Being in a somewhat stressful sales job and having always wanted a street rod, I decided about two and a half years ago to build my own street rod as an alternative to therapy. After all, what better stress relief could there be than to work with my hands to create that special car I had always dreamed of.
Now the street rod is not my only collector car. I have been attempting to collect a car from every decade. A car that, in my mind, represented its decade well in terms of models available. My first car was a 1924 Chrysler Roadster. Next came a 1995 Viper. Then came a 1958 Jaguar XK-150, a 1946 MG TC and finally a 1975 Porsche 911S.
Since the 1930's was next on my list, I decided to build a 1933 Plymouth . First I needed a donor vehicle. I scoured e-bay and many websites and diligently devoured Hemmings every month in search of the perfect donor car. Nothing I found fit the bill for what seemed like years but was probably only a couple of months. Finally I spotted and ad in a website of a club I belong to, which advertised a 1933 Plymouth frame. No body, no motor, just the frame.
While I really preferred a whole car, my patience was wearing thin and I figured it would be some time before I was ready for the body anyway so I called the number listed in the ad. It turned out that John was selling the frame since he no longer needed it. He had a 1933 Plymouth which he had turned into a street rod a few years ago and recently he decided to upgrade the suspension. He did so by putting a brand new custom frame under his car. That left the original frame available to me.
When I went to look at it, stored outside in his backyard, it seemed like the perfect deal. First it was close. Second it already had a Mustang front suspension under it and it had already been boxed. It had a brand new gas tank and John even threw in an old Mopar trans he had. We shook on the deal.
When I returned that weekend with a trailer to pick it up, the trouble started. Since it had been sitting outside in the Michigan weather for about a year and a half, all four brakes had frozen. It took hours of banging, prodding and several cans of penetrating oil before we could move the car an inch. It was then that I should have asked John why he did not just upgrade the rear end in this frame.
Finally I got it home. As I wanted this car to be all Mopar I quickly sourced a 360 crate motor and dropped it in. As that was the same Motor John had in his car originally, it bolted right in. The frame had a Chevy 10 bolt rear and that had to go next. I installed a Heidt's independent and now it was starting to shape up and look like a real street rod. The frame had to be reboxed as it had started to crack and rust. Closer inspection revealed that there were no
cross members in the frame other that the Mustang front end and a small brace above the rear. Clearly not enough bracing for 400 horsepower. We then added a X-member system to stiffen the chassis as well as support the
Torque flight transmission.
Next came the plumbing brake and fuel lines, master cylinder, fuel pump and filter, etc. All custom built for the frame. As I wanted a nice car that I could feel
comfortable showing as well as driving I knew the frame would need a lot
of work to cover all of the original holes that the 1933 Plymouth frame had.
