Wiggo

Ah, OK, I've only ever come across that on agricultural diesels, where you wind up the idle while using equipment driven from the PTO. What was the purpose? Crude cruise control, or to warm up the engine in conjunction with the choke?

Hoping someone can shed some light on the switchgear on a 41 Dodge/Plymouth for me... C is the light switch and D is the choke. B is labelled 'Throttle' - what is that and what does it do? What is the knob marked A?

This is representative of what I have. Let me know if it's what you need... (these are only low-res scans, if they're helpful, I can do much higher res).

I have an original shop manual for a 41 Dodge D19-20-21. Let me know which sections you want and I can scan it...

Hmm. If it's any help, I'm planning to pull the vacuum motor out of my 41 Plymouth P11 (well, Dodge Kingsway, but same thing) at the weekend, so I will take some photos for you...

True, but their picture above is from the engine compartment looking at the firewall. The motor's dashed because there's a panel between you and it...

Thanks, Phil, that last photo is a godsend for me. I'll take any more dash and interior shots you have, please!

Nice car, Andy. Sadly, the Leyland P76 is as rare over here as 1941 Dodge Kingsways. But I will keep looking...

So this gets interesting. Having checked in the shop manual, we find the following for 1941... So that tells me my car was built in Ontario as a Dodge D20, with the same 117" wheelbase as the 1939 Dodge D11.

Hodge Plodge sums it up perfectly! This is an export only rarity, where I suspect no-one is 100% sure of what was done 76 years ago. It was butchered over 30 years ago when it lost the straight 6 and whatever tranny it shipped with. Now it is in the UK where I have a whole new set of rules I have to comply with to keep it on the road. The best I can hope to do is preserve the spirit of 1941: the big band sound, petrol coupons, ration books, zoot suits...

Now, you say that about the parking lights, but from what I read somewhere in '41 Dodge switched from the side mounted ones to the top mounts I have (or the other way around) as a result of legislation in some states. My understanding of the history of this was that Plymouth always got the previous model year Dodge, so when Dodge released the Luxury Liner in 1939, Plymouth didn't get the new shape until 1940 (lowered roofline, 117" wheelbase, loss of the trunk 'hump' etc). Dodge then went to the D14 in 1940 when the wheelbase was again stretched to 119.5", and to the D19 in 1941 (little different to the D14 apart from safety rims and the option of Fluid drive). My 1941 Shop Manual covers the Dodge D19, 20 and 21, and the Plymouth P11 and P12, so the assumption is that the P11 is the same vehicle as the D19, so I struggle to understand why the '41 grilles wouldn't interchange. Certainly the '40 Dodge and '40 Plymouths wouldn't as the Dodge was 2 1/2" longer...

The Kingsway/Dodge/Plodge thing is a real mess. The badge on the dash in pic 2 above says Dodge Kingsway as does the title document, and the VIN indicates it was a Canadian built Plymouth P11, so that could very possibly have rolled out the door as a Dodge Kingsway. The 'Dodge' and 'Luxury Liner' badges are separate from the grille, I believe, so it may just be the wrong badge stuck in there. The dash is certainly a Plymouth one and not the Dodge Luxury Liner dash.

C'mon, the first response was basically 'drive it for as long as it takes you to get rid of it'! I'm well aware it will never please the rivet counters, but I don't intend to try. The challenge I have over here is there is nothing in the breakers that will be any use. There hasn't been a car sold in Europe with a bench seat or a column change for probably 50 years. I can happily tackle re-upholstering a seat, but I need a frame and springs as a starting point. I know I can probably modify a parking brake from a 1980's or 90's Mercedes, and someone has suggested VW vans as a source of bench seats. Lokar do a universal cable shifter and if I had to, I'm sure I could fabricate my own lever and mechanism to attach to the column, but I'm trying not to reinvent the wheel here, hence asking for suggestions...

Actually, I'm quite happy with the car. I don't plan to return it to stock because I am well aware of how much work that would entail, but I do want to get rid of the obviously ugly bits like the seats and center console and try to tidy the dash a little. Does anyone have a photo of what the original center section of the dash would have looked like?

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie, so apologise in advance for asking dumb questions. I've searched through the archives and found some real nuggets that will help me, but I still have some questions... So I now own a 1941 Dodge Kingsway 4 door sedan, which I understand to have been built in Windsor, Ontario as a Plymouth P11 (or P11D) and given some Dodge trim and badges. The car has had some extensive restoration work done, but needs more. As you can see, it has had the seams between the fenders and body welded up, the trunk modified, running boards reshaped and a few other mods, but the interior is more of a challenge. So, the dash is pretty original, but someone took a saw to the aluminium panel under the radio, which I am guessing will be impossible to find, but the rest of the dash is not in too bad shape. The seats have been replaced with modern seats and a matching modern bench in the back, and I'd like to go back to something closer to stock, if I can. Any suggestions? The rear is 51" wide and the seat base about 17-18" deep, front to back. In the front, there is just under 54" between the B pillars. As I'm in the UK, the choice of donor vehicles to get a front bench seat from is somewhat limited, and the chances of finding something in a breaker's yard is slim, so if anyone has any suggestions as to what may fit and may be found online, I'd be really grateful. The photo of the firewall seems to me to show where maybe the original VIN plate lived, but can someone confirm? It has the VIN on a plate in the front passenger side door jamb, as well, which is correct for a 41 from Canada. The grille is a cast pot-metal one, which I understand to be period correct, but in pretty poor shape, as you can see. It also has a Luxury Liner badge, though as I understand the grilles were not interchangeable, I assume that this was not original and is wrong for the vehicle. Oh, and someone junked the flathead 6 in 1987 and put in a small block Chevy, with a steering column from God knows what. It'd be nice to go lose the hideous center console and go back to a column change with the parking brake under the dash. Any ideas where to start on that one?