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It's running!!!!! I taped up any areas I saw broken insulation on the wires, cleaned connections that looked suspect, put a little starting fluid in and it fired up after a few tries! I couldn't have been more shocked LOL. Some adjustments to the choke and throttle kept it running on its own. I need to look at the starter because it did slip a couple of times. I noticed that it also feels a little loose as I was wiping grime off of it. The motor itself sounds great, which was a huge relief. I spent enough time turning it over by hand, lubricating the cylinders, and making sure it had fresh fluids before starting it. I forgot how much different a flat 6 sounds than my usual V8. I love it ? Next I will address the tranny. Fluid change and then we'll see where we're at. I know my biggest challenge will be brakes because there are absolutely none right now. I've never owned a car without power brakes so this will certainly be another learning experience. I'll try to post a video this afternoon ?

A regular sedan has suicide rear doors and a Town Sedan has rear opening doors like a modern 4 door car. Several other differences but this is the most obvious. At least to me.

The following model details come from a '46 Ross Roy 'Dodge Data Book'. These brief descriptions and specifications assisted dealership sales personnel quickly answer many customer questions.

Now you have done it. You mentioned the "C" word regarding your engine. Half the forum will bite your head off and other half will just not speak to you. But I will go out on a limb for your behalf. I put a Vintage air in my 39 Chevy sedan,(very little room under dash) managed to keep cowl vent operational by motorizing cowl unit. I power the "Sanden " a/c compressor with a stock 305 cu in "C" word engine, works great. I used the Gen 4 unit that has non computerized controls (doesn't lose function } if battery is disconnected. Only issue I had was insulation for doors and roof . The old cars seem to lose a lot through the metal and get solar gain to inside ambient temp. At time of install Vintage air didn't offer a fresh air mode but mine does have combos of floor, vent, and defrost modes. Only other issue is cost, bought mine through local rod shop, Vintage air wouldn't sell direct to me. I have heard that Summit will sell to you but not sure on cost.

Done...

Two years ago, I purchased this 1947 Dodge Custom. It's my first 40s car, but definitely not my first Mopar! I only recently started working on it and am finding it adventurous to say the least. ? The car sat for 30 years and the last owner fired it up to show it would run. It did, but I opted to leave it alone until I could invest more time and $. Now I'm trying to get it started and am running into issues. Motor moves freely, battery is new, fuel present at carb, but NO SPARK. I haven't even started investigating, but my first thought is the coil. Except for the fact that it looks fairly new. ? On the fender wall, there is a voltage regulator, and two other fuse blocks (?) Or junctions. No idea. What I CAN tell you is that the original wiring is in place but the fabric covering has seen better days. I will start methodically ruling out one thing at a time and will keep my fingers crossed that it's not a matter of replacing all of the wiring! I bought the manual for this car last year...and of course I can't find it. I'm sure it holds many answers, but in the meantime I'm grateful that this forum exists! Looking forward to getting it running ??‍♀️ Christine

As someone who has used a fluid drive in a daily driver for 18 years, they can be fine. I have had a seal go, even one that was supposedly rebuilt. Once you get one that is good and take care of it, it will last a very long time. Since I run mine in a Desoto Suburban, with the very high curb weight, if it will live in that car and the hills of San Francisco from a dead stop, it will live in anything else. A few thoughts. Read my long winded paper on fluid to use so you get a good understanding on how the thing works. If one goes to take it out, make 4 wooden wedges with a slot on the large end and tap them in light between the flywheel and the coupling BEFORE you take a transmission out. What you do it take the lightly the 4 blocks then run a length of bailing wire around them to keep them in place. You have to spin it around to do this. You do this for shipping and on the installation as well. If you do not, the flexing of the plate can crack the carbon seal and it will leak. The special products shop at DACCO transmission was closed down about 24 months ago then they went bankrupt and was purchased by another company. So as of today, I do not know of anyone that can cut open a fluid coupling and replace the inner bearing. The pinion bushing and seal can be done from the outside, but that bearing requires it to be cut open. The issues, unlike a torque converter, is that without a flex plate, the two sides of the coupling have to be perfect when welded together. Even a couple of torque converter shops I have talked with say they do not have the jigs to do it. They could make up a jig, but the cost would be in the 3K to 5K range for the first one. NEVER open the plug on a fluid coupling unless the engine has been off for at lease 4 hours. If you pull the plug and take a Popsicle stick, you can rotate the inner hub around you will see some larger holes than the many smaller ones as you spin it around. A local three generation repair shop, Bob Senior is 85 and looks better than most 50 year olds, told me that if the thing fails on the road, to have a correctly sized bolt in the glove box to fit the threading in the outer shell oil plug (the plug TPI) and grind lower end of the bolt to just fit the larger inner hole size, the better the fit the better as you want no slop. On the road, take the plug out and rotate the thing down to 6 O'clock and drain out all the fluid, on the ground if hung out someplace. When it is all out, rotate the unit back up to the floor board hole to get at it. Then run bolt, with a copper washer under the head into the coupling and the inner hub large hole. The inner hub is the part that is attached to the transmission pinion. The outer shell is the part that is attached to the crankshaft. The bolt "connects" the outer (the crankahsft) to the inner hub which is connected to the transmission. Use a VERY good grade 5 or 8 bolt. Once done, you can drive it like a three speed stick. Good luck, James. PS. If some of the above reads weird...I am home after two surgeons spend 4 hours in my lower back. My head is not quite clear and I am looking at a month stuck in our flat here in SF.

Dodge had three Custom versions, club-coupe, four-door sedan, and the Town Sedan. The Town Sedan was the most expensive. Town Sedans had a different woodgrain pattern and color than the others, as well as black painted accouterments such as steering wheel, steering wheel column, parking brake handle, etc., and black plastic dash knobs, instead of the taupe (tan-ish) color on others. So far, every Town Sedan I've seen also has a back-up light with the commensurate on-light indicator next to the starter button. Unknown if that's standard, or an option and just happenstance that the few I've seen all have it. Your car does not have a curved face radio, it kinda looks that way in your photo, but that's an illusion from the lighting. For the three year run of these Custom models, ('46-'48), there were 27,800 Town Sedans made, vs. 333,911 4-dr sedans, so it is fairly rare in comparison. I've only seen one in person, and just a few in this Forum.

One quick way to identify the difference in the town sedan and the other sedan is the placement of the rear wing window. On the town sedan, it is located in the back doors as is the car pictured by Imperigal where the other and more common model had the rear wing window behind the rear door and separate from it as in to pic I posted. Plymouth also offered a town sedan but only for '42 and I believe some of the DeSoto's and Chrysler's did as well. Great cars, all of them. John R

215/75-15 here as well, on my '38 with later 15 inch rims great ride. Moving to radials makes driving so much more pleasurable. I have the Coker Nostalgia Classic on a close to period correct '41 Chrysler but they do not ride as well as the wider modern style radials.

Those two rear cab windows are interesting. Never seen that before.

Ok guys you have my attention. I have owned a 47 d24 sedan for 5 years and I honestly didn't know there was a "town " sedan. I do I tell which I have. Also in referasnce to the curved radio. I cant tell from his pictures, is the glass over the dial curved or are the buttons arched? Thanks

I recently had my tank done by renu. I took it to the local Renu dealer and they wanted over $700. Called the Renu dealer in (I think Stockton) and the price was around $370. Called the Renu dealer Wa (I think Spokane) and was quoted around $325. So I shipped it there. He was very responsive, keep his word on price and time and was conscious of the holes he had to cut and patch (I had asked him to cut as few as possible in inconspicuous locations) in order to properly blast and clean. It was coated inside and out- I didn’t really want the outside done as I wanted it to look original but because my tank was like Swiss cheese and no replacements are available (‘49 Plymouth Woodie - it is different), I did it. He also fixed the bayonet ring. Below are before (pin holes are circled in sharpie if you zoom in) and after (so you can see the coating texture)

Here is a link to ID the engine, not sure it will work for Fargo but worth a try. The engine number is above the generator just below the head on a milled flat. Hope it helps. http://www.t137.com/registry/help/otherengines/otherengines.php

Thanks Reg! Apparently it’s a parrot nose.

From the background trees I'd say they are Gum or Eucalypt trees so I'm guessing here in Oz.....lol..........was right.......lol............the pad HRT refers to is above the welch plug, to the left of the oil filler tube.........I'd say the truck is a mid 50's UK sourced model.......whether it was actually sold as a "KEW" I am unaware of but that "KEW" term was used here in Oz to refer to any side valve six mopar engine in both cars and trucks. This was as a result of the 25" long engines being supplied from Canada, part of the British Commonwealth and subject to lower customs dutes apparently ordered through the Kew works in the UK, note the "Kew Gardens" reference on the data plate..............this "Kew" term was only used as far as I know here in Oz and completely confuses anyone in North America so I would not use it when or if chasing parts in the USA..........here in Oz the 25" long DeSoto/Chrysler based, Canadian sourced engines are the ones that should only be referred to as being "Kew" engines as they generally had "KEW" stamped into the start of the engine number on that pad that HRT refers to.............the shorter Dodge or Plymouth USA sourced 23" long engines didn't have "KEW" in the engine number...........both engines look almost identical and unless a tape measure is placed along the length of the cylinder head to determine whether its 23 or 25 inches are almost impossible to pick.........each engine family had slightly different bore & strokes so its important to correctly determine what you have ...........engine parts generally are the same whether used in a car or truck within each 23 or 25 " series however as your truck appears to be a fairly large one, maybe 8-10 ton or more anything else maybe quite specific to the truck lines............the Data plate says its an F125 so I'd use that as a basis to make inquiries............anyway welcome aboard...........I'm in South Grafton NSW and am happy to help if needed..........02 66 425963..........Andy Douglas

Welcome to the forum. Very nice car and you are making some members jealous with your curved radio faceplate and the fact it is a town sedan. We all are assuming that you know the difference between a regular 4-door sedan and a town sedan which is much more unusual. Always post lots of pictures please as we all love them. Keep us posted on the starting issue. Very good advice from lots of members and especially in the previous post.

I had a swiss watch..when I moved back to the states.....it was 6 hours off....never trusted that watch since then....

Something that crossed my mind the other day. You did mention the wiring is not in great shape, is it possible the previous owner ran a jumper wire to the coil ... (hot wired it) just to demonstrate it runs? I also did not read if you actually used a test light to see you have power going to the coil & distributor with the key turned on? I just use a standard 12 volt test light on mine, not as bright with 6 volts, does the job. Just saying, if you do not have power to the distributor, you wont get spark to the plugs. Also be sure and check the short jumper wire in the distributor. The cloth insulation falls off and it can ground out. Perfect time to address it while out.

UPDATE: Replaced the points, condenser, and rotor yesterday, but still have to re-install distributor on car. (Type IGS) I noticed that the point gap was VERY large...certainly not the .020 it's supposed to be. I couldn't course a cap locally, so i made sure to clean the contacts well. I'm hoping that i at least get SOME spark now. Of course, it's raining now....so that will have to wait until this afternoon!

Don’t be so mean to your guest, we can always take my flatbed duly.

Welcome! I love that style of car, and yours looks really nice. Keep us updated and post more pictures!

Have you done a compression check. Valves tend to stick open open valves equal now or no compression, no compression, no start. Nice car by the way, TownSedans are few and far between these days.