NYMPHO

 

Diced 'n' sliced

Being friends of Paul Burnham meant that she and Crusty could help as work progressed on the Plymouth down in deepest Northfleet. By the time the car was driven back to their home near Leicester it had received a 5 1/2 in roof chop using the original rear window and with slanted B pillars, frenched headlights and repositioned tailights. It had also had 3in removed from the front coils to match the 3 1/2 in blocks the couple had already fitted at the rear.

 

When Tracy first got involved with hot rodding, she bought herself a tidy V6-powered Pop. As she became more aware of the types and styles of cars she found herself hankering after a custom of some sort, an answer to her problem coming when she heard of a 1950 Plymouth for sale in Sheffield. Her friend Melissa told her that the guy who owned it wouldn't sell it to rodders or customisers so, armed with a photo of Melissa's old stock Pop, and sensibly dressed (which must have entailed buying new clothes as anyone who knows these two will realise - ed!), the pair posed as restorers and scored a direct hit, the Plymouth arriving at Tracy's house on a trailer the following week, complete with a seized flathead engine from its time in storage in a lock-up.

 

Excerpts reproduced with kind permission of Custom Car magazine.

Another friend at the time, Martin Palin, sourced a 3.3 litre straight six and C4 from an early Mustang for £80, and fitted them in place of the old sidevalve, Tracy running the car around for a year with the stock rear axle while she decided exactly what modifications would be made. By now she had met future husband 'Crusty,' and become a member of the Throttlers, so it wasn't long before the old Plymouth was booked in at fellow club member Paul Burnham's facility, Burnham Autos, for some serious body alterations, but not before Crusty located and fitted a 9in axle, chosen for its perfect width. This turned out to be a 4.11:1 equipped locker unit, not something Tracy really needed in a straight six-powered custom, so the diff was swapped out for a more cruise-friendly 2.73:1 item. Before you ask, the locker is being saved for another project, most likely Crusty's own 355ci nostalgia-styled '27T.

The Plymouth was Collected from the trimmers on the Thursday before the SpringNats, making Tracy's self-imposed deadline with a day to spare. Since then the car has received a pair of heavily modified glass '49 Chevy fender skirts and a pair of ribbed Briz bumpers. These were originally intended for a 49 Merc, Tracy swapping them so the rear is now on the front and vice versa as 'they looked better that way.' Crusty fabricated a couple of new gravel pans to match the new bumpers.

Since we shot these pictures chrome bullets have been added to the centres of the hubcaps, apparently really transforming them, so they will now stay, as they were to be replaced.

Being an impatient female (her words not ours - ed!) and wanting the car ready to debut at the SpringNationals, Tracy spent every night and weekend in the garage for the next 12 weeks continuing with the body mods. She wanted a smooth late '40s/early '50s look to the finished car so persuaded Crusty to de-trim the whole car and splice and weld the original three piece front wings, a job which required re-radiusing the front wheel arches to get rid of an ugly lip that appeared once the trim was removed, and weld the boot lid shut, a job that saw her with welder's sunburn on one side of her face. Nice, especially when it peeled!

It must have taken real vision to visualise what this could look like with a chop and some trim removal.

Crusty welded up what was a two-piece bonnet and welded the rear wings to the main bodyshell. Tracy took care of all the filler work herself, before Les Perrin was called in to finish it off. Les pulled an all-nighter to meet Tracy's deadline in order that the Plymouth could be primed the following day, for which she wants him to know she's extremely grateful. A coating of satin black was laid over the primer for now, though eventually Tracy intends to get Les to paint the car in a real dark green.

With the paint barely dry the Plymouth was shipped off to Premier Auto Trim in Wigan (01942 833403), where Mick Sheppard was the next person to give in to Tracy's deadline, pulling all the stops out to complete the gorgeous cream tuck 'n' roll vinyl interior in a week, as well as a new cream head liner and dark green carpets. According to Tracy, 'I've wanted a tuck 'n' roll interior since I saw American Grafitti - you know that line about tuck 'n' roll - but don't put that in the mag.' Erm…

Careful alteration of the stock Plymouth badge resulted in Crusty's thoughts on his then-fiancee. The badge no longer appears on the car. Well, they are married now! Perhaps he should shorten PLYMOUTH to PMT these days!

So, will Tracy spend as much time in the garage now to get Crusty's T ready for this season, or will she concentrate on that 'Wannabe Mopar' daily, as she has plans to repaint that too? Guess well find out at the SpringNats!

Tracys thanks go to Crusty, Paul Burnham, Melissa, Les Perrin, Mick Shepherd, Stuart and Martin Palin.

All that remains before the final paint job is to add a set of wide whitewalls to complete the look.