25 cars

The cover.

“25 collectable Plymouths that you must own,” blared the cover of the November 2012 issue of my Hemmings Classic Car magazine, number 98. (See at left.)
They hafta be kidding! I doubt I’d want 25 of any car, not even Corvettes.
My garage will accommodate two cars, and that’s what I have, the same two cars my wife and I had before she died.
To me that is silly. I’d like to trade ‘em both for a single newer car, but lack the gumption to make the transaction.
I suppose I could just walk into a dealer and get things rolling.
I probably will some day, but right now I feel like I’m not prepared. I feel like I’d get taken to the cleaners. I don’t even have values for my trades.
A while ago my old hairdresser had to sell his Corvette, a classic ’67 Sting-Ray roadster.


This is the actual car (a four-speed 327).

I was interested, but where do I put it?
If I put it in the garage, one car has to be left outside.
An advantage to garaging both cars is no snow to remove.
And easy starting in a fairly warm environment.
And a ’67 Corvette is hardly basic transportation.
Where do I put my dog?
Where do I put the groceries?
A SmallBlock four-speed was always tempting, but I once owned a car like that, and it was no good for basic transportation.
Too noisy and cantankerous.
And now I’d have to add my dog-problem.
The cars I now have (a 2003 Honda CR-V, and a 2005 Toyota Sienna All-Wheel-Drive minivan) easily accommodate a dog, but a ’67 Corvette wouldn’t.
The magazine pictured various Plymouths, from the first (1928) to a Superbird and Dusters.

A Superbird (1970).

The Superbird is collectible, perhaps the most collectible of all Plymouths.
They’re so collectible they cost a fortune.
On the cover of the magazine was a pretty 1947 Plymouth woody stationwagon.
Such cars were the world I was born into.
I remember in high-school a guy with a black ’48 Plymouth coupe. The car even attracted me.
The car probably had little more than a low-power flat-head six-inline motivating it.
A Granny car.
But very attractive. The post-war Plymouths were pre-war cars with a much better looking grill.
Herewith a ’41.

A 1941 Plymouth.

Plymouths are no longer made. Plymouth went the way of Oldsmobile and Mercury and Pontiac.






• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17, 2012. Like me she was 68. I miss her dearly.
• My current dog is “Scarlett” (as in “Scarlett O’Hara”) a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s seven, and is our sixth Irish-Setter, a high-energy dog. (A “rescue Irish Setter” is an Irish Setter rescued from a bad home; e.g. abusive or a puppy-mill [Scarlett was from a failed backyard breeder]. By getting a rescue-dog, I avoid puppydom, but the dog is often messed up. —Scarlett isn't bad.)
• The Chevrolet “SmallBlock” V8 was introduced at 265 cubic-inches displacement in the 1955 model-year. It continued production for years, first to 283 cubic inches, then 327, then 350. Other displacements were also manufactured. The Chevrolet “Big-Block” V8 was introduced in the 1965 model-year at 396 cubic-inches, and was unrelated to the Small-Block. It was made in various larger displacements: 402, 427 and 454 cubic inches. It’s still made as a truck-motor, but not installed in cars any more; although you can get it as a crate-motor, for self-installation. The “Big-Block” could be immensely powerful, and the “Small-Block” was revolutionary in its time. (The name “SmallBlock” came into use after the “Big-Block.”)
• “Four-speed” is four-speed floor-shifted manual transmission.
• RE: “World I was born into....” —1944.
• A “flat-head” is a side-valve engine; the valving is down in the engine-block next to the cylinder. Many lawnmower engines are still flat-head. The cylinder-head is a flat casting. —Such engines were much easier to manufacture, so were quite common in the early days of automobiling. All automobile engines are now overhead-valve, the valves and passageways in the cylinder-head. Many are even overhead camshaft, what operates the valves. Overhead camshaft is more direct, and more efficient at operating valves. Both flat-heads and overhead-valve engines usually have the camshaft down in the engine-block. Overhead valves use pushrods to operate the valves. Flat-heads, having contorted passageways, don’t breathe anywhere near as well as overhead valves.