DonaldSmith

One side bar- My 47 DeSoto was wired to ground the starter solenoid through the field of the generator. That way, when the engine was running, the back current in the generator would not provide a suitable ground for engaging the starter, thus keeping the dummy behind the wheel from trying to engage the starter when the engine was running. When I installed my alternator, I grounded the wire that ran from the starter solenoid to the generator. Fine, except that it no longer protected the starter from operator error. This may not be a big problem, but one solution is to install an oil pressure switch, with a normally-on contact that turns off when the engine is running. (l installed such a switch to keep the electric fuel pump from running on if the engine stalls. I push a separate momentary contact switch to run the electric pump for priming the caerburetor.)

Were there two series of 42 Canadian Dodges? One sharing the Plymouth body and one sharing the Chrysler and DeSoto body?

I wound up installing a stud instead of a bolt, as the fastener in question. Thread sealer on the stud. Then a lock washer and nut to secure the water pump. Then the arm that secures the top of the generator (or alternator). Then a nut, installed loosely, to allow the arm to pivot when tightening the fan belt. . Then a cotter pin through a hole drilled in the stud, to keep the loose nut from backing off. This allows adjusting the fan belt without disturbing the water pump fastener.

Giant Lego Blocks?

Can anyone really wed an overdrive to a semi-automatic transmission? Our long-wheelbase sedan has an extra chunk of driveshaft which would make room for a separate overdrive. And then the old Fords offered a two-speed differential. I think a few years ago James Douglas looked into adding an overdrive to a semi-automatic transmission, but the cost was prohibitive. He's planning on putting an automatic transmission in his black beast. In my DeSoto with the semi-automatic transmission, i can feel the upshift at 30 mph, plus or minus. When i get up to 45 mph or so, I expect to feel another upshift, but it's not there. High revs at highway speed. I just have to get used to it. I could put a numerically lower geared rear end, which would help at highway speeds, but that would hurt the already limp acceleration. For the few highway-speed excursions I make, I'll live with what I have. But that does not stop the imagining and dreaming. (Per Recognitions and Remembrances, R.I.P., big Don)

I bought a knock-off prism, a "Guode" instead of "Guide", but it works. And sometimes I can see the signal lights reflected on the hood.

I heard he worked it out with his slide rule.

A lady pulled into an auto repair garage and declared that there was a weird noise coming from her rear end. The mechanic said he could put it up on the hoist and have a look at it.

I've got a posting here sometime back. I had trouble getting the pins back in to the door handles and window cranks, because of the spring-loaded escutcheons. So I found a brass hobby tubing the right diameter, to use as pins, and short nail lengths that would fit insidethe tubing and support it. I would use a nail to pin the handle in place, pushing back the escutcheon. Then I would slide a short length of tubing into the handle or crank. Then I would remove the nail and insert the short length of nail into the tubing. Works slick.

Nice ambidextrous instrument panel. Swap out the speaker for the instrument cluster, modify the dashboard for the ignition switch and the shifting lever, and good to go. Fascinating how an auto manufacturer, or a car body firm, would adapt for changing LH to RH drive, or vice-versa.

For the right side mirror, I fabricated a clip to fit over the top of the window frame. Since the photo, I painted the clip to match the frame. Not elegant, but it works, and it doesn't interfere with the vent window. .

In the event of a national emergency (like incoming atomic bombers or missles) tune to 640 or 1240 on your radio dial. Civil Defense was the program to cope with such emergencies, an outgrowth of World War II programs. Duck and cover.

Sitting in the car with the instrument lights glowing is good therapy. Also listening to the clock ticking and periodically thumping its rewind. Nostalgia. Sitting in my Dad's car, lulled by the soft ticking.

"Autronic Eye". GM fancy word, like "Panaramic windshield". I looked it up.

The disgronificator. Or if not that, an electric eye to dim the headlights.

There was a rubber insulation over the wires back then, but it needed the protection of the fabric covering. Insulation has improved vastly since.

Somehow I bent the front fender molding on my 47 DeSoto- probably drove too close to the garage door frame and snagged the trim. I shaped a wood form to the contour of the fender, and gently formed the s.s. trim to the contour. Rubber-faced hammer? Bent it past the contour, to allow for spring-back? Good enough by the time I finished. (Oh, by the way,I learned a trick for re-sizing the photos - I attached the first photo inside the post, and double-clicked on the photo. A box came up. I changed the 900 size to 450, and made the alignment "left". I attached and re-sized the second photo, and made the alignment "none".)

2003, after the National DeSoto Convention in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

I had my parking brake relined at a local shop that served the trucking and fork-lift industries. There is something about not getting the new lining too thick.

Here's a floor-mounted seat belt retractor. I had to cut back the rubber sill for the rear door, to anchor the retractor to the floor. The belt covered the hand grip and coach light, so I made a steel bar extender for the top mount. Not ideal. I could have located the retractor forward of the B post, if I had thought of it, but that would interfere with the seldom-used feature of getting to the back seat from the front door. like a coupe. (The post-war DeSoto Suburbans had coupe-style front and middle seats. )

We are to assume that the 6 to 8 persons are painters? OK what's the point?

As part of the power steering modifications to my 1047 DeSoto, I installed a Saginaw power steering gearbox in place of the manual box. The new box exerts considerably more force to the frame than the manual box. 2015: At the suggestion of James Douglas, who had witnessed frame cracking in similar applications: Added tubular reinforcements to prevent the bolts collapsing the sides of the box frame. Enlarged the openings in the outboard gusset, and added steel pipe sections. 2019: Experienced slop in the steering. Observed the steering box moving when the wheel was turned, deflecting the sides of the frame (both sides moving in unison). The tee-shaped gussets had not spread the forces to the edges of the box frame. Added quarter-inch steel gusset plates, inboard and outboard, to prevent deflection of the sides of the box frame. Deleted the inboard tee gusset. Retained the sleeve spacers and the outboard tee gussets, and added shims to fill in the surface reinforced by the new gusset plates. (Shims shown on the plates; installed behind the plates.) (The front plates could have been trimmed more closely; the rear plates did not need so much curvature.)

I still have my bottle of lead additive from 18 years ago. Neophyte purchase. I soon heard that the valve seats are hardened, and lead additive is not needed, for the Chrysler family of engines. True for a 51 DeSoto? .

See the pitman arm peeking out from a black metal panel. There is another metal panel on the other side of the engine. Chrysler had these panels on some of the cars. Were they an option? Were these more likely to be in the pre-war cars rather than post-war?

I tried the usual peep mirror locations, fighting with the vent window and not giving me a good view. . I made a bracket to clamp the peep mirror to the top of the door. Now the mirror is adjustable to give me a view of the right lane with just a bit of the side of the car. (I painted the bracket to match the door frame, so it's not so ugly.)