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Here are a few vintage views through the windshield of the old Dodge from this week...

Back in my youth I worked for a while on the factory floor of an aerospace firm. I remember there was an assembly where the design engineer had not left enough room for a socket to get on a bolt head in a recess of a casting. And being in a recess, only a socket could be used. The manufacturing "fix" was to take a normal socket and grind the outside down enough to fit into the recess. It turned out that the only brand socket they could do that with was Snap On. It was the only one with good enough steel that you could grind away most of the material and still be strong enough to get the nut properly torqued. All the other brand sockets would break on first use after being abused like that. Fortunately there was a Snap On warehouse not too far away too. Not sure what the relative quality is of the high end tools are today, but back then Snap On was definitely top of the heap.

Gentlemen, I'm an optimist - I believe that we're going to know 'jack'. My wife's widow Grandmother was born in 1881, and was always an entrepreneur. Grandma was fond of quoting the following ditty, which sums up the range of knowledge. He who knows, and knows that he knows; He is wise - follow him! He who knows not, and knows that he knows not; He is humble - teach him! He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not; He is a fool - shun him! Walt

Dpollo mentions RHD cars............lol...........yep we had the opposite to what you guys have...........my Oz assembled 1940 Oz Dodge sedan has the key lock on your, US drivers side but the doors, locks & in fact the whole body shell is different to the US versions, see attached pic, the lock was out when the pic was taken, but the hole shows where it lives.......lol..............the only hope you have to get a door lock on your drivers side would be to find a FACTORY RHD car................lol..........well buggar me!!.........lol!!........thats what I had, a Detroit factory export RHD South African assembled P11 Coupe, it had the correct US door lock and mechanism with the key on your drivers side, yep.......I had to side across the seat and exit out of the curbside.................my car was the burgundy coupe, a mate had the ex Texas 1940 dodge Coupe , note the differences in the rear view pics of where the door locks are on each car............and finally just to add to the confusion...........in the interior pic you can see the seat adjuster on the drivers side..........o/k so its RHD thats where it should be.................except that there was another, exactly the same seat adjuster on my cars passenger side, yep....this cars seat could be adjusted from BOTH sides.............lol..........now go work that one out........lol.............regards, Andy Douglas

I just purchased this time capsule 1947 Dodge Deluxe from the 90 year old son of the original owner and I thought I'd share. Original paint should polish up with great patina and the original interior is nearly immaculate. There is no wear on any part of this interior. No rust. All there, with rear fenders and some trim, etc started to be removed many years ago. We still can't find the bumpers (which they had re-chromed) but they might still be lurking. If they are not, anyone have a lead on them? This is a Canadian Plodge. Thankfully, the engine is free with clean oil and they were wise enough to remove the gas tank and rad and clean them out many years ago to avoid fouling. Pictures in the links below: http://i66.tinypic.com/2h5k70h.jpg[/IMG] http://i67.tinypic.com/v4896c.jpg[/IMG] http://i65.tinypic.com/655u9t.jpg[/IMG]

I have my own opinion thought and experiences with unions and place it too close to religion and politics to discuss.......

Just my 2 cents... My first choice would be an early hemi. They look super tidy under the hood with the nice wide valve covers and hidden spark plug wires. However, they can be a bit spendy to build. Second choice would be the 318-340-360 route equipped with some finned valve covers, retro air cleaner etc. And of course just my opinion, but keep it Mopar and no V6 or frame swaps!

Tom......I like that 17 year old eyes comment as I was 17 in 1971 when i bought the 'ol brown turd........was young and stupid, not young anymore, the rest?, well thats how it is.......lol.................andyd

San Leandro...The buildings still stand. I visited here a few years ago on a tour of Olsen Steel (non knowing the building's significance at the time). In the back of the taller building is Drake's Brewing.

As a five year old, I enjoyed thousands of miles in our family's grey '49 D-24 Deluxe Four-Door sedan. Most of those miles, I 'logged' standing in the back, holding on to the robe cord, looking over my Dad's shoulder. It was wonderful looking at the traffic and scenery during that "simpler, kinder, era"!

agreed. Plus that way it's not so tight between the two to clean up! I'll never be able to clean between my box head and the cab!

Andy, another example of humorous situations from you from “the Land Down Under”. I’d love to see you, and your passenger, trying to adjust the seat for your respective/individual settings. Who had to tell who that a bench seat wasn’t the same as bucket seats? I’m a fan of TV shows from the 50’s and 60’s, such as Perry Mason, and Andy Griffith. Even in those decades, those shows show people getting in and/or out of the car on the passenger side, even tho’ those cars had keyed locks in the driver’s door. Old habits do indeed die slowly. Plus, as Donald alluded to above—some locales had statutes mandating entry/egress on the non-traffic side. Times have changed. Case in point—I was in the District, and saw a woman open her SUV’s door just as a pickup came by, and the pickup hits the door, snapped it off, and it bounced down the street in front of morning rush-hour Washington, D.C. traffic, sending sparks flying!!! While it was obviously dangerous, and could have been tragic had she been just a few seconds quicker—and gotten out of the vehicle. But, as it was, it was something that you’d expect from a Keystone Cops movie of the 1910’s/1920’s. Regards to all . . . . . .

I LOVE the photos, especially the ones at night on the street!!! I love that you enjoy the car for what it’s original intended purpose is: driving it. When we drive our car, I’ve got a smile that nothing can wipe off. It takes me back to a simpler, kinder, era. Again—Great Photos, and obviously a great experience. Safe travels, and enjoy!!!

I would center that box over the wheels, a three inch space between the cab and the box will not be noticed. I would think to move the rear axle forward would pose a host of problems, driving for one. JMHO

Another thing. I have primarily snap on tools. I buy them used off craigslist ebay etc and get them for 50% or less than new.

Right hand drive cars had the lock on the left hand (passenger) side. Can you imagine having to slide across the seat of a modern car? I had to do this on a ferry with our Dodge Journey and it was not a pretty sight. Probably will appear on "Funniest Home Videos" with the language blocked out.

Now that I think about it, the classic movies from the 30's and 40's usually had the driver sliding across the seat when leaving and entering the car when parallel parked.

It was to encourage entry and exit on the curb side of the vehicle rather than the street side. Safety issue.

You are right they aren't cheap but if you take care of them you shouldn't have to ever rebuy.

I hope something I say helps and sorry in advance for stating the obvious, because I know I probably am going to say stuff you already know/thought about! It took me HOURS to get it right on my truck. I spent multiple weekends just trying to shim and align the front sheet metal on it, so I know what your going through, but you'll get it! First, how centered are the front bumper brackets through the front panel? When I did my truck, I started by getting that fairly centered, then I just rotated the panel from that point to even out the gaps at both doors to the fenders. I also had to shim the core support up and down on each core support stud to get the front clip square (and to get even gaps up and down the doors. The amount of shims on each core support stud is noticeably different for my truck to line up right. If one side is lower than the other up front, I would think that would cause some of your hood fitment issues too. I'm sure this isn't the case (but I'll ask lol), but do you have the rubber bumpers on both hood halves for when they are resting? if one or the other is missing it would cause that side to hit in front corner and the other not too. I also noticed in the video, your passenger side hood to cowl gap looks a little tight. You might try evening that out side to side and pushing the core support straight back to take up the gap. As far as the center section of the hood, my hood doesn't fit the radius between the center and halves the best either, but side to side the gaps/step is even. Something else to keep in mind is your door to cab gaps. Make sure the rear gap on both doors are the same. My hinges were bent, and it took a while to get the doors to fit right to the fenders. The front fender to door gaps on my truck are still the greatest, but its the best I could get it. I hope this somehow helps and was understandable! Below are the best picture I have on my work computer to show the gaps.

What did you do, look at FEF? Same issues with the hood at least in the rear of the hood by the cowl. I THINK you might need to shift the front clip towards the driver side to tighten up the large gap. FEF was in an accident at one point so I think the frame might be tweaked a little. Hood in the front..that 1/2" is wrong...might be the center section has a tweak as well? Or the hinges got tweaked? If it's all 3 hoods you tried than its what it's mounting to that is the issue,

I thought I'd give another update. Since last time, I have all the rust repair done, and the holes where the spot lights were patched. I've been playing around with knocking more dents out of the front clip, and we got all the trim off the car. My dad marked, and labeled the wiring harness (quite a project), and has that removed now too. This weekend we will start preparing the body for a coat of epoxy primer. Between the rest of my vacation this year from work, and the holidays, I'd like to get it in primer and some of the body work done by the first of the year. Not much to see in terms of progress, but here are some pictures.

One thing that really makes me mad is that just because it says it's made in the USA doesn't mean it is. I think like if you buy like for instance a socket set. As long as 30% of what you bought was made in the USA they can say it was. But this counts the box, packaging, and odd crap. So the actual tools or most of them wouldn't have to be. Or you have the secnerio where it's put together here with parts from other countries. Its all very frustrating to me.

are you referring to the model valve as used with the dual heater setup or are you searching for the model for the single heater? I am thinking Ranco made this device and any NOS will be packaged DPCD or under Mopar. Neither of the two models are cheap when found. There is a company that rebuilds them and again, they are not cheap. And, there are a couple Four Seasons brands that are retro fit capable from later Mopar models as the basic design of the single carried forward at least to the 70's

" I've searched US Patent office with not luck (yet). " Good thinking!

Sunday, Nov.12 Drove the Meadowbrook to church this morning, then on to Elsie's kitchen in the neighboring town of Caledonia for brunch. We took the long way home as some long awaited sunshine illuminated what's left of our fall colors.