What do you buy the person for whom a 1930s Ford is too common? A 1936 Plymouth, perhaps? The seller of this DeLuxe Business Coupe makes a bold statement in his advertisement: The 1936 Plymouth Coupe is one of the most desirable body styles of the 1930s, rivaling…the ’38, ’39, and ’40 Ford Coupes. You have to admit, this little coupe is a nice-looking ride, and with flathead Mopar power, it’s as reliable as anything bolted together 90 years ago. It’s being offered here on eBay in Clinton, Missouri, with a “low reserve,” and with several days left on the auction, the high bid has already reached $12,900.
The engine should look familiar to any Mopar fan who takes an interest in cars from the 1920s through the 1950s. In 1936, Plymouth’s flathead six displaced 201 cubic inches and produced 82 horsepower. Built in an era where the interstate highway system was decades off, the Plymouth’s 4.125:1 axle ratio would allow cruising speeds most likely in the 50-55 mile per hour range. The seller says that the Plymouth “starts easily, even in the coldest of weather,” and the transmission shifts nicely. The brakes “seem to work fine” and the “wheels and tires are correct for the year.”
Also pointed out in the ad is that the engine holds “60 pounds of oil pressure,” which I assume is at speed and not at a hot idle. The only gauge that may be inaccurate is the temperature gauge. Speaking of the temp gauge, you may have noticed that “hot” is labeled 212 degrees, water’s boiling point in Fahrenheit. Chrysler didn’t begin using a pressurized cooling system until after World War II, so the temperature at which the engine would boil over was as physics intended.
Although the interior of the Plymouth has been redone, “the discriminating buyer will not be satisfied.” The ad copy is refreshing, and I feel that this might be one of those cars that is being undersold; the buyer may be pleasantly surprised at its overall condition. It certainly looks good enough for cruising around town.
The seller has been dealing in old Mopars for over 50 years, and he says that he’s getting too old to maintain a 100-plus car collection, so he’s selling a few off. He also says that the Plymouth will need some restoration, and that three out of four fenders need work, but this might be one of those cases where driving a ten-footer might be OK. In my opinion, a car from the 1930s looks pretty good with a story to tell, and this one could be good enough to drive as it sits. It’s not a bad alternative to a 1930s Ford, is it?
I’ve always liked the offerings from this vintage of Plymouth. 1937 is one of my favorites but this would suffice. Not much of a power house but when I’m out for a drive in something like this, I’m not in a hurry, even if the jockeys in the import SUVs behind me are. And I’ve had lots of experience of that nature in my ‘49 Chevy. I would hope that this car goes to a good home…
I don’t think this is a business coupe. The trunk is lot shorter than a 37 business coupe.
When I get to my pc, I can upload a photo of the 37 plymouth business coupe that comes here. It drives surprisingly well with radial tires.
This is a 1936 Plymouth Business Coupe from Bring a Trailer, and the tail looks the same as our featured car to me.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1936-plymouth-p2-business-coupe/
Here’s another shot, similar to the last shot of this piece.
Maybe someone can clarify, I don’t think this is a “business” coupe, rather, just a “5 window coupe”. Business coupes had a bigger touchas, and it more than likely wouldn’t have survived as a business coupe. Not to say, many of these probably were used as such, but not this one. These were also popular gassers in the 50s, and must have been well hidden. On the “212” it should be noted, while anti-freeze was around in the 30s, it was pricey, and many used water with a 212 boiling point well into the 50s, I read. We all remember the overheating car with the “rusty geyser” caused by using water and ensuing trip to the ER for burns.
It’s a remarkable find, and the letters are a nice touch, but tells little of the cars original history, and got news for you, gramps drove this car a lot before the war, another one maybe gramps didn’t come back. I bet this car sat a looooong time. I’m trying to be more positive, and certainly too nice to resto-mod, time will tell, eh?
The brochure says that your two options were the business coupe and the rumble seat coupe, Howard…and they both seemed to have the same proportions (in 1936, anyway).
My father had a ’35 rumble seater, ’39 – ’48, essentially the same as this only with a “Continental kit” on the rear, really the only place to put the spare with a rumble seat. The rear window could be cranked down from inside to facilitate conversation to the wind-blown passengers in the “gallery seating.”
He performed the first customizing job I was ever aware of… he hated the rings in the hood sides so he pulled the longitudinal strips and the rings then put the strips back on. Unless you looked VERY closely, you’d miss the reliefs on the back edges of the strips to accommodate the rings.
This was his commuter car… 0.8 miles between house and train station. Saturdays, maybe a run to the hardware store or to springtime run a friend’s place to pick up some bushel baskets of horse manure for the garden. Rumble seat sorta smelly for a while.
I wonder about the business coupe idea too. I’m inclined to agree with you and call it a “5-Window,” and leave it that way. When I was a kid there were lots of traveling salespeople. Most of them actually used a sedan. With the advent of small station wagons, like the Valiant, they got popular although they tended to be a dust vacuum.
I wonder how many people remember the “Fuller Brush Man?” Or the “Watkins Man?”
I remember the Fuller Brush Man. We also had a vacuum salesman that came around believe Hoover man. There was the knife sharpener man that came around along with another salesman that sold everything from kitchen aids to clothes his name was Max. The knife sharpeners name was Tony. Funny i cant remember anything my wife tells me but i remember these names from over 60 years ago. Almost forgot the ice cream man his name was George. Good times and good memories.
My dad was a Fuller Brush Man for a year or so after I was born in 1951.
Man, does this take me back! There were still a lot of these cars roaming around on our streets in the early ’60s. Some were turned into some kind of hot
rod by the older guys I knew, while most of them were still being driven by their original owners who bought them new during the Great Depression paid
them off and hung onto them until they either wore out, or the
owners themselves passed away.
These folks stubbornly held onto
them for fear that another depression was coming. And if it
did, at least they didn’t worry about their car being taken from them by the bank. Point is, either
you knew, or someone you knew,
had a story about an old person
they knew that had an old car like this– and still drove it daily. You
wouldn’t believe all the old Fords,
Chevys, and Chrysler products there were on the streets back then. And yeah, there were many a teen age boy that would always
try to get the Ford owners to sell
their Model As Deuces, or V-8s to
them so that they could build a
really boss hot rod out of them.
And some of the old folks would
actually sell you their car dirt cheap– provided you swore on a
stack of Bibles that you would keep the car absolutely stock. Dad and I made extra cash by finding old cars like this, fixing them up, and selling them to either a kid looking for a first car,
or to a guy wanting a beater to get to and from work. After all these years, it’s great to see one
of these in the condition that I still remember it.
I like this one.
I liked a few of the recent BF posts…..but the links didn’t seem to work for me.
Was it something on my end?????
The eBay link works on my end.
Reminds me of the old Humphrey Bogart movies and the cars he used to drive
He drove a 1938 Plymouth coupe in the movie “High Sierra”
He also drove a 1938 Plymouth Deluxe Coupe in the Big Sleep one of many good movies he stared in.
those cars were plymouths, as I recall. i wonder if chrysler had some kind of deal with the studio. sometimes there were brief scenes of the car featured like an advertisement.
looks good for what is. just drive it.
That was one of my first cars that I bought in high school paid $200.00 for it six volt so put a 12 volt battery in the trunk for my stereo.
My Uncle Frankie would drive one in the old Stock Car Races when I was a kid.
Beaf up the suspension and go hemispherical ! You’ll never look back!
Gorgeous Plymouth!
Kudos, Aaron, for yet another interesting and extremely well presented write-up.
Thank you!
Good eye Steve! Bogey drove one in the film High Sierra in 1940
and The Big Sleep in 1946. Maybe KT Keller did strike a deal
with Warner Brothers to have Chrysler products used in their films. I think I saw a ’39 Chrysler
sedan in The Amazing Dr. klitterhouse with Edward G. ement Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.
I guess they really were doing product placement back in the ’30s. And Aaron, that second photo of this coupe is very close
to what I make in my auto art shop that I run out of my patio.
I do really well on auto art work
but I wish I could do it as well as
the illustrator did it.
I stand corrected Aaron. I meant the illustration you used earlier in the comments section. That’s very close to the things I turn out
today. I learned how to draw and
paint classic cars by looking at these old illustrations and trying toske my stuff look like theirs, but
I never could. So now, I just make
’em the way I see fit. But those auto illustrators back then were
really awesome.
Sold on 2/22/2026 for a high bid of $15,600, there were 32 bids and 14 bidders.
Steve R
A steal.