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Jim Dora, of Aurora, Colorado was kind enough to supply the following information which he has collected from the following sources: "The Standard Catalog of Chrysler, 1924-1990" by John Lee; "Plymouth:1946-1949" by Jim Benjaminson and "Plymouth and DeSoto Buyer's Guide" by Jim Benjaminson.
Back in those days, it was common practice to indroduce new model years in September of the preceding year (ie. 1948 models were introduced in September of 1947). However, Chrysler was a bit slow to start productions of their first post-war restyled cars. Therefore, they did not introduce their 1949 models until early spring of 1949. Chrysler continued to build the P15 cars until early 1949. This left Chrysler with an old body style inventory to be sold before the debut of the 1949 P17 & P18 models. These P15 cars are generally called "1949 - First Series". According to Jim, these cars had the tendency to be "Frankenstein Cars" with a mixture of running gear - whatever it took to get them on the street. Jim's car apparently has a Dodge clutch and a Chrysler axle.
All of these cars were manufactered after December 1, 1948 and had the following serial numbers (per factory):
Deluxe Six: (Detroit) 15284535 to 15292209; (Evansville) 22071867 to 22073646 and (Los Angeles) 26017026 to 26018852.
Special Deluxe Six: (Detroit) 12066020 to 12116123; (Evansville) 20287572 to 20299138 and (Los Angeles) 25062783 to 25071430.
All of these cars were manufactered to be sold and registered as 1949 models.
There isn't a lot of information about these cars around. Maybe there's not too much left to say, but even the original shop manuals don't touch on the wide variations that seem to be common with these cars. It seems to be trial and error with these models.
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Walt & Robyn Wight of Mokelumne Hill, California have a genuine First Series car. Walt writes in 2006: "After reading the Old Plymouth web site I was thinking you and the other Plymouth enthusiasts would like to hear this story.
In 1967 Robyn (not yet known to me) was living in the Los Angles area with her mother and her brother Ray. Ray had just went off to Viet Nam and had left his 1929 4/dr Ford to his sister to use while he was in the Army. Well soon the Ford needed work and so Robyn traded it off for a pick up truck. Well needles to say Ray was not to happy. To make amends to Ray for the loss of the Ford, Robyn's Mother runs out and purchases, yes you guessed it a 1949 Plymouth Super Deluxe 4 door sedan to replace the 1929 Ford. Well Robyn drives the car until Ray returns home in 1969. Ray was having a fit. He hated the 49 Plymouth and wanted nothing to do with it. Robyn at that time was in the process of moving from Los Angles to a place call Rail Road Flat California. Driving the 49 Plymouth to her new home she put it in the garage and left it siting until I cam along in 1987. I discovered the car was under a pile of boxes trash and old clothes. I tried talking with Robyn and Ray about the car but it was a rather sore spot so they would avoid talking about it. Finally after a time they let me take the car out. What a mess it was in. Not a lot of rust but the interior was shot. The glass was a mess. The tires well forget it. Most of all the car was complete only missing the hood emblem. Oh yes a couple of bullet holes in the hood. No clue as how they got their. Well I loved the car and kept it with me. I always wanting to restore it and did so little by little but it was a ground up restoration and I was never willing to go that far with out obtaining the Title from Robyn's Brother Ray. Now its 2002 The car is still a mess I am fed up with trying to gain Title to it. I then return it to my now Brother-in law Ray. He sells it for $500.00 and the pain is now gone and my love thst1949 Plymouth is gone for good but not my love for a 49 Plymouth.
Now comes the good part of the story. As luck would have it, I read my e-mail and noticed that one of the Auction houses was having an estate sale. One of the items for auction was a 1949 Plymouth.I waited for the day of the sale and went to the estate for the auction hoping that I might find that this Plymouth was something worth biding on. Upon arival at the estate sale, I was taken back by what I discovered. Siting on 4 flat tires covered in dust and I am talking dust was a 1949 Plymouth Super Deluxe.I started looking at the car and was wondering why no one was around. I read the sign and found that the auction was to be held at a building across town later in the day. Then suddenly a voice came from across the street. It was an elderly women asking if I was the new owner of the car. I went over and talked with her for some time. It so happened she was a life long friend of the Owner that had just passed away. She said that her name was Mary and that she remembered the day that Mr. Thomas returned from the War in 1946. He and his wife had purchased their home in Lodi California and he was looking forward to purchasing a new car. Mary told me how Mr. Thomas built a Garage for the new car. The day finally arrived 1949. He came home with his new pride and joy, a 1949 Plymouth Super Deluxe. He drove it for the next twenty two years, treating it like a baby. Keeping it clean and always in the garage and never drove it in the rain. In 1971 Mr. Thomas passed away. Mrs. Thomas locked the garage door and forbid anyone to go into the garage ever again. This car sat in that garage never seeing the light of day again until 2002 when the lock was cut and out came the car for the estate sale. This Plymouth is like the day it was built. Inside and out is like it just came out of a museum. The paint and upholstery are like new. It was breath taking. As luck would have it no one at the auction was interested in the car and I closed the auction with a bid of $1800.00. Yes one thousand eight hundred $. I called for a tow truck and took her home. Gave her a bath and a fresh tank of gas. A new pan of oil and a new battery. It was unreal. She started and ran great. I purchased a new set of tires restord the brake fluid and have been loving this car ever sense. She is a real jewel. Unrestorded and in it's orginal condition of 52 thousand orginal miles."
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