Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Is this a car that should be saved?

It looks pretty good in this shot.

This is a '47 Dodge coupe, selling for 1,800 dollars, right here is San Jose. It has a clean title

The first photo in the CL listing displays a pretty good looking '47 Dodge coupe that appears to be very complete and intact. The body looks straight with a shiny finish. There is no collision damage, and only a few minor dents and dings.

It already displays a California rake.

The coupe displays handsome mid Forties styling. It looks like many other American cars from this period. For some reason, these cars are always described as "dull" or "dowdy." If you compare them to their contemporaries they didn't look that much different. The sedan versions are a bit duller looking, but most sedans were designed for practicality. However looking at them today, they all look pretty cool, with the flowing, full fendered look. Especially sporty looking are the club coupes. This coupe also has forward leaning "B" pillars, as opposed to the straight types on comparable Fords. These were vehicles that were bought by younger singles and couples, just like today.

Mopar products like Dodge and Plymouth were very strong sellers in their day, Chrysler corporation rose to number two in sales behind General Motors, thanks to Plymouth, beating out Ford. However among current vintage car fans, Ford, and to a lesser degree Chevrolet, have had a much stronger following.

The car is equipped with a well proven six cylinder flathead engine mated to a manual three speed Fluid Drive system. The drive train is intact. The engine turns freely and the seller advised me that he got it to "fire up" by pouring some gas in the carb, in fact, he told me that he had it running for a short time. He has been in the process of rebuilding the brakes and has finished with the front wheels. It needs a new master cylinder, front brake hoses, and maybe some new steel lines to the rear brakes, which haven't been gone through yet.

The interior of this car had been nicely redone and was very clean. No indications of moisture intrusion or rodent infestation. 

As a club coupe, it has a cozy rear seating area. The seller had removed the drooping headliner.

The seller rubbed out the paint and found a shine.

The car appears to be a "twenty footer."

You knew there was reason for the low asking price.

This photo shows the main problem with the car: extensive rust penetration that was under the stainless quarter panel trim. Damage like this is also found on the other side. There is also some rust through on the rt. side of the cowl and the bottom of the trunk lid. 

Can this be fixed? Of course it can. The proper repair would be to cut out the damaged areas and to weld in some new metal panels.

The seller is asking a very reasonable price of 1,800 dollars for the car. If nothing else, it could be used as a parts car for another similar Dodge. He will include the new brake parts, and a new gas tank with the car. 

This is not the motor in this car.
This photo is from the web.

I had never really considered what kind of Forties car that I would like to own. Chrysler corporation cars have never been on my radar. Checking out this car, I could see the quality that was built into them. The detailing of the interior and instrument panel was impressive and appealing. 

The dash is especially handsome, I thought that it was nicer
than the dash in the LaSalle.

I did quite a bit of research and found that Chrysler had stressed engineering advancements that were built into their entire line of models. 

Chrysler had switched to full steel construction of their bodies back in the early 1930's, as well as adopting hydraulic brakes and independent front suspension. The cars had open drive lines with rear leaf springs, which was superior to the torque tube drive used by Ford and others. The front brakes are the dual leading shoe type, which applies more braking force without a power booster, as well as using tapered rolling bearings in the front wheel hubs. 

Chrysler stuck with a flathead inline engine design well into the 1950's, offering the flathead six as a base engine in Plymouths and Dodge trucks until 1960. This engine is a good example of a perfected design. The six continued as an industrial and forklift engine well into the 1980's! If something is in service that long, it must be good! 

Though flat head engines are now generally viewed as a primitive design, Cadillac, Lincoln, Packard, and Chrysler all featured flat head engines through this era. So did Ford, with their classic V8. Chevrolet and Buick were outliers in that regard. They and a few others, had OHV sixes and straight eight engines.

There are "hop up" parts still currently available.

 

The Chrysler corporation six featured a substantial engineering design. It was a compact six with four main bearings and hardened valve seats. Full pressure lubrication with precision bearing inserts and a standard oil filter were exclusive features in it's price class. It was a well developed and perfected design that was recognized as a reliable and long lived engine. Back then, the Chrysler corporation cars were a bit more expensive in comparison to their competitors, but were considered a superior value. They also held higher resale values. 

That is all well and good, but what also struck me was how compact the car was, especially in contrast to the '47 Buick and even to the '40 LaSalle. It easily fit in the seller's two car garage, which is similar to mine. I recalled how difficult it was to live with my '56 Cadillac when it was parked inside. 

I reported back to the guys on the forum, and they for the most part all advised me to run away from this Dodge, as fast as I could. The extensive rust damage is a serious problem and unless the buyer was an accomplished welder, would pose quite an expensive challenge. While I was attracted to the car and the challenge, I decided to take another look and see what else was available on the market. 

Maybe, that La Salle was still available? I still had the seller's phone number.