The New Arrival

Introducing "Red," our 1946 Plymouth Special DeLuxe 4-door. We purchased the car in April 2010 for two primary reasons:

1. To use in conjunction with Benita's photography business
2. To keep me off the streets and out of the house

Thus far I have spent more time under the hood than behind the wheel, and we have yet to use the car for weddings or the like. But that is coming soon.

In actuality, the car was in very good shape to start with... for a car that is 64 years old. We've already racked up one 1st Place Trophy in a local car show (for only best in class), and had a lot of fun as a family getting the car and display ready for the competition.

Through this blog I hope to document the work we put into the car. This is to keep me motivated when I get frustrated, perhaps give some tips and advice to anyone else looking to travel down the same path, and to showcase the incredible work Benita does with the car in her photography business. Please check out her websites; they are listed to the right, or you can get there by following these links: A Sweet Life Studio, Lipstick Legends.
For this first post I want to include some photos that show Red's condition on Delivery-Day. DISCLAIMER: Please note that all of the photos in this post were taken by me with a point-and-shoot digital and NOT by Benita with her professional rig and talent.

While almost all of the trim is present on the vehicle, the left lower grille bar was missing. For anyone looking to restore any old vehicle, trim work is expensive and, in many cases, very hard to find (which means 'even more expensive').

That's a third brake light there in the middle of the trunk lid, though ours is not working at this time. We've also discovered that the rear light bezels are not original, and the third light might not be. More on that later.




The engine compartment is rough but the 218 c.i. inline-six flathead runs like a top. Yes, that is a 12-volt battery, as the car had already gone through a conversion from the original 6-volt system. The PO (previous owner) often ran it without an air cleaner because he "liked the sound." The PO is the auto-restoration equivalent of Murphy's Law: "Anything that does go wrong, was due to something the PO did... or didn't do."


The PO didn't bother to clean the interior, and judging by what I managed to vacuum and scrape out of the backseat, there's a bald cat out there somewhere. While the interior is rough, everything is there and apparently original. That's a cover that's been added to the bottom of the front seat.





The headliner has worn a bit thin in places.

The trunk came with a couple of options:
1. The remains of the heater
2. A 1939 air cleaner, which isn't original, but wasn't installed on the car anyway






So that's pretty much how Red came to us: a bit rough but running. Our goal for the car is to keep it as original as possible and practical, repairing what we can, replacing what we have to, and leaving alone what we can get away with. The car must be presentable for photos and drivable. In fact, our intentions are to make it down right reliable.

We hope you enjoy riding with us on this journey, and please feel free to ask any questions or make any suggestions you feel pertinent and/or entertaining.

-Edward & Benita.