I did a double-take sitting at a red light last Thursday evening, with this pair of weathered classics. For a split second, I thought I’d warped to Eugene!
Clearly, the Dodge (a 1949, per the CL listing) is in worse condition. If only the Sawzall treatment had been omitted, it would be a pretty neat car. But how do you see out of it, or sit in it if you are, say, over 5’7″?
Here’s what the Wayfarer two-door sedan looked like new. A bit staid, true, but still quite attractive.
The dually Advanced Design fire truck was very sound, at least from my vantage point sitting in the Town Car. While neither one, in their current state, is really my kind of vehicle, I have to give the edge to the Bowtie. If there was no chop-top, the edge goes to the Dodge. How about you?
I’m confused on the constant references to Eugene. What’s it’s significance to the classic car enthusiast? Does it just happen to have alot of classics for various reasons? No criticism intended, just an honest question.
Eugene is the home of Paul Niedermeyer and the birthplace of Curbside Classic. Thanks to its Pacific Northwest climate (mild-ish winters and rains that wash away rust rather than aggravate it) many an automobile that would have been put out to pasture 20, 30, even 40 years ago still serves its purpose.
Marshall, Eugene, Oregon is the town where this websites founder lives. That part of Oregon is full of older iron still in daily use and various examples can be found in articles by Paul Niedermeyer.
Ah! That makes sense then. Thanks for the quick replies!
As someone who lives in the area, one of the great mysteries to me is why there are disproportionately more old cars in Oregon than in the rest of the west.
The climate certainly preserves cars well here — not to hot or cold, no road salt, etc… but you could say the same for California and most of Washington too, yet their fleets all seem much newer.
I believe this has to do with the type of people that live in Eugene. They are very eclectic and Oregon in general is quite the different state, especially when compared to it’s neighbors.
there were quite a few old cars in western Washington when I lived there (and most of them were flat fender Jeeps) but that was in the late ’70s before Microsoft came to town. I imagine the place is coming down with Prii (that is the official plural of Prius according to Toyota) now.
Pic taken from the front seat of a last generation Lincoln Town Car?
2000 Cartier.
a 2005 TC now graces my driveway. It’s like preserving an endangered species.
Here’s mine, parked in downtown Davenport last Thursday evening.
I know that guy. He’s a bit if a local “Horse Trader”. You should see his Bike collection.
Suddenly (?)my local CL has 3 or 4 of these early Chrysler products on sale. All but one is a “project” and that 1 is a gorgeous 51 Plymouth Cranbrook convertible.
It’s a shame when someone “goes to town” with a sawz-all…though I suppose that the Dodge could be turned into a full convertible.
So… somebody went to the considerable trouble of chopping the roof, but couldn’t be bothered to smooth the imperfections out of the body panels? Or even give the poor thing a paintjob?
Also, as the article implies, the attack on the roof pillars (AKA “The Illinois Chainsaw Massacre”) was too severe. Even adults small enough to shoehorn themselves inside of it will be left feeling claustrophobic.
I know we’re not supposed to complain about other people’s tastes, but I honestly can’t see (no pun intended) how choptops became a thing, or why anyone would enjoy them. I would drive/ride in a hellaflush Civic before one of those things.
I love all the license plates inside, though.
The Dodge kind of looks like it was the bottom car from a junkyard that likes to stack em 3 of 4 high. The only car I ever liked chopped was a 49 or 50 Mercury, (but only if it was chopped back in the 50s or 60s when they weren’t worth anything).
isn’t Eugene just down the road, or is it up the road, from Rio Linda??
Poor thing .
Me , I’d take that Advanced Design as I know and love them very much .
Good drivers , all .
-Nate
They murdered that poor Dodge!
I’ll have the fire truck. It doesn’t look ruined. That Dodge could be made into a convertible, but out here in the west, there are many better choices.
I’ve never understood lowering a roof line that much! It looks awful to me, and can’t be practical for driving. Plus, imagine the glass costs. Classic glass is hard enough to find, without turning it into a one-off size.
Horrible way to treat a Wayfarer bobtail! That car is one of the very few unique silhouettes in car history. You can see it dimly at night and know what it is.
Dodge was responsible for TWO instantly recognizable-at-night cars, amid all of its normally dull and hard-to-identify models. This is one, and the ’62 with / \ headlights is the other. When you see that pattern coming toward you on the highway, you know exactly what it is.
If the roof can be lowered, could someone raise it back up with some mad fabrication skills?
Undoubtedly. But you said it, Patrick – mad fabrication skills.
How is that Dodge much different than the current generation Camaro? Both have that chop top look.
Chopping the top works a lot better on vehicles that have really tall greenhouses to begin with. The relatively long-roof greenhouse on that particular Dodge 2-door sedan and the relatively bulky part below the beltline both argue against chopping the top. Unfortunately more projects like this get started than get finished.
For example, I found a 1951 Studebaker Starlight coupe on which someone had started to chop the top. He left the A pillars at the same slope and moved the top forward, chopping the door tops and moving them forward too. This ploy had the advantage that the door glass didn’t have to be cut; one just raised the windows until they met the tops of the doors. But he apparently couldn’t figure out how to finish the wrap-around rear window. I actually bought the thing for $50 (in 1961 dollars) and hauled it home on Pop’s tilt-bed trailer, figuring out that I could come up with something. But after a year or so of walking around it and drawing idea after idea…during my senior year at college, yet…I mentally washed my hands of it, and wasn’t surprised when I came home from my first year at grad school and found that it had disappeared from the equipment yard.
I agree that it is a shame to see that good ol Dodge chopped like that . I have one a little older being a 1937 but wouldn’t consider that modification .
I assume that the Dodge was chopped back in the 50s or 60s when that was a thing that customizers did. If so the job needs to be finished, dechromed, lakes pipes, spinner hubcaps. If it is a contemporary modification…..WHY