Mel

Thanks Sidevalvepete, your info is very useful as it helps me broaden out the search. There are holes on the sides of the hood, but they do not extend down the body. The car had stick-on ‘chrome’ when I got it, and I prefer not to go down that route. It feels sacrilegus at this point. Your cars look awesome and the colour of the lower one is great!! cheers

Thanks for the tips, I am in communication with Max Merit and it may have possibilities.

I am in the latter stages of a full restoration of a 1938 Dodge Business Coupe however the chrome strip that runs down the center of the hood has disappeared. Do people have any suggestions on where to find a replacement, or have one made? I checked at local metal fabricators and they all ran the other direction. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks everyone. My car is similar to the one that Robert KB posted. There are no holes, but there are not many options for the emblem given the cross bracing inside the trunk. So it will be what it will be, and I may be off by a couple mm but that’s life I guess. Your posts aware greatly appreciated. The car is getting closer to my reassembling it. ?

After a 2 year process doing body work on the 1938 Dodge Business Coupe, it is finally getting to the painting stage. The work was intended to keep the car as original to stock as possible, including ordering all new period correct - colour correct- cloth wiring and other exact parts (as much as possible). However, the exact location for the trunk lid emblem is a bit elusive. I do not have holes in the trunk lid itself, so it is unclear how it was originally attached. The emblem I have is correct and has two pins that go through the trunk lid, so it appears that I will be drilling a couple holes. Any my suggestions on the exact location? thanks for the tips.

Gents. The car is equipped with the sealed beam retrofit and the inner ring that I was concerned about must be part of that conversion. After the helpful hints on this post, I did more research and it seems that I can simply replace the inner rings from another conversion kit. The existing inner rings held the headlight just fine, but given that I have come this far on the vehicle there is no point in putting rusted parts back in. What started out as a simple paint job has turned into a 2 year full off the frame restoration. After sandblasting the old paint off I discovered rust in places that were unknown. New inner fenders, a complete new floor, and countless other body parts needed to be fabricated. I am ok with a wrench, but am not a body guy. I was fortunate to find a body man with 45+ years of experience that works out of his shop at his home and is only 20 min from where I live. He meticulously remanufactured whole sections of the car at a very reasonable rate. He isn’t fast because he is a perfectionist but he also doesn’t charge much either so it’s all good. While he worked on the body, I had the frame and reworked everything that was required on that element. I am replacing all the wiring with period correct wire as the car was pretty Mickey Moused together. She will be awesome when done.

Great suggestions. The light bucket does come out, and I will see what I can do with it. I also like the idea of the conversion kit, and the way to address the pin holes. All good ideas which gives me some direction to pursue a variety of options. Thx

I am doing a full restoration on my wife’s 1938 Dodge Business Coupe D10 (Cdn version), and am looking to address the rusted headlight buckets. The inner rings are in pretty rough shape, and the headlight buckets themselves have pin holes along the bottom. I can get around the issues wrt the buckets, but the inner rings are more problematic. I am open for suggestions from those more skilled than I. Thanks

Yup, I got mine off after reading these posts and watching someone do it on YouTube. The point about pounding the dog bone with a hammer is correct. My shop is in a separate building about 25’ away from the house, my wife was in the house with the radio going and she could still hear me pound away. After about 15-20 hits, which caused the dog bone to basically do one full rotation, the hub popped off. It’s not a process for the timid. Thanks again for the tips, and as the old adage goes “when all else fails use a bigger hammer” ?

I am having the exact same issue with my 1938 Business Coupe. I assume the same principle applies to a vehicle 10 years older? Mine isn’t rusted though as the brakes were done about 10 years ago and have less than 500 miles on it since then. However, I am doing a full frame off restoration, and want to get into the brakes to clean out any sand blasting sand that may have got in there. The drum turns just fine, but won’t come off. It’s so perplexing. The info here has been helpful

Thanks. I will keep my eyes open for the parts book for the Cdn version. I have a Preliminary Parts List for the 1938 USA D8, and a Shop Manual for the 1938 Cdn cars. The latter has a similar cover to your parts book, and is certainly helpful. i do not have the original engine in the car, but am in the process of restoring a 1939 C22C that was built at the plant in Windsor. I a, assuming that the two (1938 Windsor built car + 1939 Windsor built engine) should be compatible but hopefully someone will tell me differently if I am barking up the wrong tree. I know that there were changes to the car in 1939 but I do not think that the engine was significantly different between years and they maintained the 25” block. The car is currently quite stock, and I am hoping to try to keep this one to as close as I can to stock as well. I am having difficulty in locating the original colour even though I have the Colour Code from the tag on the firewall, and what I believe to be both the Sherwin Williams and CIL codes from that era from Chrycoman, however this being a Cdn specific colour nobody seems to know what these codes translate into. The links to USA sites don’t translate well into the antics done by those of us north of the 49th. i also have a trunk emblem to install (when I get to that point), but my car had the old one removed and I cannot see the holes for where it was originally. If there are any pics available that show the location on the Business Coupe, would be helpful. I have one pic but it’s pretty grainy. Overall it’s a lot of fun and games. ?

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Hi all. I am doing an off the frame restoration on a 1938 Dodge business coupe D10 (Canadian built). The body is off and the frame was just sandblasted and I am now cleaning it up getting it ready for painting. I noticed that on the drivers side of the frame, in three separate locations, is a S/N stamped with the following: “D10C” and then just below it the numbers 1766. I strongly suspect the D10C means that it is a D 10 Canadian version but the number 1766 does not correspond to the S/N of the body. Did Dodge have a separate serial number for the frame, and if so, does the number have any meaning? Also, on the front to the frame on the right side is a stamp “R-P5-L” and on the front of the frame left side is “L-P5-L”. Obviously the first letter means ‘Right’ or ‘Left’, but what do the other parts of the stamping mean? I recall that this version of Dodge was a sister car to the Plymouth but I cannot verify if the frame was identical and interchangeable or if it means something else. i previously received some great info from Chrycoman, but I am not sure how to reach him now. thanks