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Dad’s First Car: 1933 Plymouth – Garaged 50 Years!

It can’t be easy to sell your Father’s first car, especially when it’s been kept in decent condition for 50 years! This 1933 Plymouth five-window coupe in Monte Sereno, California seeks a new owner to appreciate it and put it back on the road with minimal delay. The listing here on eBay includes a Buy It Now option for the very specific price of $23,215.

The rumble seat option adds room for two passengers who don’t mind being exposed to the elements. Note the cool fender-mounted steps to ease ingress! The highly original condition begs for a sympathetic refurbishment.

It would be glorious to see this car shined and polished and safe to drive but *not* restored. How often do you find a car in this condition? It should be celebrated for what it is rather than being turned into another reminder of what a Plymouth looked like in 1933.

When properly tuned, the straight-six cylinder engine will provide bountiful torque and idle as smooth as silk. Unlike inline four-cylinder or even much-revered V8 engines, an inline six-cylinder is inherently balanced and (all things being equal) makes more torque than a comparable V8. The single bank of cylinders simplifies component design as well. These factors explain their historical and continued use in luxury vehicles and trucks. Who will go “all in” to give this storied Plymouth a second life?

Comments

  1. bobhess bobhess Member

    It’s a great car but they’re not going to finance the kid’s college off this one. Price is “dream land”.

    Like 10
    • Avatar 36 Packard

      23K to provide college? Not likely unless it is a two year community college degree. Checked out the price of college recently? Add in even more for over the top room and board and it is easy to see why the younger generations can not afford this hobby.

      Like 9
      • Avatar Al

        That’s an interesting handle „36 Packard“, it reminds me of my grandfathers last car a 1936 Packard 12 7 Passenger Sedan.
        Thank you for the memory.

        Like 10
      • Avatar Steve R

        In San Mateo county, which is in the peninsula, where many of the country’s high tech companies are located, it cost $46 per semester unit or $690 based on a 15 unit course load. That will hardly bankrupt anyone. Financial aid is available. You are also guaranteed admission into the prestigious UC system if you get an AA with a C or better GPA. There are ways to get an affordable college education, those that are smart often figure out a way to make it happen.

        Steve R

        Like 10
      • Avatar canadainmarkseh

        I don’t think bobhess was being literal. So let’s get back to the car shall we. $23k is what you might expect to pay for one in a more restored condition. Let’s face it prewar cars are not that valuable any more. Yes this is a fantastic looking car with sleek lines. But it’s a flatty six with a Plymouth badge that needs lots of work. I think the sellers price is the I don’t want to sell dads old car price with a bunch of sentiment rolled up in the sale.

        Like 6
    • Avatar Al

      Maybe they should consider the Republic of Panama Universities, tuition per semester is $300 for non-resident students.
      However if you reside in Panama, tuition is $60 per semester.
      You may want to look at:
      https://www.4icu.org/pa/

      Like 5
      • Avatar 36 Packard

        Amazing, yet we the richest country in the world almost bankrupts our young people to get an education that we as a nation, need most of them to have lest we not survive as a nation. Please explain the logic to me, it escapes me. The only troubles I see are the need to speak Spanish, not mind big bugs, and oh yes, locals that hate Gringos.

        Like 8
      • Avatar Jim22

        Get the govt out of the student loan business and make the colleges provide the finances. This will make them more selective of who gets a loan. This in turn would expose their unjustified high tuition and as enrollment drops, they would need to react.
        Back to the car, very cool.

        Like 5
      • Avatar 36 Packard

        @Jim22, gov loans indeed have caused problems, but not nearly as much as gov not providing general funding in education. The more they spend elsewhere, the less they give the states, the less the states put into the state universities. Gov decided to provide loans instead which gave the state university people free reign on the bumping the costs until now it has gotten out of hand. Also, Uncle Sam makes money on the loans, charging far greater interest then other loans, interesting as they say they need too because there is no collateral, yet they also changed the rules so you can not bankrupt student loans to them, so gosh, isn’t that just a nice little piece of corruption? Add in the fact that all young people need some sort of education because it is not like you can support yourself without it and because demand is high, there is no accountability for pricing. Also, not all states tuition is as cheap as California, far more expensive, and even worse is the housing if you need to leave home to learn what you need/want. My grandchildren were required to rent 70 year old dorms the first two years on campus that cost almost as much as a full apartment (the last girl paid 775 per month for 1/2 of a tiny room without a commode) also then required to pay $13 per meal eaten or not in the cafeteria. That is as bad as the mob)When they move out, the local slum lords make out like bandits for rooms in fire traps because even if they charge half what the dorms costs, it is so much cheaper, yet so horribly expensive. My wife and I help out as much as we can, but Medicare isn’t what it used to be, and we are just getting by. The old 20% is up to you stuff, has turned into an insurance racket. The right wing will tell you that Medicare for all will ruin Medicare as seniors know it, hope it does, MFA is supposed to pay 100% as it should. Funny, you never hear that part out of the mouths of the talking heads on Fox. Okay, back to cars, I stand by what I said, young people will for the most part not be in our hobby, how can they as in debt as they are (and with falling wages and rising prices in general). My friends say it is because they have no interest in cars, maybe so, but maybe that is because they couldn’t possibly afford them anyway.

        Like 4
      • Avatar Sandy Claws

        @Packard, Packie, I agree with all you have said, but best not to bring up obvious stuff here, the moderators get grumpy. I have in the past and I have learned my lesson, now just car talk. Too bad, but as pointed out, this is not our site, it is theirs and they prefer to have only good ol boy happy talk here, no social justice.

        Like 7
      • Avatar David Frank Member

        School is pretty much free in Germany to everyone. My son is finishing up his masters and will begin work on his doctorate in the fall at the Max Planck Institute in Potsdam. It only cost me about $1,000 a month for living expenses and incidentals. This leaves me enough to support my automotive pursuits. If he was going to school here in America at somewhere like MIT I’d be living IN my car. We have an understanding; in a few years, he’ll buy me the car I could never otherwise afford.

        Like 3
  2. Avatar Brakeservo

    Hardly kept in “decent condition.” Benign neglect at best. Yes price is typical Cracklist Phantasy. What these lala seller’s don’t realize is that anyone with that money for an impulse “mad money” buy usually investigates what the value really is, hence if price is firm, the great grandkids will still be trying to sell it 50 years from now.

    Like 6
  3. Avatar Brakeservo

    Nice use of language – I admire good fiction, and the description of “atmospheric rust” is a good one. So is “cosmetic rust” but just not on the same level as “atmospheric rust.” I think I’ll go check my tires, I’d hate to have the rubber eaten by “atmospheric rust” if that’s what they were filled with. I wonder if “parafinic rust” might be attacking my crankcase or oil??

    Like 6
    • Avatar Bob McK

      Cool car, but it is only worth around $6000. Would be beautiful restored.

      Like 1
  4. Avatar Gaspumpchas

    I’ll have what this guy is smoking. Sentimental value doesn’t = book value. He’s got is priced like a 32 ford. Good luck.

    Cheers
    GPC

    Like 4
  5. Avatar Steve R

    It’s not uncommon for sellers to claim a car has been owned long term by a family member. It puts potential buyers at ease and helps drive a higher price. The problem is it’s often a lie. Someone knocked on the door of my parents house few years ago, and bought he 84 Honda Accord with 24,000 miles. I saw it on eBay a few months later, sellers description said his grandmother bought it new and it had never been wrecked, both were lies. I bookmarked the seller, the list about 8-10 70’s to early-90’s low mileage cars a year. Every single one, was bought new by a family member, go figure.

    Steve R

    Like 15
    • Avatar Mountainwoodie

      NO! A dishonest car seller? That can’t be. Not in America.

      Like 11
  6. Avatar Fred H

    At that price he should just put in back in the garage.

    Like 7
  7. HoA Howard A Member

    That 3rd picture, looks like dads 2nd car ( an Army Jeep), 3rd and 4th cars, respectively. Why does the price shock you guys, it’s California. Setting new standards for overpriced classics. In their defense, if any, where you gonna find a car like this, and they know it. Besides, these hot rod creators, which this will no doubt become, have endless supplies of cash, or so it seems, pour tens of thousands of dollars in it, only to sell it for a fraction, got to have money to burn. Considering what it is, they can ask whatever they want. I wonder what it’s like being able to want something, cost not being a concern.

    Like 3
    • Avatar B

      There was a time in my recent past that I made a whole pile of money buying special interest card in California, then resold them at twice the price to Midwesterners and East Coasters who thought they would make a killing by reselling to Californians! What they and apparently you don’t know is that it’s a buyer’s market in California as there are always many more cars than real buyers with cash in hand!

      Like 1
  8. Avatar Mike

    The “specific price” came from its previous E-Bay listing last month that “sold”:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/1933-Plymouth-Other-/303077398417

    Then there is the appraisal the seller got for it and then based the price on that:

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RmVMr7p4xAQHBYXq32XD-2fQrLMgqxyx

    Like 3
    • Avatar Keruth

      that’s the same car, right down to the pictures.
      sold? NOT!

      Ya, Gaspumpchas, I want what’s he smoking!

      Like 0
  9. Avatar Dave

    Isn’t ZZ Top’s famous Eliminator a rodded 33 Plymouth?

    Like 0
  10. Avatar 86_Vette_Convertible

    I’ve told this before but back over 55 yrs ago, the FIL of a neighbor used to come out to the farm in a older Plymouth (49 I think, single seat that fit 3 from what I remember) when I was a kid on the farm. He had his old driver at another SIL’s farm in the corncrib. I was about 13, in love and asked Roy if I could buy the older one (which he said was a 32 or 33 from what I remember) when I had a place to fix it up. It had sat in that corncrib, bumblebees had built a nest under it, rodents were in the area etc. but all the pieces and parts were there, not bad for an early 5 window coupe with a rumple seat and suicide doors. For almost 10 years we had a deal, checking in with Roy at a minimum every year to say hi and reconfirm. Well I finally got my own place and went to talk to Roy about getting it, turned out he’d passed away and his SIL had sold both cars along with a Model T that was in another building. I had plans for that car and I was crushed when I found it had gotten sold out from under me.

    Like 6
  11. Avatar Jim Benjaminson

    Worked with the appraiser on this car earlier – trying to verify why it has a business coupe body code number and still has a rumble seat. There have been some unanswered questions about this car – only way to verify if its a true rumble seat coupe or not is to get the build card records from Chrysler. Better pictures to work from would have also helped!

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Del

    Never checked Nada.

    But this a non running car ?

    24 grand if it was running with new paint.

    In this shape I doubt if he could get 10 grand

    Like 1
  13. Avatar Léo Maisonneuve

    is it possible to be finance in the state when you’re a canadian citizen

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Paul E Dyckman

    Our grandparents has a 1933 Plymouth since it was new.It was the 4 door “Untouchables Type” of design, spare tire in the front fender and that huge grille. My brother had it tuck ‘n’ rolled in Mexico when grandpa gave it to him. Being mischievous boys, we started in with the red see thru plug wires and clear red fuel lines. Upon hearing this grandpa swiftly came and took it back. He had it 100% restored. I liked the tilting windshield. Tilted up from the bottom. Boy, that gearshift lever was so high to reach the driver’s reach. Ran like a tractor with four wheels!

    Like 0
  15. Avatar MG Steve

    OK, sorry, but as a retired college professor, I need to state a few “Cap’n Obvious” factors. IF your sons and daughters (or grandchildren) must go to an out-of-state school, and therefore pay out-of-state tuition, and not have the benefit(s) of living near (or at) home, then yes, college can be horridly expensive. All states have state funded colleges and universities, which provide an excellent education. Yet, here is what I have observed for the entirety of my career: Students from the East Coast HAVE to go to schools on the West coast. Students from the West Coast HAVE to go to schools on the East Coast (insert Midwest schools at your pleasure). This tells us what? That schools on both the West coast and East Coast must have pretty good schools (again, insert Midwest here also). This is flippin’ nutz! Go to the excellent schools in YOUR state. More? When a student goes to a “not-in- their-state-school”, Mom & Dad need to figure in another separate budget for the student coming home for holidays, vacations, etc., AND for Mom & Dad & siblings to go see their beloved student at other times. Another huge, avoidable expense. AND: I can not count how many of our friends’ kids went to some big name, fancy, out-of-state school, because they felt they’d “earned it” or were ” . . . somehow entitled” and were back home at Christmas, and never went back to school–ever. What a waste of resources, money, the school’s resources, etc.
    We had two kids who went to in-state universities, and both received excellent educations, and are now well established in their careers, WITHOUT debt.
    Folks . . . just think and use a bit of common sense. If one was to put as much thought into a college education as you are into buying a vintage car, then most of these issues are easily resolved.

    Like 0
  16. Avatar ctmphrs

    Damn, I thought we were through with the mind numbing college discussion.

    Like 3
    • Avatar canadainmarkseh

      I second that

      Like 3
  17. Avatar MG Steve

    Sorry . . . just trying to save you a couple hundred grand. But, to each their own.

    Like 0
  18. Avatar Al P

    As mentioned above, the 30s cars aren’t in much demand. So, in order to get the most use out of it, I took my dad’s ‘34 REO which has been in the family for 71 years and modified it to make it drivable in today’s traffic- V8 SBC, disc brakes, independent suspension, 12 volts, etc…

    Like 0

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