| Redhead Betty and the P-15 Plymouth by Jim Leman, Editor P15 Driver Grayslake, IL In August 1998, my 1946 Plymouth Deluxe Business Coupe — a redhead named Betty — turns 52 years old. In July, we’ll join hundreds of other Plymouths and Plymouth owners at the Plymouth Owners Club Grand National meet in Plymouth, Michigan. The affair celebrates 70 years of this fine marque — and those who admire, care for, take care of, drive and collect Plymouth automobiles. Older machines mean permanence and endurance to me, and other peoples’ histories are as tied to these survivors as is the history of the current owner. What promotion ideas were tossed around in the Plymouth advertising agency in late 1945? What was the name of the man who tightened the mains on the crank on my car? At the Briggs Manufacturing Company where they built the body, had the press operator been a returning veteran — and did he buy a new P-15 himself with specially equipped vacuum-assisted clutch for disabled vets? From The inside story of your new Plymouth, the P-15 owner’s manual: "Thousands of miles of driving pleasure are in store for you. How many miles? Frankly, that depends on you. Do your part, and the car will serve you faithfully." When I bought my P-15 for $2,200 from a man in Crete, Illinois, the engine knocked and the brakes didn’t work. The sheetmetal and interior were in good shape. Some restoration had been done to the car by a previous owner, believed to have been the owner of a radio station in Edwardsville, Illinois. A rebuilt engine and a new master cylinder later, I was on the road. My grandfather, a farmer, worked to feed the men and women who built my Plymouth. My Dad served with the U.S. Army in Okinawa where an officer gathered the troops around him in early August 1945 and read aloud from Stars and Stripes that "an at-omic bomb had just been dropped on Japan." "The L-Head power plant," copy in a P-15 promo flyer from 1946, Plymouth — Four Years Better Than Before!, "is the keystone of Plymouth’s low cost of operation and upkeep. To the basically fine engine design are added such features as new scuff-resistant light weight aluminum pistons with four rings, downdraft carburetor, oil-bath air cleaner, Oilite gas filter, automatic manifold heat control (does anybody have a car where this device still works right ?), full-pressure lubrication, burn-resistant exhaust valve seat inserts. The sum total is the new Plymouth engine which offers a smooth, powerful performance with record-making economy." The Chrysler Corporation in Detroit, Los Angeles and San Leandro built more than 197,202 Deluxe and 862,287 Special Deluxe Plymouths, California, and Evansville, Indiana, from October 1945 through February 1949. These Plymouths are known as the P-15 model. The three-passenger Deluxe Business Coupe like Betty sold new in 1946 for about $1,100. My original owner spent $5.50 for bumper guards, $6.65 for a passenger side windshield wiper and sun visor, $2.65 for cigar lighter, $73.50 for a Model 802 AM radio with pushbuttons, and $6.10 for antenna. With the upgrades, Betty looks much like her uptown sister, the Special Deluxe. In a P-15 you sit high, a commanding view, behind the big wheel. The flat, blonde-grey woodgrain steel dash is an arm’s length away. The controls are few and sufficient. From left on the dash is the starter button, then slightly below the Bakelite throttle and headlight knobs, and over the steering column, the choke knob. Down a little and to the right are the heater controls, also Bakelite, for the Arvin heater blower motor and defroster, then the centered ignition switch, a knockout where I’ll install a cable for a hot water on/off valve, and then the cigar lighter. The center dash gleams with the chrome grillwork for the big Model 208 radio, which with bad tubes only hums in my car now. Betty starts with a quick touch of the starter button, though the slow cranking six-volt starter causes concern for the unfamiliar as they hear it groan for the first time. Betty settles into idle that I set using a vacuum gauge for maximum vacuum at 500 rpm. The P-15 C series manufactured in Detroit began with the serial number of 15,154,001. The Serial Number for my P-15 is on a tag on the right door pillar, where it was located for all early 1946 models. Betty’s serial number is 15,181,665 or the 27,664th P-15 off the Detroit plant assembly line. She is, however, one of only 16,117 Deluxe Business Coupes manufactured during the entire P-15 model run. Based on serial numbers of 1946 models upgraded to heavier coil springs, and on monthly shipping figures, I place the production of my P-15 during August 1946. A flathead six engine of 218 cubic inch displacement powered all P-15s, rated at 95 horsepower at 3600 rpm. Betty cruises easily at 55 mph, and accelerates strongly, surely and quickly to 65 or 70 when needed. I drive I-294, I-94 and I-90 around Chicago with Betty frequently, and in the right weather I drive her daily 20 to 70 miles a day to and from assignments. She’s not perfect. She burns a little oil, despite the rebuild (I may have ignored the break in instructions), and I’m having trouble leaning her out right. I found a custom engine rebuilder having an old Sun distributor machine and had him rebuild my distributor and set the advance curves up for today’s high octane, high quality gasoline. Because the engine was built originally with hardened valve seats, unleaded fuel is no problem. When you bought a P-15 you had choices. To begin with, you could choose the economy Deluxe or upgraded Special Deluxe. Body styles where available as two and -four-door sedans, Business Coupe, Club Coupe, and in Special Deluxe only, convertible coupe, station wagon, or just the chassis. Colors included Black, Marine Blue, Chevron Blue, Balfour Green, Kenwood Green, Battalion Beige, Airwing Gray, Plymouth Gunmetal, Cruiser Maroon, Sumac Red and Charlotte Ivory. The last two appear to have been available only on the convertible model. In traffic, Betty is head-turner. She’s Sumac Red, perhaps incorrect but attractive nevertheless. In my opinion, the Business Coupe has the most pleasing and alluring lines in the P-15 body style line-up. The car holds the road straight and true, with enough energy to put out a respectable pace. The oil gauge holds 42 pounds, the temperature gauge a steady 180, and the amp meter shows that the generator and relay are doing their jobs. On average, Betty gets 15 miles to the gallon. When I open Betty’s wide driver door, her scent is powerful. The scent reminds me of my grandparents and my childhood and the times that I remember only in black and white. Betty’s smell is a pleasant blend of cloth seats, aging wiring, years of road grime and oil, the bite of metal in the mouth. It is a fragrance of a time I did not know, of people who created an outstanding automobile, of the people who owned and drove and cared for Betty before I knew her. To get up into her, you have to step up slightly, a foot on the inner running board, and then you slip under the big steering wheel. With her cowl vent up full and the windows down, I rest my arm on the sill. From inside Betty, the hood is long and domineering out the V-spilt windshield, the Plymouth hood ornament a deadman’s sight down the roadway ahead. In her, Betty is my throne. I command the highway from her majesty. |
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Copyright 1999 G. Koldjeski |