1966 Plymouth Fury 3

[Jim Bell]

"Paint don't make it great. Speed is all you need."

- sheriff john bunnell. 1969. 

 

[Gazebo]

Me, currently:  The definition of jealousy

That is a beautiful car.

[PhilA]

45 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

"Paint don't make it great. Speed is all you need."

- sheriff john bunnell. 1969. 

 

I'm gonna try squeeze the speed outta that. It hasn't run since before it was rebuilt.

I have a worry is all rusty inside.

 

Phil

[eddyramrod]

42 years ago I had a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere sedan, also a project.  The difference is, yours will get done!  It's going to be fun!

[PhilA]

Stood for a while tonight looking at the car, trying to figure what I want to do with it.

It's mostly solid up top (I need to see how much of the sills are made from wob) with a few random rusty bits. Interior is.. ish. Not good not bad, just ish.

Headlining is good but fallen.

The engine.. yeah. Took the rocker covers off. Need to eyeball those in the sunlight, hopefully it's just a dusting of surface rust. No crank pulley, helpfully, but there's no telling, it might be in a box.

Front suspension bushings are 100% shot. Forgot these are torsion bar up front. Rear springs are soft as hell (appears correct), and I need to look but it might have a sway bar in back.

Brakes.. didn't get that far. It doesn't have any. 

I'm trying to figure the best way to go about this one.

 

Do I: 

1) Strip it clean and completely sort the bodyshell 100%, then work on piecing the mechanical bits back together, or

2) get it mechanically good then worry about the body afterwards?

 

 

[Skizzer]

I think I’d go for 1 while sourcing bits for 2. It’s going to be less work to strip it for metalwork and paint now than it will be once reassembled.

That’s assuming the mechanicals are all doable/viable (which I’m sure they will be, especially with your capabilities) and you definitely want to put in the effort.

[STUNO]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Stood for a while tonight looking at the car, trying to figure what I want to do with it.

It's mostly solid up top (I need to see how much of the sills are made from wob) with a few random rusty bits. Interior is.. ish. Not good not bad, just ish.

Headlining is good but fallen.

The engine.. yeah. Took the rocker covers off. Need to eyeball those in the sunlight, hopefully it's just a dusting of surface rust. No crank pulley, helpfully, but there's no telling, it might be in a box.

Front suspension bushings are 100% shot. Forgot these are torsion bar up front. Rear springs are soft as hell (appears correct), and I need to look but it might have a sway bar in back.

Brakes.. didn't get that far. It doesn't have any. 

I'm trying to figure the best way to go about this one.

 

Do I: 

1) Strip it clean and completely sort the bodyshell 100%, then work on piecing the mechanical bits back together, or

2) get it mechanically good then worry about the body afterwards?

 

 

Go for 1 , and while you have time during the body repairs get the engine checked and running .  See Hoovies channel and what he and mechanics have done to his latest, a lovely Corvette which had sat half done for approx 5 years, It was much more complete but the same principle applies.

The Corvette Barn Find of a Lifetime! Buying a Rare 427 Coupe in Cuba? - YouTube

[sutty2006]

Number 1 gets my vote. Better to be satisfied with everything first before wasting time on anything else. 

[Rocket88]

If I was over there...1, if I was over here....2 !

[eddyramrod]

Huggy is firmly in 2.  With your garage, and so much disassembly having already been done on your Plymouth, I'd say go for 1 and get the body straight.  It'll never be a better time.  Meanwhile, when you're doing stuff like waiting for paint to dry, you can be checking over the various boxes and seeing exactly what you have that can be used.  IIRC Mopar went unitary long before the rest of Detroit, so I don't think you have an actual chassis under this - correct?

[Jikovron]

Well worth getting the crapola jobs out the way whilst the mojo is strong, nowt worse than loosing the initial excitement just as you poke a hole in something obscured by loads of awkward to remove chaff 

[Rocket88]

Would its take much to get it going?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

14 hours ago, PhilA said:

 

It's fiiiiiinnnne.

 

Threw a fan in because they caught a small amount of rain as they got near here and one side of the rear seat is a bit damp.

 

Phil

 

18 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

for those curious on the NASCAR looking car you can find a few more details in this video here  

 

the youtube channel is worth having a look at if your into car based video game shenanigans, the survive the hunt series is particularly good  (and other fun ones like the entire grid of stock 2CV's round the ring that I have posted before)

 

but back to @PhilA's I would vote to keep it stock, I particularly like the steelies it has with the wheels tucked quite far into the bodywork it really gives it that barge look which I like  

sorry to hear what happened with it and its previous keeper, but I am very much looking forward to seeing you sorting it out properly  

This would look fantastic. As for whether you follow plan 1 or 2, why don't you strip back a few small test areas on the body and underside to gauge the level of previous bodgery? It should give you a fair idea of whether the previous restorer* used either cosmetic levels or structural levels of wob. If it all seems fairly positive, get the mechanicals sorted and fix up the body at a later date? 

As an aside, did the PO ever catch up with the fly-by-night who robbed him of his parts and $$$$$? I'd be after blood. 

[hairnet]

so phillip

story of why....???

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

I'd say go for 1 and get the body straight.  It'll never be a better time. 

 

7 hours ago, Skizzer said:

I think I’d go for 1 

 

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

why don't you strip back a few small test areas on the body and underside to gauge the level of previous bodgery

 

5 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

Number 1 gets my vote. 

 

1 hour ago, Jikovron said:

Well worth getting the crapola jobs out the way 

Okay, so completely strip it and do it right. Fair enough. That's what I was leaning towards more anyway, as it's a slightly cheaper route to begin with.

 

1 hour ago, colc said:

Would its take much to get it going?

The engine and drivetrain is a massive unknown at this time. I think I'm going to pull and inspect at the very least.

 

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

IIRC Mopar went unitary long before the rest of Detroit, so I don't think you have an actual chassis under this - correct?

Correct. It's unibody with a big front clip that extends back for the front suspension mounts.

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

As an aside, did the PO ever catch up with the fly-by-night who robbed him of his parts and $$$$$? I'd be after blood. 

No, he did not. In the end he decided to cut his losses. I don't think this will ever end up show car standard, it's much more likely to look like it did in 1970. Slightly used.

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

so phillip

story of why....???

Wife was looking for golf carts for sale. This popped up in the classifieds. I took a look and decided it might be fun to whack back together and smoke about in. Because muscle car.

Phil

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Wife was looking for golf carts for sale.

Phil

she def gets you into trouble

catalina turned into chief

golf cart (!) turned into mopar

the boss is nuts in an excellent way

 

[barrett]

21 hours ago, hairnet said:

had this car as an avatar pic on forums maybe 15 years ago

cant find actual pic as had many computers since then (it was facing the other way )

has been in top 5 want for far longer than that

phil you evil man

Hey that's my friend's old car. He had it for 20 years or something but sold it a little while back and he's now got a 56 Chevy wagon. That's Brighton beach in the background

[PhilA]

56 minutes ago, barrett said:

Hey that's my friend's old car. He had it for 20 years or something but sold it a little while back and he's now got a 56 Chevy wagon. That's Brighton beach in the background

Small world, isn't it?

When I was in Mississippi I went to rent a trailer and the lady at the desk used to live on the next street from me here.

[PhilA]

Interior, all the junk removed. Not an unpleasant place to be.

 

But, we don't need seats or carpet where we're going. 

Crunch, crunch. Worst part of the car so far. Sills are totally solid, A, B pillars too. Just the floor pans are a bit crunchy, driver's side probably a couple patches (famous last words) and this side needs a bit more attention.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Finishing up after sorting through some of the boxes tonight.

I put its face back on. I also found some engine spares and the crank snout pulley so I might find some bolts for that and get that in...

 

Phil

[STUNO]

One for sale here, I don't have enough spare cash to buy it though  🐊 😭

1967 Chrysler Other Plymouth fury 111 | Trade Me Motors

[PhilA]

And a wheel trim. I don't mind those actually.

[PhilA]

3 minutes ago, STUNO said:

One for sale here, I don't have enough spare cash to buy it though  🐊 😭

1967 Chrysler Other Plymouth fury 111 | Trade Me Motors

See, that one's nice. I am going through what trim in missing right now, and am sorely tempted to bung some oil in the pan, bolt the starter on and spin it over.

 

Phil

[jonathan_dyane]

Do it!

I’d be tempted to assemble it and run it like a 70s beater

[PhilA]

6 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Do it!

I’d be tempted to assemble it and run it like a 70s beater

Nah, it's tempting but I want to try get this one straight and looking nice. 

[PhilA]

Had some time whilst waiting on the kids in town, found a source for the full front floor pan, supports and rear quarters.

Can't afford them right now but they're available. Next big task will be to pull the dash out, heater out so I can get at the firewall, it's holed in both corners where there's a dirt trap. That's leaked and rotted the floors out.

 

I did see spider webs underneath that are fresh so they need to be evicted, too.

Phil

[Fumbler]

That flat front looks strangely appealing to me. I rather like it. Looking forward t much updates.

[hairnet]

16 hours ago, PhilA said:

And a wheel trim. I don't mind those actually.

hell no to resto mod 5 spoke-o

trims ftw (or dog dish )

inspection how about now

 

[PhilA]

Just now, hairnet said:

hell no to resto mod 5 spoke-o

trims ftw (or dog dish )

inspection how about now

 

Might get trims, might get dog dishes. Nice thing is those are easy to swap out.

And no, it's not getting alloys or Torque Thrusts. 

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Just now, PhilA said:

 

And no, it's not getting alloys or Torque Thrusts. 

 

Phil