Jerry Asquith likes to think "outside the box," as we often hear. Having driven many of Henry's offerings and being a dyed-in-the-wool Ford man, Jerry decided to try something different. About that time, Bob Wiggins, owner of Zigs Street Rods in Portland, Oregon, gave him a call. Bob had started this project and, not having the time to finish it, thought maybe Jerry would be interested. Pow, Jerry had a car. He just couldn't resist the Plymouth with its classic styling and beautiful reveals that some of the other makes didn't have. With the chassis, chop, and basic bodywork done by Dale Withers out in Estacada, Oregon, Jerry was well on his way to a very nice new hot rod.
Plymouth was the main stay of Chrysler's lineup and did have a following with many people during the Great Depression. During that era, putting bread on the table was hard enough to do; buying a new car was not on a lot of people's minds. Going up against Ford's new '33 with a V-8 engine was a real challenge; still, the marque did well because of its economy engine lineup and classy lines.
Bob and Dale had taken the stock frame and completely boxed it and set it up for the goodies. Total Cost Involved Engineering made a custom IFS with their coilover shocks just for this car. In the rear, leaf springs were installed along with the pinched Currie 9-inch rear axle carrying 3:50 gears and Total Cost Involved shocks, who also supplied the brakes and the front crossmember along with the antisway bars. A new Mopar power rack handles wheeling this Mayflower down the road, while cooling comes from a Griffin aluminum radiator and the fuel is held in a custom 17-gallon stainless tank.
This would have been a great opportunity to install a Hemi, since that's the hot ticket these days, but GM has more horsepower for the buck, so the choice was a 454ci crate motor bolted to a GM 700-R4. It certainly makes for plenty of "motorvation," pushing 425 hp and, with the overdrive tranny, it still gets some decent gas mileage.
Dale Withers is known for his paint finishes and the bodywork it takes to make those award-winning rods in the Northwest. Jerry and Dale got together and did a lot of cool body mods to make the car really stand out-starting with re-contouring the front fenders, the rear apron and cutting down the grill shell 1-inch. Smooth running boards were custom made, while the trunk corners were rounded, and hidden hinges installed. Out back the taillights and license plate were recessed with a one-off plate frame carved from aluminum. Jerry made his own side panels and custom grille to set off all the cool redesign work done on the coupe. The dashboard was modified and moved out 1 1/2 inches for gauge and air conditioning clearance.
It was now time for Jerry and his wife, Kathy, to decide what color would set off the coupe. Viper Red came to mind and, with the matching gray leather, they had a winner. Jerry put the juice in the car using a Centech kit and put Classic Instruments in the one-off dash panel along with the Vintage Air unit. Glide Engineering supplied the split bench seat with the interior done by Jerry Arendell of Wilsonville, Oregon. Finishing touches are supplied by Billet Specialties with their half wrap Vintec steering wheel, finishing with a Bonzi stereo by Clarion. All the controls are housed in the beautiful owner-built console.
As you can see, this is a total package of mechanicals and design that comes together like few street rods do today. With their technical and visual talent, Jerry Asquith and Dale Withers have proved the Blue Oval isn't the only game in town when it comes to street rod material, and they have produced an outstanding set of wheels to cruise the great Northwest