desoto1939

The wood graining was done via the use of rollers. The plate has the reserve grain and the soft rubber roller is rolled on the plate to pick up the pattern. The it is rolled on the dash. Check out the grain it compnay in florida. I have done this and have used their kits. Contact me. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

As state in a prior posting the Chrys/Desoto used the bigger front end control arms and bushings, etc. The Ply/Dodge parts will work for each other because you had the smaller engine in these cars so the weight was lighter so the parts were not of the same beefiness. Suggest that you also pick up a rate book. These rate books also list the major parts that the garges would fix and repair and they also list the mopar parts number so this way you can cross reference which parts will interchange. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I have vendor spot at Hershey and the vendor across from me was a toy dealer. I got to know him during the 4 days that I was there and we were talking about Keystone toys and then he brought out three of these models. He had an Orange one that had the sun roof but it was missing some parts and then he showed me this model and I took this one because it was the same green color as my real 1939 Desoto Car. So how many owners have a real model toy of their car? They are out there just have to find them. This sit on the top shelf of my bookcase so no little hands and fingers can get at it to play with it aong with my metal fire truck that is a stuuco hook and ladder that I had when I was a kid. Rich Hartung

Here is a vintage Mopar Brake cabinet that was used at a Dealership. On the back of the metal cabinet there is a paper copy of the 1937-41 master cylinder. The paper logo is showing wear and I could not get a good picture. But here is the front of the cabinet wit the drawers. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I came across a metal model of a 1939 Desoto that was made by Keystone/Kingsbury Toys. This is a wind-up toy. There are several models of this metal toy. One has a plastic sun roof and another has a battery try to work the headlights and tail lights. This is a nice addition to the real 1939 Dsoto that I own. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

The wagner Master Cylinder is an FE852 fits Chrysler 37-40 Desoto 37-40 Dodge 37-40 Plymouth 37-41 These are sometimes lsited on ebay but are getting harder to find. I have a great deal of cross reference literature and parts cross references for the 39 Mopar. I have these all scanned onto cD's contact me desoto1939@aol.com Rich Hartung

When selling something at this price of 200K the seller could easily pay for the shipping. I was going to bid on but with the shipping cost it is just a tad bid out of my price range. Its a great sign but where do you put it in a house and I would be sleeping with it according to my wife. Rich Hartung

The clutch and brake pedals would be the bolt on style. The bolts on style were also uses for several years. I do know that the 38-39 Dodge/Desoto/Chrylser and Plymouth all used the same pedal pads. The 39's all used a brown gas pedal and brown clucth and brake pedal pads. These are hard to find. Mostly you will find black as the replacement pedals. Do some searching on ebay. Also are you looking for a bench seat. This is going to be specific for the Dodge/Chrylser and Desoto for 39. These 3 all used the same body style so you might find something but this is going to be hard also. I have a 39 Desoto so contact me. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I have the Miller tool which is the factory MoPar tools that the dealerships used on out old cars. I have the tool that screws into the pilot bearing and then you can then instert the second part of the tool to push the bearing out of the floywheel. I also have the tool to insert the piolt bearing into the flywheel and then it burnishes the bearing. You can borrow the tools but you will need to pay for the shipping. If interested then contat me. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

If you look the entire front suspension is gone from under the car. This was some serious accident to peel the entire side of the car open. It looks as if someone use a can opener onthe car. Almost looks like it was side swiped by a truck. Rich Hartung

Greg you are correct. I just had my 39 Desoto judged at the eastern regional AACA car show. There are two badges or classifications within the HPOF class. HPOF or historical Preservation of Original Feature and then another badge that goes behind this and has ORGINAL on this badge. This is a point judged calss and you have to score between 22-30 points based on how orginal the car is. This woodie would make for a perfect example to be judged for HPOF. If anyone wants more details on this class I will explain. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Hey Bob, Sorry to hear the bad news, My family wihses you a speedy and full recovery. I will miss not see and reading you posts with the car during your traveling in NY. Keep in touch and say hi to cooper he is one of your best advosarys at this point in time. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

LAst week end I attended the eastern AACA regioanl carshow that was held in reading PA. They had over 300 cars attend and alot of old brass cars. They had an outstading 1933 Desoto rumble seat coupe that knock your socks off. Several plymouths and a couple of Desotos, 1939, 1937, 1941 and two 59 Adventurers. I put my 39 Desoto inthe HPOF classification, Hisrotical Presevation of Original Features. This ws the first time for the car to be offically evaluated. The car has been repainted but the reaming was still original except for the headliner and wiring. So now I have the AACA HPOF badge on my car. I wanted to keep the car as original as much as possible. I was told by my judge that they do not see many desotos and very few pre-war desotos. So I am proud of the car, just bragging a-little. HAd a good time seeing some original cars. Also there was a very nice 1936 Chrylser Airflow in a nice Olive green. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

When looking at the right rear side of the car and the piece of wood that form the whhel wheel should not been used. You can see what looks like a knot mark inthe wood and also notice the two tone coloring in this section. The rest of the wood on the drivers side is so near perfect and this piece sticks out like a sore thumb and it is just over the wheel well and you eye is taken right to this section. And you stillhave mechnaical brakes. A show car and not even a thought of a driver. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

I looked at some of the pictures. The wood on the drivers side at the rear window before the tailgate does not lookto be original. I also see a great deal of wood filler between alot of the joints. Also when you get the picture of the front coil spring did anyone notice the metal spacer that is in the front coil spring. This car was not restored but has been maintained and has been made to look good. Where is the spare tire and rim. For 40k i would expect this to be there and also the engine compartment could be cleaner. If i remember correctly the firewall is black and the body is yellow, is this correct. Before anyone buys its go over the pictures closely that alot of money. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

i saw the same info but this gentleman was not related to me. I give you another strange one. My oldest daughter is attend kutztown University. When she was a freshman she was returned a test paper with the last name of Hartung but a differnet first name. Found out that there was another Hartung also in her same major, graphic design. To make it even more interesting this other person lived about 5 miles from where we currently live near Valley Forge PA. We never knew this other Hartung was inthe area becasue their phone number was never lsited. For the past two year both my daughter and this other girl have been room mates at college. We did find out that we are not related to the other hartungs and we have met her parents. Small world Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

If you are going to use a plain color then four a four I would assume about 15 yards and this is not including the headliner. If you are going to go with a material that has stripes then you should order more becuase they have to match up the stripes on the front and back seats when the bottom and the back of the seat come together. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

There are several collent products on the market Wetter Water, Radiator relief The radiator relief seems to have less of a foaming actions as compared to Wetter Watter. It seems to help keep the engine cooler. They do recommend running straight water with these products. I also use a pint of radiator Rust Inhibutor in the old car. This is made by GUNK and it helps to stop rust and scale and also is a lubricant. We used this in the cars back in the 60's. I put a pint in every year. The big problem with antifreeze is that the anti rusting chemicals do break down with time and then the antifreeze will turn from green to a chocolate color becasue it is now not preventing the block from rusting. So this is why you need to change and flus the rad approx every 3-5 years. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Check the breaker plate inthe dizzy. I could be worn out and the unit is not rotating correctly or it might need to tightend down there are two mounting screws that hold the unit in the body of the dizzy. I had a friedn with a 39 Desoto that was having a similar problem and an old time mechanic told us to replace the breaker plate and this solved the problem. Hoppe this helps. The breaker plate is an Autolite IGS3004. I might have a few nOS at home if this is the problem. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

Your are correct the 2331 bayonette buld were used from approx 36-39. The 2331 had the smaler candle light power the 2350 which were illegal had the higher high beam candle power. Chryler cars used the 2331 buld and the other makers used the 2330 buld. The difference is in how the filment moved to make the lights work. In this i mean the the 2331 the high and low moved from right to left but the 2330 moved up and down. The headlight socket with the three pins is the same for both the 3031 and the 3030. The differnece is the internal pigtail setup so that the buttons or contacts are either right/left offset for the 2331 or up/down offest for the 2330. I have discovered this after search for the 2331 sockets and then saw the difference. You can buy the pigtails at a local napa or at any good flea/swap meet. Don Alxerod up in Mass has been able to get some of these headlight sockets remade. When i last saw him at Hershey they were not cheap but around 25-30 dollars for each socket. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

The first one has been rodded. The second one looks to be kept original. Notice the aux fron numper guards and the side chome goingout of the bumper guards. This is the correct style or being round and not like the 39 Dodge that had flat bars. I also own a 39 Desoto 4 door sedan and live near Valley Forge PA. Attached are two pictures on my 39 Desoto Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

Ok Guys, here is the scoop. I called coker tire this morning and spoke to one of their reps. I will not provide the reps name to protect him and also coker from any law suits and liability issues, ok ge the point. Basically the person stated that they have experience with driving cars from the 60's and has had radila tires onthese cars becasue of the suspension and rack and pinion can support the driving characteristics for radial tires. His feeling is that the older cars prior to the late 50's and above are not designed to fully support the use of radila tires becasue the suspensions were not designed to run on these type of tires. Even the AACA does not support the use of radial tires on the cars if they were originally designed for Bias Ply tires. At the AACA Convention back in February there was a discussion at the juding seminar about the safety aspect of radila on the pre war cars. The AACA spokesperson noted that the sidewall design of the radial when going into a turn is not setup to fully support the fron suspension functionality of these cars. Yes you willnot get the wondering that a Bias Ply tire does onthe road but the original Bias Ply is the safest tires for the car to be used at highway speeds. The person at Coker was also leaning to the same statements but would not officially go on record to protect them and the company. Also another point is that when your car was originally designed it was design with a specific brand of tire and tread design so the car would steer and track properly. In several states the original tires should alwasy be onthe car to insure that the car handles as it was design and you could officialy have failed your yearly or semi-annual state insepction. So, all in all, the choice is up to you to install radila or bia ply on your. If you have chnaged the front suspension to a modern drive line line they do with a street rod then go with the radial but if you have the original fron suspension go with the Bias Ply. I know this is going to stir up the hornets nest for some members but i figured I would at least try to get some answers on this topic. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

When I [urchased my silcon brake fluid they also sold me two gallons of DENATURED ALCOHOL. the instrutions told me to flush the entire system with the denatured alcohol to get rid of the old dot 3 brake fluid. They also recommended to replace all rubber parts, cups, outer boots and also the hoses with rubber that will support silicon dot 5 brake fluid. I would not use straight alcohol. as todd has questioned. I did this back in 1988. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

When converting from old style Dot3-4 Brake fluid to Silicon Dot 5 you need to flush the entire brake system with denatured alcohol.. This might take a couple of gallons of the denatured alchohol. You need to have a super clean brake system. I did this on my 39 Desoto back in 1988 and have been running this ever since. I think the soft brake is still an adjustment situation. You must remeber that our older cars did not have self adjusters on them and did not have disk brakes with floating lining. The older cars were taken into the garages more often and had service done to them. And since we drive them not as much as was done when they were new we lose site of the feel that something needs to be constantly adjusted such as brake shoes. The linings wear down so need to be minor adjusted over time. Also do not use old rubber brake hoses and cups. MAke sure you get new and fresh stock when converting to Dot 5. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

Todd, The List that i posted came directly out of a Sorrensen Parts book and also a blue streak catalog had the same listing. I am not an expert on every car. I was just trying to help fred with the information that I had available via the various catalogs that I have collected over the past 25 years and have scanned onto CD. I have not had the opportunity or experience to have rebulid a complete distibutor by taking it completely apart Sorry if if mislead anyone down an incorrect path. rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com