Photo: Garage IronTrap | YouTube
This car, a 63-year-old Plymouth Sports Suburban, needs to get out of its longtime garage somewhere in northern Pennsylvania, and it needs to go fast. The family parked it in the 1980s and left it there. Now, the garage needs to be cleared out.
The experts at IronTrap Garage received an email Wednesday from someone telling them they needed to evacuate a 1969 Plymouth Sports Suburban Wagon. The vehicle rolled off the production line as one of three members of the Fury lineup, along with the Suburban Wagon and Custom Suburban Wagon. 1969 was the year Chrysler decided to ditch the hard-edged design for more rounded contours, as the Fury station wagon morphed into the Plymouth Suburban.
Chrysler Corporation wanted to have an affordable lineup on the market, so they invented the Suburban. It had small block engines, no performance, and no noteworthy equipment. That and its practicality are what kept it affordable for over 21 years.
At the time, Chrysler didn't know that the Suburban would turn out to be one of the most influential station wagons of all time. Now, General Motors owns the “Suburban” nameplate, and it looks like it's here to stay.
The owner of this 1969 Plymouth Sports Suburban had rented the garage in 1980, but now the owner of the place is planning to tear it down before the end of August. So, the IronTrap Garage team dropped everything and went there to save the car.
Photo: Garage IronTrap | YouTube
The Plymouth is under a thick layer of dust and has flat tires, so getting it out of its trap will be no walk in the park. When they try to pump up the tires, they find that the wheels are stuck and the tires won't hold air. A spare tire would do, at least until they pull this car onto the trailer they brought. Inch by inch, the wagon rolls out for the first time in ages.
A tow truck and winch should be able to lift it onto the trailer. A few minutes later, the car is loaded and ready to go, but the trailer can barely hold it. That's how wide the old Plymouth is. Mike, the guy who drove it there, has to get out the window because there's definitely not enough room to open that door.
The team also has to contend with some engines that were abandoned in the garage at some point. But those go in the cargo bed of a pickup. Two of them are “dumb” small blocks. They had to take them because they were part of the deal.
One of them was a 350 cubic inch unit that came from a pickup truck that the owner had installed a Corvette engine in. The second one sports an Edelbrock intake, while the third one is a rebuilt flathead with zero miles that has only been run in the run stand and has never been put in a car. They are now thinking of getting rid of the small blocks because they can't find anything exciting about them.
Photo: Garage IronTrap | YouTube
They got to their shop and realized that Mike had forgotten to put the emergency brake on, so the car slid forward a foot while being transported and hit a toolbox that had been placed in front. The flat tires helped. If they had stayed inflated, the car would have swayed back and forth inside the trailer.
This car has been parked since the 1980s. It was a family car purchased new. The current owner drove it every day to college. There is a sticker on the back window of the Plymouth, which states the name of the college he attended.
The engine was rebuilt at some point. The owner used to start the engine every now and then. It ran when he last started it. But that was 15 years ago. It's a Northeast car, so it's no surprise that it has rust spots all over it. But other than that, it doesn't look too bad.
The first step for this car is a pressure wash, which will be the first in over 40 years. It will reveal all the scratches and damage. The inspection sticker says 1979, New Jersey. So 1980 is the last year this Plymouth drove.
The car is powered by a 318 cubic inch (5.2 liter) V8 with a polyspherical head. The team at IronTrap Garage doesn't know much about this Sports Suburban. But the person who emailed them said the car would either be salvaged by them or scrapped. Salvaged it was.
However, they have no idea whether they will give it a full restoration and put it back on the road, whether they will replace the 350 under the hood, whether they will dismantle the vehicle, whether they will use the parts or sell them, or whether they will even scrap the car themselves.
At the moment, a vehicle like this would sell for an average of $28,725, as reported by classic.com. However, examples in mint condition and with low mileage can fetch over $100,000.
