1940 Plymouth Road King business coupe
VIN: 1382356
Engine: P9-P9X (6-cylinder)
Exterior Color: Black
Interior Color: Tan
Assembly Plant: Detroit, Michigan
Assembly Date: September 13, 1939
Dealership: Stephenson-Wilson, Inc., Durham, North Carolina
Original Purchase Date: Unknown
Backstory
This Road King Business Coupe was born in Detroit in September of 1939 and shipped to the Chrysler-Plymouth distributorship in Durham, North Carolina. I have not been able to trace any of its history for the next 68 years, when it was advertised for sale online as a “project car” by a resident of Efland, North Carolina. The coupe had apparently been a project abandoned by the seller’s brother. The car was sold to an automobile hobbyist in Conway, New Hampshire. He initially intended to convert the Road King into a street rod, but decided after it was delivered that it should remain in stock condition. He then spent two years working on the car, harvesting parts from a second 1940 Plymouth he had purchased from a classic car dealership in Manchester, New Hampshire. In early 2011, he consigned the Road King to that dealership, where I purchased it in April. After some extensive restoration at Mike Mancini’s American Muscle Car Restoration, Inc., in Rhode Island, the car was shipped west to California.
Stephenson-Wilson-High, Inc., located in downtown Durham, was formed by Herbert E. Stephenson, Luther N. (“Luke”) Wilson, and Luther C. High, and distributed Chrysler and
Plymouth automobiles as well as Mack brand trucks and busses. Mr. High left the business and started his own used car operation at about the same time the Road King was shipped from Detroit; he died from head injuries suffered in a sidewalk fall in 1944. Sometime in late 1940 or early 1941, Stephenson-Wilson relinquished its Chrysler-Plymouth franchise and switched to selling Pontiacs, a General Motors brand. Mr. Wilson died in 1963, at age 74; Mr. Stephenson died in 1989, at age 81. The Stephenson-Wilson dealership closed in the late 1960s.
I kept the Road King until March 2018, when I offered it for sale. When last I saw its taillights, they were on a carrier headed for Greenville, North Carolina.