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Posted by D Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 23:25:14 :
I was out mucking around in the woods today and I came across a Plymouth Savoy. I've never heard of such a car. First I came across the engine, which was at the bottom of the hill, and then I looked up the hill and I saw most of the rest of the car on its side up against a tree. A GMC pickup in similar condition and of similar age has been keeping it sad company since somebody pushed them off the edge of the road ages ago. You would never see them from the road. Nonetheless, everything good seems to have been scrounged off of them, except maybe the chrome emblems. The paint on the Plymouth was still amazingly good, with no real rust on the body to speak of. The hood is down on the flats in an alder thicket, half-way buried, but the parts that showed still have perfect paint. They must have used the good high-lead paint back then.
I'm puzzled by the engine. It's half buried in the ground, on its left side, and I couldn't roll it over by hand. It appears to be a straight 6, but I can't see the head. It has the fuel pump in the same place as on a flathead, but the oil filter is mounted right above it (on the passenger side) and the distributor is near the middle of the block on the passenger side too. Presumably the manifolds are on the driver's side. I would have thought an early 50's Plymouth would have had a flathead 6 in it. At least all the ones I've seen did. I suppose it's possible that the motor came out of the GMC since neither vehicle had the engine in it. The OHV GMC straight 6s that I'm familiar with had the manifolds on the driver's side, but they also had a spin-on oil filter rather than a canister filter like this one. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting. Maybe I'll poke around some more before the leaves come out on the brush and see if there's another engine nearby. I should probably also go look in the cabs and see if there are any gauges. I found the radio in the bushes. I'm sure it's totally ruined, but it's there. The part of the heater that's in the engine compartment (the blower and box) is still there on the Plymouth. I didn't look in the cab to see if the inside bits are there. Not that it would fit anything I have anyway.
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