knuckleharley

Ahhh,those were America's Glory Days. Jobs for anybody that wanted one,and you could buy a new car for $1500-2500 bucks and a new brick house for less than 15 grand! Don't remember what the tax rate was back then,but it must have been low because I don't remember hearing anyone complaining about it.

IF possible,please try to keep the original parts you pull off so some future owner can use them. Or maybe just put them up for sale here. Pretty much everything can be rebuilt if you have the core and the desire.

Yes on the dual master cylinder,as well as new copper-nickel brake lines and brake hoses. No,on the engine rebuilt/replacement until you find out you actually need it. Chances are a few oil changes every hundred miles or so and driving it at highway speeds will "cure" what ails it. Sludge and possibly stuck rings will make one smoke. The cure for that is usually oil changes and driving it like a a car for a few hundred miles. lF you don't see any improvement after that,THEN consider a rebuild or engine swap. BTW,make damn sure you use 30 wt NON-DETERGENT oil. Part of your problem MIGHT be someone changed the oil and used modern detergent oil. IF that has happened,pull the oil pan NOW and clean all the sludge out of the bottom end,put it back on with new gaskets,and fill it with 30 wt non-detergent oil and make frequent oil changes until it stops smoking. Might take two or three changes to get all the sludge out of the system. Replace the rear and front oil seals while you have the oil pan off. "Do I do the maintenance and drive it until something breaks?" Yes. If it ain't broke,don't try to fix it. No need to spend big bucks on repairs you might not need.

Sorry,but my total knowledge of them is that I own one. I have been planning on using the original dash shift lever and cable. Probably in a panel bolted to the bottom of the dash.

I will be using the 33 bellhousing and trans,and don't predict any problems. The VA has been wanting to amputate my left leg since 1982,but I have managed to keep it so far. My plans for the 2 speed auto are to put it in my 42 Dodge coupe. I may be wrong,but since both the 42 and the 55 engine are 230's,this shouldn't be a problem. I guess I will find out when/if I ever get started on the 42. I got an almost complete 55 4dr with the 2 speed auto as a parts car for 250 bucks,so it's no big deal money-wise if I can't use the trans. I know I am not missing anything because it is all still bolted together in the original 55.

What,you don't actually think some cop and his pal with a storage area would actually seize a car as stolen,store in in the pals storage yard for a year,and then get a title for it in one of their names as an abandoned vehicle due to the storage fees,do you? Why,I NEVA!........ Well,I did once. Had a local cop wake me up as I was sleeping in my tow caar at a closed gas station in Tn,and tell me to follow him to the station because he was arresting me for vagrancy. UNLESS,of course I would pay the $100 fine in cash on the spot,in which case he would let me go if I left the county immediately. Well,I didn't have the spare 100 bucks to pay him. I was still in the army and had just gotten back from 3 years on Okinawa,and had to report in to Bragg in just a few days. I had no money to spare because while visting friends in Reno,I bought a 56 coupe de ville,and decided to "play Hud" driving cross-country,instead of just flying,like any sane person would do. Along the way,I bought a 33 Plymouth 2dr with a 324 Olds and hydro while doing a little partying in a little town in Arizona,and was towing it behind me. Stopped at a closed gas station just off the interestate in eastern TN,and was awakened by a cop tapping on my window with his flashlight. He announced that unless I gave him $100 in cash,he was going to arrest me for vagrancy. Since I didn't have 100 bucks to spare because I had just gotten back to the US ,and had decided to buy a 56 coupe de ville while .in Reno visiting a buddy teaching ROTC there. I had decided I wanted to drive cross country and "play Hud",instead of doing the sensible thing,and flying home. Along the way,I stopped to spend a few days with a go-go dancer I happened to meet in Arizona,and bought a 33 Plymouth 2dr with a 324 Olds and Hydro in it,and had the 33 hooked to the Caddy with a tow bar. The arrest happened on a Friday night,and I sat in a cell with the light burning 24/7 until 8 AM Monday morning,when he came to let me out before the Judge showed up. He also told me I had 30 minutes to get out of the county or he would arrest me again,but for car theft this time because I didn't have a notorized title for the Caddy in my name. The paperwork was still being processed in Reno. . When we got to the impound yard where the Caddy was,there was no 33 Plymouth OR tow bar,and I was told by the impound yard people there was no record of a 33 Plymouth EVER even being there,and reminded once again the clock was ticking on my car theft arrest,which would have meant the army would charge me with desertion instead of AWOL because I had a TS Crypto clearance and was in SF. He didn't know that,but I did,so I had to bite my lip and drive off. I did have big plans for that boy after a couple of years had passed and everyone had forgotten about me. Got out of the army after coming back from VN,and was working construction and trying to save some money for a trip I had planned,when by chance I discovere the house I was helping remodel belonged to a family from that same Tn town. So I asked them about "good old,Captain Bill,with the MP insignia on his tie",and they laughed and told me he was in prison. He made the mistake of stopping someone else with out of state tags and trying to pull the same scam on them,but the guy he pulled that time was the nephew of a powerful congressman in DC,and it didn't work out too well for him. This stuff DOES happen.

I hope whoever seized it gave you a proper receipt for it that included the make,model,serial number,and the date they seized it and including the signature and position of the person who did seize it?

Yes,if by "look deeper into the ignition switch" you mean check and replace EVERY bit of suspiscious wiring". Nothing will ruin the joy of having a "new" old car than having it catch fire and burn your garage and house to the ground with it after it lights up. If you can't afford to replace it all at once,just replace every wire in the ignigition system and the brake lights,and disconnect the rest. You can get by without headlinghts,taillights,dash lights,heater blower,etc,etc,etc for the time being as long as you have brake lights. Buy and replace it ALL one section at a time as you can afford it. The good news is that unlike new cars,the oil pressure and water temp gauges are mechanical.

The Dodge shocks may fit the DeSoto and work ok for a car only driving occasionally,but they are not truly a direct replacement because the DeSoto is a heavier car and needs a shock that can handle heavier loads. Look them up to get the overall lengths compressed and extended,as well as the "eye" diameter to see if they will bolt to your DeSoto. If they will,they will probably be ok for occasional use on the (generally speaking) smoother roads of today compared to those of 1948. Even if they wear out sooner,so what? At those prices you can afford to replace them every 10 years or so.

You don't have to buy them from O'Reilly's. Just get the parts number and look for interechanges.

Shocks are made to certain lengths and weight-bearing loads,and manufacturers design the cars around items they can readily buy off the market instead of having to design and manufacture them theirselves. LOTS of interchangeability IF you have a parts number from your old shocks. The new number for the same length and load bearing shock may be different,but they will have the interchage numbers. Think "Fan belts" and it will make more sense. One fan belt will work with many applications.

AFAOK,they are available for every auto parts store. The trick is finding the parts number stamped on 1 front and 1 rear shock because most parts stores are computerized these days,and computers don't have the "old books" that everybody threw away. Here is a URL for the page you need at Oreilly auto parts Search For Shock Absorbers - 1948 DeSoto S-11 | O'Reilly Auto Parts If you can't get that to load,check your messages.I will try to send it to you there.

Don't worry. When driving an antique car around,it is always a good idea to have a new starter,water pump,fuel pump,and fan belt in the trunk for emergencies. Especially if you are driving out of town or out of state. Chances of finding them in stock at a local parts store is slim,and unlike modern cars,you CAN change these parts along side the road.

A-hole state inspectors that either don't know what they are doing,or who get off on making life difficult for antique car owners. I actually had one insisting I pull the radiator out of my all-original 51 Ford Victoria so he would see the "secret number" stamped on the front crossmember. He wanted this because unlike the 49 and 50's that had the VIN number stamped on the driver's side of the firewall,the 51 had it stamped on the passenger side,and he didn't want to accept this. I even showed him the factory 51 Ford parts manual that stated on the 51's the vin number was on the passenger side,and had a photo showing it. Even that wasn't good enough,so I literally told him to kiss my big red ass because I was right,he was wrong,and I wasn't going to pull the radiator just to please him. I told him to go ahead and submit it,and that if I didn't get a clear title I would be driving to Raleigh to discuss this with his boss,and taking my factory parts manual with me. This was the same asshat that had "lost" two other titles I gave him that had been notorized,causing me to have to get new NC vin numbers for those cars. Guess what? I got a clear NC title back in the mail.

Do you have a truck with a trailer hitch on it? If you do,buy a mount to mount a winch on on a adaptor plate for winches,and buy a winch with 50 or 100 feet of cable and winch them to you. Try to get as close to them with the truck as you can without getting stuck before starting,though. If they are stuck in the mud,build an A frame of pipe that you can roll out to the cars,stand it up,and use the winch to pull the cars out of the muck. If you decide to do this,do NOT get carried away with snatching them out by force. Put some strain on your cable until it gets tight,and then just let it sit there until the strain on the cable pulls it out slowly. Anything you pull out that isn't worth fixing can be stripped for parts to keep or sell,and the rusted hulk and chassis can then be sold for scrap to get the money to pay you back more than you spent for the winch,adaptors,and pipe A-Frame. If you have your own trailer,it would be a simple matter to use pins and clips to mount the A-frame to the rear of your trailer to pull them right up to you for loading. Pull the clips,take the A-frame off and then winch the cars up on the trailer. You might also want to go somewhere like Harbor Freight and buy 4 dollies with wheels to roll the cars around that don't have axles,or that does have axles that won't turn. You will be glad you spent this money because later on you can use them under your car in the garage to roll the car around and even sideways if you need to move something around. I can practially guarantee you that you will never be sorry you bought strong dollies.

What is the reading on your water temperature guage when you try to restart it? If it's not boiling,it's not hot enough to vapor lock. I am guessing the problem is not vapor lock,though. PROPABLY ignition or carbuerator related. Maybe timing. Check your gas lines to make sure none are running too close to the exhaust manifold,tailpipe,or even the engine. Could be your timing is too high. Does it seem like the engine wants to "kick back" when it starts,or maybe sputters until it starts? Get it running again,let it warm up to normal operating temp,and then loosen the distributor clamp and advance and retard the ignition until you find the "sweet spot" where it idles smooth. Retighten the clamp and start it again. This is common with old cars that have timing chains that have stretched and timing gears that are worn. What I suggested above is often just a temporary fix. IF this "Fix" "cures" your problem,plan on buying a new timing chain and gear set and crankshaft front seal because it ain't going to get better.

I thought it sucked. I turned down more money to sell it to the liar that bought it because he told me he wanted to restore it.

My plans are to put a 330 DeSoto hemi in my 33 Plymouth coupe,basically because I got the car for free along with something I wanted in a trade for a tractor I no longer needed. The 56 DeSoto 4dr I got was a total rust bucket,but mechanically complete,so why not use it? I also have a factory 4brl 276 DeSoto engine with low miles and no cylinder ridges,but I'm thinking I would rather see a restorer needing an engine for a 2dr ht or convertible get that one.

Don't forget to sping the engine with the starter while the plugs are still out until you see oil pressure on the dash gauge before trying to start it. Also,don't forget to pull or push the car out of your garage before you do start it. You will be glad you did when you see the cloud of blue smoke.

I am redoing a 37 Dodge truck with the 9 foot bed. Originally a fire truck that had a pumper body in the bed. Putting it on a 79 Dodge 4x4 chassis. Started a build page in the truck section,but haven't gotten much posted so far.

47 Jim,what are your plans for the truck? It really looks pretty solid in the photos.

Is rhe Bendix broken? Did you take the starter off and jump it with battery cables to see if the Bendix kicks in?

Good luck to you! Sometimes it really is that easy. I once bought a 50 Ford panel truck that was so hard stuck we had to fill the back with cinder blocks,and then drag it around with a tractor with the plugs out and the trans in second gear to get it spinning. Put the plugs back in and got it running,and damned if wasn't stuck again the next time I tried to start it. Ended up driving it for about 4 years with no real trouble. Sold it to a guy that said he wanted to restore it when I moved to Colorado and couldn't take it with me,amd damned if he didn't sell it to Dennis Anderson,and it became the 1st "Grave Digger". Didn't last long. He sold the original running gear and engine for scrap after he modified the truck for mud racing.

DO NOT USE STARTER FLUID ON AN ENGINE THAT HAS BEEN SITTING FOR MONTHS OR YEARS! Pull all the plugs first,fill the cylinder with Marvel Mystery Oil,and let them soak overnight with the sparkplugs out. Then spin it over by hand the next morning to get it broken free if it is stuck,and then spin it over with the plugs still out until you can see the engine has built oil pressure on the gauge. THEN you can use the starter fluid.

You might be surprised at how often pouring a little Marvel Mystery Oil down the carb ast is running at fast idle will clear that sort of thing right up. Seriously. It's almost like magic. I make it a standard practice to pull the plugs on any old engine I get that has been sitting,and pouring a little Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder,letting it sit overnight with the plugs still out so it can work it's way past the rings. Go out there the next day and turn the engine over with the starter or a breaker bar if it is stuck,and let the slickness work it's magic. Hell of a lot cheaper than broken rings when trying to unstick one,not to mention all the labor and parts money it MIGHT cost you if you didn't. Be aware that if you do this,you need to push or pull the car out of your garage before trying to start it. It might smoke a bit once it starts.