More Parts...More Elbow Grease

The '56 Fury used unique stainless steel and chrome trim both inside and outside, so I thought it important to retain these rare parts to accent the difference between standard models and the Fury.

The A-pillar trim is chrome plated so I'll have to send it out for re-plating, but the door frame trim is stainless steel, and despite the heavy rust I should be able to sand and polish them to an acceptable condition. I started sanding one part, but need to get some coarser sandpaper or it will take forever to cut through the rust.

Disassembling the Donor Car

The more I tear into the donor Fury, the more I find Mother Nature trying to beat me to the parts. I’m surprised the body hasn’t already broken in half. Knowing many parts are unsalvageable is helping me justify cannibalizing such a rare car.

Several mounting clips for the side trim were too rusty to unscrew and I couldn’t reach them with a cutoff wheel, so I did it the quick way and used a metal shear to open the fender like a sardine can. The metal was too far gone to be of any use other than small patch panels.



The passenger door would not open as neither handle would release the latch, so it also got the power shear treatment. I was able to access the latch from inside the door and after solvent cleaning and digging away the dried lubricant, the door actually works. I plan on using this door to engineer the bear claw latch and different door handle installation. I’m not sure which interior handle I want to use, but I like the looks of the mid-sixties Imperial handles. The plan is for power windows, so I don’t have to worry about matching handles with window cranks.

Waiting for Spring

While winter keeps a firm grip on the weather, I've been working in the house on a project to see if there is a way I can install a pushbutton TorqueFlite shifter assembly with a single cable to a later model transmission, and give it a close to stock appearance. Using a '64 Valiant shifter as a starting point, I quickly discovered that it's not easy, and undoubtedly someone would have done it long ago if it was.

It's not too difficult to figure out a basic functioning design, but the challenge is making it compact enough to fit behind the dash, rugged enough to take the beating of everyday driving, while trying to make it look like something that could have come from the factory.

Whoever designed the mechanical pushbutton shifter was an engineering genius. It's so complicated in movement, yet so rugged, it's amazing how they have survived more than half a century with so few problems. I only wish that at the time Chrysler would have had an automatic transmission that needed a park feature in the shifter.

At least the weather forecast looks good all next week with highs in the 60s, and 70s. It's about time, as this is the coldest, windiest winter in the eighteen years I've lived in Texas.

Fifty-five Years ago

The weather is cold and miserable, so I've not even bothered to warm up the workshop. Instead, I'm going to take a break from the Plymouth and post something from a blog I was writing in 2009. I think about this event every year, an even though I'm posting it a day late, I'm going to remind other old timers who might remember the day they said the music died.

"The first week of February 1959. The days are getting noticeably longer and the frigid North Dakota winter is showing the first signs of moderating. The February thaw, we called it. I’m a senior in high school…seventeen-years-old, know everything, and looking forward to graduation so I can enlist in the Air Force.

Our world consists of hot rods, Gidget movies, white bucks, Elvis haircuts, and cars with tail fins, but most of all, it’s the music…and then we were told the music died.

On the morning of February third, we awoke to the news that a private plane crash in Iowa had taken the life of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens. Fifty years ago today…my God, how time flies.

Besides the horror of those three young recording stars being killed, there was a personal insult to those of us who lived in North Dakota. You see, they were on their way to our state from Iowa. It was a huge event for a state that seldom attracted talent like that. We had even debated if we should try to get tickets for the concert, but Fargo was a five hour drive away. Winter travel was risky and it would have made no difference anyway, as the event was quickly sold out.

That night, all of “our radio stations” played the music the three young men had sent to the Top-40 charts. In shock, carloads of teens cruised the streets of our small town, listening to voices that would never again record the music we loved. We were a somber group and there were some tears, a few what-if’s, and lots of why's.

However, greatness can’t be destroyed by a plane crash, and neither can memories. Thanks to technology, Buddy Holly and friends still entertain the generation that produced some of the best music ever heard. And even after we’re gone, new generations will continue to enjoy the music that will never die.

In every tragedy, some good seems to always emerge, and in this one, a local singer by the name of Bobby Vee was enlisted to perform at the event that was to have featured the three stars that died. His performance received national attention and he moved on to become a star in his own right."

Driver's Floor Patch

I put the new hand tools and sand bag to the test today by forming a cup-shaped add-on to the sorely lacking floor panel. No doubt I’ll need a couple of aspirin in order to sleep tonight, as my shoulder hurts already. Do you have any idea how many mallet strikes it takes to form a piece like the one in the photo?



The OEM floor shape has a raised area where the stock accelerator pedal mounts, and the patch panel I purchased was shaped to accomodate that setup, but since I will be installing a suspended pedal from a later model, I just followed the floor contours with my homemade patch panel. It actually turned out quite well, even if it’s not pretty.



I temporarily mounted the Fury stainless side trim to see what it would look like with my proposed modifications. I think it will work out okay, but I might have to reshape the angle on one corner piece. However, that task is a long way down the road and I’m not going to worry about it at this time.

Door Bars, Primer and Handmade Parts

Time to cut and chop, so I thought it prudent to find a couple of door bars to help hold the body in alignment before any structural sheet metal is removed. I have enough welding waiting and I really didn't want to hunt down the material I need and then fabricate my own bars, so I ordered a set of universal fit bars on the Internet. The catalog part description said they were the size to fit the '55-'57 Chevy, and my Plymouth is about the same size, so it seemed to be the way to go. Oh well, someday I'll remember that "universal fit" means it fits everything except Mopar. Not a big deal, but to make them work I have to make a trip to Fastenal on Monday to get some odd-sized bolts that Lowes doesn't stock, make some spacers to hold the bar in the right place, and then probably do some grinding on the bars.

I spent much of yesterday removing surface rust and priming areas that won't require any metal work or welding. Since the areas are relatively small, at this point I'm just using spray cans of regular primer, not epoxy. Naturally, one of the cans has something wrong and the nozzle keeps plugging.

I also made a small odd-shaped patch to use with the not-quite-right rocker panels. It consists of multiple bends and curves that required a lot of tweaking and reshaping with hand tools, but I eventually got it done. I'd take a photo, but I'm not too proud of all the tooling marks. Now that I figured out how to achieve the shape, maybe the one for the other side will look good enough to show off...or maybe not!

I'm building garage shelving today, so all car stuff sits and waits. Winter is supposed to return tomorrow and stick around for a couple of days, so without heat in the workshop, progress again slows.

A Little Progress

Bright and early yesterday morning I braved the cold Northwest wind to visit Fulton's Metal Supply in Denton. I bought a 4X8 sheet of 18 gauge and when I went to drive the truck into the loading area, I found the battery dead. The manager was a good guy as he sent a yard worker to get their jumper cables and use his forklift to jump start my truck. The high priced Die Hard was only couple of years old, but it was shot. The truck has only been driven a few hundred miles in that time, but I guess our hot summers kill them whether they are used or not.

Yesterday afternoon the weather was beautiful and after finishing a shelf project in the pantry, I played with my new MIG welder. It's been nearly twenty years since I did much welding, and it's taking some practice to recapture what little skill I had. Thank goodness for YouTube and all their videos to help me brush up.

It was nice again today and I avoided my wife's honey-do list for most of the day so I could get started cutting out rusted floor pans. The little Dremel circular saw worked really slick and it will definitely will get lots of use before this project is done. It does eat up blades pretty fast so I need to order more before the trunk floor and tail panel arrive. I talked to John at Big M today and made arrangements to pull and ship the parts, and that will be the next big job I tackle. I could weld in the front floor pans, but I'd rather wait for the rear pans to arrive so I can get a better feel for the extent of the job.

The dip-strip operation looks good in all the areas you can see, but after cutting out a piece of the floor at the front chassis mount, I found trash and rust where apparently the pressure washer couldn't reach. Thankfully the metal in that area is still solid and the surface rust is easy to treat.



No word from the guy selling the rear-dump Poly exhaust manifold. I'm beginning to suspect he's not interested in selling to me.

Parts, Tools and More

Tools have been arriving slowly but surely. This week I received a spot weld cutter, teardrop plastic mallet, sandbag and a flanging tool. The mallet from Eastwood is China-cheap, but the other tools are US made. I did get to practice forming the front floor panels, and actually got them to almost match the stock parts, even if the mallet was chintzy.

Got word from BlackCar that the sheet metal fabricators are back from their vacation and the rear floor panels are now in the queue.It could be up to two months before I get them, but I'm hoping they better that date.

John at Big-M auto salvage in California sent photos of the tail panel and trunk floor from the '55 he has in his yard. The trunk floor isn't in great shape, but it's better than the one I have and it's still attached to the tail panel, so it will save some labor. I gave him the go-ahead to pull the parts, but haven't heard back yet.

New Vintage Gauges

I mentioned earlier that I worked with a company to design some custom gauges. They were for my '64 Valiant convertible. I wanted something that looked close to stock, but with modern lighting and function. The first picture is the stock dash, and the second is the New Vintage gauges mounted behind the stock bezel. Not perfect, but acceptable.


The new speedometer had a new face with 120 mph and in a larger than standard housing to fit the Valiant bezel.



This is the stock Fury dash...


...and this is one New Vintage design that would look similar if the needles were orange. I'd also like a 150 mph speedometer to borrow from the '57 and '58 Furys.

More Expenses

Since I'm about to attempt my most extensive sheet metal repair/replacement project, I finally broke down and ordered some hand tools that should make things easier. They should all be here in time for me to practice on scraps before most of the real patch panels arrive.