Established in 1960 in Arizona’s Yavapai County, the City of Cottonwood is home to about 13,000 residents and has a walkable historic downtown district. The city and its surrounding Verde Valley area are known to be at the heart of Arizona wine country, offering hiking trails, historic ruins, and dramatic red-rock landscapes a short distance away in Sedona.
During a recent visit, I noticed a red Plymouth sedan on the end of Main Street while coming into the historic part of town from the south. It was proudly parked at Bing’s Burger Station, and while I wasn’t hungry enough to sit down for a meal, the car did prompt me to stop for a closer look.
The car was from 1950, and it looked to have been at least partially restored at some point. Model year 1950 was important because it was the last time Plymouth named its cars just “Deluxe” and “Special Deluxe.” The following year, Plymouth would launch other models including the Concord, Cambridge, and Cranbrook. The Cottonwood car was devoid of badging, but I would wager that it was a Special Deluxe due to its generous use of brightwork.
One of the things that Plymouth was proud of in 1950 was its safety innovations. A magazine ad from the period talked about enhancements to the braking system and visibility. “Plymouth’s beautifully new styling provides for safe vision all around. The rear window even has 32 percent more glass than last year’s Plymouth. And in chair-height seats, you sit up where you can see things close to the car.”
Exterior features included chrome bumpers with overriders, hood ornament, split windshield, antenna, rocker moldings, and steel wheels wrapped in whitewall tires. There were no exterior mirrors, and the trunk-mounted badge was missing the letters P, L, and H.
The bench seats and the door cards were upholstered in recent-looking diamond-patterned gray cloth. The steering wheel showed quite a bit of wear and corrosion, but the interior was otherwise in great shape.
Plymouth cars for 1950 had a 218ci flathead inline-six that was rated at 97 horsepower and 175 lb-ft of torque. A column-shifted three-speed manual transmission sent power rearward.
It was fun to see a classic car prominently parked in Cottonwood. Next time, I’m going to sample the menu at Bing’s Burger Station.
