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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9880
    
Location: So. Cal | I found this panel wagon in my neighborhood. It was built at the factory for a fire cheif and was originally painted fire engine red. Before this car, I never knew original '56 Plymouth panels ever existed. The panels are obviously add-ons to a 2-door wagon, but they are formed with the body line at the top so it would be very difficult to try and reproduce them. The trim around the panels is somewhat out of place though. It is aluminum and cheaply mounted. What do you think?
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 56PanelFR.jpg (107KB - 168 downloads)
56PanelFL.jpg (121KB - 179 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 1357
Location: Iowa USA | I would be interested to see what the build sheet says from Chrysler Historical about the car. The trim tag should give you the paint codes and I wonder if the body code is a standard two door wagon code or something else? |
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Location: Under the X in Texas | In various threads in recent years, once in the last month, I have posted that I knew of one of these '56 Plymouth sedan deliveries in S. California about 15 years ago when I lived there. I was inside that very original vehicle inspecting it and absolutely thought it was a factory built body. I'm sorry I don't remember anything about exterior trim specifically. |
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Location: Parts Unknown | Looks like a Norseman panel delivery to me ! 
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8953
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | that is kooler than kool , i need more room for cars----------------------------------------------------------later |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 475
Location: Las Vegas, NV | Interesting find. I wonder what it looked like when the fire chief drove it. It would be cool to find a pic from back then and restore it back to how it originally looked. Add some serious horsepower, and it would be a really cool sleeper. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 398
Location: Watertown South Dakota | I spotted a 55 Sedan Delivery at a Goodguys show 10+ years ago. It wasn't restored and was a dull green color. Kinda looked like a military or government car of some kind. It sure looked original to me and with the research I have done (long ago), I could never find any record of any being built. Very cool 56. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 394
Location: Royal Oak, MI | Very interesting! Could be really sharp fixed up... needs a 440 under the hood...  |
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Location: Under the X in Texas | A good point was brought up: if the city can be identified for which this panel supposedly belonged to the fire chief, that city almost certainly will have historical photos in their archives showing the chief with the Plymouth all lettered up and trimmed up when it was new. THAT would be great to have for whomever buys this. And who will that be? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 802
Location: Norcross (Atlanta area), GA | Chrysler did produce a prototype '56 Plymouth sedan delivery based on the two-door station wagon, but ultimately decided not to put it in production. Too bad, but in retrospect it was best as the passenger car-based sedan delivery was giving way to the Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter compact van and GM/Fomoco vans of the early 60s, all of which Chrysler would respond to with its Dodge A-100 van. I have seen a picture of a '56 Plymouth sedan delivery mockup in the Chrysler styling studio but as of this date haven't found it, perhaps Jim Benjaminson of the Plymouth Owner's Club has access to it. Still, it would have looked very nice compared to the only Tri-Chevy product that would interest me, if only because Chrysler chose not to produce a similar vehicle. Oh well, they did have the Sweptside!
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Veteran
Posts: 101
Location: Walhalla, ND | Yes, I can. Both the '55 & '56 prototypes are pictured on page 104 of my book, "Plymouth, 1946-1959". I have no knowledge that either was produced or sold to the public. An educated guess would be that perhaps a small handful were built and sold for municipal utilities, etc such as my friends '58 Chebby "windowed sedan-delivery" (that officially was never made)! To open the can of worms a little further, I've been told (but never have seen) that a handful of Valiant based sedan deliveries were made for a major metropolitan public utility.....anyone got photos? I'd suggest the owner of this 56 panel obtain the build card from Chrysler. It would be interesting to see what the body code number is on the vehicle. If the owner is on this posting, there should be a body plate somewhere under the hood on the firewall--if he would post the number, I have the '56 body code numbers..... |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9880
Location: So. Cal | Unfortunately, it has been sold now, but not to me. I should have grabbed it, but I didn't have the resources to take it on. I don't know who it was sold to. The owner told me that the fire department was Fontana, CA, but I don't know where he got that info from, certainly not from Chrysler. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 988
Location: Kansas City, Kansas | Seems to me that this would have been a basic modification by one of the many coach builders of the day. Much like the Memphian Ambulance, but with fewer changes. There were coach builders all over the place doing this sort of thing. It seems odd that anyone would suggest this was a factory offering. It probably had other interior modifications by the same coach builder that related to the intended use of the municipality. |
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Veteran
Posts: 101
Location: Walhalla, ND | Simple question - does anyone on this board live in/near Fontana, California that could visit the local fire department and see what they have to say about it? I have my doubts as to it being "coach built" but then again, you never know. What few coach builders were since in business in 1956 were looking for work to keep the doors open. It just might have been done by a local body shop..... Did anyone get any photos of the rear door/lift gate/tailgate??? Did it open like a station wagon of that era or was there a single rear door like an ambulance? Did the fire department use it as an ambulance??? |
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Veteran
Posts: 101
Location: Walhalla, ND | Looking more closely at the photo it appears this "panel" has script reading SUBURBAN on the rear fender. I looked at the original factory photos I have of the 55-56 prototypes and both clearly have a Plaza fender script. And the prototypes had station wagon type rear doors - upper lift gate and lower tail gate. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9880
Location: So. Cal | Strangest thing happened. I listed a Dart seat to sell on craigslist and the new owner of the panel pops over to my door. Small world. He went to Fontana and spoke with them. They told him that they are pretty sure that car was never one of theirs. They also said that it wouldn't be a car for a cheif, but more likely fire investigations. The rear door opens upper and lower like a wagon. He gave me the body tag info so if you could kindly decipher it, that would be great.
FIRST LINE:
M8: 3
M9: 4
SECOND LINE:
SCHED: 0807
NO: 3192
MODEL: P281
BT: 617
PT: 677
TR: 802
I would rather not post the VIN without his permission, but if you really need it, pm me with your email address and I will send it to you.
Thanks! |
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Veteran
Posts: 101
Location: Walhalla, ND | Just to share the info I passed on to Powerflite:. I can decifer some of this info. The first line is a total mystery to me. Second line. Sched: 0807 is the scheduled build date - August 7. Not sure on 3192. The model P281 is a Plaza six-cylinder. BT stumps me. PT is the paint code -- 677 was the code for two tone eggshell white upper body with cherry red lower body. TR is the trim code but I don't have any books to tell me what it was.... |
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Expert
Posts: 1357
Location: Iowa USA | Somewhere buried out in the garage I have copies of the dealers order sheets for 1956 Plymouth it has all of the codes for the dealers to order the cars. One of these days I will have to get them out and scan them. |
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Original '56 Panel Wagon
