Freddy Heinefors' 1956 Plymouth Convertible

At Hot Rod Show April 1965

On a trip in Switzerland 1965

Door handles were removed

The story of a Plymouth-56 custom at the 1965 Hot Rod Show. Reg: AA76545 .

There were car-interested gangs in many neighborhoods in and around Stockholm already in the 60s.

Here is the story of how the interest began for Freddy and his friends who grew up on Reimersholme near Södermalm in Stockholm. Freddy first became the owner of a Pontiac-52 4-d Sedan around 1961. There were several trips with his friends in a car caravan to, among others, Karlskoga and Kanonloppet, which many car-borne gangs did at the time. In connection with military service, the Pontiac was sold.

In 1963, Freddy got hold of a black and white Plymouth-56 Belvedere Convertible. The first owner was the director of SIAB, a large construction company at the time. There was a lot of rust repair to start with. Through diligent reading of custom magazines, plans to build a custom began to take shape. In the autumn of 1964, construction began in a cold garage that had belonged to an old malt factory on the Reimersholme island.

Parts for the modified front were found, among other places, at Gladökvarnskroten and at Granaths in Sollentuna. The somewhat unusual grill came from a Valiant-63, which was mounted upside down. When it came to the front lights, it was quite common to have upright or slanted double lights on the customs at that time. When a crashed Mercedes 220 with the new oval headlights was found, those lights had to be the front lights.

The front bumper was taken from a Pontiac-56, which has a nice pan shape. The rear fins were extended and given a more pointed end. The holes for the old taillights in the fins were closed. Three holes on each side under the tailgate were opened and copper pipes were mounted there and the round taillights were lowered. The red light reflected nicely against the shiny inner wall of the copper tube. A roll-up window was built under the taillights.

Of course, antennas were lowered into the rear wing in a custom way. A plumber in the gang did most of the sheet metal and welding work.

The front sofa was reupholstered in upholstery fabric and a center console with built-in radio and tape player under the dashboard was built in sheet metal and plastic padding.

The original HY-FIRE V8 together with the automatic transmission were left in standard form. The paint chosen was a Blue Royal Flake purchased from Bosse Sandberg at Yankee Custom Parts. The car was painted at Sågen in Vendelsömalm.

At the time of the car inspection, there were initial doubts as to whether the car could be approved as a Plymouth-56, but since the chassis and drivetrain were still original, the car was finally approved as a Plymouth-56.

The build was exhibited at the first Hot Rod Show at Marmorhallarna in April 1965. As can be seen from the sign in the front window, the custom build was given a name that it should be: CHARLOTTE.

In the summer of 1965, Freddy and his friends took a long trip through Europe with their sparkling custom. The trip went well until they passed Småland on the way home. Then the water pump gave up. After a phone call, they got hold of the only spare pump that was in stock in Sweden.

In 1967, the car was sold and unfortunately the new owner overturned the car, which was so damaged that it was scrapped.

Many thanks to Freddy who told the story and kindly provided the visual material.

Text by : Björn Ramsten