonderful, in that now I
can say, what a
mistake that was believing my friend's astute observations, not to
mention my unbridled
faith in his mechanical abilities. After the "rebuild", the Plymouth's
engine wouldn't even
turn, didn't smoke, but it also didn't do anything else. The first thing
that dawned on me at
that point in time, was I should have checked with an experienced
Mechanic regarding
what to do about the smoke problem. The next thing I realized, was I
should have asked
my father if I should even think of getting involved in such a big job
as an engine overhaul,
without his supervision, after all dad was a Mechanical Engineer.
After the ill-fated engine overhaul, my Plymouth sat for about a year.
At one point
during that year of sitting idle, my father considered simply junking
the car, but the paltry
$25.00 he was offered for the car, if he hauled it down to the junkyard,
dissuaded him
from doing so. At the end of the year of idle time, I made yet another
not so good
decision. I decided I was going to purchase a "good used engine" from a
well know
national automotive mail order firm. The engine turned out to be a piece
of junk, and since
it took my High School Auto-Shop teacher three months to get around to
installing it, the
mail order company refused to take back the engine. The end result of
this latest fiasco,
was still more idle time for my Plymouth, until I could find an engine
rebuilder who would
be at least willing to look at the used engine to determine if it was at
all salvageable. I
finally did locate an engine rebuilder through my Aunt, who happened to
be doing
accounting work for the rebuilder. The rebuilder looked over the used
motor, and
determined that it would cost more to salvage it than it was worth, and
offered me core
credit towards an already rebuilt motor. The rebuilt engine was
installed, and the rebuilder
also replaced the transmission they damaged due to errors made by their
workers doing
the engine installation. Six months after arriving at the rebuilder's
shop, and what ended up
being 1+ years after my original fateful engine rebuild decision, plus
some threats of legal
action brought on by the rebuilder's foot dragging in the engine
installation process, my
Plymouth emerged from the shop under her own power for the first time.
The year by this
time was 1975, the month was February.
I then embarked on the long, arduous task of restoring my Plymouth to
her former
glory. The task was complicated by my lack of knowledge as to where to
source needed
restoration parts from, (i.e. fenders, patch panels for the rear
quarters, and trim pieces),
and an over exuberant youth's driving technique. Needless to say that
between what was
already deteriorated from age, what broke by my pushing the old gal to
the limit quite
often, compounded by my lack of knowledge as to where to get many of the
parts my car
needed, slowed the rate of progress in the restoration of my car. Though
it took a few
years, some dented fenders, and lots of hard earned money, I did finally
wise up, treating
my aging Plymouth more carefully. I also started attending car shows, as
well as joining a
couple of car clubs, finding along the way, that through the car clubs
and shows I could
get information on where to locate parts for my car. I also made many
new friends
through my involvement in the clubs.
Now that I had a means via which to locate the parts I needed for my
project, I set
about procuring them. In 1978 I had the first body restoration done on
my Plymouth. In
the summer of 1985 I finally got the interior redone. I then embarked on
making other
improvements to my Plymouth, such as adding factory power steering,
power brakes,
clock, am radio, and factory front anti-sway bar. In the summer of 1989,
I had the
bodywork redone, and the bumpers and tail lamps rechromed. Though the
body shop
didn't do all they were supposed to, my Plymouth did look better than it
did back in
February 1975.
In July of 1991 another milestone was reached in the ongoing project my
Plymouth
had become. I was sitting by my car at a show in Fairfield, N.J., when
an older gentleman
approached me, asking if I owned the car I was sitting near. I replied
yes, whereupon the
man showed me a photograph of a factory authorized optional RCA record
player that fit
my Plymouth. The gentleman then asked me if I knew what the item in the
photograph
was, I replied yes. I then asked what the man wanted for the player. The
price quoted was
$200.00, which included the correct radio to go with the record player.
Mind you, all this
occurs just 1 month before I was getting married, and the fiancee is off
shopping at a
nearby mall. I asked the man if he had a business card, he replied yes,
and handed me one.
When my fiancee returned from the mall, I asked if she approved of my
buying the record
player, she emphatically agreed. When I got home I called to see if the
player was still
available, the answer was yes. I then made arrangements to go up to
where the owner of
the player lived to pick it up. I took my find home, and 2 weeks before
my wedding day,
found myself under the dashboard installing my new find. Of course one
might wonder
why someone would so hurriedly install something, especially since it
wasn't crucial to the
operation of the vehicle. Well, you see my soon to be wife wanted to use
my Plymouth as
our wedding limousine, and she wanted that record player in there too.
I succeeded on
both counts.
Though it has now been 23 years since I first got started on the
restoration of my
Plymouth, and I have had more than my share of ups and downs with this
project, I can
say it has been worth it. Not only has my Plymouth served as the wedding
limo for my
wife, and I, it also has survived long enough to serve as transport home
from the hospital
for my son, Martin, after he was born. As a matter of fact my son
initially liked my
Plymouth over my other toy, due to the fact it doesn't have a locking
steering column. So,
therefore my Plymouth served as the world's largest pacifier when he was
younger. My
son would sit in the car at shows, and pretend drive to his heart's
content. He was and is,
also fascinated by the record player, as are many who have viewed it at
shows I have
attended since its installation.
So all in all its been a long and winding road, filled with potholes,
and detours, but
as I said, overall it has been worth the effort. Much like the mythical
Phoenix, my
Plymouth rose from the ashes to live again, to serve 3 generations of
our family, and
become a rolling piece of automotive history in the process. One other
thing, of
approximately 51,000 of her kind produced in 1960 for sale to the
general public, my
Plymouth has survived to become one of 87 of her kind left nationally,
and one of 3 still
surviving in New Jersey.
1960 PLYMOUTH SAVOY STATISTICS
ENGINE: 225 SLANT-6
TRANSMISSION: PUSHBUTTON TORQUE-FLITE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
REAR: 3:31 OPEN
FEATURES: POWER STEERING, POWER BRAKES, FACTORY CLOCK, FRONT
ANTI- SWAY BAR PLYMOUTH "HIGHWAY HI-FI"
RADIO WITH
OPTIONAL "RCA" 45 R.P.M. RECORD PLAYER
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