1947 Plymouth Coupe - Ian Carder

Posted by Cody Ulloa on March 01, 2024

Vehicle

1947 Plymouth Business Coupe Special Deluxe

Owner

Ian Carder of Lincoln, CA

“It’s not always what you’re looking for, but rather what’s looking for you”, it’s funny as to how much that holds true in our daily lives. How it shapes us as people which dictates who we are, what we do, and what we build.

Ian Carder is a car guy, always has been, this actually stems from his upbringing like so many of us. “Growing up, my Dad had old cars and I remember his 1964 Suburban, my grandmother had a 1963 Impala which my uncle now owns. I’ve just always been into cars.”

Of course, the Plymouth did not always look like this, far from it as a matter of fact. With Ian’s artistic vision, touch, and attention to detail, he took his 1947 Plymouth to a level most of us can only hope to achieve. “Growing up in California, I was emersed in the lowrider and bomb culture and I always liked early style custom cars, I wasn’t looking for a Plymouth, but I was looking for something that I could lay out and have it look cool”. Ian admits he wasn’t looking for any specific car in particular but just something that he thought was cool “I don’t favor brands of cars, I love all cars, this is just the one that I ended up with. I bought it off a friend from work whose parents had the car and were looking to sell it. It was sitting for a while, I actually knew of the car before they owned it, a biker had it sitting next to his house and other than a 12V conversion, it was totally stock but from sitting it was not running but with the help of my brother we got it going quickly”.

Upon getting the car, it was actually a great canvas to do exactly what Ian wanted, something that he could put skirts on, lower, and ideally chop it. Being a family man first and foremost, he dedicates his time and income to providing for his family, so with that after learning the cost of having a top chopped, he decided that it wasn’t in the cards at the moment to have that done.

Of course, you can go mild with your build, or you can go radical but the well-executed taildraggers, like Ian’s which doesn’t look like anything has actually been done to them. The builder is simply enhancing what the factory provided and are executing their level of coach building where the factory missed. As so many of us know, it is easy to sink tens of thousands of dollars into our cars just for someone to say, “it doesn’t look like you did that much”, which for me is the greatest compliment I could hope to receive.

In steps, Jesse Miller and Eric Haddox provided Ian with a great deal on chopping his top to what you see today and at that moment Ian was on his way to taildragger dreams. They decided that in order to get the profile that Ian had envisioned it would require a 4” chop at the a-pillar and 7” in the rear. Aside from the hammered top, extended, flush mount skirts were going to be a necessity to complete the look along with a pair of Appleton S-552 spots. The overall exterior of the car is tastefully customized with a mild grille treatment, nosed, decked, gave the doors a suicide treatment, and shaved door handles. The headlights have been frenched and 38/39 Ford taillights were clocked 90 degrees and added to the rear bumper which has been accented with a 49/50 Chevy overrider. Ian does credit Johnny with bumper repair and chrome work and Britek for straightening and polishing the stainless which accents the beautiful burgundy color which was a 1930’s Chevrolet factory color that was laid out by Eddie’s Auto Body.

A few important factors for the car from the very beginning were that it had to look good, I think Ian safely nailed that one, but it also had to perform and handle well. Ian’s Plymouth rides on the stock chassis which has been reinforced. Mustang II suspension up front with disc brakes, power steering, and c-notched with 4 link in the rear with 3.72 gears. To get the stance right Ian chose to go with AccuAir air management which lowers the body over the 15” 6.70 Firestone bias ply whitewall tires.

Keeping with the theme of performance and reliability (Ian does DRIVE this car regularly) he opted for the trusty small block 350 with Vintage Air A/C under the curtain which delivers its tone through a pair of shorty headers and Flowmasters. Fuel is supplied from a Holley 650 while all being backed by a T-5 manual transmission.

For the interior, Ian looked to Paco’s Custom Upholstery to nail this one. Ian went with a subtly radical yet incredibly traditional look. Paco’s went full bore with a custom 9-piece carpet kit in maroon finished with white piping and extended that to the seats and headliner. They decided to keep the stock seat and refinish in a simple, yet elegant, white with maroon piping and large maroon pleated inserts which flowed into the door panel design as well as the headliner which is arguably my favorite part of the car. The interior is accented by chrome garnish moldings and a stock, color matched dashboard which has been outfitted with a set of Boese Engineering gauges and plenty of pearl accents. If you follow the pearl accents it will lead you up the chrome steering column up to the “crown jewel” of the interior, the steering wheel which has been beautifully pearled by friends at Pearl Craft out of Australia.

Ian’s 1947 Plymouth is a fine example of what we believe every taildragger should be, its clean, tastefully designed, and performs like it should. Ian took his time with this one, dedicating the bulk of his time to his young family. With his patience, this Special Deluxe has been flawlessly executed. I think I can speak for us all when I say “Ian, I know you weren’t looking for a Plymouth, but damn, I’m glad this Plymouth was looking for you”.