fhubler

Great car, great stories & great photos! Keeping that car clean, maintained & moving is the best thing for it-and sharing your experience is greatly appreciated! I've always admired the Fluid Drive cars, but it took until last week to finally own one. I've wanted one for so long that I feel like I've owned it for decades. Years ago, we has a 1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan that my wife & I really enjoyed. As we were taking the '48 Town Sedan out for the first drive as a family, my wife & I said at exactly the same time, "I like this car better than the Lincoln." This thread has inspired me to share more about our car! Thanks again!

Thanks

Bob, here are the photos from the factory sales brochure. The engineering trick here is to provide a long wheelbase (i.e. luxury) experience for the back seat passengers on a standard (i.e. cheaper) wheelbase chassis. The rear door on the Town Sedan is longer, extending into the quarter panel. This allows for easier ingress/egress for the rear seat passengers, but the larger opening in the quarter panel necessitates moving the quarter glass & arm rest from the quarter panel to the door and moving the hinge pillar from the quarter panel to the center pillar to keep the vertical alignment of the hinges. Moving the quarter glass to the door also allows for a wider sail panel (or "C" Pillar), giving the rear of the body a more formal appearance. The cleaner roof line has more of the look of a coupe roof than that of a sedan. You might think of it as a Chrysler for the price of a Dodge, similar to the idea of the Toyota Avalon being essentially a Lexus for the price of a Toyota.

I will eventually get photos uploaded of the details of the 48 TS... maybe this weekend. From my very limited knowledge of the car, it appears that the options/accessories would include: Windshield Washer, Electric Wipers, Turn Signals, Backup Light, Radio, Heater/Defroster, Visor Mirror, Exterior Mirrors, Locking Gas Cap and Front & Rear Grille Guards. I am still figuring out what features were unique to the Town Sedan model (body shell without rear quarter glass, upholstery, black dash control surfaces, lighter dash wood grain, etc.). The car also has both outer & inner wheel covers (hub cap with trim ring). I agree with you, Dr., on driving vs showing! We have the very good fortune of living near someone who gets the local Model T & A drivers together once a month to drive the back roads all day & enjoy one another's company - no club, no judging, no set up & tear down, etc. just a bunch of car people who love to go out drive until the next thing breaks & then get together & fix it Some of the cars are 300 pt. show cars & some have no paint & no upholstery! We make a lot of people smile & we laugh at each other a lot... Now, where do I find a small group of old Mopar people who do the same thing?... Somebody should be following me who can identify what parts fall off of the Dodge and tell me if I really needed that or not

Does anyone have any insight into how the jack is supposed to be stored/mounted in the trunk of a '48 Town Sedan? Is there any factory documentation or instructional information that shows where it goes?

I am working on pictures, but right now driving it is more fun than taking pictures of it... I did get the documentation into a binder last night, though, including the original bill of sale from Oct. 29, 1948, dealer brochure, tire inflation notice, heater & radio owner's manuals, shop manual, etc.

Thank you, Andy. My front door arm rests attach in a similar way, the rear doors appear to be different. There are no visible fasteners... Beautiful trim, panel, by the way... We are quite enamored with the '48 Town Sedan. Its like the space shuttle compared to our Model A

Last week my wife & I were very happy to acquire a 1948 Dodge Town Sedan from the grandson of the original owner. One rear door trim panel arm rest is loose. Any advice on how to R&I this piece without doing any damage would be greatly appreciated.