My Non-C Body Plymouth Orphan

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

I have 4 Plymouths, of them, this is my only non-C Body. Sadly the M bodies, especially Canadian variants are sort of shunned around my area, even by the supposed Mopar guys.

So anyway. What is it and how it came to join my fleet...

I've always loved the looks of the M body, especially the Police package cars, they really looked tough to me.

Fast forward to 2016. My friend calls me and tells me there is a 85 Caravelle for sale for $450, the guy says it's a old police car.

I run down that lead and contact a gentlemen by the name of Bryan in Stoney Point, Ontario. (approximately 4 hours West of me, nearly in Windsor). He says he has had the car since 94 when he bought it off a neighbour with intentions to derby it, he didn't have the heart to when he saw how cherry it was and instead tucked it in his storage building, where it sat until he started to clean out the building in summer 2016. I asked a few other questions and the answers I heard made me leary of the car being a true AHB car, he said he would send me more pictures in the next few days. Fast forward 3-4 days and I get a few more crappy pictures.

I him and haw over it for a few days. I call back and talk to him, I find out he's had a few derby guys bugging him about it. Okay, screw it, I'll take a chance on it, I want it, can you hold it till next Saturday when I can get a trailer rented and drive down? "I want it gone by Monday and the other guy said he can come tomorrow with cash and trailer"....

****....this is Saturday at noon.....****, ****, ****....."okay, okay, I will be there in a few hours, so help me God don't sell that damn car or I will be as pleasant as a kidney stone"...

I hang up the phone and panic sets in.....

I make a few calls, my friend Max says I can come down to his place and grab his trailer and he can store the car for me for a bit....okay, I hop in the ram, and hit the highway, it's nearly 1:30 PM....I get to Max's place in Kitchener around 3 PM, I hitch up his trailer to my truck, shake his hand, kiss his boots for saving my bacon and I hit the bricks....

I drive non-stop the remaining 3 and a bit hour's, straight through a rain storm between London and Chatham that was so bad I couldn't see the road anymore....

I arrive, the car looks like a bag of ****....I look it over, it's an AHB car, the seller and I do our paperwork and shoot the breeze, load the car up and then have a celebratory beer over our new found friendship.

I hit the road again, it's now pushing 7:30 PM. I stop for gas just outside West Lorne, Ontario and then drive straight through to Kitchener, I get back to Max's, it's now around 12:30 AM, I back the trailer in his driveway, unhitch, hand max the keys to my new car, shoot the breeze and then I head it home. I get in the door at 2:30 AM and I hit the sack....

What the hell did I just buy?

More to come...

 

[boostedvan]

That is a cool find you scored. It looks to be fairly complete, though its a shame its missing the cop wheels from it. I owned a 84 AHB detective car in chocolate brown with a saddle interior. I ditched the lean burn, put a proper carb with 340 intake, MP electronic ignition and Dakota R/T exhaust manifolds with true dual exhaust. That car was a big sleeper, I regret selling it in a lot of ways. It would do a mean burnout!
best of luck with it, look forward to seeing updates on it!

 

[Mr C]

M bodies are great! Inspect the Upper control arms well...they have deep grooves that like to capture mud and salt in rust belt regions. Eventually they can rust out and fail. Yours looks like it may be suffering the same as mine did...damn salt.

 

[cbarge]

I miss my 87 Dippy. Not an AHB car but still had fun with it.

 

[FURYGT]

Great story and a neat car.

For the M Body fans that read this I am selling my 87 Chrysler Fifth Avenue that was purchased new by a friend's father. Only 71k. No rot. Ziebart rust proofed when new. Rarely driven in the snow as my friend's father also had a Subaru. LMK if you are interested. $3,000.

 

[1978 NYB]

Nice cars!

 

[ImpJay]

Here is my dad´s 79 LeBaron Medallion:

@'69FuryIIIConvertible, have fun with your rare lil´ Mopar!

 

[Imperialist67]

Can't understand why those guys would "shun" M-bodies. It was a good platform, the early ones had torsion bar issues that led to frame rust, but otherwise, they're pretty indestructible. A lot was done with them, from basic fleet car sedans, to wagons (mine is attached), to 5th Ave. luxo-cruisers. Mine has 134K now and runs like it's just getting broken in.......it hauls me and my band gear around in great style and comfort, and surprises a lot of people with it's get-up-and-go, sleepers indeed.

If yours really is a police car, you really want that rear end. We put one into my wagon, and it makes all the difference in torque, etc.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

I appreciate the kind comments in regard to my little M body.

To answer everyone's question, after getting it situated I went back and inspected it closer, it is a REAL Canadian AHB.

I got my ownership dealt with and on the paperwork, the first owner was the city of Windsor. Inside the drivers door it has the number "591".

What I used to determine its AHB status are as follows, the doors do not have trim at the bases of the Windows, it has the 100 amp alt with dual belt drive, trans cooler, PS cooler, thick away bar, and the really interesting thing, the speedometer.

Lets take 2 seconds to talk about the Speedo and why it's interesting. Stateside the AHB Speedo says certified on its face.

Civilian M bodies in Canada have a Speedo that goes to 120 KM/H.

The Speedo in my AHB goes to 200 KM/H, but does not say Certified on it. Instead in the glove box I found the owners manual and stapled on the rear cover is a speedometer calibration certification sheet.

I also found where they left all the wiring under the dash and under the hood. It had wig-wags.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Armed with the new information I had, I began researching Windsor. In doing so I found the below image of Car #560. Also a 1985 Caravelle...I began looking closer at my car. The roof was white and the doors were as well...

Quick searching of the car lead me to find holes in the rear package tray where it previously had rear facing red lights and I can see where the antenna and lightbar wiring was...

Overally it's a very solid car. Storage did it some good. Spared it from a lot of salt.

About 3 weeks after I bought the car I found a listing for a set of cop rims that were in really nice shape and reasonably priced. I bought them and bought a set of tires off my boss at the time for the car. 225/70's looked better the old cracked 215s it had. I find it interesting that the blue on the rims it had was the same as the blue on the car. Being it hit the auction in February 1989 and I know the last of the M bodies in the Windsor fleet disnt go to auction till 1994, part of me wonders if they didn't source the plain steelies off of something else in the city fleet and keep the good tires on cop rims for the current fleet.

I base this theory in the fact that I found a picture from 1992 of a Windsor Caravelle wearing its white paint scheme they switched to in 1987, but it has blue cop rims on it.

Anyway...more to come...

Also note that in the 3/4 front shot of mine and the Windsor in service photo of 560, the propane inspection stickers match..

 

[ImpJay]

Lets take 2 seconds to talk about the Speedo and why it's interesting. Stateside the AHB Speedo says certified on its face.

Civilian M bodies in Canada have a Speedo that goes to 120 KM/H.

That´s very interesting. Civilian Ms sold new in Europe have the 200 KM/H non-certified speedo. Sorry for not providing anything better now.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Final set of photos to bring everyone up to date on where it is at.

I've spent the last 2 years deciding what I will do wiring restoration go the car. Modifications I may or may not make etc...

I decided for ease of operation and maintenance to eliminate the propane equipment and put it back to gasoline.

Which meant I needed to locate everything fuel system wise. So I began the search and aquisition of those components. I did find a few things along the way I wanted to add to the car as well such as the oil pressure gauge and fast idle lock.

I ended up locating a rear away bar as mine was removed to install the fiberglass plug in the trunk for the propane tank...

I found a complete k member and subframe from an 80 Dodge Aspen to use to repair mine.

I also found all the factory 85 4 barrel parts.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Okay I was wrong, this post will bring everyone to where I'm at now.

Last fall the place I store the ragtop and the AHB had to move the AHB to get to another car, in the process it caught a pole and mangled the drivers fender

I was pissed, but **** happens...usually to me, but that in its self is a story...

So I continued searching for a good factory trunk floor, fuel tank, filler neck, fenders, and bumpers, front plate frame etc....

A friend bought and parted a rotten 83 fifth ave.

I found some of what I needed.

Then the unexpected happened. A semi local guy was parting out an 87 Caravelle Salon....

More on that later.

 

[thrashingcows]

Very neat project. My very first car was a 1980 Plymouth Caravelle 2dr, triple green, I bought it off my Father for $500 and beat the living snot out of that car. Was going to do a big block install in it but the attention span of the young is not great and I eventually called a wrecker to take it away....one of the few cars I regret loosing.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Made a deal with a derby driver who was going to derby an 87 Caravelle Salon, I helped him strip it and gave him some cash (probably too much)...

But I was able to save some good parts....

I even swapped him the semi-rusty 5th ave fenders for the nearly perfect Caravelle fenders.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

 

[detmatt]

Chain!​

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Chain!​

That's what I have to keep the dog on so she doesn't try to kill anyone who comes near.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

My better half surprised me with her desire to help me scrub 591 and clean its 25 years of neglect....

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

I had a good look at the wiring, and checked the fluids, then popped a battery in it..... Lights work, horn works, wipers, washers, heater control, seatbelt buzzer, but alas, 591 doesn't even click at the starter solenoid, so I have to crack out the manual and see the starting circuit and where my issue may lie.

I then assessed wheel falling in issue.... I need to find a K member and a donor car I can hack up for its drivers frame rail.

For now I stuffed a bunch of steel in it to prevent its collapsing while I move it around.