My 1936 P1 business coupeby Bill McLeanOrillia, OntarioIpurchased my 1936 P1 businesscoupe in 1980. The factthat it is an unrestored vehiclewas a definite attraction to me. Itserved my wife and me very wellat many car club functions untilour children arrived on the scene.Two adults and two children donot fit comfortably into a businesscoupe! Therefore, a 1936 P2 touringsedan was purchased in 1987.The P2 was driven to the 1988and 1998 Grand National Meets in<strong>Plymouth</strong>, Michigan. It also is anoriginal vehicle.Now that the children are grown and outof the house, the P1 coupe has been seeingmuch more use. The decision was made totake it to the 2008 Grand National Meet. We livein Orillia, Ontario, just over 300 miles from Detroit,so the jaunt was not too taxing for the car or the driver. Wetook a leisurely and scenic cross-country route to avoid majorhighways. The car runs nicely at 50 miles per hour. We don’tpush it too hard. The ferry ride across the St. Clair River toMarine City, Michigan, was one highlight of the drive down.To say that the vehicle is original is correct, but the vehicleis a little tired. The paint has been worn down in manyplaces, only small vestiges of the ivory-coloured pinstripingremain, the upholstery is a little tattered and the occasionalpuffs of smoke out of the tailpipe remind me that the engineno longer has its factory tolerances. The odometer reads55,750 miles, but undoubtedly is on itssecond time around.The car has a <strong>Plymouth</strong> Blue bodymounted on black fenders and chassis.<strong>Plymouth</strong> Blue is very dark. In fact, itis so dark that I thought the car was allblack when I purchased it.Of the 520,334 <strong>Plymouth</strong>s producedfor 1936, 92,835 were P1 business models,and of those, 26,856 vehicles wereP1 business coupes. My coupe wasbuilt at the Windsor, Ontario, plant.The P1 model was advertised at apurchase price of $510. Mine has onlyone windshield wiper, only one taillight,no oil filter, no heater, no trumpet horns,no passenger side sunvisor, no ashSTEVE BAROSKO PHOTOThe standard hood ornament for 1936-28-Recipient of a special award from the GoldenState Region’s Larry LaBrack at the 2008 GrandNational Meet, Bill McLean now tells his car’s fullstory.trays, no chrome rings around the headlights ortaillight, no stainless inserts or pinstriping on theheadlight stanchions, and it currently sports the very plain“standard” hood ornament rather than the ship ornament seenon most 1936s.In addition to the above, there is a surprising number ofdifferences between my P1 business coupe and the P2 Deluxemodel. The two most obvious differences between my P1 andP2 (other than the body styles) are 1) 17-inch steel artillerywheels rather than 16-inch; and 2) the reversed colours of theinstrument cluster – white letters on a black backgroundinstead of the more common black letters on white.Some of the more e subtle differferences: ences:• the bumpers are a simpler style that isless decorative• the instrument light switch has only onand off positions with no intermediateposition• there is no woodgraining on the dashor window moldings (just plain brownpaint)• the dash knobs are stainless steelrather than the mother-of-pearl finish onthe P2s• the shock absorbers are an inferiorsingle acting design• there is no bypass on the water pump• the thermostat and housing are smaller• the hub caps are a different design• the generator has a cut out rather than
LANNY KNUTSON PHOTOMcLean’s s pair of 1936 <strong>Plymouth</strong>s: his P2 sedan on the left; his P1 coupe on the right, both on display at the 1991 National Summer Meet atBrampton, Ontario, outside of Toronto. Below, Bill drives the P1 up for its official photo.a regulator• even the brackets holding the hood rodin place are differentThe car has given us a great deal of pleasureover the years. So far I have been ableto resist the urge to paint it!PBSTEVE BARASKO PHOTOSOn the showfield of the 2008 Grand NationalMeet in Auburn Hills, Michigan, with its neighboring<strong>Plymouth</strong>s, clockwise from lower left: DeanSkinner’s 1948 P15C club coupe, Richard Kulzer’s1948 P15C two-door sedan, Ed Juneau’s 1948P15C club coupe and tom Kayser’s 1937 P4 convertible.-29-
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