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Guys this is what I'm going to be working with. But I guess you have to start somewhere. I will be the official second owner of this beauty. And have the whole history on this truck. It's going to be a long road but I'm in for the long haul. I can't wait to get it back up and running and start to drive it. Thanks for all the help so far and hope that I might be able to call on you all for some help.

Michael - I have restored a B4B, long wheel base with Fluid Drive. Take LOTS of photos and expect frustration on a regular basis. When you rewire it, make the wires behind the dash longer than original - it will make your life MUCH easier when you put it back together or have to change a light bulb (I wish someone had warned me to do that). If you get stuck on something, I might have a photo that will help. Oh, and if you have the one year only plastic Dodge emblem from the dash (Brent's photo), be darn careful with it and not club-fisted like me. The little metal clips on the mounting prongs work great for breaking off the prongs, and clumsy fingers are great for breaking the script. On top of that, it isn't really made of plastic, its made from pure Unobtanium. Brent's photo is the one from my truck that I kinda broke twice, glued back together, painted the back white and got mounted in my truck. Photo is my truck at Luckenbach, TX. Good luck working on your "Time Machine." Bob

If there are cracks, might as well fix them now. File them out in a V shape down to the base of the crack, even if it's to the metal core. Then fill with two-part epoxy putty. Pits and chips can be filled this way too, always best to rough-up the surface you will be applying the putty to, and don't apply it to a painted surface. The epoxy putty is supposed to stand up to expanding/contracting better than body filler. Sand, prime, paint. I used rattle cans. I used Krylon's "Khaki", much lighter than the original tan, but I like it better. I used rattle cans to have a ready source for touch-ups. Before: After: This has been through some serious freeze / thaw cycles since, with a couple hair-line cracks showing up that I really have to look for to find.

I've seen this movie before. Six months ago I started awakening my '48 P16 from a five-year hibernation. I ran into fuel delivery issues just as you described and tried many of the diagnostics others have suggested. The solution; new fuel tank, new fuel sender, new fuel lines, new carb float, and new electric fuel pump. The ol' girl runs great now, just needed to get rid of a bunch of 71-year-old fuel problems. I tried piecemeal repairs for three weeks, would have been far better off just replacing the entire fuel system first thing. Remember the old TV commercial? "You can pay me now or you can pay me later"..... Get it fixed and enjoy your new ride!

Glad to see that, my new set of cables should be here in a few days, thanks for the referral! Sure is nice to see a vendor charge a very reasonable fee ($3.97!) for shipping instead of using "shipping" as a backdoor way to jack up profit margins. One of our best known vendors charges $14 even if you are just ordering some paper gaskets.........Com'on Man..........

I was just recently studying electron theory in an old automobile reference book. The stats and theory are incredible. For example: 1 amp flowing past a point for 1 second is one coulomb. In that 1 second 6,280,000,000,000,000,000 electrons frow by. (Read six quintillion, two hundred and eighty quadrillion) Imagine 30 amp draw? Like a starter. A 00 battery cable at 122F offers a natural resistance of 0.08712 ohms Per thousand feet. A 2 ga cable has 0.1747 ohms per 1,000 ft. Double the resitance. Same cables at 68F: 00 0.07793 ohms. 2 ga 0.1239 ohms. Bigger cable moves more electrons freely. The hotter the cable gets, the more resistance. We need all the free fast flowing electrons we can get, to turn a starer quickly. Especially with only a 6V differential to ground.

My Chrysler cars all have the big drums/hubs and stop wonderfully.

Adams, similar to the south end of a north bound donkey?

My 39 is a very strange, "Twilight Zone": It was built in the Long Beach CA Chys. plant on January 29, 1939. Was shipped to a dealer in San Francisco on Jan 30. The car spent some time in the Bay Area where it was customized, chrome etc., removed and filled, running boards removed, lic plate Frenched into the rear deck. '49 Plym bumpers were installed. The interior was mostly not touched, just minor repairs to the leather. The car was painted yellow over the original black. The car showed up in Denton, MT in 1951, that's when the man that I got it from purchased it in trade for a motor cycle. I'm not to sure who got the best deal, a convertible and/or a motor cycle in Central Montana would not be a good form of transportation. Sometime in '52 the engine was removed from the car to re-power a grain combine, the car never moved again until I found the car in the early spring of '96. I brought the '39 home to California in the fall of '96. I joined the POC in the fall of '96, and when I did I found out that at that point in time there were 31 P8 RS conv cpes known to exist in the world. There are now 81 at last count. I know where there are seven or eight scattered around the US and Australia.. The 39 Ply was the most challenging vehicle I ever restored. I tried my best to use original DPCD parts when I could find them, it took me ten years to find the rear quarter panel trim.

Hey y'all, I haven't been on the site in a while but I've decided to update this thread. The car is stripped down almost to the shell and I've been working on the body myself, prepping and priming. All the wiring is fried so I will be replacing it soon enough. I had wanted to swap the original flatty for a 318 but after a lot of thought, I have decided to stay with the car's original engine and just rebuild it. I'll be posting some pictures here soon.

No... only the large 12" drum Chrysler Eight cylinder cars and some Dodge DeSoto wagons and 8 passenger cars with the larger hub and bolt pattern use that larger spindle and heavier suspension components. Most of these parts suppliers don't know much about which cars use this larger spindle and heavier 12" drum versus the lighter duty 12" drum found on the DeSoto's. You do have to be careful and check all dimensions carefully if doing a swap of drums and backing plates...

I've been off this site for awhile and am glad to catch up on your Meadowbrook adventures! It hot as heck in Oklahoma right now, so I have my Meadowbrook and 50 Dodge pickup in the garage under car covers except for very early morning drives to keep everything circulated and charged up. I haven't yet caught up on the status of your truck but I think you might be surprised as I was that while the Meadowbrook always got lots of attention, the truck really draws a crowd. Not sure why.....the car is just as nice as the truck? I really enjoy them both equally. The Meadowbrook with Fluid Drive sure feels like driving a new Cadillac though after a 20 mile trip in that one ton truck.

Easy approach: put the #1 wire in that spot and complete the wiring in the proper order. Harder, by the book approach: remove distributor and oil pump, reinstall oil pump as specified in the manual and follow with the distributor. Recommendation: by the book. makes any follow on work less likely to lead to confusion.

John, You have a good memory. I have a very extensive thread on the POC Forum about my '39 Plym conv cpe. The tread is one of the most read topics on the POC Forum. I have attached a couple of pix or my car as found sitting in a field in Central Montana, where it had sat for '38 years. It took me sixteen years and $75.k to restore the car, which from my point of view was a bargain when you consider how rare P8 RS conv spe's are.

Love teaching my kids how to drive these old cars! My daughter had the same look of excitement as yours! Good for you and her

Put on the bigger brakes and then do this, http://www.chtopping.com/CustomRod4/

My 52 Coronet runs between 190 and 200 all day with no problems. Remember that the sensor is at the rear of the engine so it will be hotter than the thermostat temperature. If you’re not having problems with it boiling over I wouldn’t worry.

180 to 190 is an ideal temperature for your engine to run at.

Love this photo! Reminds me of the days when I was learning to drive in our '56 Savoy.

8-1-19: I'm still here fellas! Been super busy at work and with the sale of our home. The closing is over, now I should have more time to do the things I really want to do, like work on the Meadowbrook and the 48 B1D. Anyway, tonight was another driving lesson for my daughter. I worked the accelerator while she did the clutch pedal and shifted through the gears to get us going. Then she traveled about 40 to 45 miles an hour for about 8 Miles and then came to a stop on the side of the road, pushed in the clutch pedal, put the car in neutral, and pulled the ebrake. She's doing better each time. She doesn't want to drive any of our other cars. Just the Meadowbrook!

hey welcome Michael, if your doing a "restoration" be careful when you get to removing the emblems.... especially that dash "dodge" script! oh and please don't put the front clip "dodge" script from the 52 back on the 53..... that's just wrong!

A few years go a forum member sent me the pictured coil and stuff. I installed it and went for a drive. Engine ran great until I had to stop for a red light. The engine died as if I turned the key off. I hit the start button and the engine fired right up. Drove home and removed this stuff and never had that problem again.

Miss Indiana paid me a visit in Chemo this morning.

might be the matter of a similar question asked just this week by a member...where is reverse??????????????? no big loss, it was a four door...