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So two days ago I was struck by lightning while driving my van. Windows down , it just began to rain and about 30 seconds later felt my left arm hair raise and then BAM . It was like a flash bang grenade. I was blinded by light for 3-4 seconds and felt like I was in an oven.. My right arm was burned. Left was steaming where it was wet from rain. Next day had a severe case of welders flash and very sore muscles and joints from one arm through the other and across my back and shoulders. I found arc burns on my left rear rim and tire. Still suffering a bit of flash and headaches. My only regret is I wasn't doing 88mph at the time, I would have liked going back to November 5 1955.

Did the headliner, door panels, dash pads and an ok carpet job myself. New windlace and package tray. I'm now making panels for the trunk. I will.post those pictures tomorrow.

Hey ya'll. Thanks for adding me to the forum. Taking a bit of a leap of faith by bringing up the dreaded "kustom" word, but I'll give some back story. I grew up in Northern California going to shows with my pops and always liked the kustom crowd. I remember as a youngster seeing a '51 Merc with a DeSoto grill for the first time and telling my dad, "I want one of those". His response was something along the lines of "Sure kid, you've got champagne taste on a beer budget". Being that young I didn't know the grill wasn't original to the car. Fast forward many years and many cars later I came across a 1951 DeSoto Custom that needed a home. Guys usually rob the grills and bumpers and leave them to rot so I decided to give it the full custom treatment it deserved. Inspired by the Barris & Ayala's of Southern California I wanted to do something traditional that gave the '51 a facelift while still being true to its roots. Not slammed. No bags. No SBC. No tricks, just the good stuff. Here are some photos as it stands today and a list of the custom bits. Shaved and molded all around 4.5" chop Reshaped rear wheel openings Headlights extended 1" & frenched stock rings 1956 DeSoto 330 hemi w/ dual quds 1953 DeSoto Grill (STILL LOOKING FOR THE 2 OUTER MOST TEETH & WILLING TO BUY) 1956 DeSoto dash 1955 DeSoto wheel covers 1951 Packard spear trim 1956 Hudson tail lights Overrider using 1951 DeSoto bumper guards and 1951 Mercury center bar Ford shoebox rear window Will be painted 1951 factory solid midnight blue Will post more as things happen. I might be hounding ya'll for some parts!

Dave - I have done the conversion on the same Autolite Distributor Summit Racing has the kits and correct coil PerTronix kit is 1362 Pertronix Coil is 40611 Steve R

Another point, you NEVER hone an oillite bushing, it defeats the purpose of running an oilite bushing. The FSM clearly says to ream it to specification. Whatever shop honed it is a shop I would no longer use. I got to wonder if reaming them twice after the hone job made them out of spec? Did you measure? I wonder if what is causing the galling is also what is keeping the steering from returning, because something is binding.

A good commentary on how to position and secure the doors. There is something about the sound and solidity of the doors on these late thirties to late forties vehicles when they operate properly. I had some difficulty in locating the right rubbers to replace my old hardened ones and was interested to see yours. I was sent ones like yours but they were too proud with the round edge too pronounced. Located another set with lower profile from Australian supplier that matched my old ones. Perhaps my 38 is slightly different from your 37. Like your cars story. Given you a lot of satisfaction I am sure. Working on old motor vehicles is great therapy.

https://books.google.com/books?id=390DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=frank+e+williams+lifetime+spark+plug&source=bl&ots=VUZSt4Cmrq&sig=ACfU3U0X-s8VAGiMgFjBbC_C7BqLqTkPEw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2-6yU7-LqAhWQTt8KHbj_BcwQ6AEwAnoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=frank e williams lifetime spark plug&f=true Took another 20 years for most major manufacturers to start using copper and platinum-nickel electrodes in automotive plugs out of necessity due to increased time spent at high freeway speeds. (An ad from 1 year earlier called the electrode a platinum-nickel alloy rather than "platonium") Of course some of the snake oil parts they've pushed many times over the years. Interesting.

Oh I won't pretend to be a craftsman! I took it to someone for the sheet metal fabrication work. My limited skills only go so far. Here are some before photos. It was repainted a bluish-green at some point.

shazam....that is a freak occurance....I hope to never top you with this one...glad you ok.....for real, did you make a run to the ER/doctor

I reckon ya want to go with a sealant that stays somewhat flexible during heat cycling, which isn't exactly JB Weld's forte...also, JB Weld can be a bear to clean out if the welch plug starts to weep at a pinhole from corrosion. FWIW I installed several sets of Dorman steel plugs in dry bores, only one leaked from the center not on its perimeter, and that was over 10 yrs after installation...the sealant is good insurance on eroded bores, but if your bores are clean and robust, it may not be necessary but won't hurt

I've been doing my 49 royAl myself and I'm fairly pleased

Nobody is reproducing gear sets for these axles. If you wish to keep your original axle you will need to find a good differential from another Mopar truck, or car, from that era. If you are looking for better highway gears I’d recommend looking at diffs from cars. I have a 3.73 differential from a ‘50 Plymouth in my truck’s axle. It was pretty much a direct swap. Just the driveshaft flange was different, but they swapped over, no problem.

I would recommend contacting Pertronix directly with your distributor number. Their search function doesn’t really break things down by distributor number and their catalog, that is available for download, doesn’t seem to list all available distributor numbers used in the Dodge trucks. They should be able to tell you exactly which model to use for your distributor and voltage. Once you have theIr part numbers you can search for suppliers. I got mine from Amazon a few years ago. I got their coil and plug wire kit too.

The Barrow gang on the way to a bank robbery? ?

I installed a master cylinder on the firewall and have been putting new brake lines on my D-24. I'm using one of these. It does a good job but will only do 3/16 lines. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0859QMSNX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This one makes me think of simpler, times. Everyone looks like they are really enjoying a rare convertible 1938 Plymouth. According to a book I have, 1900 convertibles were made for the 1938 production year. Couple a young dudes with a pair of sweet ladies out for a cruise/date. Maybe a picnic. Maybe a few nips of a flask?

My 2 cents. If you have the hand eye coordination to rebuild a carb and the self discipline it takes to do bodywork or welding you can teach yourself to run a sewing machine and do seat upholstery. An old used Singer*- mine's from the 30s-simple and powerful, will sew that wool broadcloth no problem, you don't need a walking foot machine to do that I don't think. There's a very talented Mexican upholsterer who has some great youtube videos on how to do it and watching him to see how he handles fabric and prep, his pace of work etc you can figure it out. Do a couple or three small projects to get the hang of it and learn what's what. BTW I once had a car with aftermarket seat covers, I pulled em off to find original upholstery that wasn't that bad at all. a coupe split seams i resewed by hand with a curved needle and it was good to go. Upholstery cleaners can do wonders as well. Garage sale find 20 bucks.

Alas, what gets me is that in that pile of cars, there are many that are in much better condition than a lot of what's currently out there for us to choose from...

are you saying if I get a smaller car my load will get more narrow...thought that only worked in fast sport cars...

I took delivery of my Canadian 1942 Fargo FL1 (WC) yesterday. She is fairly stock other than 15" rims and radials, plus 80's red velour covered bench.

OH NO! GOTTA DO IT AGAIN!! 1 QT SAE 30 non detergent cuz it in the book 1 QT SAE 50 cuz it's thick 1 QT 10W 30 DETERGENT cuz it was a mistake 1QT HIGH MILEAGE MOTOR OIL cuz it's old 1PT MARVEL MYSTERY OIL everybody loves a little mystery 1PT RISLONE it's Good for your valves 1PT STP, MOTOR HONEY, SLICK 50, LUCAS OIL TREATMENT OR SNAKE OIL OF CHOICE. Cuz there is one born every minute! This 5 and one half quart cocktail is for refill including oil filter change. Feel free to add any container leftovers to your gas tank. Combine thoroughly before introducing to engine. This formula has been shown to be effective by OWT testing labs, and RJ Cobb associats. OWT labs is a wholly owned subsidiary of Old Wives Tales Archives R J Cobb associates is a loosely formed network of shade tree mechanics who's motto is "You can always tell when it's a Cobb Job!"

Thanks very much for your input! I think "fits and starts" describes how my projects go, and the wow factor of a well running 70 year old engine might overpower the urge to tear it apart. I have a 73 ford truck that is much closer to the vintage daily driver, and it's taking me several months just to install a stereo and cut floor mats to fit, what with all the surfing, kiteboarding, mountain biking, kayaking, banjo picking, barn building, child rearing, and the full time job...So THANK YOU and I'll keep it stock and running as well as I can. I'll learn a lot from this forum! Steve PS I'll post some pics too.

Only you can make this choice. Going to be a lot of work to do the frame swap. Hey if you like working on cars it is your choice. Would seem to me to be cheaper/easier, to just fix the drive ability issues for the stock truck. Possibly you need front end work, king pins gear box etc ... get it driving good at slower speeds ... then maybe swap in a different rear end and get better highway speeds. Maybe add a T-5 transmission later if the rear gearing change is not enough .... then down the road add a different motor. All the same while you are driving the truck and making improvements .... takes a good fabricator to pull off a frame swap, many projects end up sideways in the weeds. It is all up to you, be nice to see some pics and welcome to the forum!