Plymouth Rocked

[@Sebastian_Dinwiddie]

It amazes me how Steve stumbles upon cars that also have sales brochures and road test magazines in them! 😉

[@61rampy65]

And they are all in great condition after all these years!

[@maineiacman]

Great videos. I love junkyards that keep things around instead of constantly crushing the older stuff.

[@Daniel-fd3wp]

@MP unfortunately everything thing here in Southern California gets crushed when I was teenager mid 90’s these were all over. 👍

[@Sedan57Chevy]

The first postwar designs and their immediate offspring, like this, are some of the most handsome cars out there. Before things got crazy in the middle 50s, you had extremely simple cars that were sterling examples of clean and handsome styling. A lot of soul in these old machines! Love getting to see one, even if this one is past its prime and been put out to pasture. The amount of advancement and change that would occur over the course of the 1950s and 60s is impressive, and a basic automobile like this is the perfect example of what came before.

[@hugh-johnfleming289]

For me I always wanted to build a "bootlegger" out of something like this, a sleeper. Quietly aggressive...

[@johnmaki3046]

These cars were TREASURES!

[@WyoWellTester]

The late night uploads are a savior on night shift

[@marygarner5249]

My Grandpa had a 1952 Dodge Wayfair 2door turtle back flat head six fluid drive miss him and his old car 💟

[@haroldbirge6881]

What a great heart you have ❤️

[@SteveMagnante]

Hello Mary Garner, here's to Great Grandpas and to their memories! Thanks for sharing, Steve Magnante

[@hughjass1044]

My dad bought a '49 when I was a teenager in the 70s as a restoration project but ended up restoring an old side-sit Farm-All tractor instead because his passions were more in old farm implements than cars. He offered the Plymouth to me but as a teenager in the 70s, a 4 door '49 Plymouth with a flathead 6 didn't even register on the cool meter so I passed. Of course, all these years later, the cool meter has all different settings and I'd love to be able to get my hands on it now. It was just one of several rather nice cars that went through our family that I had a chance on and passed up. Anyway, my dad ended up selling it to a guy who didn't restore it but drove it regularly as a "survivor" and it even made its way into a few parades. It was still running as recently as about 15 years ago and may still be.

[@fritglassware9165]

Aaaahhh I drove one just like this in high-school! (2005) 2 door post. I need another one!

[@SteveMagnante]

Hello FriT Glassware, you had a COOL CAR in High School if you had it in 2005! If you said you had a Cranbrook in high school in say, 1960, I'd say "I'm sorry" because no doubt the Chicks would walk right past and hook up with the guy driving the '55 Chevy. But - as with most things - time has made just about every "old car" cool again. I'm betting more Chicks found your old Plymouth cooler than the next guy's BMW or Acura. Yes? Thanks for writing, Steve Magnante

[@andreamills5852]

Steve,I think the elephant tusk distributor thingy is just a distributor stuck down the oil filler tube. If not I want one for my 230 Dodge . lol.

[@SteveMagnante]

You're right about the distributor having been "conveniently" stuck into the large oil filler tube. I went back for a second look AFTER we had uploaded the videos and saw the weird detail. Thanks for the note, Steve Magnante

[@Gothamauto]

@@SteveMagnante To see distributors mounted on tall standoffs, look at International Harvester trucks with inline engines. That distributor drive must be a couple of feet long, but with an engine that will spend its life under 3,000 RPM it works just fine.

[@bradkay4794]

@@SteveMagnante You like unedited one take videos for the appearance of spontaneity but this is a time to drop that. Please do a fade out fade in and cut that section.

[@chrisjeffries2322]

Grandfather had a 1947 Plymouth 4-door Special DeLuxe in battleship gray, what fun trying to go uphill with his trunk full of tools.

[@Funtimes670]

My parents had an old Plymouth at the tree row when I was a kid and I remember the taillights were real glass. Always wished newer cars had such cool styling!

[@dubiousf00d]

I know what you mean. I was changing a brake light in a 73 Chrysler I recently acquired and was so pleased to see that the housings were metal! Not plastic. So cool.

[@johnmaki3046]

These cars, while being "basic", had CLASS!

[@hughmarloweverest1684]

Rode in a Plymouth Cranbrook four door, 1951 model, all the time. A trip to remember. Kansas to California across the sweltering Mojave Desert in the late Fifties and back, with a canvas water bag hanging on the front. Hot air blasting into the rear window. We got to go to Disneyland, as well as visiting with relatives.

[@unclemarksdiyauto]

Thanks for the schooling on where the Cranbrook name came from.

[@Fevebblefester]

I own a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook. Four door sedan. Great to see this vid.

[@haroldbirge6881]

Good man thanks for bringing this great video awesome car 😎✌️

[@michaelmcgillivray1624]

1976, San Diego, CA. 4 friends getting discharged from the service,..put their money together and bought a very rusty 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook. Drove all the way to Columbus, OH. Seemed like it used more oil than gas. Battery was so dead we had to push it to get it started. Taking turns driving we went non stop. Great memories

[@donsailing1356]

My very first car as a 16 yr old kid in 1965, was a ‘52 Plymouth four door I bought for 55 bucks from a sweet “little old lady”. I bought a set of Sears Craftsman tools, that I still have, for 65 bucks so I could keep her running! I still have the ignition key to that gem on my key ring, but the car is long gone. Good times and great memories of my life as a 16 yr old!

[@frankrodriguez1977]

Awesome video and wonderful info. I have inherited a 1951 Cranbrook 4 door. I'm a Chevy guy but I really like this car. Thanks

[@andreamills5852]

You can build that flat head 6. All kinds of after market hp parts.

[@HoosierDaddy_]

Steve, I'm going to need about 10 of these episodes every day please. Thanks!

[@robertphillips6296]

Thank You for posting.

[@markchandler90]

Hi I agree with R Ellis that is is a 1952. They also had grey painted dashboards … 1952 were grained.

[@larrykirk9825]

I'm a 4th generation auto worker 3generatons Ford employees I work at Chrysler here in Detroit I love our history and love your channel

[@raymondellis5720]

Not to nitpick, but I believe that is a '52 with the round hood badge. Great video Steve as all of yours are. I love your modeling videos as well!

[@gman77gas]

Plus its a Roadrunner!😊

[@kennethreiver985]

Yes the 52 had a round badge . I was almost born in a 52 Plymouth Cranbrook Belvedere 2 Door Hardtop in 1956.

[@johnmaki3046]

Although I DO NOT remember, my first automobile ride was in a '41 Plymouth coupe! I WISH I COULD HAVE ENJOYED THIS!@@kennethreiver985

[@carthrasher8022]

Interesting & informative as always! Appreciate your knowledge & enthusiasm even for what seems "mundane". Keep em coming.

[@Timoteo53575]

Mr. Magnante, your VIDs are ALL informative and interesting, and thankfully easy-to-view. I mean that sincerely. You speak cogently and well. Eventually I will get around to each and every video because I love cars almost as much as I love learning about cars. Thanks, Steve!

[@jayswartzbaugh8553]

Hi Steve. I very much enjoy your channel. I just wanted to let you know the Plymouth in your video is a 1952, not a 1951. The two tells are the hood medallion and the color of the instrument panel’s rectangular gauges. In 1951, the hood medallion was more rectangular in the center and changed to a round shape in 1952, as with your example. Also in 1951, the metering gauges on the dash had a dark gray background with white writing and numerals. In 1952 Plymouth flipped those to have a white background with dark gray writing and numerals. Thanks for all the hard work you put into your channel!

[@stevethomas760]

The stories these cars could tell. My brother and I learned to drive in a '53 Plymouth Savoy.

[@Slimjim260]

My Aunt had one of those, great car it rusted out early in NY state road salt, great piece Steve enjoyed the old ones are the best!!!

[@terrystewart2070]

Wow! '51 Plymouth Cranbrook 4 door sedan was my first car. I was 13, it was 1963. This old lady customer on my Dad's garbage route had it it sitting in her yard. Forever. I kept seeing it. One day she was there when we picked up the garbage. I got the details. She was a paper lady. The car ran great. She was turning around on a narrow little street on the edge of town and ran the front stabilizer bar into a rock hidden in the weeds and broke it. Her mechanic said it was "dangerous" to drive with it broken. She parked it. Eventually got the part from the wrecking yard. But by then she in a newer car and didn't care. I paid her $35 whole American dollars for it (which had taken a 13 year old making 25 cents an hour a long time to save up). Then Dad and a buddy towed it to our place. It needed an new battery, 6 volt, $12, and an $8 fuel pump and I had a clean running driving '51 Plymouth for $55! Which I promptly crashed into a tree.......LOL That's another story

[@born_again_torinos]

Only 6 years later, Plymouth made my 1957 Fury that had factory dual 4-barrel carbs.

[@UberLummox]

Surprized you didn't mention "High & Mighty"!

[@lonnyjaw]

Yeah Steve, when you had the bolt on fender off of this '51 it reminded me of the look that the original 'High and Mighty' '49 Plymouth business coupe/home made drag car of 'The Ramchargers' gang. I wish a model company would make a 1/25 scale of that model, that would be co cool!

[@jeffreymikolajczak3009]

love your videos. very educational.

[@anibalbabilonia1867]

Man sad to see such classic in such sad state! Beyond restorable! But great history nonetheless! Thanks for the great video Steve!👌😎👍

[@sairajannat]

Old is gold friend

[@turboford4145]

Love your videos and information on all the old vintage cars and trucks I learn so much Steve

[@nualanet]

I owned a '55 Plymouth Plaza for a while. Fun car and I loved the low lip on the trunk...made it easy to put items in.

[@jamesswingle3411]

I rode in one, even Kansas to California and back! 1958 I believe.

[@timothykeith1367]

I knew what Cranbrook meant, there is also an influential Cranbrook Arts institution. The time I visited I hit a pot hole so big that it bent the rim, and that is a nice part of Detroit metro. Kingswood Academy for boys is near Cranbrook and it was the name for a Chevrolet station wagon.

[@MikeBrown-ii3pt]

That wasn't a pothole, it was a Detroit speed bump.

[@redram5150]

I’m thinking Steve saw Cruel Intentions several times in theaters

[@SteveMagnante]

Oh yes, poor Selma Blair's character. They pulled some pretty mean "tricks" on her. The movie characters played by Ryan Phillipe and Sara Michelle Gellar rode her like a bicycle (figuratively speaking, of course!). Thanks for sharing, Steve Magnante

[@redram5150]

@@SteveMagnante I’m thinking of one specific scene, to be honest. One where a guy shouted “YES” as it happened when I saw it in theaters

[@chuckschultz7028]

A similar car won the Southern 500 back in the day despite its 6 cylinder motor. They ran actual racing tires and avoided many changes.

[@sunnyray7819]

Always interesting! Thanks Steve!!!

[@mrfarmer532]

Great research and presentation 👍🏼

[@fredlarsen4594]

We all love Steve, he is awesome with his knowledge, or quick to feed us with BS if he is not sure.He is quick on his feet when describing the car. .... Someone pulled out the distributor, then stuffed it into the oil fill tube, Steve while confused, quickly thinking on his feet told us about the bizarre creation mopar did ... We love you Steve :)

[@willhorting5317]

Learning about vehicles other than Chevy, from your videos. (Always a Chevy fan. So know a lot about their vehicles from late '40s on.)

[@brianhealey5286]

Owned one! Very reliable and so great to drive. Paid $225 used and drove it through my military service. Yeah on the wheel hub bolts...same as my 1947 Hudson coupe.

[@LuciFeric137]

I had one of these exact models roll into my shop for tires. Looked like an unrestored survivor. Cute little car. A woman owned it. And yeah lug bolts just like European stuff. Its a stronger set up actually.

[@sammolloy1]

I had one. Great car. Drove it to Pensacola and up Bourbon Street. It developed an occasional rod knock that would clear up. Finally the noise stayed. It made it home sounding like a cement mixer full of car parts. I put a 1950 engine in it and sold it. Later I saw it in a junque yard, badly wrecked.

[@johnkranz4004]

Excellent video Steve I have a 51 Business coupe

[@paulwerner3150]

Cool and unique, cheers!

[@jaynedoe1959]

My 1st car was a 51 Savoy & looked about like that! (Damage included) It was in a field on Grampa`s farm & had sat for years when I got it at 12 in the late 60`s, but Gramp got it fired up in no time & I was able to drive it around the farm for a few summers before returning it to the same parking spot. My next car was a 65 Sport Fury 2dr with a poly & it`s name was Rust! LOL

[@corryowens7684]

Thank you. This is a cool video. I have a 1949 special deluxe in ruff shape but it is complete. She is a time capsule waiting for future project.

[@kmath50]

My Grandfather had a 1953 Cranbrook. I remember riding around in it. Seems like the starter switch was on the floor.

[@brianbethel9929]

Steve, the distributor trick is that it's stuck in the oil filler tube. You can see the distributor hole on the block. I have 2 of these. I subscribed anyway because I enjoy the junkyard finds. You almost lost me with that but hey, I'm not perfect in any way and you know alot more than me. Keep up the great channel and watch for those trick parts on mopar motors. J/K

[@mcqueenfanman]

Yeah, I saw the bend in the tube at the bottom.

[@bozodog428]

Learned to drive on a '53 Cranbrook 2 door post. Had the light weight trunk option like your feature car. Motor was so quiet at idle you could not hear it running.

[@thomastims9583]

Steve, love all your videos ! in fact it's the first thing I watch everyday. One question though. When talking about add-on options, have you ever considered putting the cost in todays dollars on the screen ? 75.00 in 1962 doesn't sound like much money at all today. Keep the videos coming buddy !

[@robertg.3555]

steve has unreal luck. he alway's finds magazines in junk car's . Informative video once again

[@flashg67]

I had some Great Grand-Parents who owned a 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook 4 door sedan. My Great Grandfather was born in 1891 and owned a sawmill. My Great Grandmother never learned to drive. When I was a kid in the 1970’s, my Great-Grandpa was still driving it. He actually stopped driving around 1983 and passed away in 1985. The car was sold off, and never seen again :( It was pretty rusty and worn when it was sold off.

[@ludicrous7044]

In the 1960S I worked at an A&P grocery store for $1.25 an hour and two other side jobs keep my 56 Ford going!! The maintenance man was twice as old as the bag boys and drove a 53 Plymouth with the six cylinder like this one. We had loud exhaust and would drag race and burn rubber in the parking lot! He would come in at three MPH and park. You couldn’t hear the engine run it was so quiet!!

[@johnmaki3046]

My Uncle, Elmer Hietala, owned a '52 Plymouth that he bought (not running) for $60 in 1961! He repaired it ($25 d.i.y. overhaul) and drove it until trading it for a '62 Rambler Custom in '65! HE WISHED THAT HE HAD KEPT THE PLYMOUTH!

[@oldskool1979]

Steve you need a sit down interview with Bob Lutz...

[@HotRod-wv4vm]

Thanks Steve. That front looks a lot like the Chevy

[@Wyowanderer]

I have a Cranbrook emblem on the shelf. Came off a 4 door/flathead 6.

[@andrewlorenzen1447]

Special Deluxe instead of Super Deluxe, keep ‘Em coming Steve!

[@t.s.racing]

Slow down Steve, the distributor is in the oil fill tube. Or it's the rare optional flex shaft distributor.

[@trh55]

Right- it belongs behind the oil fill tube toward the bottom. Those oil fill tubes used a large breather cap, as I recall.

[@kellysrestorations.7397]

What was on the oval aluminum tag on the jamb of the drivers side A pillar?

[@brianbethel9929]

That's the VIN number tag. That's the way they did it. I have 2 mopars of that era.

[@SteveMagnante]

Hello Kelley's Restorations, that oval aluminum tag is the VIN that's used to register the car. Unfortunately, there's ANOTHER tag on the firewall that has a bunch of numbers too. That one has info on paint, assembly plant, vehicle series data, etc. but many folks accidentally refer to the wrong tag when registering their early Mopars. Thanks for writing, Steve Magnante

[@kennethreiver985]

1955 Plymouth V-8 engines were 241 and 260 mid year the 241 exported to Canada . The 241 was originally the Dodge truck engine. The 277 didn't come out until 1956 ,the predecessor to the wide block 318 .

[@thomasdensmore3248]

Awesome Tom in Maryland

[@HexxHenderson]

My dad got into a head-on collision in 1962 with that exact same car. He collided with a mail truck the other driver had fallen asleep and drifted into his lane. The seat broke loose my dad was thrown into the dashboard in the ignition key in the dash tore his kneecap off his right leg. He was at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Denver Colorado for six months to recover.

[@SteveMagnante]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear of your Dad's accident. It is true, vehicle safety was a non-issue for FAR TOO LONG in Detroit. I'm all for safety laws because they do save lives...and serious injury. Thanks for writing, Steve Magnante

[@mehmeh5471]

Speedometer is beautiful in that car. What a shame it met its fate to rot in a junkyard

[@georgejsalomskasiii3048]

I have a 51 Plymouth Cranbrook 2 door.. I am dropping a 241 Hemi in it from a 53 Dodge.. gonna be a cool build

[@61rampy65]

Steve, in that Motor Trend magazine, it said photos by "Wallace Parks". Is that the same Wally Parks who started the NHRA?

[@portlandon]

Wasn’t the Korean War effecting the chrome on bumpers during the 50-52 years?

[@carasoles]

Definitely a 52 because the hood medallion is a circle not a shield, and the Plymouth script on the truck is attached to the trunk handle not separate.

[@The35speedster]

Seems like these cars were pretty durable. Still see them on the road to this day.

[@patrickbeggan1100]

“You went to Cranbrook, that’s a private school!” -Eminim, absolutely murdering Papa Doc in a rap battle in the movie “8 Mile.”

[@SteveMagnante]

Hello Patrick Beggan, Thanks for the detail. From the "It's a Small World" department, while I've never had any direct interaction with the lovely Selma Blair, Chris "Overhaulin'" / "Long Lost Family" Jacobs is a fellow Barrett-Jackson co-host (or WAS until he "defected" to Mecum...I'm kidding, he's great wherever he works). But during my 17 years in Los Angeles I attended the "David LeGrant Studio for Acting" on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Coldwater Drive where for a few months one of the other students was....BRITANY MURPHY. That was about 1996, and Britany had already co-starred in "Clueless" but was "just getting started" in her rapid rise to semi-stardom. So what a shock when she passed away so oddly and suddenly while married to Simon Monjack - who died about a year later. Weird. I can't say I knew Britany well but in the class of 8 to 15 acting students, you become familiar. I didn't see a troubled soul at all. She was maybe 20 then and she seemed happy and had this goofy - but likeable - giggle. Anyhoo, that's my 8-Mile connection - all triggered by an abandoned Plymouth Cranbrook in the junkyard! Thanks for writing, Steve Magnante

[@brunoroberge900]

M'y 55 desoto had bolts to keep the wheels on tight

[@tomboone201]

Cranbrook is also the name they gave the Dodge's farm which ended up being where dodges wife built her Mansion and later gave it to start a school ( later to be OCC) at Cranbrook

[@CR7659]

The Plymouth six was old but in 1951 just about all the car makers were using mid-30s engine designs, except Olds and Cadillac with the OHV V8s (although Olds still had the flathead six).

[@johanvangelderen6715]

It costs a LOT to invent and produce a new engine design. So the cost needs to be amortized over several or many years. A 1935 engine was 6 or 7 years old when car production stopped during the war. Production resumed in 1946. So this engine design was 13 years old when the car was built. Most other car companies also had prewar designed engines. So no reason to spend money yet. They were developing tooling for the mid 1950s engines by then. Those were a vast leap forward.

[@The55nomad]

Great auto history lessons from Steve.

[@joemazzola7387]

I thought that all plymouths back then we're named after famous hotels like savoy, plaza ,belvedere

[@jacksgarage5943]

Very cool

[@pilate3944]

Also, the parking brake handle is plastic. The 51' Plymouths had chrome parking brake handles, where as the 52' Plymouths had plastic parking brake handles. I believe this car is really a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook.

[@richardwalling9695]

2 door sedan. When did the "post ' start ?

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

👍👍👍

[@flnthrn2]

Damn !!! That engine skinny !

[@Barry101er]

Today’s phrase: Radio Delete. Where did the Belvedere name come from. I had a 65, 4 door. It was a nice ride, comfy bench seats. $250 in 1981, bought off an oldie in West Boylston, Ma., out of the “Trade-It”

[@jamespetersen3933]

My Dad's cup holder was a beer between his legs. Keep on crawling!

[@terrysmith9488]

Steve, where do you get all those mags and brochures!

[@edsyphan3425]

1951 Plymouth deluxe was my first car. Not the coolest car at school, but it sure beat the bus.

[@erinralston]

Knew a guy who went to Cranbrook. His real name's Clarence. And Clarence's parents have a real good marriage

[@swhisman]

My 1959 Plymouth Savoy had the lug bolts holding the wheels on. Pain in the rear getting the first one lined up.

[@jamesblair9614]

I recall a conical stud on the hub that indexed into a hole on the rim, between the lug holes, and it’s purpose was to assist in getting that first bolt started.

[@terribelbliss9646]

Was not a radio an option in those days? Why would you call it radio delete, it does not comport.

[@will7its]

Steve, I think you would have been great at Cranbrook......😆

[@Geo76er]

Steve has good taste in cars and women.

[@stevelacker358]

Look at that distributor again, Steve, that’s not how it mounts. Someone removed it and plonked it into the vertical oil fill tube! Its actually supposed to stick out the side of the block at an angle. The distributor and oil pump drive passes through the block at an angle, with the distributor angled up and to the drivers side, oil pump angled down on the lower passenger side of the block. Pretty much the mirror image of the way the later big block oil pump/distributor drive was angled. (former Owner of a 1949 Special DeLuxe with the 217.5 flathead.)

[@brentboswell1294]

These cars looked almost identical to the same year Chevy sedan. I have to walk up to them to tell them apart 😅

[@dufus7396]

Youre like a poet..

[@thedelawareranch2379]

Is that the same six they used in trucks as well ?

[@andreamills5852]

The 230 flat head were used mostly in the trucks, basically the same engine. Even in the military M37 trucks , M43 Ambulance with 24 volt system. Like you see on MASH.

[@jomama01]

Or was it named after the Cranbrook Institute?

[@robertgembala8532]

🤘