This hat-friendly, black beauty is a 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe and it appears to be ready to hit the car shows while the next owner tinkers, details, and maintains it. It’s on Craigslist for $3,800 and it’s located in New Salem, North Dakota – home of “Salem Sue“, the world’s largest cow. I’ve been there many times, it’s worth a visit if you’re heading across NoDak.
This was “The Great New Plymouth” for 1949, coming after a $90-million investment by Chrysler in an attempt to update their line in order to keep up with their competitors, Ford and Chevrolet, who had already thoroughly updated their post-war cars. The Plymouths were a bit stodgy-looking, but I love this high three-box design. The company wanted men to be able to wear their hats while driving! “The American motorist is tired of having his hat knocked off every time he gets in or out of a car” Now, a baseball cap is about the most “hat” that any male wears; how times change.
The Plymouth Deluxe came as either a base Deluxe or Special Deluxe model, such as this one, and they were over 4-inches shorter than the previous models but had a longer wheelbase. P.T. Keller, Chrysler’s president at the time, said that “A car shouldn’t knock your hat off-or your eyes out either.” Would you keep this one original or restore it?
The body on this car looks good, especially considering that it’s 68-years old. The seller has 60,681 miles listed and for a North Dakota car, I can believe it. I can see this one being in someone’s garage for decades, being used periodically to head to town or for a Sunday drive. They say that it looks to be original, I would agree, but without seeing it in person it’s hard to tell, of course.
These are the only five photos, so there are no engine, trunk, backseat, underside shots, but it looks fairly tidy other than some staining inside the front seat area. The engine should be a 218 cubic-inch inline-six with 95 hp. The wood-grained dash looks like it’s brand new! The seats probably can’t be cleaned to look like new after being stained for what’s probably decades, but if a person can live with that, just clean things up as best as you can and use this thing! Hopefully there isn’t rust lurking under the rubber flooring, but I’m assuming that there is. Are there any other lovers of these hat-friendly 1949 Plymouths out there? I hope that I’m not the only one.
Here is my 49 Plymouth 2 dr sedan.
49 Business Coupe that were working on.
Here’s mine.
Canadian version.
1950 Dodge Special Deluxe
I had one of these. It was a great car that was extremely comfortable, pretty much trouble-free and easy to work on and good on gas. This one looks great and should sell quickly to someone who wants to preserve and drive it. Would be a shame to resto-mod it.
For the price, it’s tempting.
I always thought that they looked like piggy banks from the side view.. Just my opinion..lol
Wouldn’t touch a thing. I can envision this on some bleak county road up there in the middle of nowhere, looking like a desaturated still from a movie. The fields would be dusted with snow, and Hank Williams would be crooning through the tinny AM radio.
Tinny AM radio nothing…back then those tube sets knew how to play! Don’t compare it to the lousy am radio in a modern car.
Funny, back then you’d turn on the radio and the first thing you heard was the ‘vibrator’ tube – I guess it was used to make 12v DC into AC – and when the tubes warmed up the radio played.
I would love to have that car, just as it is. No changes, just make sure it’s safe and the radio works.
Too nice to mess up. Wonderful detail and patina on steering wheel & dash.
But, if you find a 49-51, and would like to resto-mod the body, a mid-90’s Dodge Dakota chassis should slide underneath as a starting point for your imagination!
This one is in better shape than mine, which I have had since I was 13. But 16 years later mine still runs and drives great and draws looks all over town.
These Plymouths were well built and durable. If only the styling had been more contemporary. The woodgrained dash is very nice looking.
Unless theres something lurking somewhere someone is going to jump on this. Cant beat original………….even if its a dowdy Plymouth with 4 doors :)
And, gone.
Yep…..
Drive and enjoy. Do what needs to be done to make it safe and roadworthy. Glad to see it’s a standard and not fluid drive. Those flathead sixes were durable but,
certainly not speedy.
Our ’49 Special Deluxe
I recall taking the hoods off cars like these to use as toboggans.
A rope tied to the back bumper of a car, the other end tied to the up side down car hood. Drive along the frozen over river. Every bend in the river meant some air time for whoever was riding the hood. I guess you could call it the Dakota river ride.