Pictured here Wendell Noble’s 1929 Plymouth Rumble Seat Roadster as it looked when he bought it (above) and as it looks now after restoration (below). Wendell is still waiting for a ride in the rumble seat.
I fondly recall, as a kid, the thrill of riding with my brother in the rumble seat of our uncle’s ’41 Packard coupe. I enjoyed it so much I was convinced that one day I wanted to own a rumble seat of my own. About 55 years later the opportunity finally presented itself to do just that. In 2001, while at the Shelburne Museum car show, I spotted a 1929 Plymouth roadster for sale. At a distance, it looked pretty nice. On closer examination, it was evident that the recent paint job was blistering, a bit less attractive. The new upholstery was very good although not exactly correct. There was visible evidence that the wooden internal body tub skeleton was badly rotted and had been patched and braced with pieces of 2 x 4 and plywood. The good news was that the engine and running gear were excellently restored. In spite of its warts and flaws I loved it for what it could be. It was for sale by VAE member Ron Pickering and he and I quickly struck an amicable deal for $5,000. Ron even delivered it to my door in Milton, complete with Quebec registration and plates.
This has been my first experience with a “frame off” vintage car restoration. The body tub was torn down and media blasted bare metal and I made the needed repairs. Using the bits and pieces of the rotted wooden body skeleton as a pattern, I was able to construct an entirely new skeleton. I found the original paint color on the back side of the dash board which allowed me to track down the original factory specs for the color scheme of grey trim and orange pin striping.
With the restoration complete, Mary and I put on plenty of fun miles driving our roadster on tours with other 4-cylinder Plymouth (1928 – 1932) cohorts. A couple of years ago there was a setback. Upon trying to fire it up after winter storage, there was a lot of smoke and steam when it finally started. After an engine tear down, I found a demolished piston and a gaping hole in the cylinder wall right into the water jacket. I can only guess that this was due to the cylinder wall being a bit too thin after being bored out 60 thousandths oversize during the earlier engine rebuild. There probably had been a crack in it for some time.
Fortunately, I had a spare engine block on hand and managed to construct one good rebuilt engine from the parts of two. Thanks to the very skilled help from Fred Gonet, it is now finely tuned and running better than ever. My favorite vintage ride is back on the road again and made a flawless debut on the 2025 Gypson tour. I have only two regrets. Mary is no longer here to enjoy it with me and after all these years, I still haven’t ridden in my own rumble seat.
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