The First and Oldest Plymouth

by Jim Benjaminson. Copyrighted by the Plymouth Bulletin. Reprinted by permission. Transcribed by David Hoffman.

The oft-photographed 1928 Model Q Deluxe Coupe with "First Plymouth" painted in big white letters on the side belongs to Chrysler Corporation. It was used by the Plymouth Division for many years, passed off to the public as the first Plymouth car built. Unfortunately Plymouth Number One is not really number one. Actually the car is the 23,426th Plymouth built. The serial number of the car (RW292L) indicates the car was built between August 31st and September 15th, 1928, not on June 11, 1928, as was the first car.

For publicity purposes, if not in actual fact, Chrysler Corp. said that the first Plymouth car had been sold to Mrs. Ethel Miller or Turlock, California. Mrs. Miller, supposedly, upon hearing that Chrysler was about to complete its one millionth car in 1934, wired Walter Chrysler and asked him to reserve the car for her. When the one millionth car as built in August of 1934, Mrs. Miller drove her 1928 coupe from California to the factory to take delivery of the new car. The 1928 coupe was then driven from Detroit to the Chicago World's Fair, where it was put on display - as had been the one millionth Plymouth, a PE sedan.

Following the stint at the World's Fair, the 1928 coupe spent many of the ensuing years knocking around various plant buildings. For some time it even sat outside under a tarp. In the early sixties the car left the factory grounds and went to the garage of Donald Wood, a Chrysler employee and Plymouth Club member. After two years the car was returned to Chrysler and has subsequently been fixed up. It has appeared at both the 40th and 50th Anniversary Meets held in Detroit.

Searching for the oldest Plymouth (by Lanny Knutson, 1989)

As one way of observing the 60th Anniversary of Plymouth in 1988, Plymouth Onwers Club Membership Secretary Jim Benjaminson instituted a "Search for the Oldest Plymouth."

Jim began by sending news releases announcing the club's search to major automotive and club magazines inviting owners of 1928 Model Q Plymouths to send in the serial, body and engine numbers of their cars.

The response, unfortunately, was hardly overwhelming. A number of people responded, but none of these cars proved to have come from very early in the 1928 Plymouth production run.

Using the FEDCO code, it is possible to determine the approximate date a particular US-built Plymouth was produced. The Canada-built cars used a different coding system. As of this time, no way has been found to break this code. [And that great Canadian WWII spy, Intrepid, has recently passed away!]

The car owned by the Chrysler Corporation and called "The First Plymouth" is actually #30 on our list!

According to the club records, the honor of owning the oldest known Plymouth goes to William Kelhi of Florida. Unfortunately, Kelhi is no longer on the club roster and has not responded to attempts to communicate with him. Therefore we have no picture of this car, nor do we know anything of its condition.

The oldest Plymouth for which we do have pictures is that of Rob Wallace of North Ridgeville, Ohio. These pictures and an accompanying article were sent to the editor in 1987 and the pictures of his then-unfinished Q sedan appeared in the Mar/Apr issue of the Bulletin. Unfortunately Wallace, too, is no longer on our roster. His phone number has been changed and is unlisted, so we were unable to contact him. Perhaps he will yet respond to a letter.

Thus the owners of the first ten oldest Plymouths on the club's list are no longer members. This leaves Doug Kennedy of Adelaide, South Australia, with the honor of owning the oldest Plymouth, a right hand drive four door sedan built in Detroit in early August, 1928, and bearing an Australian-built S & W body.

Doug, together with his wife Lyn and friend and fellow club member Barry Kenyon, was in attendance at the 1988 Grand National Meet in Detroit. One could tell on show day that he dearly would have loved to have had his '28 there with him. Congratulations, Doug!

However worthy a recipient we know Doug is, we hope the honor of owning the club's oldest Plymouth won't stay his for long. The search goes on. Who knows? Maybe one day we will find the first Plymouth ever made!

Interested in reading about more historical Plymouths? Visit our main history page or the Plymouth Owners' Club.