With the worst of the Great Depression behind them by 1935 , automakers could begin to look ahead to renewed sale intensity level . AtChryslerCorporation , volume leader Plymouth could n’t have picked a better time to offer completely unexampled 1935 Plymouths .
Plymouth Image Gallery
The 1935 Plymouths gasconade majordesign and engineeringadvances . See morepictures of Plymouth car .
Chrysler Corporation turn 10 years old on June 6 , 1935 . That class , founder Walter Percy Chrysler turned over the United States President ’s hot seat to his handpicked successor , KaufÂman Thuma Keller , and contract a less - active role as chairman . It was a beneficial time to change the guard . The Depression was ease , and Chrysler ’s company was doing well – peculiarly its Plymouth Division .
No admiration . New from the frame up , the ' 35 Plymouths pop the question major design and engineering advances over the 1934 models – and rivalsFordandChevrolet . Plymouth still had the only four - wheel hydraulicbrakesamong " The Low - Priced Three . " Now came a stronger chassis with a revise respite that meliorate both bait and handling , plus safe , more streamlined bodies without former - fashioned wooden base . New touring sedans arrived with built - in trunks , an progressively popular feature of speech .
With all this , Plymouth sales top 350,000 unit for calendar 1935 on some 26 - percent - high yield . Model - year intensity move up , too , reach closely 327,500 social unit .
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1936 Plymouth
Plymouth did even better commercial enterprise with its even effective 1936 Plymouth models , which were well changed , but did n’t take care it .
Nineteen thirty - five was the first metre since its mid-1928 debut that Plymouth sold a individual basic design for a full time of year . The lineup began with 12 model and ended with 14 , but all were designated PJ . At promulgation time in January , there was a lower - price serial , just call Plymouth Six , consisting of a two - rider coupe , a two - doorway five - rider sedan , and a commercial-grade anatomy .
All but the commercial sedan and station waggon were duplicated in the top - blood DeLuxe serial , which also offered a rumble - seat coupe seating two or four , a rumble - seat translatable coupe , the Modern two- and four - doorway five - rider " trunkback " sedans , a seven - passenger four - door sedan , and a five - passenger version called Traveler . The last two used a special 128 - inch wheelbase . Other models rode a 113 - inch wheelbase . DeLuxe prices ran from $ 575 to $ 895 .
All Chrysler Corporation car in these year used essentially the same body and chassis , but with variations in wheelbases and sheetmetal to distinguish the caller ’s four makes . air flow styling had arrived for the 1934DeSotosandChryslers , but was so unpopular that ideas for Dodge and Plymouth adaptation were fast desert .
Seeking to regain for ' 35 , Chrysler and DeSoto supplement Airflows with more conventional race models , and their universal look was applied to Dodges and the PJ Plymouths ( neither of which were call Airstreams , though ) . Accounts dissent , but reference for this styling usually move to Raymond Dietrich , cofounder of the famed LeBaron usance coachworks and hired as a Chrysler designer in later 1932 by Walter P. himself . Perhaps coincidently , LeBaron was win in 1927 by Briggs Manufacturing Company , a major body supplier to Chrysler and other Detroit automakers .
As the top - blood models , DeLuxes used chrome alternatively of blusher for the headlight buckets , taillight bezel , and windshield surround , and most left the factory with eubstance - colouring fenders . perpendicular grille bars were paint body color . These fixings were optional for Six and business enterprise models , which were otherwise delivered with a black grillwork , headlight shells , and fender irrespective of key color .
All models had three thin horizontal chrome strips decorating the hoodside louver . Sixes and DeLuxes add up a dustup of five lustrous rings that made the fizgig appear to " float " over them .
Wheels were a brand " artillery " style with pinstriping . Standard tires were 6.00316s on DeLuxes , 5.25317s on other models . Twenty - inch wheel and tire were available for those who had to drive on profoundly rutted route . A spare tyre with tube was optional for all models except the Business commercial sedan , where it was standard in a front - wing sidemount . Sidemounts were useable for selected models except the newfangled touring saloon , which conceal the fifth wheel within their build - in trunks .
Deluxe interiors were highlighted by a rich - looking wood grain dash and window garnish moldings , plus knobs and French horn button made of ivory - spirit charge card . Two five - in circular dials , well place behind a three - speak steering rack , used white markings and ruddy - tipped pointers against black screen background . The left dial clustered four gauges – piss temperature , fuel level , oil pressure , and amperes – around a quarter - dollar - size look-alike of Plymouth ’s trademark Mayflower emblem . The right dial housed an hodometer and 100 - miles per hour speed indicator .
On coupe , convertibles , and touring sedans , the dial were fall apart by three nickel - plated vertical bars , an accent repeated on the glovebox room access . In the snapper of the dah were controls for the choke , throttle , instrument lighting , and headlamps , arrayed in a square toes around the ashtray . The ignition switch was centered slenderly lower between the two light switches .
The more - ascetical Business models had a tan - painted elan and molding , a black saddle horn button , and nickel - plate metallic element knobs . Their emergency - Pteridium aquilinum grip and guidance - newspaper column financial support were also painted ; DeLuxes substituted nickel plating .
Plymouth Features
The Plymouth PJs feature included three type of respiration . Front - threshold windowpane could be cranked one inch straight back as well as fully bring down in the common way , and a screened cowl release could be slant up by moving an under - panache hold . The windscreen could also be crank open to near horizontal , but this aid did n’t work very well . ( Having drive a tilt - windscreen ' 37 Plymouth , I doubt most owners used the feature film except for blue - speed drive around town . )
Also Modern was full water jacketing , with a water system - distribution tube that more efficiently circulated coolant and contain valve temperature . To accommodate this , the starter was run outboard about a fourth - inch on the bellhousing , which gained ventilation ports for a ice chest - running batch . enured valve seats were raw for ' 35 , too . So was a vacuum - cash advance spark control that mechanically adjust distributor position relative to engine load to guarantee right timing and still running with no knock .
Also feature were aluminum pistons with two compression and two oil rings . The crankshaft was held by four sturdy main - bearing caps and rode on forced - pressure oil between insert carriage at all mains . join rods had insert armorial bearing , too . A Carter " Ball and Ball " carburettor feed an intake manifold paper incorporating a hotness - riser pipe for straightaway warm - up and improve fuel economy . An automatonlike choking coil was optional .
The rest of the PJ powertrain was familiar . The transmission remain a three - amphetamine slew - gear social unit with synchromesh and floorshift . A exclusive 9.5 - in dry - plate clutch linked the flywheel to the transmission ’s input shaft , which connected to a trunnion - character worldwide joint on an open driveshaft conduce to a semi - vagabond rearward axle . DeLuxe modeling were pitch at 4.125:1 for good quickening and hillclimbing ability . railway car with the optional 20 - column inch wheel stand in a 4.375 rearward axle .
The PJE commercial enterprise coupe , a special fleet - market model with economy features , used a 3.7:1 ratio , plus lower contraction ( 5.2:1 ) that boil down HP to 65 . Today ’s PJ proprietor prize this taller power train for the more relaxed highway cruise it provides .
Most Plymouths in 1934 proffer an modern " pantograph " independent front pause with A - limb and whorl springs , but the ' 35s reverted to a vasiform front axle on semi - elliptic folio outflow . Though this change has never been full explained to our cognition , the likely reasons were price , special supplies of spring steel , and insufficient coil - spring manufacturing capacity .
However , these same reasons apparently explain why GM offer its Dubonnet " Knee Action " ifs only on top - last Chevrolets and Pontiacs for a few days in the Thirties , while the costlier Oldsmobiles , Buicks , and Cadillacs got a superior double A - arm abatement .
Plymouth’s Success
Plymouth ’s success was due in part to improved drive and handle for 1935 , thanks to a stronger new two-fold - drop frame with central X - brace . Besides give up low storey , wider posterior , and upright weight distribution , the young chassis design enable engineers to push the passenger compartment further onwards , order rear - derriere rider ahead of the rearward axle for the first prison term .
The new chassis and bodies , mated at no few than 46 decimal point , combined for what Plymouth promoted as " Floating Ride . " It was courteous match for " Floating tycoon , " introduced on 1931 Plymouths and still unrivaled in the low - priced discipline .
Floating Power was contrive to raise comfort by reducing powertrain haphazardness and vibration arrive at the passenger compartment . It involved mounting theengineon three orotund gum elastic isolators , one in front and two on either side of the bellhousing at the second crossmember .
Carl Breer , who with Fred Zeder and Owen Skelton made up Chrysler ’s famed " Three Musketeers " engineering squad , describe this innovation in his autobiography , The Birth of Chrysler Corporation and Its Engineering Legacy :
" come up as near the core of mint of the magnate works as possible . Then draw a neat line from the heart and soul of the universal joint connecting the propeller jibe through the engine centre of mass forward . Where it comes out over the front cross member , mount a cradle - type rubber hop on . Then climb on the two rearward side supports on a circle using the center line of descent axis as the circle nitty-gritty . Locate the two side mounting at the tangential angle so the engine can rotate freely around the axis descent draw through the center of mass . If you do this , you should get the better of the side work shift action . "
As with many other car , the most popular ' 35 Plymouths were the two- and four - door sedan , particularly the new DeLuxe touring good example . The built - in trunk add $ 25 to list price , set the two - door at $ 650 watch guard Detroit , the four - door at $ 685 . Even so , both tourings outsell the trunkless " flatback " styles , and the four - door touring was the top - sell model in the line . Of the nearly quarter - million PJ DeLuxes build , tour sedan account for 127,271 .
The least popular ' 35s were the Traveler sedan ( just 77 built ) , the Westchester wagon ( 119 ) , the seven - rider sedan ( 350 ) , and the commercial sedan chair ( 1,142 ) .
That did n’t happen , even though Plymouth were considerably changed for the second straight twelvemonth . As historiographer Jim Benjaminson noted inThe Plymouth Bulletin : " The ' 36 is look upon by many as simply an updated interlingual rendition of the ' 35 car . In reality , nothing could be further from the Sojourner Truth , as this railcar had a new frame , a fresh body , a refined transmission , an improved suspension , and a legion of other refinements over the machine it replaced . " It was also more in advance than the ' 36 Chevy and Ford , yet did n’t look as new as it was .
But although Plymouth again had to nail down for a third - stead finishing , sales extend to a Modern heights on record model - yr yield of more than 520,000 units .
The Leader of the Low-Price Field
Plymouth became the leader of the humble - price theatre of operations in the mid-1930s . The 1936 Plymouth human body was redesigned with half - column inch deep siderails ( up to 5.5 inches ) , plus a unbent front crossmember to replace the previous Y - brace , which earmark extending the X - member forward for big torsional strength .
Plymouth claimed these variety increased chassis rigidity by no less than 100 percent . axle were enlarged , and the four - wheel semi - ovoid foliage bound were returned for better weight balance and few drive oscillation . A kick shackle was summate to the left front outpouring to help absorb road shock , while rear spring shackles received " silent " golosh bushing .
The raw flesh reduced ride elevation by one in , which combined with update styling for a somewhat sleeker aspect , denote by a improbable , narrower " fencer ’s masquerade " grille . Body rigidity also improved with the increase of boxed-in A- and B - tower , strengthened cowls , beaded fender , diagonal cross girders in the front doorway , and X - bracing behind the rear seat .
Plymouth ’s sturdy , dependable powertrain was basically unaltered , but a low - compression 65 - bhp engine option was added , part of a package that also included the longer rear - axle ratio and other saving feature of the previous PJE coupe .
Also newfangled for ' 36 was a unique displacement - lever tumbler design that did n’t tilt when thecarwas in motion . Models and cost were much the same , but the Traveler sedan was dropped and the seven - passenger sedan was shortened to a 125 - column inch wheelbase . Also , each serial publication fetch its own designation – P1 for line models , P2 for DeLuxes . Don Butler , in his bookThe Plymouth and DeSoto Story , read this was done by request of several state of matter motor fomite departments .
" appraise by all other cars ever before developed for the low - price field , " exalt the 1936 sales agreement leaflet , " this . . . Plymouth is the peak of perfection . Never before has there been propose a auto so ok in detail , so positively right in all its engineering . It is classifiable in styling . New mantrap is apparent in every slant – new radiator grill , ornament , headlamps and punk louvers – new lowering fenders and more massive body – all expressing greater value ! " This twelvemonth also introduced a Modern advertizing slogan – " Plymouth Builds Great Cars " – that would last well into the Fifties .
Plymouth sure enough lead the low - cost field in several way for ' 36 . As Arch Brown noted in April 1998 , Ford " offered nothing Modern apart from an exceptionally attractive facelift and a wider selection of body character ; no seamless blade top , no independent front suspension , certainly no hydraulicbrakes . " Chevrolet finally match PlymÂouth ’s hydraulic Pteridium aquilinum , but still used wood - compose bodies and the trouble - prone Dubonnet main front suspension .
While Chrysler would preserve to push hard in the broken - price field of battle , buyers did n’t always appreciate the innovations , and Plymouth would never stand up beyond third in cut-rate sale . Nevertheless , the 1935 - 36 model were a substantial success that deserve credit for promote the state of the art in " coarse man " cars .
1935-1936 Plymouth Specifications
The 1935 - 1936 Plymouth models were a true winner write up . Here are the specifications for the 1935 and 1936 Plymouth models :
Westchester Suburban
