As Geoffrey Chaucer’s fictional pilgrims commenced their literary rendezvous at the Tabard Inn, “the yonge sonne hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,” denoting springtime and the sign of the ram–Aries. Aries encompasses the first half of April or so, and although summer is racing toward Leo, Dodge folklore is deeply rooted in the image of the ram. Dodge made an Aries, FCA still makes a Ram, and I was born April 17th. Like a History Channel special that focuses on circumstantial evidence, if I followed the clues of the last few weeks, my life would be the work of the Dodge Brothers.
The week of Dodge began as I came home to wash the road grime from the Dirty Dart’s, um, flawless flanks, and commenced writing my latest Dirty Dart entry. In the comments, Gene Herman posted a picture of his ’49 Dodge.
Its status as a “first-series” 1949 model was intriguing, and I began my traditional ritual of conceptualizing my world with another old car orbiting it; in this case, a flathead-six propelled Chrysler product from the 1940s, perhaps a big old business coupe or something, the august ancestor of the Dirty Dart, but with a little more style. Generations past wore suits on airplanes, now many of us wear pajamas to Walmart; therefore, post hoc ergo propter hoc, each generation is a little less dignified than the last. Mental note: I need to buy a suit if I plan to buy an old Chrysler.
Then, that same weekend, I saw this 1947 Dodge at the local car show. It may be a Deluxe, may be a Custom: it has two windshield wipers but no rear fender molding, so take your pick. It’s big, it’s roomy, it’s relatively inexpensive, it’s durable.
Like Steven Seagal and the later Slant Six, the Dodge 230 was hard to kill, lasting many thousands of miles and to the end of the 1959 model year. When Chrysler designs an inline-six, it designs it for all time; the old flathead was replaced by the equally long lasting slant six. Hunkered down in the engine room, surrounded by two tons of Mopar battleship, this sturdy old powerplant looks ready for action. Although one may be prompted to ditch the tiny air cleaner and modern spark plug wire boots, the fuel pressure regulator near the carburetor at least shows that this car is maintained by someone who knows a thing or two about old cars.
Ostensibly powered by the same engine was this 1950 Wayfarer, with its weird triple bumper guards and all. The most basic of Dodges, it nevertheless sold well and probably gave its owner little trouble.
Dodge often used the word “dependable” in its advertising, although the above ad presents a conflicting implication. Is the driver kidnapping these unsuspecting, obviously brainwashed passengers? That fake “little kid” smile on the driver does not bode well for the well-being of his potential quarry.
This Wayfarer doesn’t appear to be optioned with Fluid Drive, although I’ve always wanted to drive a Chrysler product equipped with that option, just to see how it works. Perhaps it’s the name, but Fluid Drive seems like it would leave drops on my driveway like my Dynaflow does. Then again, as Gene and Bryce mentioned earlier, it doesn’t leak, it marks its spot.
Finally, just yesterday, I visited Rob, my local machinist, to ask him who builds their shop’s automatic transmissions (long story, but the Mustang’s quite fresh C4 is not pumping fluid through the cooler). Sitting on a cart was the bare block of a 1937 Dodge; I believe he said it was a 218. He explained its oiling system to me and I began ruminating in my old familiar way, the same muse I muse every time I get a car on the brain: is it time to put another Dodge in my garage? Only time will tell, but I hope the feeling passes before my wallet opens.
I’m not sure if they know a thing or two about cars if they used a household wire nut to make an electrical connection under the hood.
Ha ha! I didn’t even notice that…
Get yourself a Dodge, Aaron. It’s only money; you’ll make more.
Seriously, if a persons seeks a car from the ’40s, these would be hard to beat. Stout as an anvil and as reliable as the sunrise, a person could do a whole lot worse.
Plus, I’ve always had a sweet spot for the ’47 Dodge. My paternal grandmother had a ’47 Dodge parked on the hillside next to her garden. It was parked there (it smoked, the front end was loose, and it had some other malady from harsh use) in the late 1960s with a solid body and decent interior. By the late 1980s, that hadn’t changed much.
When she sold the timber off her property around 1990, the dummy in the skid loader sideswiped it in a big way. She later sold it for scrap. I always had the grandiose pipe dream of resurrecting that poor old Dodge.
AARON65, When you write about Chrysler’s Fluid Drive “… although I’ve always wanted to drive a Chrysler product equipped with that option, just to see how it works”, I think about how I can still feel the [foot off the gas] gentle “clunk” of hi-3 going into hi-4, or more rarely, lo-1 going into lo-2. This has stayed with me a clearly as anything I can remember about the old days and it’s been 51 years since I last sat in that car.
I’m sure there’s a bad business decision to be made by someone of building a stable of old, odd, and maybe not so odd cars and letting people “rent” them for an hour or two just to see what the old days were really like.
The people here on CC seem to have a genuine interest and fondness for the arcane details of automotive, bus, tractor, and railroad history. It’s like an itch that we would love to scratch, but how to do that in an economical way is the question.
Kind of scratching away those rose-colored-glasses.
Love those big old Dodges pictured above.
English guy who emigrated here has that business plan a shed full of old cars you can hire some selfdrive some you get driven in some you can only look at like his souped up V12 Lagonda and 3litre Bentley he has a couple of old Dodges on the road a 37 sedan and 24tourer, he seems to do ok with them all the tourists off the cruise ships like being driven around in these classics, google Hooters classic car hire Napier NZ.
Two Hupmobiles???
This guy has acquired quite an amazing collection of cars. He has a business model I really like; I wish him many continued successes. Plus, he truly does have a car for every occasion.
My pick would be the ’53 Citroen.
Fluid Drive and Gyromatic are two completely different animals .
.
Fluid drive is simply a torque converter , it was added to a normal three speed and clutch driveline , I mostly enjoyed this setup on my ’49 Dodge Pickup I bought from Barlow’s Hudson in San Gabriel, Ca.
.
-Nate
It’s not a torque converter; it’s a fluid coupling, and the same unit was used on both transmissions. The Gyromatic’s gearbox worked differently, as it had two gears with underdrives that shifted semi-automatically. But the term “Fluid Drive” was used with both units.
I’m all in favor of another Dodge in your garage. These things really appeal to me. If you are short on space, I will happily keep it for you. 🙂
One thing to remember about the Fluid Drive: in Dodges, it was a simple fluid coupling in front of a standard 3 speed. To get the semi-automatic transmission with it, you need to move up to a DeSoto or a Chrysler.
These were built beautifully. I am getting to the point in life where my wants are getting pared down, but I still want one of these.
I agree with them being well built. The one bugaboo would be rust over the rear wheels. Not critical regarding safety and it is in an area that can be easily accessed and addressed.
One more thing, if it’s a convertible, it should be kept in a garage (*). They were not totally “weather proof” in any sort of wind.
I know, ‘duh. Any old classic should be out of the weather, especially the sun.
I AM out of space. My dad helped me chauffeur the Dart and Firebird out to storage, and the Corvair and Skylark back from storage. I don’t even know how I’d fit another into the rotation!
Back in the early 90s, I was fortunate to have a neighbor who was a single guy with one car. He had a detached 3 car garage and I was able to rent space from him, which was really convenient when I had 3 old cars and only a 2 car garage.
” I don’t even know how I’d fit another into the rotation!”.
.
Aaron : do it now , pull the trigger and have fun with them whilst you’re still able to maintain them ~
.
I’m beginning to have difficulty maintaining them all and have been selling off various oldies I doubt I’ll ever finish .
Buy ’em , fix ’em up and enjoy driving ’em until the blush goes off the rose and send ’em down the road , don’t let the years go by without enjoying the oldies you want to try .
.
Moderator ; we need more writeups on 1930’s and 1940’s MoPar Coupes ! .
.
-Nate
We don’t do requests, unless you want to send a donation to fund one. 🙂
I feel the pull too Aaron. In my case it’s 1938-1939 Mopar products. My Dad’s first car was a 38 Desoto and one of my uncles had a 39 Dodge (and I still know where that car is)
They’re inexpensive, they’re interesting, and who better to preserve one than me? Uh, maybe someone with a two car garage…
Mmmm ~ ’39 Dodges ! .
.
I miss my 1939 Dodge four door sedan with ” AIRPLANE VISION ! ” (for safety donch’a know .
.
Those big old air cleaners were to reduce the intake honk as quietude was a large part of MoPars appeal back then .
.
That and those wonderful ” Tip Toe ” dual leading shoe brakes that actually _stopped_ the damn car unlike my beloved Chevy’s wretched Huck brakes .
.
Interesting how ‘ Huck ‘ rhymes with SUCK .
.
-Nate
My family had 3 vintage Plymouths when I was growing up, a 49 a 50 or 51, and a 53, it isn’t a “true” old Mopar without that HUGE oil bath air cleaner.
I guess because my family never owned one, at least after I was born, (as my folks had a 52 Meadowbrook before I was born) I’ve never been a huge fan of Dodges. Yet I do like Aaron’s Dart wagon (though I still prefer the Valiant) and could see myself calling the seller of a 77 Aspen wagon that just popped up on the local Craigslist if I had storage space for it instead of a 1 car parking slab next to my house currently occupied by a Crown Victoria.
Interesting point. I have had 3 Plymouths, at least 3 Chryslers and even an Imperial. My grandma had a DeSoto when I was young. But I do not believe that anyone in my family has ever had a Dodge. I know I never have. Which is strange, because for years, they were Mopar’s best selling line behind Plymouth (and sometimes ahead of it.)
This piece reminds me of my late uncle, a fiercely loyal Dodge man all of this life. Usually had top of the line, well-equipped models – a ’48 with Fluid Drive, a ’52 with “Gyromatic” transmission, a beautiful ’55 Custom Royal HT with Powerflite and power steering, one of the weird Exner ’62’s and later a succession of Monacos, Royal Monacos and finally an Intrepid. He said all were fine cars except for he Intrepid, which gave him more problems than the rest of them put together.
He bought all of these off the lot from the same dealer over at least a 45 year period. He wasn’t really a car guy and most of the V-8’s were the 318’s and 383’s these models usually came with. However, one of ’70’s Royal Monacos had a 440. I was impressed and asked him all about the big block. He seemed puzzled and said something like “well that’s what it came with”.
I have a coworker who recently bought a ’47 Dodge – actually two, as she picked up a retired taxi for parts. I’m Jonesing for a ride when she gets it sorted and legal for the road.
Think about that for a moment : a SIXTY NINE YEAR OLD DODGE TAXI .
.
I know Paul thinks I don’t like these cars , he couldn’t be further from the truth , they’re wonderful .
.
-Nate
He didn’t say “recently retired taxi”. It’s probably been retired for a very long time.
I don’t think you don’t like these cars; I don’t know where you got that idea. Your comments make it quite clear that you do like them.
Correct, Paul. I told her she ought to restore the taxi in taxi livery – if it wasn’t going to donate sheet metal, I think she probably would!
“I don’t think you don’t like these cars; I don’t know where you got that idea”.
.
I got if from your constantly taking a stand against my factual reporting that these wonderful old MoPars don’t like Freeway speeds and will die rather quickly when subjected the same .
.
They’ll go ’round the world @ 50 MPH , not much faster if you want them to last .
.
-Nate
I tell people my car is a Dodge SS ’cause it’s old enough to collect Social Security.
I love it =8-) .
.
I’m old enough too but I’m also ineligible (oops) .
.
Maybe some lettering or pin striping to announce your Dodge is an SS model ? .
.
-Nate
HA! I don’t think so, Nate. I’ll stay with going for the laugh when I talk to people about the car.
My Dad had a secondhand prewar Dodge when I was just born. Two things he remembered about it: one was that it never broke down on him. The other was that it was his first car with hydraulic brakes.
…In San Francisco! It opened up whole new neighborhoods to him, on hills!
In the mid-1970’s someone abandoned a black Dodge 2-door sedan on my father’s property – it looked very much like the 47 sedan here except for the doors. I hot-wired it and discovered that it had a huge knock in the engine. I drove it a few miles to his house, parked it, ran a title search, and discovered that the last registered owner had sold it to someone who never transferred title. I got a duplicate title from her and sold it to my gas station guy. It was a remarkably nice-looking car, straight, no rust, decent interior. But at that time I was even more of a V8 guy than I am now. And of course that was before I knew enough about Chrysler products to realize that the 2-door sedans were always the lower-production cars, as opposed to Ford and GM cars where almost as many 2-door as 4-door sedans were produced; but Chrysler products had a huge proportion of 4-door cars, and quite often the coupes would have a higher production figure than the 2-door sedans.
Carl Kiekhaefer, founder of Mercury Marine, was a huge Chrysler fan himself. His daily drivers (which were not stock, go figure) would smoke any employee’s rigs. And let’s not forget what he did in (or to?) NASCAR in ’55 & ’56 with Chrysler 300’s
Mentioning c connections between. yourself and Dodge, I notice that you share a name with an individual who figures prominently in the Old Testament. Early Dodge logis incorporated a Star of David
My Father had a brand new 1946 Dodge. He must have crossed someone’s palm, as he and his choice of 2; a green with heater and a grey without. He took the Grey and added a heater. Rubber was still in short supply so there was a spare rim without tire.
He bought a 1951 Dodge Wayfarer convertible off the show room floor. Grey of course, with fluid drive. December 1955 it was totaled by someone who ran a light. Replaced on Christmas Eve 1955 with a 1951 Dodge Diplomat (2 door Hardtop), with Gryromatic. The fluid drive convertible was not fast, but the hardtop was a slug.
You’ve already got “Dodge Fever”, Aaron. It sounds like it might be mutating into a more primitive form though and there’s only one cure, LOL!
The big, black beauty at the top of your post is probably a DeLuxe, since it’s lacking the rear fender trim strip, but it might have been discarded at some point in the past if that fender had to be hammered out. And take my word for it. Those fenders acquired wrinkles at an alarming rate since they’re completely invisible from the driver’s seat.
Unlike Fords of an earlier era, two windshield wipers were standard equipment both on the low (DeLuxe) and high (Custom) trim levels on these D24’s, as all the ’46 to 1st Series ’49 are referred to, so that’s no way to tell. If this car still had it’s original interior door panels, I could tell in an instant which model it is but that’s not very likely.
JP is mostly right about Fluid Drive. It refers only to the hydraulic coupling between the engine and the transmission and not the gearbox itself. The coupling lacks the stator that actually does the torque multiplication in fully automatic trannys.
The Chrysler-DeSoto “Klunk-O-Matic” that rlplaut waxes nostalgic about is different from what you will find in D24’s. It’s a dual range two-speed. While less shifting is required in the Chrysler-DeSoto case, it is a more complicated system requiring various relays and vacuum controls. It is more problem prone and more difficult to set up properly than the simple three-on-the-tree in the Dodges. You can learn a little more about what it’s like to drive a D24 from the scan of the original flyer below.
Rugged, simple and reliable these cars certainly are but rust prone areas you should look out for are the very rearmost part of the trunk floor, rocker panels and body mounts.
Performance will be approximately that of your Buick, minus the blinding acceleration, LOL! “Maintenance of Momentum” is the driving style to adopt. These cars are happiest cruising between 45 and 55 m.p.h., although I’ve briefly seen 65 in mine on a couple of occasions. Radial tires greatly enhance the driving experience.
Remember that oil filters were optional on these cars and were not full flow. If you’re seriously going after one, make sure the oil filter has that big bolt head on top of the housing like the one in your photo. This indicates that it has a replaceable cartridge (Wix #51080) that is available at any auto parts store that carries that line. Another type with a sealed housing was used on some engines and these are next to impossible to find anymore. And remember to lubricate all 23 grease fittings at least every 1000 miles!
Having said all this, I wouldn’t trade the view out the split windshield and over this dashboard for anything. I’ve put almost 8,000 miles in just over three years on the old coupe and it’s been a complete blast.
.
..
…