Julian1v

Many thanks. I would appreciate your thoughts on that.

Thanks Auburnseeker. I have tried Steele who said they didn't have the correct seals. ( By the way, I love your Sportabout ). I know that Metro sell "universal parts". Has anyone used these in their projects? And if so, were they satisfactory? Thanks for your interest all. Any tips greatly appreciated. I want to get the old girl watertight before the Australian winter. Also, to all of the forum members, stay safe everybody. This virus is really nasty, and lot of people who restore these beautiful cars are in my age bracket, hence more vulnerable. Then again, out in the garage, surrounded by fuel vapors... maybe that's the safest place. Take care anyway.

In another post I mentioned that I am in the process of restoring a 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook convertible club coupe, down in Australia. A lot of good work has been done but one of our last problems is getting the weather seals between the roof and some parts of the body right ( windscreen-top bow and roof to rear quarter windows particularly ). The old weather seals have crumbled away. We managed to import some seals from the U.S. but not all, and we are looking at having someone fabricate the remaining bits. Our problem is, we don't have any pictures that show the profiles of the seals. Does anyone in the forum own one of these cars, or is able to put me in touch with someone who has one? I think the '54 Belvedere convertible also has the same weatherstripping. We would love to get some pictures of how certain seals look and fit.

I managed to find an old school electric motor repair shop where the 72 year old electrician completely rewound the motor for me as well as checking all of the other parts; he said the bearings were still in very good shape. Not bad for 65 years! Rugged traditional tech..that's why Voyagers 1 and 2 are still working. In the conversation he also mentioned how the skills required to do these jobs are fading away with his generation. He said he looked for apprentices but no one was interested. It seems to me a young person could set up a very good future business for him/her self with these skills.

Hi all, I am hunting for a vintage Redmond electric motor. It operates the cable pull system for the roof of my 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook convertible. Even if it's not working I am still interested. There are not many details on it but it shows as: REDMOND 1-59 ? 6V 6x5 There are no other numbers on it and no Chrysler part numbers either. It is approximately 6” in length. I believe that these motors may have been used in other marques as well.

Just back from China and waiting for the corona virus to settle before returning. I was in a remote area so luckily, far from the infection vectors. The silver lining is that I'm back with the car for a while. The things I'm looking for at present are weather strips and rubbers. I purchased a set of supposedly complete rubbers for the convertible but they sure as heck were not complete. Some profiles were wrong, especially the cowl strip and I'm still looking for roof rail weatherstrip and the stripping to the rear side windows. Any leads will be greatly appreciated. Franky, did you find any suppliers for your '53?

Have been away for a while with my job but back at home for a while because the corona virus has shut down work in China. Luckily I was in a remote area so not close to any infected places. I got home with no problems. The silver lining is that I can get back to the restoration process. I had a disappointment with a " complete" set of weather stripping supposedly made for only this model. Some rubber was missing and other pieces were wrong in profile. Is there anyone in the forum who could give me some leads on accessing weather seals? It seems like the '53 Cranbrook convertible is a total orphan in this regard. I need a correct cowl seal, roof rail stripping and stripping around the rear side windows. Maybe details of someone who could fabricate to order? Any advice is most welcome.

Thanks for that info Billy. I've seen one of these but I didn't know what it was. I noticed the dragonfly logo as it shot past us at an intersection. I have just looked it up on the net and found that the frames and panels are manufactured in Suzhou which is where i am based when I'm in China. I am definitely going to look out for these. I'll try and find the factory and see if someone will show me around. I'm not sure what to think about electric cars though. Great acceleration and no emissions are all good but I am not convinced about traveling in one over the distances we drive in the US and Australia. The EV fans always talk about increasing ranges but I bet the range diminishes big time if you're traveling with two or three passengers and luggage at highway speeds. There's no way I want to stop in the outback with a flat battery and no help for 400 miles.

Much more to modern taste. I'll have to go to Starbucks to read it! ( Along with a translator).

My pleasure. Wherever I go I'm always looking for automotive curiosities and the huge Chinese market has quite a few, often downright weird. Japan and Korea have a number of interesting cars that you will never see outside of their borders as well. I'll post them when I can. I was going to add that when Chinese friends or acquaintances see pictures of my '53 Cranbrook, they are mystified. "Why do you want to drive a museum car?" This is because car culture is only a little over decade old here. 20 years ago, people would stop talking and look if a car drove past. The oldest vehicles you see on the road here are VW Santanas made in the early 2000s and they were all taxis ( there are a few even older ) . Private car ownership, as a mass thing is only 10 to 12 years in the making. As for classic cars. There are none outside of museums.

I hope I didn't rave on too long. Yep. It is definitely eco-box. It works but has no personality. As to the star, yes, the Party has its tentacles into everything there and expects everyone to demonstrate loyalty, so an enterprising designer would get "brownie points" for making that connection. There is a character 大 which means 'big" or 'major" that looks similar, so I suppose that could also be the inspiration. Maybe there's a combination meaning.

I know we are in a forum devoted to classic/antique cars but I am often asked about the Chinese auto scene when people know that I drive over there. Some probably want to question my sanity in doing so, but being on the road has given me the opportunity over the last 8 years, to get a feel for what's trending. So if the moderators don't mind, I'll give you some brief observations about the modern scene there. First, the car I drive is 5 years old. It's a first generation JAC electric car. It's spartan inside ( plastics and fabric are pretty simple ) but comfortable enough. The build quality is acceptable: the panel fit is OK and there's no body rattle yet. The turning circle and maneuverability are OK but the ride is hard and there is too much weight over the front suspension because the battery set is heavy. Braking seems OK but not as good as a western made vehicle. As mentioned above, it has surprisingly good pickup from a standing start but you wouldn't push it too hard after that. Later models of this car have improved considerably though. The Chinese auto industry is, like everything else over there, making generational leaps every few years. They have good European and American auto industry professionals employed to teach and oversee design and assembly, and the "shotgun weddings" between the various western companies and their partner Chinese firms required by the PRC government, ensured a sizeable transfer of IP. Ford, GM, Benz, BMW, and VW, and some others are manufacturing in partnership with Chinese companies; Volvo is owned entirely by Geely Motors and MG / Rover by SAIC Motors. These vehicles are built to western standards although the delivery quality and finish can be variable. As for the local designs, they are at the standard of first-generation Korean cars at the moment. They look OK but reliability and longevity are still issues. There are no equivalents of those classics like the Chrysler Imperial, Datsun 1600, Toyota Hilux or Corolla; cars that you would have to attack with an A-10 Warthog to kill. Looking in the car park of my workplace, which has about 40 vehicles in it this morning, the JAC is the only local brand. All of the others are either direct imports ( 2 Mustangs, a Mercedes sports and a Fiat Spider ) or partnership brands such as Buicks, Cadillacs, Chev, VW/Audis and a few Ford Focuses ( Foci?). That means my Chinese colleagues would rather spend more to own a "foreign" brand than settle for a local vehicle. They are relatively well-paid workers of course. People just entering the car market are the buyers of the local brands. So to sum up, the Chinese auto industry has not yet developed the standards of reliability and finish that we see in the west as well as in Japan and South Korea, concept cars at the 2019 Shanghai Motor Show notwithstanding. I think it will be another decade before there is complete convergence, but with 600 000 engineers graduating every year in China, I can see that the talent potential has to be there, so I would not be dismissive of native Chinese vehicles in the long run. They are definitely going to be competitive in their own right in the not too distant future. As for the JAC logo, I am still trying to figure out whether its a "wannabe" copy of the great Mopar symbol, an interpretation of a Chinese character or just creative coincidence.

I can't help but notice how similar the logo on the JAC car I drive in China is to the Pentastar. Pity the performance isn't, although to be fair, being an electric car it moves quickly enough from the lights.

Fire wise, we've been lucky so far but as I live across the road from 700 acres of wild scrub, we are always a bit on edge in the dry weather. Re the Falcon, to paint and restore or not, ... it's a hard one. There's a pleasing side to driving a car that shows its history. I had a VC Valiant a while back that was totally original... just a rectangular box without a hole drilled in it anywhere. No exterior mirrors, no aerial, even the radio blank plate still intact and totally original vinyl seats. I relented a tiny bit and drilled supports for seat belts but that was it, ( metal dashboards are not kind to people when there's an impact). I sold it to a young guy when I moved to China for work and told him to do the same. Don't touch it. It was what made it unique. I saw a photograph of it not long ago... he couldn't leave it alone. Now it looks like all the other ones around. Ah well.

I like the survivor Falcon next to your beautiful Buick as well! Is that an XK?

Thanks Gary, My wife has just "expressed her concerns" that I chose pictures with the "junkiest" backgrounds in them. I told her it adds to the authenticity.

Thanks for the welcome John. Much appreciated. I owned a '54 Belvedere sedan back in the 1970s so I can vouch for the reliability of these cars. I owned it for four years; it was driven over long distances and over some rough terrain and all I ever did was make a few oil changes, change the points every year and keep the fuel coming. I think the only way you could kill one would be to drive it off a cliff and even then ..... well it would have to be a really high cliff. I'll post details of the progress as it happens.

Hi there Franky, I have just joined this forum and saw your posts. How is it going? I am in Australia and in the process of restoring a 53 Cranbrook convertible myself. I can see that you posted a few years ago but I am interested in finding out more about the process you went through and what you discovered, trying to access parts far from their origins. Cheers, Paul

This is my first post so I thought a little information about my project would be a good start. I'll add a little background to the car's story. I bought it a little over two years ago from a person in the far north of Queensland, Australia, living in a city called Cairns. How it got there is a little mysterious. I live in Adelaide, South Australia which is on the center, south coast ( bottom ) of the continent and about 2000 miles from Cairns. What interested me, apart from how rare this model and body type is in Australia, was that it had South Australian license plates and while researching Plymouth Cranbrooks on Wikipedia, I found a picture of the very same car on the Wikipedia page, as an example of this model and body type. It had the same South Australian plates. If you connect to the link, scroll down about half way and you'll see it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Cranbrook Anyway, I had some discussions and asked a few questions about its migrations. I didn't get a straight answer but it seems as though someone may have won it in a card game or some other sort of wager; somehow she was taken north and arrived in tropical, northern Australia. We agreed on a deal and I bought her and then had to get her trucked down south in a hurry, as there was a tropical cyclone ( hurricane ) on the way. We beat the weather and came down to Adelaide through the outback. I still don't know how long the car has been in Australia. I have a feeling it was shipped out from the USA some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s but I have not yet tracked down the previous owners to find out for sure. As far as I know, it's the only one of its kind out here. I mean there are a number of Australian assembled P-24 body cars still going and a few imported Belvederes from the later '50s, but no Cranbrook Convertible Club Coupes like mine that I know of. I have had episodes of driving her and then having her worked on, whenever I get back from my job in China. She has been re upholstered, had the top re-covered, been given a new coat of paint and some bright work done and now, is having steering, suspension and brakes improved. A new wiring loom is going in soon and the electrical system has been buffered so that the 12 volt system that was put in, back whenever, doesn't fry any more parts. I had to have the convertible top motor re-wound because it burned out over time. Anyway, the aim is to have her trimmed and tightened and touring after the New Year. I'll keep a few posts going to record the progress.

Looking for the plastic medallion to suit a '53 Plymouth Cranbrook restoration. While I have the bezel, I will buy a complete assembly if there's one out there.