This wonderful barn find 1935 Plymouth coupe convertible with a rumble seat is fresh out of the barn. While it is not in great condition, there is sufficient enough metal to work with whether for restoration or for hot rodding. The car is located in Freedom, Maine and the seller is asking for $10,900. A VIN is listed and the car is claimed to have a clean title. Thank you, AMXBrian, for the tip. You can view more on Craigslist.
Originally from Oklahoma, this car has had the frame refinished and the body has been remounted with new bolts. The six cylinder engine is said to be seized. According to the seller the rear end is from a Chevrolet Nova, and the steering column is not attached, so rolling this car around might be difficult. They also not the car has no glass, but they include side window frames.
There is no interior but there are photos showing a pair of seats from a late model car in place of the original seats. It looks like the have the frame to possibly the rumble seat in order to try to preserve that feature if that is your goal. The seller claims that the car is 80% complete, but that might be subjective. While it wears nice wheels that just doesn’t draw enough attention away from all the work that needs to be done.
The seller says in their listing that the car is apparently 1 of only 2,038 ever made. That might not bode well for finding specific one off parts, but they list a website where you can find replacement inner and outer rockers along with a roll pan. While the seller says that if you are going to restore it, you should find a solid coupe to donate parts, this one might be more of a donor car for another more solid project.
Unless there are additional parts not shown in the ad, the car looks less than 80 percent complete. The frame may well have issues, too. I know…try to find another one, and all that jazz. But rarity isn’t everything, and I’m just not seeing a $10,900 car here.
It would be called a convertible coupe, not other way around. Very rare and probably worth the price.
Seller has obviously never completely rebuilt a car, much less modified one along the way. Painting the frame and changing the rear axle sounds like 20 percent to me. For the asking price he/she needs to keep working on the car. Could be a great looking car when or if it’s completed.
Unless you have deep pockets and an
unlimited amount of time, s complete
restoration would be out of the question.
Better to turn it into a street rod instead.
If I were doing this one, I”d keep it all
Mopar by using a 225 slant 6 mated to
a 727 Torqueflite tranny for a driveline
and keep the Nova rear axle until I could
find a Chrysler unit. Not really sure of
what I’d use for the steering, but it sure
wouldn’t be the original unit. Maybe the
mechanism from a Toyota and the power
steering (electric) from a Toyota Prius.
Once you’ve got the drive line and steering in place, you’ll need a 1935
Plymouth shop manual to show your
fabricator just to show your fabricator
just what he/she must make in the way
of top bows and the header behind the
windshield as well as anything else you’ll
need to finish the car. A hot rod wiring
harness should take care of the the electrics which would be 12 volt system.
If you could do a lot of the work yourself,
you could have the car done within 3
years. Well, that’s how I’d do it How
’bout you?
VIN number given in the ad is not correct – someone must have stuck a VIN plate on from some other vehicle – no such number in Plymouth serial number sequences.