While we all drool over fancy cars with low production numbers and drop-dead gorgeous styling, someone is out there having the time of their lives in a plain-Jane car that didn’t break the bank when it was purchased. These are the people who think with their heads rather than with their hearts. They are also the ones taking long trips in their vintage ride to the envy of the rest of us. What type of vehicle should be first on our list for a long-distance drive? If you are looking for a classic car that will give you reliable service with a minimum of fuss, then this 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe coupe for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Strafford, New Hampshire, deserves a second look. Seemingly solid throughout, this handsome blue coupe has enjoyed the same owner for 35 years. It is, unfortunately, looking for a new home with an asking price of $10,000. Do you think this price is on the money for a postwar Plymouth in this condition? Thanks to Bruce M. for the tip!
I think about taking a long trip in an old car a lot. Maybe too much. When I see a car like this 1947 Plymouth coupe, I picture it on a secondary road puttering along with me behind the wheel and the back seat and trunk filled with duffel bags full of clothes and enough camping gear to spend an occasional night under the stars. Some of this wanderlust comes from wanting to combine my old car and camping hobbies. Most of it, however, can be blamed on reading far too many travel stories by Peter Egan of Road and Track fame. Mr. Egan has shamelessly brainwashed me over the course of the last four decades to always want to find adventure on the road behind the wheel of a challenging old car. While his tastes almost always put him behind the wheel of a British car for a double dose of difficulty, my yearnings almost exclusively lean toward American cars.
Part of me wants to take a vintage Corvette and roar across the country with the side pipes singing their sweet Siren song. Then, the practical part of me figures that the Corvette would draw undue attention from the law, be about as comfortable as riding a barrel down Niagra Falls, and probably end up being stolen and chopped in short order. Another part of me wants to set out in my new-to-me NC Miata. A trip to the grocery store to pick up a week’s worth of groceries cures that urge. The dinky trunk can maybe hold enough clothes to last a week with no room for camping gear. Maybe I should start with shorter trips with the Miata to get into the groove so to speak. How Egan crossed the country in an Austin-Healey Sprite is beyond my comprehension.
When the practical side of my smooth brain kicks in, the right answer is always a flat-six-powered Plymouth from the forties. These stately old Plymouths are roomy and reliable to a fault, and nobody seems to want to steal a car with three-on-the-tree anymore. A 1941 Plymouth coupe would be my overall choice, but any Plymouth from that era would be up to the task. The 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe coupe seen here would more than suffice after some work. The seller tells us that this car has been in their ownership for 35 years. The flathead-six starts and runs, and it still has the three-speed manual transmission with a column shift. The car seems to be almost unchanged since it rolled off the showroom floor. It still has the original 6-volt electrical system and the odometer shows just 67,286 miles.
Some issues will need to be tended to. Above we can see moisture on the front floor mat. That is likely due to a deteriorated cowl vent gasket and/or it could be a sign that the windshield gasket has started to fail. Hopefully, the car was just washed off before the picture and is normally under shelter. While the seller tells us that the body is in good condition, the worn but handsome blue paint is “good but faded.” There is a single interior picture that gives us a glimpse of the upholstery. The seller tells us that it “needs work.” Finally, the engine looks like it has never left the comfy confines of that compartment. One of the few weak points of Chrysler’s inline engines of the era is that they rely on a sheet metal water distribution tube to carry water to each section of the block evenly. A rusted-out tube is a sure way to end up with a boiling radiator. The tube lies behind the water pump and is just long enough that it won’t come out without removing the nose on most of these cars. I am sure it can be done if you remove the radiator and fight it for a while, but the nose on these cars comes off fairly easily.
Of course, this car would be in 1,000 pieces in my driveway by nightfall if I bought it. The obsessive-compulsive part of me would set to work making sure nothing would be left to chance. Before long, the lazy part of me would be in front of the computer perusing the want ads again looking for another car to do the trip in. Maybe part of me likes the dream better than actually taking the trip. Peter Egan took off with unproven cars with questionable mechanical bits on almost every trip and still had a great time. Perhaps a good resolution for the new year would be to simply pack a bag and go.
What type of classic vehicle would you want to take a long trip in? Why is that vehicle your choice? Do you think this Plymouth would be a good choice? Please share your dreams and thoughts in the comments.
It seems like a lot of late ’40’s Chrysler products pop up here, which is a testament, I would think, to how well-built they were. This one looks pretty nice, but being a New England-based car, you’d want to crawl underneath for a looksee.
Perhaps the folks who drove these vintage vehicles earlier in their lives or who bought one later in life to “recapture their youth” are increasingly dying off, with many folks in younger generations really not that interested in these dinosaurs.
BF, circa 2040: “Today’s new listings: 2019 Honda Civic, 2017 Hyundai Elantra, 2018 Nissan Leaf, 2019 plug in Toyota RAV4 hybrid, 1988 Yugo…”
I,d much rather own this old Plymouth any day—then any new one aytime. Built better all way around and easier to work on and parts are reasonable. Plus alot more room inside to get comfortable in or take a nap.
I have in the past been bragging about trips I have made, like 600 miles in two days in a 13 hp 1958 Fiat 500. Or the 400 mile jaunt in a $15 Peugeot 204. Then I was just reading some postings from a Swedish guy who a few years ago drove his 1964 Fiat 600 from Sweden to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia and back in a month. Just a tad over 10,000 miles, and half of it on gravel roads. And followed it up with a ”Sunday cruise” with the same car from Sweden to Rome and back. OK, I need to either up the ante or stop bragging about my trips.
Otherwise I do agree that something like this would be an excellent choice for a memorable roadtrip.
I have driven a Miata cross country. No problem for two, just pack tightly. Camping? Not a chance brother, though not a problem for me as I like a comfy bed and hot shower.
This Plymouth is beautiful, though I prefer the look of the 4 doors in those years. I also would like an alternator and 12 volts, but thats just me. What if that six volt battery goes bye bye in Podunk USA?
I drove my Miata to Fairbanks on one trip and around the US on another. Plus many other trips before I made it into a race car 4 years ago.
It is an 08 that I bought new in 07.
Jeff I love your style of writing. You combine both story telling and proper grammar, something few people can do. I’m a story teller but I’m not a good writer. When I write a story it should be edited by an educated person in the field of writing skills. The Plymouth story could be a masterpiece of cross country driving. I would try to avoid Interstate highways so as to visit every town I passed through. There has to be a great story in each town. In Texas we have FM roads (Farm to Market) that crawl throughout the landscape. For me I’ll take my 64 Buick Riviera since it has A/C and power everything. But that’s just because I’ve reached the age of comfort over style. God Bless you Jeff, keep writing these wonderful stories.
God Bless America
Another old Plymouth! And a great write up. Right down my alley. The long trip is a neat idea but in this you will be less stressed driving on secondary roads. My 1952 isn’t really happy going beyond sixty five miles per hour. This Plymouth has a lot going for it but at $10,000 it has been listed for a month for a reason. GLWTS.
Thanks Jeff,
I’m too young to have ridden in one of these, on the daily. I understand the simple is better school of thought. Less to break, my dad would so frequently say.
I love my old 1940 Plymouth. Totally stock.
First of all, johnmloghryX2. Great car, great idea, great write-up. I’m a passionate lover of old flat-head Plymouths, as well as just about anything Peter Egan has ever written. Many many years ago, I read of Egan’s trip from Iola Wisconsin to Los Angeles California in a Model A Ford. Egan encountered interested, supportive, and helpful folks along the way who always show up when you break down in a vintage car. Later, I would discover the truth of this for myself.
If you need proof that there are still good and decent people all over North America, you need a cross-country backroads trip in an old car. When you drive through a small town in a 40-80-year-old car with license plates from several hundred (or thousand) miles away, you get everybody’s attention. Older folks re-live their youth through you; everybody shares your experience vicariously. Most folks would love to do what you are doing, but they know they never will. So they desperately want to be some small part of your experience. Inevitably they become rather a large part of your experience.
This is a priceless part of your journey, and you don’t learn it by flawlessly zipping thousands of miles cross-country on the interstates in your modern car.
Now, as to the reliability of this 77 year-old car: did people drive cross-country in these cars when they were new? Of course! Were their mechanical expectations more moderate? Yes. Driving 3000 miles coast-to-coast in 1947, one would expect at least two routine oil-change/grease-jobs enroute. If the car was more than a year or two old, minor repairs like battery, water pump, fuel pump, universal-joint, and tire replacements were to be expected. Certainly, spark-plugs and ignition points would come up for replacement somewhere along the way. And even on a new car, oil would be checked at every fuel stop, and occasional replenishing was expected.
Consider just an engine, for example. It consists of two elements: metals extracted from the ground after millions of years, and machine-work. After several million years in the ground, the metal extracted 77 years ago is no older than that extracted yesterday. If all the machining was redone yesterday, the engine is new. It can be expected to at least perform to 1947 expectations. The only difference for modern drivers is the availability of those minor repair/replacement items. So you carry them with you. No big deal.
Among the best moments are the break-downs. That’s when you come face-to-face with folks who want only to help, and they take the time to do so. Buy this Plymouth, maintain it properly and tour North America with it. You’ll never regret it