1934 Plymouth PE Deluxe 5 Window Coupe 1932 1933 Dodge DeSoto Hot Rat Street Rod

     This listing is for a truly exceptional and totally rust free "barn find" or "survivor" 1934 Plymouth Model PE Deluxe 5 window business coupe. I believe this car came from the factory with the dual chrome plated trumpet horns you see here as well as the dual chrome plated tail lamps and dual windshield wipers which are still on this car. This car came from the factory as a "Business Coupe" with a huge trunk rather than a rumble seat like the one shown in the artwork in the third photo of this listing.  I found that artwork as a brown "showroom poster" here on eBay a couple of months ago. I had a local friend that can do wonders with her Photoshop program clean up the minor damage on the image and background and change the color of the car to the black color you see here.  I persuaded a local friend to pose with this gem with my WW II "training" rifle to give it a bit of the "gangster" look because this car is from that era.  

     I am selling this car for a local friend who recently found it in a relatively dry part of Idaho which is only a few hundred miles from where I am in Bozeman Montana. The man he bought it from there had it stored for over 30 years after he bought it from his brother who had stored it for many years before that on a ranch there.  I have dealt with collector cars of this vintage for over 40 years now. I can guarantee that this car has no rusted out spots in the sheet metal anywhere including the doors. floors. wheel wells. quarter panels. cowl panels. running boards. fenders. trunk lid or the panel below the trunk lid.  

     This car is not in running or driving condition at this time. The engine was stiff but not stuck when I first got this car so I lubricated the cylinders with Kroil rust penetrant. I just can't say enough good about that product even though it is very expensive. The engine now turns over freely. I had planned to put some spark plugs in the cylinder head but forgot to before I took the photos you see here.  The carburetor and air cleaner are missing as are the water pump and fan assembly.  There is no transmission in the car but the transmission case is included. There are no internal transmission parts included with this vehicle and the drive shaft is missing as are the external lock cylinder in the right door and the original wooden floor boards in front of the seat.

     I just recently found a rear bumper from a 1934 Plymouth Town sedan. I believe the bumper bar is correct for this car but the mounting brackets are not. I made adapter brackets so I could fasten it to the back of this car. That way you can see how much nicer this car looks with a rear bumper. I am still searching for the proper rear bumper mounting brackets as well as the right door lock cylinder. transmission internal parts. nbsp;the wood front floor boards. the radiator fan assembly as well as the carburetor and air cleaner. Please help me find these parts if you possibly can.    

     The wonderful book titled "The Standard Catalog Of American Cars 1805-1942" describes the largest new Plymouth ever for 1934 as follows:

     "The Deluxe Plymouth for 1934 perhaps reached an all time high for Plymouth in both the looks and equipment departments.  With a larger engine that the previous year (now at 201 cubic inches and 77 horsepower) the Deluxe Plymouth featured independent coil spring front suspension. an industry first in the low price field.  With a longer wheelbase. skirted fenders. a radiator cap located under the hood. and a special hood which featured not only rows of louvers but twin opening ventilating doors on either side. the PE Plymouth found itself in ready demand - so much so that before the year was over. the '34 had surpassed the production record set in 1933 and had also seen the one millionth Plymouth built in August. a car which was driven off the line by Walter Chrysler himself.  It had take Plymouth only six years to build it's first million cars - it had taken Henry Ford twelve years to reach that mark and Chevrolet nine years!"

     "Unique to the PE was a ventilating wind wing built into the front door window system. In normal operation the wind wing could be swung out via a crank handle and the side window rolled down in normal fashion.  By closing both the wind wing and the side window. then locking them together by flipping a small chrome lever under the wind wing window. the entire assembly could be rolled down as one unit into the door for a completely un-obstructed door window opening. The plant these cars were built in. located on Detroit's Lynch Road. was the largest automobile factory under one roof in the entire world. "

     Plymouth offered 4 different series of cars in 1934 of which the Deluxe PE was the largest and most impressive of them all having a 114" wheelbase (124" wheelbase for the Model 602 seven passenger sedan of which only 35 were built). The plainer PF and PFXX cars had 6" shorter wheelbases at 108" as did the smaller PG series as well.  I believe the bodies on the various series interchanged for the most part with the 6" difference in length being in the hood and the front fenders where it really shows. The PE dash panel would have been different because it had an ash receiver and an opening glove box unlike some of the smaller series of Plymouths for 1934.   

     "Introduced at the same time as the Deluxe PE. the PF was a lower priced. shorter wheelbase (by 6") automobile. Closely resembling it's bigger brother. the PF lacked the ventilating doors on the hood but retained the newly introduced independent front suspension system. Also missing was the combination vent window system and there was no provision for a glove compartment or ash receiver on the dash.  In addition the. the instrument gauges had white numerals on a black background rather than gold numerals on a silver background as used on the Deluxe Model PF. "

     All of the original Plymouth factory photos of the Deluxe Model PE that I have seen so far do not show the twin chrome plated trumpet horns or the dual windshield wipers that are on this car. I finally just recently found out why. My all time favorite automobile book "The Standard Catalog Of American Cars 1805-1942" by Beverly Rae Kimes and Henry Austin Clark. Jr. list many factory installed options that were available on these cars. The Model PE Accessory Group cost $15 and included dual external horns. RH taillamp. nbsp;RH windshield wiper. nbsp;dash mounted cigar lighter. chrome headlamps and a chrome plated grille.

     That fine book also mentions that: "At the start of production grilles on PE series were chrome plated (as I believe the grille on this car was). Around February grilles were painted fender color. Later in the year they received a treatment called "Valchrome" which was a "satiny" chrome finish.  During the painted grille period. chrome grilles could be had for $17. 50 extra. but this option was dropped when "Valchrome" use began. " For 1934. only the Model PE was available with an optional vacuum operated power clutch and free wheeling but I can find no evidence that this car ever had that option.   

     Of particular note from my favorite automobile book: "The one millionth Plymouth was built in August and was driven off of the Detroit Assembly line by Walter Chrysler himself.  The car was then sold to Mrs. Ethel Miller of Turlock. California. Mrs. Miller had been the purchaser of the first Plymouth ever sold in 1928 and traded that car in on the one millionth Plymouth. The '28 was subsequently put on display at the Chicago World's Fair.  

     Sometimes I use the title of Clint Eastwood's famous movie "The Good. The Bad and The Ugly" to help organize the description of a car I am offering here on eBay. I will start out with "The Good" points that were built into this beautiful automobile 80 years ago.  

                                  " THE  GOOD " 

     1. Gorgeous early 1930's five window coupe styling with a short roof. sculpted rear quarter windows. graceful suicide doors. nbsp;skirted front and rear fenders. a relatively long hood with both louvers and twin opening doors. large chrome plated head lamps. twin chrome plated external trumpet horns and a beautiful waterfall grille with a very distinctive ship ornament on top. The length of the hood and radiator shell on this car is exceptionally long compared to other low priced cars in 1934. The 1933 Ford had a cowl. hood and upper grille shell combined length of only 50 inches long where the combined length of the cowl. hood and upper grille shell on this top of the line Plymouth is 56 inches.  The extra 2 inches of wheelbase mentioned below and the 6 inch longer front end makes a very noticeable difference on this car.  

     2. This car has a wheelbase of 114 inches compared to the wheelbase of the 1933 and 1934 Fords at 112 inches and the wheelbase of the 1934 Chevrolet Master which is also 112 inches.  Mechanical features include a full pressure lubricated 6 cylinder engine. Chrysler's exclusive "Floating Power" power plant mounting system which minimized engine vibrations transmitted from the engine to the vehicle. nbsp;four wheel hydraulic brakes. independent front suspension and optional vacuum power operated clutch with free wheeling. Neither Ford nor Chevrolet offered a power operated clutch at that time.  

     3. Special interior appointments including a dash with the absolutely gorgeous dual oval instrument panel in front of the driver. a glove box with a distinctive Plymouth brass emblem on the door. a cigar lighter. an ash receiver. a windshield which opens forward about 30 degrees for ventilation and the special side window system which let the occupants select two different modes for opening the side and or vent windows.  

     When mentioning the good points of this particular car I have to start with it being an absolutely and totally rust free vehicle that is still basically one color. I believe this car was originally a very dark gray color that someone brush paint light gray some time in the 1940's or 1950's.  Fortunately it is still painted one color for those that appreciate the increasingly popular "survivor" look on early vehicles. I am very happy that nobody has squirted red oxide or any other color of primer on the body anywhere.  I hate to have to look at an old car with fenders. doors. a hood or a deck lid that does not match the color of the rest of the vehicle.   

     The hood is nearly perfect with no evidence of the tops ever having been pushed in or dented as the majority of hoods are on vehicles of this vintage. The left rear fender appears to never have had any bead cracks where the other 3 fenders have.  Both doors appear to never have had an damage except for a broken door check strap on the driver's door and the resulting slightly sprung hinges which are so common to all cars with the controversial and only briefly used "suicide" or backwards opening doors.  

     The left rear quarter panel is absolutely gorgeous as is trunk lid. the panel below the trunk lid and the skirt below the rear of the body. The gas tank is also very nice and appears to never have been pushed in or dented at all. The left front corner of the engine block has the number "PE 96215" stamped on it so it may be the original engine that came in this car rather than a later replacement that is so common in vehicles of this vintage.  The cylinder head has the letters "PC" cast into the top of it so it may be from an earlier 1933 Plymouth Model PE automobile.  

     The interior is in amazingly good condition for a car of this vintage. The backrest on the seat still has the original cloth upholster mostly intact. The original bottom cushion was missing so a previous owner found what I suspect to be a sedan rear seat bottom cushion. It has the same upholstery material on it as the backrest does but it will have to be narrowed up about 3 inches to fit the front seat frame as it should.  Both of the door panels appear to have the original cloth material very much intact.  

     The dash panel is still very nice but I suspect that it and the side window garnish mouldings were originally wood grained. It appears that someone brush painted them black a long time ago. The beautiful twin oval instrument panel has the speedometer in one oval and the engine gauges in the other. There is a glass pane over each oval with a chrome plated bezel around each glass pane.  The gauges have black numbers on a fancy silver background and they are both in about as close to perfect condition as anyone might hope to find for an 80 year old car. The speedometer shows 12. 99. 4 miles on it while both of the pedal pads show a lot of wear so I suspect the odometer retired early many years ago.   

     The ash receiver was missing from the center of the dash and I was very lucky to have a friend give me one for this car.  The glove box door on the right side of the dash is still in nice condition as is the very special brass colored Plymouth sunburst emblem that dress up the outside of that door. The crank in the center of the upper dash panel operates the regulator that opens the windshield about 30 degrees for ventilation in the summer. That mechanism works fine as it should.  The crank on the windshield regulator still has it's ivory plastic knob intact as do both of the side window cranks. Both of the original interior door handles are present as are both of the knobs that open the wind wings or vent windows.

     This car had some less than distinctive rather small sealed beam "King Bee" headlamps on it when my friend bought it and they looked terrible on this gem. I found these excellent original headlamps here on eBay a while ago and paid $650 for them. Both tail light stands were on the car but neither had a light on them. I bought the right tail lamp from a collector in California who also had the pair of reproduction horn trumpets in stock.  The left tail lamp came from an eBay vendor as did the proper license plate bracket. This car includes a pair of hard to find original dealer installed glass tail lamp lenses that have PLYMOUTH on them in silver letters. I found both of those lenses here on eBay. I bought the one you see here and later found the other one.  

     Please note that I borrowed the pair of 1934 Montana license plates that are shown on this car from a local collector. They are here for show purposes only and DO NOT go with this car. The pair of trumpet horns on this car were with it when my friend bought this car.  The trumpets were missing so I bought the pair of reproduction trumpets you see here.  The spring steel "sandwich" or mounting brackets that fasten the body of the horn to the strap type of horn mounting brackets that fasten under the headlamps were broken. I spent a lot of time looking for good originals or reproductions but have not yet been successful. The ones with the car are too long so they are attached only one screw rather than two.  

     This car came with a hood or radiator shell ornament that had all but the bottom of the base missing. I was able to find the ornament shown on this car here on eBay a month or so ago. The 3/4" or so at the back of the base is missing but that can be cut from the other base and soldered to this ornament if you are very experienced with repairing "pot metal" or die-cast parts.  The rest of the ornament is complete and in relatively nice condition except for the front sail that is missing from the front of the circle that surrounds the ship. This particular ornament is very fragile and most of them that I have seen through the years are also missing the very vulnerable front sail.  Don Summer makes nice chrome plated stainless steel reproductions of this ornament for $550 plus shipping.  

                                    " THE  BAD "

     I believe the worst thing about this car has to be the damaged right rear quarter panel and roof area above and the belt line below the right rear quarter window.  I am guessing that this car may have been laid on it's right side at some point long ago. This damage is shown in one of the photos of this listing. It appears that the right rear fender was pushed into the quarter panel a bit. especially at the bottom.  

     The left rear fender has some minor damage but no bead cracks or repairs. The other three fenders have either been welded at some time or now have a bead crack and lots of small dents in them. There are two dents in the rocker panel under the right door.  Both running board splash aprons have damage and the front of the left one has about 3 inches of weld attaching it to the back of the left front fender.  

     The grille shell is very nice except for a dent under the left head lamp. There is a one foot long torch weld between the bottom right side of the grille shell and the inside of the right front fender. I believe the right front fender and the grille shell will have to be removed together in order to cut through that weld with a small abrasive cutoff wheel on a Dremel or similar small grinder.  The grille insert in this car is missing the oval around the crank hole and the few bars that are below it. A very nice painted grille insert is included but it is also missing the center bar. the oval around the crank hole and the few bars that are below it. If one is building a street rod. they may want to make a really nice grille from the two partial grilles that are included and not have a crank hole to distract from the gorgeous lines of this beautiful automobile.

     The transmission case is included but there are no internal transmission part included with this fine original car.  The drive shaft assembly is missing as are the radiator cooling fan assembly. the carburetor and air cleaner and the wood floor boards that would be in front of the front seat.  The right rear wheel is very nice. The right front wheel is nice but is bent a bit around the hub so it will not run true and will need to be straightened. Both of the wheels on the left side of this car have a small rusted through spot where the outer cone attaches to the mail wheel disc. The right rear hub cap is only fair. the right front hub cap is a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 while both left hub caps are very nice at about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.  The locking hub cap on the spare tire cover is very good but the key that came with it was broken off. I found a correct special offset key blank but have not yet had a local locksmith cut that special key.   

                                   " THE  UGLY "

     There is little doubt that the ugliest part of this grand old automobile has to be the grille insert. It appears to be the original Deluxe insert that was chrome plated. What is there is actually in very nice original condition so the main problem with that insert is the missing oval bezel around the crank hole and the few bars that are under that oval bezel.  I have explained this situation above.  The top covering blew off when some idiot hauled this car from Idaho a few months ago. That exposure to the wind also did some minor damage to the original head liner and the upholstery on the upper rear panels. The seat upholstery is tattered and torn to the point where some collectors would want to replace it but there are many collectors out there who would leave it as it is.  The seat bottom cushion is not original to this car and is about 3" too wide to fit the seat frame. I believe it may be from the back of a similar sedan of this vintage. It should not be too difficult to remove the seat cover and padding and narrow this cushion a bit.  Both of the wing or vent windows in the doors appear to be original to this car because they are so cloudy as is obvious in the photos.       

     I also have many larger and more detailed photos I can email to you if you call me with your email address. The good folks at eBay have rules against sending phone numbers or email addresses through their message system. You will have to be very crafty and disguise it if you try to email me your regular email address.  It is generally better to call me rather than try to email me through the eBay system in order to get me your regular email address.  

     I will store this gem for free in secure inside storage here for you for 3 months if you are planning to make a trip here to Montana to pick it up. I can store if for longer than that too but will have to charge you the $50 per month that my rental storage costs me.  I have dealt with many transporters over the years and can help arrange economical transportation for you if necessary.  

     This is a rare opportunity to acquire a very distinctive 5 window coupe from one of the greatest eras of American automobile styling.  Some collectors would not be happy with this car unless it has been fully restored. I am a dedicated fan of un-restored original "survivor" vehicles and have over 20 of them in my personal car collection. I sincerely hope that someone out there shares my passion for 'survivors" and will purchase. upgrade and preserve this very special piece of history rather than restore it.

     Cars are only original once and once restored. can never be returned to their un-restored state. I had a 1930 Model A Ford Deluxe two door phaeton that looked a lot like this Plymouth a few years ago. I drove it in the 4th of July parade in Butte Montana one year. I will never forget when someone from the crowd yelled out "Why don't you restore that thing". He no sooner finished shouting out when someone else in the crowd yelled out "No. nbsp;leave it like it is".  I will never forget that very interesting moment.  

     I later displayed that crusty looking old Model A phaeton at two local car shows next to my beautifully restored 1930 Model A Ford Deluxe roadster.  It was very interesting to watch a lot of people ignore the beautifully restored roadster and walk right by it without even glancing at it in order to look at the phaeton.

     Thanks a lot. Bob Woodburn - phone 406-799-1847 in Bozeman Montana    

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