55 Fargo

Brightside is a nice paint, is glossier than Rusto paint too, as it is a polyurethane ss. With tipping/rolling, you can get amazing results, as I have seen for my self. The metallic inclusion is very interesting too. God also created Correctional Officers, to implement/supervise the "Time Outs" to his misfit children, that the Police removed from society.Sometimes I wonder why I got into this business.....LOL

Hey, cool pics, looks like a real fun ride....

Welcome aboard Dave, yes the car looks like a good solid straight specimen. Hope all goes well with your resto, lots of good info, parts resource, and help on this forum.......Fred

Hi Dave, and welcome to the flat head forum, my gravel road is at least nice and wide, my house and garage are 180 feet form the road, usually never get rocks flying from other cars, but gotta be careful. Sounds like you havea lot of fun with your cars. Can you post some pics of your cars......Fred

I have also noticed alot of ???s posted by MW, lets see you car, always nice to see other members rides. It is a also good that you have been asking a lot of ???s, only way to learn, and this is probably one of the best sites to get any info/help for old Flat head Mopars. So let us know more about the car, so we can help you out more.....

Congrats and Happy Retirement Bob, all the best for you and the family......

Good old Toronto Ontario, tons of radio stations in that town, heck Ed, it must be 800 mile from the Twin Cities straight as the crow flies, thats good night reception. I uised to get WLS from Chicago in Winnipeg at night, was very clear too. Ed , have you got any recent pics of Spot that you can post....Fred ps any of under the hood, not sure I have seen your engine pics before....Fred

Hey Steve it was a successful trip, and you had a great time. the car looks great.....Fred

Wonder if Gordon Lightfoot drove one "The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" a well known song he wrote and recorded in Canada, many years back...

You know Norm, in the cae of this 1994 Ranger, it had next to no body rust, only a little surface rust where the paint chipped or peeled off. The rockers and cab corner were in great shape, the tail gate was beat up the some surface rust. This truck was driven 140000 miles in 15 Manitoba winter too, so she fared very well. I see more rusted out S10s than any other small truck up here, not sure why, Dakotas seem to do okay also.....Fred

Stock ina 47 Chrsler had a fuse for the radio, and for the heater motor, and maybe the electric wipers, at least mine does now, I also addeda fuse for the lighter and I re-wired as per the 47 Chrysler schematic, which should be very similar to the 47 Desoto. The positive grnd info Greg is relaying is important, get to knwo your elcetirc system, someone on here can probably post the correct schemetics if you need them....

Hi, these old engines are not known for real neck snappin off the line pick-up, the HP for your Desoto engine would be for a 251 ci, about 116 hp @ 3600 RPM, compression ratio 6.6 to 1, but they are very torquey long stroke engines, bore = 3 7/16, stroke 4 1/2 inches. These engines get max torque at about 1200 or so RPM, so just off an idle they have there torque punch. Now with just this stock engine, and usually the Desoto may have come witha 3.73 rear end or a 3.54 read end if it had the 4 spd tip-toe semi-auto trans and fluid drive coupler. It should cruise all day 60 to 65 mph, probably could do 90 mph. The speed equipment is out there, probably turn this engine into a 150 170 hp engine, but building a 250 to 300 hp engine, ain't gonna happen. Now what trans do you have in this puppy now, does it have a fluid drive coupler, any idea what diff ratio you have. These cars with the flat head engine souped up, and a T 5 trans will get you going nicely, the flat head with dual carbs and exhaust sound and run great, fuel economy is not bad too. Some guys in your neighbourhood, Dublin GA, have even installed AC too. You have 2 great members of this forum right in your own state, try and get to know these fine Gentleman, they are a wealth of knowledge of old Mopars. Here is a website that sells the disc brake kits, there is install info as well, www.rustyhope.com. Swap mees, forums like this, ebay, will help in your search for trim, there is a 48 Desoto, 3 miles from where I sit, it is in the bush but high up on blocks, near a river delta, but the owner won't sell parts, too bad cuz there are a lot of nice parts on the car, so there will be more all over the USA and in Canada, where I live. Good luck, keep us posted, this forum, as as well as a few others will bea of trmendous help to you with this car.......

Hi Robert, looks like you are having some fun witrh this old car, great looking dash, she cleaned up real nice. What's the plan for it, gonna be a driver for you, or are you going to sell her to a Furd fan.....

Pat, Rural Alberta is known for well preserved old cars, as is Sask, guess Calgary used to pour on the salt like crazy. My car is from a place called Amaranth, very sandy soil, and all gravel roads, even the highway into the town was gravel till 49 or 50 my Mom told me today. The only reason it had floor rot and rocker rot, was it was no doubt on the ground for 15 to 20 years, the rust under the back seat and some in the trunk was a result of no back window for many years too, otherwise that is not a trouble spot for rust. The gravel is not going to hurt the car, it is pain, but not harmful, it is the new "Dust Control", which is calcium/sodium based, when this stuff is wet, and sticking uner the car, it is very corrosive. To tell you the truth, the whole under carriage does not get dusted , it is the wheel wells, the rocker area, that get it the worse, and off course the front end if greasy or an oily motor bottom will attract the dust big time too. I just have to drive whenI can, and deal with as I go, living on 3 miles of gravel road is not really a classic car thing, but live and carry on..........

Don, that sounds like a great trip, if you ever come north into my part of Canada, be sure to le me know, get together for some chow somewhere.....

PS one other thing, can you post a pic of the new Baby, if your able too......

48 Desoto Biz Coupe, Nice Car, fantastic looking grilles on these old Beasts. Did you check out the floors and rockers, depends on where this car is from, that can bea rust trouble spot, some of these patch panels are available, and to be honest they aren't too difficult to fab, and weld in. The Pot metal on the trim, is pricey to replate, maybea donor car and/or parts may be in your future, the bumpers can be pricey for re-plate too. As far as parts source, depends on what parts? Rock Auto and Napa will have wheels cyls, brake kits,carb kits, shocks etc. Rubber parts and weather stripping Steele Rubeer, Roberts, Andy Bernbaum. Flat Head engines are great power plants, ain't no Hemis, but you can Hot Rod them with shaving the heads, dual carbs, split exhaust/headers, wilder cam, performance heads, electronic ignition. Interior , well thats your call, local auto upholstery suppliers. OD Transmissions call George Asche, makes your freeway cruisng a lot more efficient. Front disc brake kits, see Old Daddy on this forum, he makes the adaptor plates, you buy the rest at local parts store. So welcome aboard, if you choose to drop ina 360, eat there is some info and experience on thei forum for this too. 12 volt conversion , info is readily available on here too, by uisng a GM single wire alt, and a fabbed bracket, this works well too..............Rock

Hey Tim, got hill country here too, well a little further west, Riding Mountains, and further west the fotthills of the Rockies. I meant odd old plain country folks...........LOL

Man did it rain here from 0200 AM till about 0300 AM, so the road is like wet mortar, the good news it will be nice to drive once dried, maybe late today or tomorrow. Country life, my car probably saw a lot of dirty gravel roads in it's day, as it came from Hillbilly country......Fred

Which is more "defiant", the car or the one behind the wheel......Fred

Do all your own body/prep work, and get it painted , by someone moonlightling on the side, or even Maaco, prep is 90% of the paint job. As Dezeldoc stated, a 5 to 6 thousand for body and paint on one of these old girls is not uncommon. There is a lot of work to prepping these old bodies, worse if there is rust and rot, but dents,dings,stretched metal, inside fenders, door aligment, front clip aligment, lots of of work, involved here..Fred

Bob, the price would no doubt about $250 to $300 in todays values. I am sure a nice NOS fender for your car would cost you about the same ....Fred

Greg, Sounds like you will have a couple nice trips in the car yet, before winter sets in. I know someday down the road, I will get more use of my car, and will also be able to throw more money at her to get things done. 1 of the reasons I did a cheap do -it your self paint job, was because of the road I live on, no way I would pay anymore than a Maaco type paint price to drive on a gravel road......Fred

Joe, not sure or not if if was a Myth either, but a lot of old cars seem to have a dusty oil combo under side, mine did in areas, but also had undercoating too. These cars are meant to be driven, just not crazy about getting them all dirty and dusty if i can avoid it, I don't mind it getting rained on, that is not dirty mud and gravel caking on uinderneath, that looks like brick mortar......Fred