My 1960 Plymouth Savoy was purchased new by my father on June 13, 1960
from Rossmeyer Chrysler/Plymouth in Metuchen, NJ Since the purchase of the 60
came not long after having moved into a new home, my father wasn't exactly flush
with cash with which to buy, or run a new car. However, the 1949 Plymouth he was
driving was on its last legs, and a replacement for it was imperative. Therefore,
though a new car purchase had been decided upon as unavoidable, the car had to be
reasonable in cost to purchase and operate, thus a six cylinder Savoy model became
the vehicle of choice for my father. As time went on, and the miles rolled by, the
choice made in 1960 proved to be a wise one, as the 1960 Plymouth provided many
faithful, economical years of service as the family Taxi, grocery getter, etc. The Slantsix
which powered what is now my Plymouth definitely gave the economy of
operation my father needed from the car, while giving ample power to haul a full
complement of passengers comfortably, (six at least), and their luggage.
My Plymouth was the household mainstay until June 1972, when it was
displaced from its top dog position. By 1972 my Plymouth was starting to show the
effects of 12 years of heavy duty service, and my parents decided it was time to
purchase a new family car. Unlike its predecessor though, my Plymouth was not
traded in on its replacement, but as can be surmised, just demoted to second banana.
Unfortunately for my Plymouth, demotion wasn't the worst fate it was to suffer.
About a year after its demotion, a "friend of mine", convinced this then naive
teenager that my Plymouth's engine needed to be rebuilt, and lucky me, he could
help me in that endeavor. It seems that my Plymouth's engine would smoke upon
start-up, and for short time thereafter. So knowing little about engines, or cars in
general, I believed my friend had to be right about the need to overhaul the engine.
Well, you know 20/20 hindsight is wonderful, in that now I can say, what a mistake
that was believing my friend's astute observations, not to mention my unbridled faith
in his mechanical abilities. After the "rebuild", the Plymouth's engine wouldn't even
turn, didn't smoke, but it also didn't do anything else. The first thing that dawned on
me at that point in time, was I should have checked with an experienced Mechanic
regarding what to do about the smoke problem. The next thing I realized, was I
should have asked my father if I should even think of getting involved in such a big
job as an engine overhaul, without his supervision, after all dad was a Mechanical
Engineer.
After the ill-fated engine overhaul, my Plymouth sat for about a year. At one
point during that year of sitting idle, my father considered simply junking the car, but
the paltry $25.00 he was offered for the car, if he hauled it down to the junkyard,
dissuaded him from doing so. At the end of the year of idle time, I made yet another
not so good decision. I decided I was going to purchase a "good used engine" from a
well know national automotive mail order firm. The engine turned out to be a piece of
junk, and since it took my High School Auto-Shop teacher three months to get around
to installing it, the mail order company refused to take back the engine. The end
result of this latest fiasco, was still more idle time for my Plymouth, until I could find
an engine rebuilder who would be at least willing to look at the used engine to
determine if it was at all salvageable. I finally did locate an engine rebuilder through
my Aunt, who happened to be doing accounting work for the rebuilder. The rebuilder
looked over the used motor, and determined that it would cost more to salvage it
than it was worth, and offered me core credit towards an already rebuilt motor. The
rebuilt engine was installed, and the rebuilder also replaced the transmission they
damaged due to errors made by their workers doing the engine installation. Six
months after arriving at the rebuilder's shop, and what ended up being 1-1/2 years
after my original fateful engine rebuild decision, plus some threats of legal action
brought on by the rebuilder's foot dragging in the engine installation process, my
Plymouth emerged from the shop under her own power for the first time. The year by
this time was 1975, the month was February.
I then embarked on the long, arduous task of restoring my Plymouth to her
former glory. The task was complicated by my lack of knowledge as to where to
source needed restoration parts from, (i.e. fenders, patch panels for the rear
quarters, and trim pieces), and an over exuberant youth's driving technique. Needless
to say that between what was already deteriorated from age, what broke by my
pushing the old gal to the limit quite often, compounded by my lack of knowledge as
to where to get many of the parts my car needed, slowed the rate of progress in the
restoration of my car. Though it took a few years, some dented fenders, and lots of
hard earned money, I did finally wise up, treating my aging Plymouth more carefully.
I also started attending car shows, as well as joining a couple of car clubs, finding
along the way, that through the car clubs and shows I could get information on
where to locate parts for my car. I also made many new friends through my
involvement in the clubs.
