Ever see the end credits for Superbad?

THE OLDEST CAR I'VE EVER OWNED (YET)

I believe these pics were sent to me from the man on the street, Robin of Omaha. Somewhere under the BQE between Williamsburg and Greenpoint roosts the following XXX beauty:

This is a 1947 Dodge D24 Custom Town Sedan in what I think is Panama Sand. It is filthy and as a result has been festooned with penises. Somewhere out there is a person with a dirty mind and a dirtier finger, and for that I salute them!

Look at this big dumb mug.
This represents a slightly improved holdover from the pre-WWII years. From this angle we can see that the hood is hinged down the middle, with each side opening up like wings. The massive fenders are mostly separate from the body which would look ridiculously outdated within a couple years. Those big square turn signal lenses are made of thick glass with magnifying facets like those of a lighthouse light. These cars were 6 volt so the puny lights needed the extra help. 

There are no hubcaps on this side and even a donut on the back!
The Custom was the highest trim level of the D-24 series, with the Town Sedan being a specific body style. The easiest way to discern a Town Sedan is that the rear doors are hinged in the front whereas the other 4 door models had suicide doors in the rear. Another detail is that there is no rear quarter window behind the rear door which all other 4 doors had. Lastly the Town Sedan came on a wheelbase 18" longer than the others. Think of this as the modest mans limo.

The sheer amount of manhood somebody scribbled on this ride is incredible!
The trunk on this ride is so mighty that the spare tire stands upright to one side within. 

Looking good with wide white walls, hubcaps, and beauty rings on the driver's side! This beast is powered by the 230 inline 6 cylinder mated to a 3 speed standard transmission. A notable option for this era was the Fluid-Drive; a semi-automatic transmission where you didn't need the clutch to shift into 2nd or 3rd gears. If it were so equipped it would have Fluid-Drive in red script on the rear bumper.

Well that's where we'll leave this slumbering behemoth waiting for a bath.
The oldest car I ever owned was a 1947 Dodge. While driving through North Providence one day back in the '90s when I passed it sitting on a dirt lot with "$850 - runs" written on the windshield. I made my way to a pay phone (!) and dialed the number on the spot. The guy came down and it fired right up. After driving it around the lot a few times I went to the bank and gave him the 850. It was massive and handled like a dump truck but was equipped with Fluid Drive and was in really good condition actually. A few weeks into my brief ownership I lost the brakes completely on my way down a gentle hill (the pedal dropped to the floor like dropping a book on a table - NO brakes!). I slowly ran a red light on my way back to the friends driveway I was parking it at and managed to park it without issue. Realizing I was in over my head (in college without a garage or money) I sold it for what I paid for it to a local guy. They aren't worth much today but I still get nostalgic when I see one.

First of its kind but last call before World War II

FIRST OF ITS KIND BUT LAST CALL BEFORE WWII

As the green leaves suggest these pics were snapped in Summer. I was driving upstate when I passed what looks to be an abandoned project. I had to turn around and pull over!

This is a 1941 Chevrolet Fleetline that may have once been painted Volunteer Green Poly. This car doesn't show up in any of the Chevy literature for 1941 as the Fleetline was a late addition to the model year. This simple 4 door was the only version available initially.

Despite looking truly abandoned this ride has many (if not all) of its components either installed or roosting in the backseat. A full set of original hubcaps still bearing a hint of the red accent swoops is present. One look at the dry rot on this tire and you know its only function will be to roll this on and off of a trailer. I was kind of shocked they held air at all.

Calamity!
This is what happens when you drop your car off for a full restoration and stop paying your bills. All of the trim has been carefully removed and most of the paint has been sanded off. Evidence of smoothed out Bondo where dents or rust repair were are visible all over. This beast looks like it was almost ready for paint when the clock stopped.

Yeah I know this is a terrible pic. I only include it to show off that upholstery.

This roofline is unique to the Fleetline as every other 4 door Chevy had rear quarter windows behind the rear doors. The worst of the body seems to be the rocker panels and lower door edges. OG paint remains only around the door glass.

The rockers on this side have been cut out completely. I'm guessing this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Runs & Drives!" meant slowly even when new. Under this mighty hood sits the 216 Blue Flame inline 6 cylinder engine good for a mere 90 horsepower. A three on the tree transmission and drum brakes all around complete the chilled expectations. This engine was later bored out to 235cc and it was a higher performance version of that block that powered the original Corvettes from 1953-1955. Variations of this motor were produced from 1937-1963. 

The lines for this are pretty sweet in my opinion. Production of all passenger automobiles ceased in 1942 so the factories could be used for the war effort. When production resumed in 1945 there was a pent up demand for new cars so they built what they could which meant that this car was produced with very little change through 1948. However back in '41 this was up to date.

Unfortunately these rides aren't worth much even in pristine condition. I can almost imagine the series of phone calls reaching the end of the line for this thing pretty quickly.

Someone probably drove this to the shop proudly figuring it didn't need much. They removed the paint and found damage which they started to repair. Then the rocker panel bad news came along with estimates for the interior and re-chroming. At that point you realize that you can go to the classic market and buy a perfectly preserved example for what you've already put into it.

Another scenario is that the elderly owner wants to restore his first car. The project starts and the owner dies or can't drive anymore. The relatives either try to sell it or look into finishing the restoration and see that the cost far outweighs the reward. Unless you have a deep emotional connection to a car like this it is akin to restoring a 1983 Ford Escort from the ground up.
*Notice the tiny opening at the bottom of the grill above the ER in New Jersey on the license plate. That's where you would put the crank if your starter failed! A true holdover detail.
**I also have no idea what that round thing is under the right turn signal.

I include two pics of the interior to show different aspects. Here you can see a perfectly round hole in the floor under the driver's feet. In my '47 Dodge this was an access panel for the master cylinder so I'm guessing it's the same.

The interior is actually pretty nice with the optional clock on the passenger side and speedometer in lovely condition. The horn ring is in place and the Bakelite gearshift knob is intact. My '47 Dodge had a massive under dash heater that would be clearly visible. Who knows if this came with one or not? If this ride was delivered to a Southern state there's a good chance it was never built with one. If you were a serious penny pincher you could order your Chevy without one all the way up through the mid-'60s but who would order a clock before a heater?
Well that will do it for this well worn example of a mass produced, very old car that few people want. Best bet for this beast would be for a father/son project or for someone to rat rod it out. I know it's sacrilege to say that about a running 76 year old car, but a truly stunning '46 fastback Fleetline sold recently for $3,800 so you know the cards are stacked against this thing.
Good luck faded trooper!

Truman era licorice behemoth for post 399!

TRUMAN ERA BLACK BEAUTY FOR POST 399

Tomorrow will be my 400th attempt at this endeavor and I have a hooptie picked out that perfectly encapsulates my mission statement. But first there's this licorice behemoth that lives just blocks from my new spot in Bay Ridge. The mechanics were very nice when I asked to snap a few pics and I got the impression people do all the time:

This is a *1948 Chrysler Windsor sedan in Black. This car is executive, classy, and authoritative. It is also ready to start up and drive away 69 years after it came off the assembly line! The overall shape harkens back to the pre-war era of the fenders being separate from the body.
*The registration sticker claims this is a '49 but there was a comprehensive restyle. Perhaps this languished on the lot and was first titled in 1949?

First of all get a load of this pointy-lipped grill. Those turn signals tucked under the top horizontal bar are legit glass. The hood ornament is an eagle in flight looking down (at the whole world I'm sure).

This is a big car in person with the hood just continuing on forever like the prow of an ocean liner. The front fender itself is about as long as a Smart Car.
Beneath that mighty hood lies a 250 L-Head 6 cylinder good for a measly 114 horsepower. This was mated to a 4 speed manual transmission. Overall this car was about getting there in style and comfort as opposed to being swift.

The Windsor was a higher trim level of the Royal. The Saratoga, New Yorker, and Town & Country were all tonier than the Windsor, making for an impressive array of offerings for one make.

The original Windsor was introduced in 1939 to replace the Chrysler Airflow. The Airflow was a departure from almost anything built up to that point in that it had a slippery body born in a wind tunnel of Chryslers design. The Airflow was a flop but the lessons they learned influenced their designs for decades to come. This slippery shape is a direct descendant of the Airflow. 

You just know looking at these taillights that they are the pet project of some designer in the Chrysler studio. Beautiful and architectural, these could just as easily be installed on the Chrysler Building itself. The trunk is so tall that the spare tire sits upright in a little well to one side. 

This interior seems like a slightly out of date fancy restaurant in some grand hotel. The admittedly stained seat is still without tears though and it does match the secondary colors on the dash and door.
That is a manual transmission on the tree allowing for 3 abreast seating in comfort. There is a radio installed in the center with pushbuttons to remember your favorite stations. How satisfying are those chrome knobs under the dash? They control the lights (in 2 switches; the first is just for those bumper mounted running/fog lights and the second for headlights), temperature, and defrost. Under the closest of those is a clear acrylic knob which is actually the choke.

Well there we have it; a lovely old post war yacht roosting mere blocks from my new home. The oldest car I ever owned was a 1947 Dodge which, while being downmarket from the haughty Chryslers, was more similar than dissimilar to this ride. My old beast had the semi auto Fluid Drive trans and drove like an old truck for $850. I have no doubt this would be a bit more refined but these are truly basic cars that are a cinch to work on. If you have a driveway or garage and like to tinker you can pick up a lovely postwar classic pretty cheap and drive around town with ease.
Tomorrow brings the 400th post!

1949 Chrysler Inauguration wrought rant edition

1949 CHRYSLER MAKE AMERICA GREAT EDITION

This blog isn't political. I like old cars and talking about them more than people need to be subjected to in person so I leave my descriptions here for anyone with an interest. However in light of the general mood of activism today (The day of the Women's March on D.C. and elsewhere) I thought I'd pepper my post with period correct facts to let you decide whether or not America was better then. It's shocking how recently things we couldn't imagine being allowed now were the norm.

This is a 1949 Chrysler either Windsor or New Yorker. It's hard to say because it seems the tell tale side trim has been shaved off. In 1948 when this car was being prepared for release the Supreme Court declared illegal the practice of private parties blocking minorities from buying homes in white neighborhoods.

The powerful double chrome bar grill was new for '49. A few years later in 1952 the Tuskagee Institute stated that for the first time in their 71 years of keeping records there were no lynchings of African Americans for the year.

1949 was the Silver Anniversary for the Chrysler Corporation which was founded back in 1924. In 1924 the United States granted citizenship to Native Americans (how generous) as recognition for the 10,000 who served in WWI. Several Indian nations declined in favor of retaining their sovereign nationhood. The years between '24 and '49 included such diametrically opposed events as the U.S. internment camps during WWII and the founding of the NAACP. Jackie Robinson broke baseballs color barrier in 1947 (HELLOOOOO BROOKLYN!).

There was originally a chrome spear following that line trailing back from under the headlight to the end of the front fender, and another on the rear fender. It looks so factory perfect that long with those dog dish poverty hubcaps I thought maybe this was a stripped down model. Chrysler was at the top of the Mopar hierarchy though so no base models existed (you were encouraged to look into Dodge or Plymouth for cheap wheels).

From the rear you can see this is very much a '40s car with its big rounded dimensions. This represented the transitional time between the rehashed pre-WWII models available immediately after the war and the futuristic '50s rides to come.
The next generation Chrysler was a brief chapter, running from '53-'54. 1954 also happened to be the year of Brown vs the Board of Ed which is widely regarded as sparking the Civil Rights Era. The following year had Rosa Parks refusing an order to move to the back of the bus.

I'm a fan of any tape repair on a car. This one os remarkably conservative, keeping the general feel of the missing or damaged taillight lens.

When this car was 10 years old Hawaii and Alaska were granted State status bring the total of states to the current 50. The following year of 1960 was the year of the famous Lunch Counter Sit-in which started in Greensboro, NC, and quickly spread throughout the South.

In 1962 this ride was 13 years old, usually the age where it would have found at least a second owner. The overall condition is so solid that perhaps it sat in a nearby garage all this time. '62 was also the year Cesar Chavez organized the United Farm Workers Union. 

In 1963 someone more often than not would jump up from their stool to fill up your car at a service station. It was also the year of the legendary I Have a Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. JFK, more of a civil rights champion than any previous president of that century, is assassinated.

Due to the placement of the column shifter I imagine this is a semi-automatic Fluid Drive trans. With the Fluid Drive you used the clutch to start in first gear from a stop but simply lifted your foot off the gas to shift through second and third. There is also a factory radio with preset buttons for your favorite stations. This ride was also built with a surprisingly complete array of gauges for a luxury car. This radio most likely played the reports of 1965 from Selma, Watts, and the assassination of Malcolm X.

The interior looks to have redone in a somewhat tasteful way, even if a little doo-wop for my preferences. This is strictly a 1950s look, with solid hues becoming the norm for the '60s.
1966, '67, and '68 were definitive years in the Civil Rights movement. Race riots spread across 164 cities throughout the country, sparked by a Detroit police raid on the Black Panthers. Within 2 months of each other MLK and Robert Kennedy are assassinated.  

This quirky little shape at the base of the windshield is a push-up scoop to allow airflow into the interior. It harkens back to the early days of the automobile.
When this car was 20 years old in 1969 police raided the Stonewall Inn in NYC, sparking the Gay Rights Movement. The initial riot grew in size and quickly became organized into activist groups.

Look I don't really know what the point of this post was except to highlight the fact that millions of people are taking to the streets today in some good old fashioned peaceful activism. It's refreshing to see that this country's still got it together enough to care about issues on such a grand scale. The 68 years that have passed since this Chrysler was built witnessed so much change on so many levels, mostly in the interest of inclusion, that I felt compelled to state that the hellfire and brimstone inauguration speech was built on empty claims. Hopefully by the time this Chrysler turns 72 it can drive off into a progressive future for one and all.

Diabolical Rat!

    '48 RAT!   

Gotta love walking your normal routine and encountering a ride that blows your mind. Behold this bucket of bolts crouching like a tiger with braces ready to pounce!

Hells yes! This is a 1948 Dodge Business Coupe wearing at least a few panels of Windward Green. This thing has been transformed 6 ways to Sunday in true rat rod fashion.

Like the other domestic automakers Dodge had to cease automobile production in 1942 to help with the war effort. When the war stopped demand for new cars was at an all time high while automotive design had been ground to a halt for years. In a panic the Big Three released cars that were basically the 1942 models that they still had all the tooling for. The first all-new cars didn't roll off the assembly line until 1949 or so.

First of all this beast has been thoroughly chopped, and a nice job too. With such a curved roof and rounded window openings lowering the roof by several inches takes serious skill.

In true rat rod fashion there are no wipers and just a scraggly bit of wire for an antenna. The hood is a 2 piece hinged in the middle. With both sides up it looks like a V from the front.

The wheels are an interesting choice. They look like they came off of a semi truck (only in design as they're definitely car wheels). It does lend a sense of power and capability to this crouched puma.

The Business Coupe body style was prevalent from the early days of the automobile through the 1950s. It meant the car was a 2 seater with either a removable or no backseat. Most such as this sled had a small roof only suitable for a front seat. Traveling salesmen would use all the additional room for their products and demonstration items.  

Looks like there's a spot for either a frenched exhaust or taillight on the bottom of the rear fenders. When something is frenched it's inset into a recess.

The patina is great on the hood and trunk. It reminds me of this ride I featured over a year ago. Since this is also a Dodge from just 2 years previous I can't help but wonder if they share an owner or at least have knowledge of each other.

I had a '47 Dodge way back when. I drove by the car sitting by the side of an East Providence road with "$850 - runs" written on the door glass. I owned it briefly and drove it only a handful of times before acquiescing that I was in over my head. I lost the brakes once (pedal fell to the floor like I dropped it off a table) and gently coasted through a red light and up the hill to the friends driveway where I was keeping it. Sold it immediately to a grateful local guy for the same money I'd paid.

I have nothing good to say about this at all. In fact with such a cool car I find this flat-out offensive! WHY would you replace your awesome 1948 door handles with these sad rounded-rectangular ones that look like they came off an '80s Corvette? I didn't pull that out of a hat; I'm 99% sure these are from an '84-'96 C4 Corvette. My guess is that they lifted the drivetrain from a 'vette and just started grabbing other things they might need, but THESE awful door handles? For shame!

Indeed the steering wheel, gearshift, and seats all look like they were pulled from a C4 Corvette. The C4 ran the gamut in its lifetime from anemic and terribly underpowered to powerful and quick. Who knows what iteration drivetrain this has? Regardless the inside door handle is from the same 'vette.
Originally that large chrome expanse in the dash center was a speaker for the tube radio hidden behind it. 

This is a rat detail I dig; steel mesh in place of a vent window! Chances are excellent that modifying the glass during the chopping of the roof was simply too much so they did this. No matter though I think it's pretty tough.
On display here are a couple of the welded seams where the chop took place; the windshield pillar and vent window both show their wounds. Of course the chrome trim had to be snipped too.

Not only has this been chopped but it's been seriously dropped too. My '47 was a very tall car that climbed up into. Overall the roof has to stand a foot and a half to 2 feet lower than factory.

I've always loved this grill. The square turn signals were originally covered with beautifully pattered heavy glass lenses. The headlights on mine were super dim but I'm guessing the electric has been upgraded to '80s Corvette status.

Well there we have it; the twin to the only car I've ever owned that had a starter button. To start the car you would turn the key to "run", pull the choke, pump the gas a few times, and press the starter button. Mine always started and idled smoothly. There wasn't really an E brake as much as a parking brake; when you pulled the under dash trigger-shaped handle for the brake it grabbed the driveshaft! Very effective in holding the car on a hill but nothing that helped me when the brakes went out.
As of the last days of November this is still parked on the street in Brooklyn. Who knows if it will remain once the snow falls?