OK - let's let the story begin, in Roland's own words.
"American cars have always interested and fascinated me. Especially those from the 50's. The shapes, the panorama windows and those huge tail fins are just great. I wanted to own one too !!!
At the end of the 80's I started to study the advertisements in the special car newspapers to see whether a suitable candidate could be found. I hadn't decided on a specific model, but it needed to be something with fins. Most of the cars were out of reach for me and my wallet at the time. But then I discovered an advertisement from an American dealer, "Andrews Motor Company". A beautiful Plymouth Belvedere with large tail fins. This could be the car!"
"In November 1990 the time had finally come. I drove to Norderstedt to look at the car. At first glance, the car made a pretty good impression. It had a few small quirks but almost no rust, a real California car, only in the trunk had rainwater eaten its way through the sheet metal. Not that bad. All the moldings were in place and all the glass was intact. The interior looked quite worn out and the engine also seemed old; but it didn't matter. It was important that the car was complete and had almost no rust perforations. I signed the sales contract and was the proud owner of an American car from the Fifties.
The acquisition in December 1990 then turned out to be difficult. The gentlemen from GMP assured me that they had done everything so that I could safely drive back to Neuss, where I lived at the time."
"But.
After a few kilometers - after all, it was winter and I was cold - I turned on the heat.
Big mistake. Due to the Californian heat and dryness, the rubber tubing was porous and the hot water that was supposed to warm me had spilled onto the floorboards. The windows fogged up on the inside and of course the frost also made them icy. So I had to put in an emergency stop.
After this involuntary break, we went on the highway. Here the car stopped running every few kilometers. After a short break, it drove again for a few kilometers. I “drove” like that for a long time until the car didn't start at all, and that on a stretch of road there was no hard shoulder. Now I was fed up. I couldn't reach anyone at GMP, it was already late in the evening. What to do? I couldn't stay on the autobahn. With no hard shoulder I was standing directly on the road and it was slowly getting dark. Fortunately, the next exit, “Wildeshausen”, wasn't far and there was even a truck stop where I pushed the car and parked it.
Then I went back to Neuss with my parents, who had accompanied me. The next day we rented a trailer and drove back to Wildeshausen to recharge the Plymouth. Happy and relieved, we made our way back to Neuss."
But less than 5 kilometers further we were stopped by the police. My father's car was not allowed to pull the trailer like this. Too heavy! There was an expensive ticket for that. So back to Neuss. All friends and acquaintances called. Fortunately there was one who drove a heavy jeep. With that we finally got the car home.
"Now came the next hurdle. The procurement of spare parts.
As I said, internet didn't really exist yet and Ebay wasn't founded until 1995. So I bought trade newspapers, made a lot of phone calls and wrote just as many faxes until I had most of the parts together to start restoring the car. I intended that it should be a frame off restoration - when I do something, I doing it right. That effort lasted until the mid-90s. Later, when the internet offered more and more possibilities, it became easier and easier to find parts so that I was able to complete and upgrade the car more and more. So the Plymi got rocker moldings, two exterior mirrors, a clock, decorative trim on the roof, a front valence (incredibly difficult to get), bumper wings, AAJ disc brakes at the front, a fake tire on the trunk lid, etc."
Roland carefully documented his restoration over the next several years. In no particular order, here are some photos from that period.
