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Visionary Beginnings

Some of it involves learning, but, for the most part, we’re pretty sure it’s something you’re born with, and you either have it or you don’t, and you can’t “fake it ’til ya make it.” We’re talking about vision—not the 20/20 version, but the ability to squint your eyes and see past the ugly duckling and uncover a swan. Tom Flurry has that even more special blend of vision and the ability to perform the work. Before your eyes is colorful proof that below the somewhat homely skin of a stock ’36 Plymouth there is indeed a swan, and Flurry uncovered most of it in his home shop in Mattituck, New York.

Inspiration from a Previous Build

Now, Flurry is no stranger to Plymouth street rods, having built a resto-rod version of a ’36 Plymouth coupe before this one. In fact, it was during the restoration portion of the first street rod when the ideas began to flow for the second Plymouth.

The Beginning of a Transformation

Knowing full well that he was too far down the road on the first car, he simply saved his brainful of ideas until he could find another ’36 Plymouth coupe. The car he found was a fine example of a car that had been restored at one time and then built as a custom, before Flurry finally purchased the car. The Plymouth had spent its entire life in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.

A Revamped Chassis

After hauling the coupe home, Flurry wasted no time stripping it to a bare chassis. He boxed and Z’d the stock framerails and modified the crossmembers to accept a ’97 LT1 engine and 700R4 overdrive transmission.

Body Modifications

While the chassis work is what provides the Plymouth with its perfect stance, the true test of one’s vision is ultimately pushed to the limit in the bodywork. Starting with the top, Flurry lowered the ’36 Plymouth lid 3-1/2 inches and decided the car would look much better as a hardtop, so the complete B-pillar was removed in the process and, of course, the roof insert was filled, too.

Attention to Proportions

The challenge of building a truly great car is to keep everything proportional, to be certain there are “no bad angles” on the car. Flurry was keenly aware of this, and realized the fenders and their respective openings were all wrong for the new, larger wheels.

A Custom Front End

With apologies to lovers of the ’36 Plymouth styling, we must say Flurry knocked off a whole lot of ugly when he reworked the front sheetmetal. Gone were the awkward die-cast grille and the headlights perched on pedestals, and while he was losing things, Flurry gave the front bumper the deep-six, too.

Final Fabrication

Finally, the outside of the car was complete, and all the metalwork was done in Flurry’s home shop, and that, my friends, is a lot of welding and hammering! It wasn’t time to turn the MIG off just yet, as there was the whole dashboard issue to deal with.

The Finishing Touches

When the fabrication was finally completed, Flurry hauled the Plymouth to Starlite Auto (Mattituck, New York), where Harvey Bagshaw did the finish bodywork. Danny Baione and Mark Reynolds teamed up to spray the gorgeous House of Kolor’s Cinder Candy Apple three-stage paint.

A Labor of Love

Now, we have been able to spin this yarn quite quickly, as if by some magical stroke Flurry and his band of friends had managed to build this car in a couple of months. Not so.

Masterpiece Achieved

Over the years, we’ve seen more than our share of chopped and sectioned cars, and, frankly, it is one of the most difficult combinations in all of hot rodding to get “just right.” Holding the proportions through such major modifications is a tough and tricky business, but in the case of Flurry’s ’36 Plymouth coupe, the results are astounding, and possibly even more so because the car was such an unlikely candidate.