When a classic has over seven decades of active service under its belt, it is fair to expect it to look tired. However, it appears that someone may have given this 1951 Plymouth P23 Sedan a birthday, because it presents beautifully. It has no apparent needs, and I must say a big thank you to Barn Finder Bruce M for spotting an affordable slice of Mopar history that is set to find a new home. The seller has listed the Plymouth here on Facebook Marketplace in Wolcott, Connecticut. If affordability is on your list of priorities as you search for a classic to park in your garage, the $6,400 the seller is asking for this P23 makes it worth a closer look.
This 1951 Plymouth poses a challenge for me, and I need to rely on our readers for clarification. The seller describes it as a P23, but both the Cranbrook and the Cambridge were part of the series in 1951. It is usually easy to tell the pair apart by the badges, but this car doesn’t carry the all-important ones on its front fenders. However, my instincts tell me via a couple of interior and exterior trim items that it is a Cranbrook. Of course, I have been wrong in the past, and am happy to be corrected if that is the case this time. Whatever the truth, it presents extremely well in what appears to be a period-correct shade of Nile Green. The seller doesn’t mention restoration in their brief listing description, but the lack of flaws suggests that it is either refurbished or an extraordinary survivor. The paint shines beautifully, the trim sparkles, and there is no evidence of rust or significant panel imperfections. The glass is crystal clear, and the narrow whitewalls provide the perfect finishing touch.
The seller supplies no engine photos, but the 1951 Cranbrook and Cambridge shared a common set of mechanical components. These include a 217.8ci flathead six, coupled with a three-speed manual transmission. The six generates 97hp and 175 ft/lbs of torque, and with the latter topping out at 1,500rpm, these motors are extraordinarily flexible. The seller states that this classic runs or drives without elaborating on how well it does either. However, the vehicle’s overall presentation suggests the news should be positive.
The “Green” theme continues inside this Plymouth, with its upholstered surfaces wearing cloth in that shade. It looks remarkable for its age, further strengthening my belief that someone treated this classic to a big dose of TLC at some point. The wheel exhibits some age deterioration, but that is the only item faintly deserving criticism. The rest of the interior components, dash, and gauges, look excellent. It isn’t loaded with luxury appointments, although the factory pushbutton radio would have set this car apart in 1951.
This 1951 Plymouth P23 Sedan presents extremely well, seeming to have no genuine shortcomings. Therefore, you would initially think that finding it a new home would be a no-brainer. However, it has been on the market for over nine weeks, suggesting that the seller may not have been inundated with genuine inquiries. This is surprising, because not only is it affordable, but the seller’s figure looks competitive in the face of recent successful sales. Are you tempted to pursue this classic further, or will you remain an interested spectator?
We’ve seen several Plymouths, including the pickup, I call these cars the “Rodney Dangerfield” of cars, they just didn’t get any respect. Truth is, Plymouth ( with Canada, hey) was one of the most popular cars. Everybody had a Plymouth at one time, yet, I think even Dodge got more respect. I read, this car cost about $1750 new, about the same as most others, but they sold over half a million in 1951, and contributed greatly to Chryslers #3 position. Simple, basic cars, worthy of cross town or cross country. The motor was right out of the war, and Plymouths became the car of choice for traveling sales. Again, needs an automatic. Younger folks are loving retro stuff, just not manually shifted ones.
My Mom’s first car. And possibly the ugliest 50’s car ever produced. When she passed, I was casually looking through a local car market magazine, and found a ’51 Plymouth near me, for cheap. Went to look at it, and just couldn’t get over how frumpy the thing was. When she married my Dad, he put her on the right path, and got her a ’56 Mercury.
We have some things in common. I learned to drive in my parents’ 1956 Mercury Medalist “Phaeton” four door. In college, I inherited my grandmother’s 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook, and drove it from PA to Iowa. What a world of difference between the two vehicles. “Frumpy” is the right description for that Plymouth. The Merc, on the other hand, was my Dad’s hot rod. 312 cid with a 4bbl carb.
“Frumpy” is the exact term I use when describing what vehicle attracts me…
“Classic” and ’51 Plymouth should never be used in the same sentence.
A friend and I bought a ’51 Cranbrook about 10 years ago for $200 to Flip. The body was great but it ran terrible. We got it home, pulled the head and gently tapped the valves with a block of wood to free them up. It ran and drove great after that. My friend liked it so much that he wanted to keep it. He gave me ’72 Chevy Heavy Half for my share. He drove it lots, even going on vacation with his wife to Maine driving it, a five hour drive in a modern car. He recently passed and when I went to the funeral there was a picture of the Cranbrook and his wife, by the beach in Maine in his pocket.
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Even in old movies these cars were very common. As Howard said, the Rodney Dangerfield of cars.
Having owned a small fleet of old cars similar to this, the 4 doors ruin this for me. The business coupes were great. I enjoyed mine. The flat head 6 seldom started goid in the Iowa winter. I think the fluid drive was gone when this came out. It would have made this car fun.
Fluid Drive never made it down to the entry-level Plymouth- Dodge had it whereas the DeSoto and Chrysler cars had the semi-auto 2-speed per gear selected (lo or hi in 2nd and 3rd position on the column shift- no 1st position on those).
Plymouth’s first foray into auto-semi-auto was the Hy-Drive of the ’54 models which had a torque converter in lieu of the simple fluid coupling of the other Chrysler semi-autos. Hy-Drive was huge and heavy and shared oil with the engine making it an eleven (!) quart oil change. Ka-ching.
1955 heralded the arrival of Chrysler’s excellent full-auto to put paid to the interim cobbled items.
Nice car too many doors!
Wasn’t this the go-to taxi of its’ day?
I bought a similar car in 1954 Plymouth 4 door in the summer of 1964 when I had jist turned 15. I as living in my father’s house in Jersey City NJ and it was only a few months after my mother had passed away at the too young age of 42. Anyway I bought the car from an across the street neighbor $35.00. But I couldn’t park the car inside the fence in the yard of my father’s house. In fact for a little while, my father didn’t even know I had purchased the car. Well you have to be 17 to obtain a driver’s license in the state of New Jersey and without a driver’s’ license, you could not register a car either. So with no license plates, I parked the Plymouth in a lot that had previously had about a dozen army style barracks that had been constructed shorty after WWII ended to help with the housing shortage for returning G.I.s. But by 1964 those buildings had all been leveled. What I didn’t know at the time was that the Archdiocese of Newark had purchased that land because they were going to build a church and catholic grammar school on the property. Well it wasn’t long before my father found out I had purchased the 51 Plymouth and he became so angry, he threw me out of his house and I went to live with an aunt. But in an act of defiance, I took everything I owned, my clothes, shoes, winter coats, baseball glove, model car collection, 1952 vintage Santa Fe, Lionel Electric train set, just everything that was mine and I put it all in the trunk and back seat of the Plymouth. Then I rode my bike to three of four miles to my aunt’s house. A few day later I rode my bike back over to the Plymouth to get a change of clothes, only to find the Plymouth missing. I’ll never know if it was the Archdiocese of Newark who called the cops or the cops in Jersey City themselves who spotted my Plymouth sitting there in that empty lot with no license plates, but the car got towed to the Jersey City Impound yard and by the time I got to it, well let me just say taht someone had broken the side windows as well as preyed open the trunk and stole everything that was in the car. Well it left a scar because I always suspected that it was the cops in Jersey City who stole everything and years later I started making a joke that I hoped and prayed that whoever the son of a bi**h was, who stole my Lionel train set, electrocuted himself the first time he plugged the transformer in.
Can someone explain the P series designation? A few days ago a ’47 Plymouth shows up in an internet search as a P27 while his car, four years later, is a P23.
What’s the deal?
Grandma got her drivers license at age 77. Her one and only car was….. you guessed it, a baby blue 1951 Plymouth one of her sons got it for her. This was probably around 1966. He fixed it up, painted it and she drove it about 6 times. Past at 78, natural causes.
My Dad bought a ‘51 Plymouth Cranbrook brand new. In fact, he took a train to the factory and bought it there. Didn’t get 100 miles and the brakes went out. Had to wait for the car to be hauled back to the factory, and the brakes repaired. He HATED that car. He was stuck with it for 11 months, until someone traded him a ‘49 Buick Special, which he greatly preferred. Next was a ‘53 Caddy- and several more Cadillacs over his lifetime. A diesel Eldorado “broke him of Cadillacs” ( his words) Lincolns were next…
HIf it is sound mechanically, love it and drive it as-is. Time capsules deserve to be respected for what they represent, and this one is the car of my youth. “Frumpy” or not, these represented good, reliable, no-frills transportation, and many of us felt privileged to have had a vehicle this good, when many folks didn’t. We drove a used ’51 Ford until 1963, for instance.
My 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook that I inherited in 1966 from my grandmother was a very low mileage two door model in black. It was not the kind of stylish car a young college kid would want to impress his buddies and girlfriend, but it was a reliable and durable vehicle that got you where you needed to go. I respect those qualities now much more than I did back then.
My Parents bought their first car, a 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook 4-door sedan in Dove Gray; This was purchased from a dealer in Detroit, MI from Floyd Nnox. We had this car until 1965 when we sold it for $50.00. We replaced the car with a 1965 Dodge Coronet 440, 4Door sedan in Turquoise.
I agree wholeheartedly, Dave. At a certain age, “trouble-free” is far higher on the list than “cool” or “sexy.” My Depression-era parents taught me well, and the older I get, the more I value the frugality they imbued in me.