One Family-owned Savoy

I often visited Rossmeyer Chrysler/Plymouth as a kid where I stared longingly at the new cars I wished I could afford, but could not. It was from this dealership on April 29, 1960, that my dad ordered our 1960 Plymouth Savoy. I still have the car and the original signed purchase order for it. The Plymouth was picked up from what we simply called Rossmeyer’s on June 13, 1960.

The Plymouth was ordered with the 225-cid “Slant Six,” pushbutton TorqueFlite automatic transmission, 3.31 open rear, power steering and brakes, clock, front anti-sway bar and the RCA Highway Hi-Fi 45-rpm record player.

From 1934 on, at least 90 percent of the cars my dad owned were Chrysler Corp. products. I have continued in the family’s Chrysler tradition, and recently added one more to the list, a 2002 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab.

To say the least, it was a tumultuous path from family car to “on the road again” when I finally, and officially, took over stewardship of the 1960 Plymouth in late 1974. I set out on a journey to return the Plymouth to its former glory, but it almost didn’t have a happy ending. I look back on what I went through to return that car from the dead and wonder how the devil I managed to do it. I lacked experience and a generous income, and found extreme difficulty in locating parts, such as usable fenders, trim clips and darned near anything that was year-specific. Unlike today, there was no internet when I started work on the Plymouth, and car shows weren’t happening virtually every day. And, at that time, no one reproduced anything for 1960 Plymouths. With all that stacked against me, and the fact I was driving the car daily, I was lucky if I made any progress toward its restoration. It frequently seemed that whenever I made two steps forward, I was set back ten steps by mechanical failures from age-related wear on a part, plus at least two incidents involving accidents. 

One source I could occasionally count on after Dad passed the Plymouth to me in late 1974 was Rossmeyer’s. I soon became well known to the head guy in Rossmeyer’s parts room, whose name I only remember as Andy. Andy knew where the books for the old parts where stashed, and where the parts were stashed, too. So, whenever I needed something no one else had, I sought out Andy. It became somewhat amusing to pull up by the side of the building where the parts room was located and hear one of the workers call out, “Hey Andy, it’s him again.” Unfortunately, my parts source dried up in late 1976 when old man Rossmeyer sold the dealership and it closed for good. It seems the new owner wasn’t much of a businessman and ran the dealership into the ground within a year after he took it over. The property was then divided up, with the used car building becoming a car rental location, one part of the dealership’s shop becoming an AAMCO transmission shop, and the other part of the shop, plus what was once the showroom, becoming a place that sold tires, brakes, etc.

Despite what seemed to be almost constantly insurmountable setbacks, I bullheadedly plowed on restoring the Plymouth, and by 1989, I had finally made noticeable progress. However, to this day, I fear major mechanical failures, as I no longer have anyone to turn to for help. Dad, a mechanical engineer, had a knack for being able to salvage even the worst mess, but he passed away in June 1992. Although I am able to do most work myself, I don’t quite posses the litany of skills and that uncanny knack for salvaging even the worst mess that Dad had. 

Awards aren’t what I seek with the Plymouth, but it’s the pride in knowing the car has been in our family for so many years, and that it’s still garaged on the property it came home to more than 65 years ago.

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