Innovation came in fits and starts in the early days of the automobile. However, a changing world necessitated automobile advancements that would make them more like the cars we see today than the horse-drawn vehicles they were based on. At what point did they reach the point where they could be considered “modern?” That answer varies from make to make. A good argument can be made for this 1939 Plymouth tudor sedan for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Sauk City, Wisconsin as one of the first modern Plymouths. This Amphibian Green tudor appears to be an older but well-kept restoration looking for a new home. Could it be the Saturday night go for ice cream and a cruise car you and the family have been looking for? Or, could it pinch-hit as a daily driver if your modern car went down? Thanks to Hans H. for the tip on this cool prewar Plymouth!
In the thirties, mechanical innovations in automobiles came in leaps and bounds. Motor vehicles, whose first designs were based on horse-drawn carts, carriages, and wagons, were now integral to American life. That life now started to include longer commutes, suburbs, paved highways, and family vacations by automobile. Cars had to be more durable, comfortable, and practical. There was a shift away from convertible body styles, and the popularity of four-door and tudor (two-door sedans with practical back seats) sedans increased. Mechanically we saw Babbit bearings, mechanical brakes, beam axles, replaceable bulb headlights, and wood framework in the body give way to insert bearings, hydraulic brakes, independent front suspensions, sealed beam headlights, and all-steel construction.
When did those changes take place? It took each automaker a long time to incrementally introduce these innovations, but by 1940 everyone was pretty much on the same page. Ford was one of the last holdouts with hydraulic brakes finally arriving in 1939, and all automakers switched to sealed beam headlights in 1940. By this time, top speeds for the “Big Three” economy cars hovered around 85 MPH and there were a few places in America that one could reach those speeds. By the time production of domestic automobiles came to a halt in early 1942, each company’s products were radically different than the ones they sold at the start of the previous decade.
Chrysler’s Plymouth was one of the better low-priced cars produced at the end of the thirties. The company’s vehicles were powered by a flathead inline-six with insert bearings and a reputation for extreme reliability. Plymouth also had hydraulic brakes as standard equipment since the marque debuted in 1928. Other innovations for 1939 included column shifting, an independent front suspension, and a hypoid rear axle. This 1939 Plymouth tudor sedan is an excellent example of the type of car that was common on the streets during the late prewar period and beyond.
The seller shares few words with us, but the pictures show a car that wears an older, but still quite presentable, restoration. On the exterior, the Amphibian Green paint contrasts well with the chrome bumper and polished stainless steel trim. There are a few issues with the paint in the close-ups, a crack in the steering wheel, and a missing radio. However, the rest of the car seems solid. The interior is in excellent shape from the carpeted floor to the taut headliner. The floor should have a rubber mat in front and a rug in the back. Yet, for a restoration focused on comfort rather than 100% authenticity, this car is a standout. It should also be a good driver. We aren’t told if the car is a base P7 model or the upper-range P8. While there is no horn ring, the car does have the column shift and extra chrome of a P8. Sadly, we are not given a picture of the engine nor are we told if the car is currently road-ready.
Even if this handsome Plymouth needs the usual brake job, fuel system cleanout, and all the other niceties required to get a car back on the road after extended storage, the pictures show a very solid car with a lot of potential. This could be anything from the occasional Cars and Coffee ride to your chariot in a cross-country adventure. These are solid cars that can still do daily driver duty if needed. Chrysler was known for its engineering at this time, and this Plymouth is a good example of just how good a prewar car could be. This same engine, with a few displacement bumps, would be used up to 1959 in Plymouth cars and much later in other applications. The braking system and driveline are also very close to what you would find in a late-fifties Plymouth. The ad says that it has been up for 12 weeks and the asking price is $12,000. Maybe that is a coincidence. Or, maybe it is a sign for one of you to pick up the phone and make an offer on a very nice, capable car.
Do you agree that cars matured greatly in the thirties? What is the earliest year, make, and model you would consider for a cross-country trip or even as a temporary daily driver? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Great article, Jeff. Very nice car, too. Someone has taken good care of her.
Funny you ask about the oldest car we would use for commuting. Over the holidays we commuted a bit in a ’67 Alfa, but it was cold and the heater was reluctant to work and the instrument lights were about one candlepower and I couldn’t fasten the seatbelt until I had tried six times – no light in the cabin!
I remarked, think if we were using the ’31 Model A every day instead of this “modern” ’67! I think the earliest I would go for a daily would be late ’60s, early ’70s….
During summertime I use my “62 Healey 3000 daily. That’s the oldest one I have driving until the “27 Chenard et Walcker will be driving.
1939-41 Would be my lower end for a daily driver, perhaps several minor upgrades—seat belts and possibly a brake master cylinder upgrade. For those hot days nothing beats windows rolled down and an ice chest full of ice to suck on is an option. The 39s were a good car and the 3-on the tree-made the three rider front seat more comfortable. Especially like the coupes and 4 door models but what the heck, this 2 door would work for me. One thing that we usually overlook when comparing yesterday with today, automobilewise,—oil change and lube, no oil filter change then every 1,000 miles, have a filter—every 1,500 miles. Local gas station on the corner—could stop in for the oil change, no appointment necessary, might have to wait until the car on the rack is done though.
Don’t think I’d want to go back to 1940 tire mileage ratings. The Michelin X was unheard of in the ’50s with a 40K expectation.
Terry,
My lower end for a daily driver would be any 1948 to 1954 six cyl. Chrysler Corp. brand or ’49 thru ’54 Chevrolet. Basic transportation, reliable, easy to service and repair.
Michelle,
Your Holiday use of the ’67 Alfa brought back memories of my 1962 Holiday trip. I was active duty military. During Christmas leave, I and a buddy hopped into my 1957 Alfa Giulietta Spider and headed to our homes some 400 miles away. It was a cold day and the car’s heater was on max. I was comfortable driving but, my buddy soon complained that he was freezing his — off. We were on a 2 lane highway in the boonies with gas stations few and far between. When we finally stopped for gas and coffee, I checked under the hood to see if the hand valve for the heater water was fully open, it was. I then remembered the fresh air vent under the dash in the front of the passenger’s foot well. It was wide open from an unseasonably warm day a few weeks earlier and had been blasting cold air directly onto the passenger’s seat!
That reminds me of traveling home for Christmas from college in the ’80s with my 68 Fairlane. It was a brutal cold snap and for some reason the heat was not working. The night before I headed home we had six people in the car, the person in the middle of the front seat was in charge of scraping the windshield so that I could see out.
The next morning I made it from Buffalo to Batavia before the cold became too much. I crawled under the dashboard and found that the cable that opened the heater had become detached. Reattached it, the heat came blasting out, and I drove home to outside of Binghamton in my socks after that as my boots were frozen solid.
’67 Pontiac Bonneville wagon, with black vynal roof and hydraulic connections between A/C Heater control push buttons on dash and valves, GM did not learn from hydraulic controlled power windows and tops in the late ’40s, that direct cables, or electric switches, wires, and motors were more reliable. 0 degrees and they were unresponsive until engine heat warmed up the engine compartment enough that hydraulic worked. Had to remember to leave controls on full heat when turning it off.
Were these ever fitted with an overdrive? My oldest daily driver was a ’65 Cadillac in the early 90s. I also had a ’66 VW Microbus, and this doesn’t seem much more primitive than that. I’m not as young as I used to be, either, though. Still, now that I live in the boondocks, three speeds and sketchy brakes could suffice.
Some cars look surprisingly good with the front bumper removed and this is one of them.. (another is the full sized’65 Chevy..)
Having owned a ’39 MG SA, with a Hudson Super 6 conversion drivetrain, I would not, and did not, with two exceptions, drive it further than 20 miles from home. But, if in good shape, with a spare generator, fuel pump, water pump, master cylinder, fan belt(s), distributor, headlights and bulbs for the rest, two good tire tubes, and assortment of wrenches and other tools in the trunk, almost anything built by the Big Three, Hudson, Studebaker, Packard, after 1936, when they all had all steel bodies, but not the very minor makes for which parts are pretty unobtainium, like American Bantam and Graham. And I would stay on the Blue Routes, except where necessary where they built the Interstate level highways over the old road so there is no choice. Likewise any car built in the ’40’s, except Kaiser/Frasier, again a parts issue. Ideally, a Buick, even with their vapor lock issues.
Its a 2 door touring sedan – the bustle back trunk is the difference between the 2 door sedan no tudor names used on these and they are not sealed beams. It is a P8 deluxe as the P7 Roadking had no standard vent windows, floor shifter and the chrome molding ended up from by the hood unlike this P8 where it goes to the back of the car. I own one of each
the older I get the harder it is to drive the old models (chit, the harder to drive anything aahahahaa).
This car is w/in my “classics” perimeters. Color could fit even if not of the era. He’s even got the mouse fur interior. So… quite high on my like quotient. Just be afraid to daily it as it is so nice, the upholstery is too sticky (need slippery vinyl or actual leather) and the appliances I use drive easy, cheep, durable, crash/parking lot cart ding worthy.
I daily drive my 2006 Mercedes E320 diesel or 1999 Dodge pickup. My 1952 Plymouth is my fun cruiser. I feel more comfortable in busy traffic with the Merc and Dodge. With manual everything, the Plymouth requires more diligence (especially braking) in hectic traffic conditions and is more suited for relaxing driving on rural two lanes. If I’m required to drive on the freeway in the Plymouth; it’s strictly fifty five to sixty in the far right lane where we are both happiest. Someday I would like to acquire the Borg Warner overdrive for the Plymouth. But right now I have other priorities. Theoretically I could daily drive the Plymouth but it’s not practical. I agree with Michelle’s assessment.
Price reduced from $14,000 asked for on the front window for sale sign!
“Other innovations for 1939 included column shifting, an independent front suspension, and a hypoid rear axle. This 1939 Plymouth tudor sedan is an excellent example of the type of car that was common on the streets during the late prewar period and beyond.”
Curious as to what kind of shifter was offered before the 1939 innovation?
Carhunter says that the lower trim level had floor shift, so I assume that was standard on all Plymouths before this. All of my manual shift cars and trucks had floor shift.
I’m sure I’m old enough but I just don’t remember a modern American car with three on the floor. But I’ll take your word for it and I’ll go back and do some research.
My father traveled the State of Michigan during the 1940’s with a 1938 Cadillac. This travel included vacation trips with the family from Lansing to Grayling – a total of 120 miles or so each way. Never a problem for years. So I would not hesitate to use a 1938 Cadillac as a daily driver.
I operated a 1946 Ford Super Deluxe Tudor sedan, with the flathead V-8 and Columbia overdrive, for 27 years as a daily driver. So long as you opened the glove compartment, took out the owner’s manual, and followed Henry’s instructions to the “T”, there were no issues (well… ALMOST none). With that fuel pump atop the engine block, vapour-lock could prove problematic on a hot day. Also, if you had to sit at idle for any length of time (say, a “moving parking-lot” behind a bad accident however far up ahead), you had best work your way over to the side, shut the car off, and open the bonnet [hood]; or else she might boil-over — particularly on a sultry day. Carry a spare coil with you, a screwdriver, and some thick gloves: these devils ran HOT, and you could lose enough spart to stop the car, or at least have it refuse to restart if you had to shut it off. Changing the coil would cure the problem. If you chose to drive when it was 12° below zero at midday in January, the hot water heater under the dash might thaw-out your toes, barely — I say, “”MIGHT” (no promises or guarantees). They did make a gasoline-fuelled heater which made the entire interior toasty; but most of those perished when their host vehicles caught on fire. The RADIO was a bit clunky, but could pull-in stations 1,000 miles away DURING THE DAY. You had no idea how many signals you had in the air around you at midday, unless you were wandering the dial in my car. In my location, not far from the Vermont/New York border, you would be tooling around under the early afternoon sun, listening to WLS in Chicago, or WBAL in Baltimore, or WLW (Crosley Radio) from Cincinnati: if it was there, this radio would pull it in. But, a caution to skittish passengers: that prominent ticking you heard was only the car clock — I wasn’t carrying a time-bomb, I promise. COMFORTABLE car to ride in — even for hours upon hours: arrive still fresh and full of life. “WHEN are you ever going to get RID of that piece of junk?”, my father asked many times. I was still driving it after he died. The interior of this Plymouth calls invitingly to me. So long as you know how to operate and care for a car of this era, and you are familiar with what things tend to go wrong, you can drive it cross-country with the utmost confidence. It was built to reliably transport you in 1939 — and it can do so still, these 85 years later.
Chrysler products were superb I have a 1935 Plymouth de luxe coupe In DAILY Is reliabile soft trustable When idling the engine is just a whisper….