I see you have tasted Schlitz too. :-)~ Hope you are having a great time!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike P
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I see you have tasted Schlitz too. :-)~ Hope you are having a great time!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike P
Egyptian mummies more than 6,000 years old look better than that Mopar.
Did Boyd start it yet? :LOL:
MOPAR YOU ARE RIGHT.WE HAVE A TENDENCY TO THINK OF THE PRESENT ENVIROMENT AND NOT THE PAST.I WAS 19 YEARS OLD WHEN THE CAR WAS BURIED AND DRIVING A 32 5 WINDOW/W CHEVY POWER.I STILL SEE THE CAR WHEN I GO BACK TO TN.
WHAT I MEANT WAS I PREFFER FORD OVER MOPAR.HEMI'S WERE AND STILL ARE A FORCE TO BE DEALT WITH.
YOU HAVE A NICE CAR
Don In Austin
OLDF100FORDMAN;
I couldn't remember the date on the demise of the Edsel. I do well to remember where I live.
No problem, John, I resemble that remark my self.
I went to see the car today. It's really not as bad as the photos would indicate. It's so covered with muck, and not being able to get in and poke around, it's kind of hard to assess. I was surprised that holes and blistering were minimal, considering. I've seen worse restored.
Odd thing is, some of the stuff that usually adds to the difficulty in a car from this era, like all the stainless and glass, is all pristine.
Really nice car show today. I think almost every '57 Plymouth in existence must have been there. Mike's little red '57 was stunning.
Hi guys, I did the car show thing today, (I'll add more in the next post).
Thanks for the comment about my car Guitarplayr nice words are always welcome.
"......It's really not as bad as the photos would indicate......."
My assessment is a little different......I also saw the car today. True anything can be restored, but in this case I'm afraid all that would be left would the stainless, set of glass (with the exception of the vent window Boyd's crew broke getting into the car) and the stainless steel VIN tag.
As I walked around the car, the driver door is rusted through, there is bubbling on every panel, and while the chrome looks shiny on the outer surface these often rust from the inside out (there is usually very little chrome on the back side).
One of the rear leaf springs fell off when the car was raised and from what I could tell from looking at the mirror they had under the car the U Bolts had simply rusted away. I get a feeling the frame is probably pretty thin.
Anything like heavy steel brackets look like they will be VERY heavily pitted if even usable at all. I don't know if anybody noticed last night at the unveiling but the inner trunk reinforcements (or what was left of them) literally fell off into the trunk.
I think on close inspection any exterior panel you will find are too thin to be usable.
Possibly the major engine castings could be reused, but after all this time I'd almost bet you end up with 8 sleeves.
A few days ago I would have been the first say restore it, but on closer inspection I believe there would be so little of the original car left that it would be a travesty to do so. At this point personally I would really like seeing the car preserved in it's as is condition (after steps are taken to preserve it form further decay). And who know that may be what happens. I'm hearing rumblings that both the W. P. Chrysler Museum and 57 Heaven are both interested in buying the car once it's determined who owns it.
All in all, I kind of like it. It's got a golden glow to it.:LOL: :LOL: Has a great persona, even though it could fall apart and any moment. Sorta looks like the pictures of the Titanic you see on tv. :LOL:
The car show today was great. One guy said he counted 32 57 Plymouths (plus aobut 5 in the indoor show ( and probably 3 on the row outside the convention center. That should make about 40 but I think the count should have been 39 1/2.
I'd been talking to the owner of this all weekend and didn;t know it was his until the show today (we had also discussed the engines a few time on the Plymouth Forum).
It now has an 80" wheel base weights 3000 Lbs and is powered by an aluminum head 11:1 compression 392 Hemi, has a 4 speed and 3.91 Posi.
He built it in the early-mid 70's (and mentions he doesn't drive it as hard as he used to :LOL:
Then there was the row (probably close to 20 56-58 Fury's from the Golden Fin Society.
The orange 57 Belvedere (4dr HT) was really neat, front clip and a Corvette LS1. I've been talking to the owner for a couple of years he completed it enough and in time to drive to Tulsa from LA with only about 250 test dive miles. I'm not usually one for cross breed swaps, but the workmanship was absoutly first rate.
We'll be heading out for Illinois to see family tomorrow moring and will keep you posted
that sure is a shame, makes you wonder if the cell filled with water within the 1st year, probably so. i bet with all the hype behind this now, it would fetch a million bucks on e-bay just as it sits. it is probably worth more in its present condition then if it were restored from its rusted form.
Every pic i see reminds me of the scene in cristine, after it caught on fire and was pulling back in the garage all burned up.
I think they should let it dry out as much as possible,then coat every single single surface with an epoxy sealant. I wouldn't clean one inch of the car, just seal it up and preserve the "patina" that has built up over the last 50 years. Or possibly restore just half of the car. Seal one entire half of the vehicle exactly as it is today, and then completely restore the other half to the best condition possible. I think that would look great, and make a very interesting project overall, then again I'm might be drunk right now:whacked: :LOL: .
The red Plymouth is a good idea and the work is weel done, it look's like japanese "kuru" !
Mike, Thanks for keeping us informed. Please keep the pictures coming! To me, this is an extremely rare event, since it is centered around cars that aren't mainstream hot rodding's number one choice, but are undeniably beautiful.
I especially enjoy bits of trivia, like the story about GM abandoning the '58 Chevy design after one year, because they had seen the new Chrysler line.
Be sure to post some pictures of your car too. I'm sure it was getting an equal share of the attention.
I would have still liked to see Boyd all covered in dirt,tryin to clean it....:LOL:
I am glad they left it untouched,its only right.
Oh C'mon! :p You know darn well that Boyd would have told Dewayne to tell one of the other flunkies to do that! :whacked: :whacked: :LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by shawnlee28
Pat
Went to the car show and it was amazing. I'm scary, but I almost got teary eyed seeing that old '57 looking like a gold, rusty nugget under the lights. I agree, preserve it in the condition it's in now. Did anyone see the time capsule they pulled out? If they'd only gotten the company that made that to make a big car capsule, it would have looked like it just drove off the showroom floor.
In case anyone is interested we made it into Illinois about 4:30 yesterday afternoon. After driving across 6 states I have to say the drivers here are the worse I think I've seen.
Did a quick oil change and and good check over on the car this morning and other than picking up a couple of rattels (I'll worry about those latter) everything seems to be doing good.
We had a truely great time at Tulsa. Besides the cars the people were great. We had restores, hot rodders, and those in between really made it a great event. The Double Tree which is right across the street from the convention center has a 6 level indoor parking garage. The top 3 levels were where most of the cars were parked and those not staying in the garage could come and go too.
Some of those nasty old hot rodders actually brought BEER....can you believe that????? I was usually up there until aorund 1AM on the 3 nights we stayed there and it was still going strong when I left. Those Aussie boys can sure hold there own with some of the southern boys we had there.
Here's a few more from the event.
First is a chopped 57. nasty 440 with a big cam and functional lake pipes....he liked to idle from top to bottom in the garage. Good background music.
hen there is the COE I really liked.
and the last belongs to the wife an old friend who I hadn't seen in 10 years. It's a 300F and this the front of the bug screen after it was driven from Minn.
MikeP stated: " After driving across 6 states I have to say the drivers here are the worse I think I've seen."
You obviously haven't done much driving on the East Coast, have you?:eek: :LOL: :LOL:
Thanks for this post Mike and the pictures, been following it closely and has been very interesting. Too bad it turned out like it did, would have been great to hear it fire up after 50 yrs. Did they ever identify the winner of the car?
i had a hella of time, it was nice seeing a flock of 50s mopar, its good not too see the flock of 55-57 chevys. the out of towners where real nice. i just wish i could have drove my 55 to the event. i car wasnt as bad as i thought it would be
Just me personally, but I like the dug up car in Tulsa been than the 1/2 red 57:LOL: ......
Jack
you think the drivers are bad there wait till you come up here:LOL:
Unless my brakes give out I should be stopping a couple states shy of there
:LOL: your lucky LOL, hey mike, i have been admiring your car for some time and was wondering, did they make a 58 post? i like post cars alot, yours reminds me of a car that should of been built factory if they did slap me :LOL: >:D i wouldnt mind snagging a 57 or 8 belvy for a furture project...
Tried to get on in the last couple of days wthout too much luck, but .......I" BAAAAACK :3dSMILE:
Yes they did make 2dr post cars in 58 also.
Anyway, spent a few days kicking back in Illinois, great to be able to spend some time with my family. While we were there the local paper took some pictures of my old Plymouth and made some notes so it looks I'll be in the local paper. This time it won't be in the "Court News" section of tickets :eek:
Yesterday we drove into DesMoines thru rain most of the day. Had a little get together last night and all in all had a pretty good time. The weather is supposed to clear up this afternoon so I think were going to Porkies for their cruise night tonight. I'll post some pictures of it after we get back.
Anyway, having a ball on the road.
Mike, if I had known you were going to be in Des Moines, I'd made some arrangements to meet you. :)
Mike, Sounds like a great trip! Kind of a "car junkie's heaven"! Can't wait to see the pictures. Thanks for letting us share your experience.
Well we ill be leaving Des Moines to head back in a little bit. Had a great time here. Rick the guy I'm visiting go back a long way, used to work in the same garage years ago.
I stored his 70 SS 454 Chevelle for several years until he shipped it out here.
As I mentioned he works at American Dream Machines here in Iowa they specilize in the higher end 60/70s performance cars.
The first picture is Ricks car
Then there's he rig they just boughtThe truck, trailer (and the Shelby Cobra rag top that go with it) are are something they just got in.
The shop area was more interesting to me than the show room (go figure)
The operation is a really neat setup. Apparently the building stated as a Cadilliac dealer in the 30 and eventually became aJag dealer in the 60-70s.
A really neat old building and it works great for what it is now.
Then we went to Porkies last night for their cruise. I'm told the turn out was actually light (about 100 cars) due to the weather. There were some really nice cars, couple of tri-power GTOs, and an old red 4 speed Satelite (with a 426) of course.
We got back from Porkies and Rick and I kicked back in his garage and kicking tires and re-living some of the old times till about mid-night. All in all we cramed a bunch in the last 2 days but I'm actually about ready to be back at home.
Thanks, Mike. Wouldn't that be a dream job, working on old muscle cars? :-)
"......Wouldn't that be a dream job, working on old muscle cars?......."
I asked Rick that......he still loves it....but some of the neatness wears off after a while..........sort of becomes a job.
Well I guess it's about time to close this thread out.....we pulled into the driveway about 1PM this afternoon. The car is unloaded and back in the garage and I'm just unwinding. Man what a trip....I would not have traded it for the worlds. Donna also had a great time :eek: The hotel was close enough to everything at Tulsa she didn't have to stick around past when she wanted to. Her and Rick's girlfriend hit it off great so they went shopping...while Rick and I baby sat the garage and cars with a cooler full of beer.......what could go wrong :LOL:
BY the way they seem to have located the winner of the car
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic..._A1_iEdit41017
All in all we did 3600 miles in the last 2 weeks. Total problems with the car were 1 lost hub cap and 1 broken sway bar support (Des Moines pothole).
The car was not babied during the trip ....we stuck mostly to the interstate running 70-80 MPH. The drive included of a total of about 5 hours driving in rain from light to "if it gets worse I'm pulling over cause I can't see.:whacked:" We drove thru about 50 miles of fog inTexas and even hit a couple of gravel roads back where I grew up at. The car preformed flawlessly.
I Figured the biggest test would be if it would cool running 80 MPH on a 100degree day (oh say like TODAY in AZ) with the air on. It did great temp never got above 200 and that was pulling some hills.
The car averaged 20 MPG and for a 50 year old car was actually pretty confortable even on the 18 hour strech we pulled yesterday. It does not have all the comforts of a newer car but after this shakedown trip I'm pretty confident I can take it juist about anywhere.
Mike, Thanks for giving us a more personal insight into the event.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike P
Ok, can't resist one last post (it's the last one really :rolleyes: )
Just got a copy of the local paper. Turned out to be the best picture taken of the whole trip :LOL:
How kewl! That is the best vacation souvenier ever!
Absolutely cool. How many copies of the paper did you pickup? :D :D I would have done about 20. :LOL: :LOL:
Don
I got 2 (the family sent them to me). One is in the "build book" for the car, and the other will be framed and hung between the 2 front page Tulsa news papers I picked up when I was in Tulsa.
Got to admit this was iceing on the cake for what what probably the best vacation I've had. It wsa also fun sharing it with my friends here (beats a slide shows and 8mm films).
(Don, I've been following your build....man it looks like it's getting close).
Cool! ;)
Pat
You are right Mike of souvineer makes the all trip. Good for you.:)
After 14 years I figured I’d bring this old thread back one more time.
I just got back from my “50th” High School Reunion. Technically my 51st as it got cancelled last year. Had a great time, it was good to reconnect with a lot of people and see what they had done over the last 50 years. We’ve lost 25% of the class over the years but the rest actually looked pretty good (for a bunch of old people).
3 hotrods showed up; my 57, a 69 Nova SS 396/4 speed, and one of the new factory hotrod Challengers. I was informed by a few people that when they saw my old Plymouth driving around town they figured that it was probably me.
The Plymouth did good on the trip, 4000+ miles in a week and no problems. I missed the 20 MPG I got with the Tri Power but the fun factor of the dual quads still wins :3dSMILE: . Only minor issue I had was in Iowa and Nebraska. A couple of stations I pulled into ONLY sold 87 Octane…… drive on down to the next station and the same thing :mad:. The Plymouth DOES NOT LIKE anything below 90 Octane.
Anyway the reason I brought this old thread back up is that the Buried 57 Plymouth they dug up in 2007 has finally found a home in a museum about 150 miles north of where my reunion was. I had enough time while I was back there to drive up and visit it…..basically see what it looked like after it was de-rusted and cleaned up.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6f23515d_z.jpgRT1 by M Patterson, on Flickr
When I pulled into the parking lot a guy came over and suggested I back into the parking place “so all the cars would be pointed in the same direction”. I must have looked at him kind of funny because he said “you’re here for the car show right?” He was a little disappointed when I told him no. Anyway I spent some time talking to some of the guys that showed up for the show and when they saw the AZ tag on the car the biggest question I got was whether I had trailered it to IL. They were impressed it had been driven.
The museum has a lot of interesting displays but a lot of the cars are “replicas of” or pieced together, others were the real deal.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0a56d05e_z.jpgRT2 by M Patterson, on Flickr
The buried Plymouth looked a LOT better than the last time I saw it…..which isn’t necessarily saying a lot.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...af6c624e_z.jpgRT3 by M Patterson, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b7a0c23b_z.jpgRT4 by M Patterson, on Flickr
I think the only thing holding it together is the paint. There’s not a useable part on the car. It was worth the trip to see, if nothing else just so I can say that I did. I built my 57 so I could drive it to the show when they dug it up, and it seemed appropriate that that’s what I drove now that it has a resting place.
Anyway, all in all it was a good trip.
.