Dan Hiebert

You can theoretically clean everything up and get it going again, but once any of the mated surfaces (gears, bearings, bearing races, etc.) become marred by rust, they will deteriorate much quicker, and be really noisy. Even if not pitted, the discolored spots metallurgic structures (probably not the right term) have changed, and they'll wear differently. I would echo that it is not worth restoring. It would be far easier and probably less expensive to find a good replacement unit.

I'll go out on a limb here, ready to duck and cover...long-ish story. I worked for 32 years in an agency that grew from 3,000 to 19,000 personnel with a fleet to match. 28 years of that was in supervision and management with fleet, purchasing, and safety responsibilities. How we bought tires evolved over the years but was never a "lowest bidder" deal. 21 Sectors across the U.S., and all of them did their own tire purchasing thing, following Federal purchasing regulations, of course. So, it depended on each Sector's budget. Some Sectors are sexier than others, so they get more funding, and the Sectors that didn't get much money had to scrimp, usually on tires. As noted above, cheap tires are just that, cheap. Didn't last long, tore up the vehicles they were on, etc., but we'd get tires that were hard as hockey pucks that didn't get flats very easily, which was our main concern. Can't catch bad guys with flat tires on your cruiser. We'd get good tires for the highway, but vehicles that operated out in the willywags would get something from the truckload sale. Can't count the number of times I drove a vehicle with two or three different size tires on it the first few years I was in. That evolved over the years to buying the best tires we could for the conditions we work in and/or under. We'd deadline a vehicle we couldn't get the right tires for until production could catch up. To shorten the story, US Border Patrol seems to have a share in keeping Goodyear in business. BP has at least 20,000 vehicles of varying types, most easily put on 100K hard miles per year, and are kept in the fleet for at least six years, but usually until the wheels fall off. That means a lot of tires, and just through pure experience, we found that Goodyear products - heavy duty (10-ply), off road, highway, pursuit tires, etc., perform and stand up best for the agency's needs. Personally, I don't buy Goodyear simply because I can't afford them. The last few purchases we've done well with Coopers for my truck, and Uniroyals for the wife's car. The old cars get tires from Coker. If money wasn't an object, I'd get Goodyear stuff for our newer vehicles.

Interesting discussion. I've read that the tire is what dictates whether or not to use a tube. I've been doing quite a bit of tire shopping for various projects the last two years, I've noticed the tire manufacturer will specify whether it is a tubeless tire or not. It may not have been an option back then, but our Terraplane's specifications don't say one way or the other, just the tire size the car was manufactured with. Much later, our '70 Beetle's specs list both radial and bias-ply tire sizes, but no mention at all whether a tube is needed for either, and VW tended to be anal about that kind of thing. I also imagine if the manufacturer knows the factory rims won't hold air well, they'll specify tubes. I've recently swapped bias-plies for radials on two cars at a reputable tire shop. Neither time did the techs question the beads' capability to seal radials. I believe the issue with radials on original rims is the mounted width of the radial, too wide a tire and the tire's bead won't fully seat onto the rim. Coker, for one, lists minimum rim width for their radial tire sizes for that reason, I think.

Right about now is when I really enjoy you'uns getting your cars out and about. Provides inspiration, we got 8" of fresh snow today (was supposed to be 3"), so all of you who can get your cars dusted off and out on the road is awesome. (FWIW, snow here through March and into April is normal.)

Our '48 D24 has just over 256K on it. For a car that spent its earlier years in the southwest, that really isn't an unusually high number. Most of it is original, we got it when it was 44 years old, with an unknown maintenance history, although I do know the engine had at least a partial rebuild sometime before we got it. I could also tell it was "rode hard and put up wet" for a number of years. It was someone's ranch car for a while, used in lieu of a truck when you could only afford one or the other. Yet, other than smoke due to worn valve guides, the engine has performed flawlessly in the 32 years we've owned it. It's had other things that needed work, but so far, not the engine itself. It's not even "tired", just smoky.

Learned from my dear ol' Dad when I was learning how to drive some of the differences between radial and bias ply tires. I was learning to drive in an IH Scout and a Ford Pinto. Scout had bias plies, the Pinto had radials. The low speed or stopped turning was one lesson, radials being harder to turn when stopped than bias ply. What I was taught was if you have radials, get the vehicle moving a bit before trying to turn the wheels; and bias plies would always turn easier regardless. The Pinto only had 13" tires, too, and was a light car, but it was the lesson that was learned, not the actual feat. He didn't tell me why at the time, but that wasn't necessary. Your '37 wouldn't handle any better in windy conditions at highway speeds with bias ply tires. Probably worse, since there's a smaller contact patch with the road and stiffer sidewalls. But it's not so much the tires as the car having the aerodynamics of a chicken coop and 86 year old engineering. We have a '37 Terraplane with bias ply tires. It's a tad sleeker than a Plymouth, and it'll zip happily down the road at 50-60, but it gets downright grumpy when the wind is up.

The tire ads I remember were all about traction, mileage, and wear. Usually not all at the same time. What stands out are the Tiger Paw ads when those first came out, with the tiger's paw coming out of the tread gripping the road. I also remember "Uni", "Roy", and "Al" touting Uniroyal tires.

That box is indeed the horn relay. That one unsecured wire connector, from the near horn, we can see should be attached to the one lead that has nothing attached, that we can also see. Looking at the relay directly it'd be the upper left one. As harmony notes, there may be a reason it is/was taken off that may need to be chased down. Keep in mind there is no power to the horn circuit on these cars when the ignition is turned off. Spitballing here, but that bare section of wire at the horn end may provide a clue, perhaps grounding on the horn, so the/a PO just unhooked it rather than fix it. Part of the clue also being that only the one horn wire looks to be unhooked. The power to the horn circuit goes through the ammeter, so maybe either the horn was sounding or the ammeter wasn't working right due to that ground / short.

The only glass on these cars that isn't flat is the rear window. Any auto glass shop should have scads of flat stock that they can cut you a new one from. Most don't have the right patterns any more, but they can cut a new one from your old one, or a cardboard pattern. It's all laminated safety glass, too. Would most likely be less expensive than ordering from somewhere online, to boot.

Welcome to the Forum! Lots of good knowledgeable folks herein. That's a very nice car, thanks for posting photos of it from the get-go. You'll find we tend to pine for photos quite a bit. We got our 4-door sedan for the same reason, already had an old pick-up but the young-uns couldn't ride in it after Texas banned riding in the back of open pick-ups (yeah, it's been a while), so instead of a sexy two door, we looked specifically for a family sized / doored car. Now we cart the grandkids around in it when they visit.

Assuming those plugs have been in since the rebuild, and not for only that 20K jaunt, there are no issues there, nice and clean. If only for that 20K, that's not much of a litmus test, but they still look really good. Personally, I would be biff and happy if the plugs in my old cars looked like that. An occasional burp of the car smelling like its running rich isn't really a problem (chalk it up as "character"), extended periods could use some looking into, but may just be that the choke is applying itself when you don't expect it. Meaning it's probably a choke issue, and not a carburetor or ignition issue. Our D24 does the soot blow-out, too, but I've also got known blow-by issues in the engine.

"Percussive maintenance"...I like that. Reminds me of that old muffler shop (?) commercial with the mechanics holding an obviously too big muffler and a big hammer, telling the customer..."We'll make it fit." Finding just where the knock is will alleviate the guesswork, as some of the responses noted, there are a few potential culprits. If you don't have a stethoscope or don't want to get one, a length of garden hose will work pretty darn good.

Ditto capt den. A quick answer is a non-answer; "how much room do you have?" But the parts to be conscientious about would be the ones you tend to actually need during the regular maintenance of your car, such as what you've listed. While most are still available from various sources, I like to have them on hand to do that particular task now, rather than wait a week or two if I have to order the part(s). I have all of that for each of our cars in their own labeled tote, as I use it, I order a replacement "for the shelf". Like capt den, I've found that holding onto any harder to find stuff, like trim pieces, pays off for bartering purposes, rather than for use on what we have in the stable. If it was a challenge to find a particular part, I'll try to get an extra, but those extras have never been needed so far.

"BLEM" = blemish or blemished. Ditto on joecoozie's explanation. Not structurally deficient, but not meeting the manufacturer's standards.

Our '37 Terraplane's spare is the original. Other than whatever bragging rights that could conceivably generate, it is otherwise totally useless. We're only the 4th owners of the car, and it came with an incomplete packet of documentation from over the years. We could deduce that the original owner touted the original spare to the second, and after that I think it became a challenge to keep the car with the original spare, although when we bought it that wasn't pointed out.

Looks more like a part that was removed and saved.

Hbpaints' radiator support is oriented correctly, but it may not be installed correctly. It should be straight up and down, not canted forward as this one is. The car does not have an original radiator, which may provide a clue. The support (frame) is one rigid piece, and while it can theoretically be installed backwards, it would be apparent it is not right as soon as you start trying to hang any other parts on it. It does look rather beat up around the top, too. I notice in the bottom photo, at the right of the support where it meets the inner fender, that it is further back than it should be. This leads me to think the support is not attached to the front cross member correctly, or even not at all. If you look up into the wheel wells, there should be three body bolts per side (at the front edge of the inner fender) that attaches the inner fenders directly to that radiator support. If they are not there, or perhaps moved to accommodate the wrong position of the support, there's and indicator of your problem. Those bolts on the outer top of the frame that attach the top of the fenders are correct but can still be attached that way with the bottom off kilter. The bolt holes in the cross member to mount the support are oblong, but I don't recall that they're oblong enough to cause that much offset, they're only supposed to accommodate adjusting the whole doghouse to or fro fractions of an inch. There's no telling why, but there it is.

Mmm..."parts porn"...

Ingenuity at its finest! Thanks for sharing!

Ditto harmony's post. If you have a service manual, it also details removal of those windows. You mention it is cracked, as opposed to shattered. Postwar MoPar cars had safety glass (laminate) all around, not just the windshield, (first auto company to do so), so it should come out in one piece. Once out, any good auto glass shop can remove the glass from the track / divider, make a new one from stock material, and install it back on the track / divider. That way they can match the tint (if any), too. Then you just put the whole assembly back in the door in reverse order of how it came out. If you want to do most of it yourself, it can be tricky to get the glass out of the track / divider if those parts are deteriorated. Once out, I'd still recommend taking the glass to a local shop to have a replacement made. Some may have a template already, but if not, they'll ask for the original piece. Of course, a cardboard template will work just as well, but that's an extra step that may not be necessary. Nothing against Bernbaum, but it's just flat laminate glass that any auto glass shop can make up for you. Reinstalling can be a tad tricky, too. There is the glass setting material like the original, or what most shops use now, a black urethane caulk / cement that works better, but can be messy. It is not hard to do. I replaced all the side windows in our D24 shortly after we first got it, they were all cracked to varying extents from a lifetime of desert exposure. I got the glass cut at a commercial shop, but I don't remember the name, this was 30 years ago. I used the glass setting strips. The driver's side divider has since wiggle loose, and although I still have glass setting strips, I think I'll try that urethane stuff to fix it.

In solidarity, I don't smoke either, but would be anal about having a working lighter, too. Me, I'd try repairing what I have, first. Could be as straight forward as reconnecting some loose or separated wires or parts. Good clean electrical connections are paramount with all components of our 6v systems. If a previous owner smoked, there could be some tar & nicotine build-up on the inside of the unit that is contributing to the replacement unit you tried jamming.

I'm reading it thinking if my kids, who are nominally proficient in antique auto work, could follow it. They could, so I like it. The PDF version is nice and clear. And while I can read that font just fine, I would recommend a more common one, too (for the text - the heading is awesome). FWIW - The Dept. of Homeland Security uses Arial in all correspondence because some sage in D.C. determined it was the easiest for the masses to read, but it's rather plain and boring. Nice job!

I had to replace that one, too, about 10 years ago. Indeed a good opportunity to do some flushing of the coolant passages, mine had quite a bit of stuff built up behind it, including what looked like some sand from the casting process. A rubber expansion plug will work, and work well. Personally, I don't care for how they look, and I know/knew how to do the metal ones, so I did that. Got the replacement from an AutoZone. It is a tad tricky to get to, but significantly easier than anything on a modern car. Our car does not have the dip stick tube feature, so I didn't have to work around that. I believe those are not permanently affixed and can be wiggled out, then tapped back in, anyway.

Still rather depends on the traffic laws of the individual States. I.e., Maine specifies that rear lights and brake lights must be red. Taillights with blue dots simply do not shine red when lit. There is no ambiguity in how it's written, or how it's interpreted in Maine. As Maine laws tend to be, "Blue dots" aren't specifically prohibited in the traffic laws, but several court cases have affirmed that red means red. But the rub is also how vigorous the local constabulary is with traffic enforcement, some places won't stop you unless you are a dire threat to public safety, some cities prohibit their officers from proactively working traffic, others will stop you if your car is too dirty. I got pulled over in Virginia once because my license plate light wasn't bright enough. And I was being spitefully mindful of the traffic laws where I was because I knew the police were bored and on the lookout for my ilk.

I wouldn't call it better, just another option.