B-Watson

The published production figures for Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial are for car built in the U.S. and Canada. Before the introduction of the Chrysler Royal in Australia, all cars assembled / built in countries outside of Canada and the U.S. were either built on chassis shipped from Detroit or Windsor, or assembled from CKD units shipped from Detroit or Windsor. Thus 1930's Australian production is included in Chrysler Corporation production figures, albeit under "chassis". Production at any plant in Europe was based on CKD units so that production is also included in Chrysler figures. However, detailed records on CKD and chassis shipments no longer exist. For Australia, the local distributor / Richards would have kept records of how of each model were built, but those records are probably long gone. For the 1940 Plymouth Utility Sedan, it was actually a 2-door sedan with the rear side windows stationary, no rear seat, no partition between the trunk and rear seat, and had a chicken-wire partition right behind the front seat with a sliding door on the passenger side. Except for the chicken-wire fence, very similar to the business coupe.

Briggs had a plant in Evansville to supply bodies for the Plymouth plant there. Also believe they also had a plant in Los Angeles. Chrysler also had a plant in San Leandro starting in 1948, but no body plant until Chrysler built one in 1953, a year before they closed the plant. Briggs built Plymouth bodies with Chrysler supplying most of the bodies for the larger cars. Hamtramck and East Jefferson built bodies, while DeSoto bodies were built as the ex-Graham plant on East Warren Avenue from 1950 to 1958. Briggs had body building operations in the U.S. and Britain, but not Canada. Chrysler purchased the U.S. operations and Ford purchased the British. Bodies for Canadian-built Chrysler cars were built by Chrysler at the Chrysler Centre plant starting in 1929. Prior to that Chrysler of Canada had a body plant on Edna Street.

Unlikely. Most likely some previous owner replaced the original with the one from a 1939. Why? Who knows - original wheel broke, owner liked the 1939 better, . . . . Never assume what you find on an old car today was on the car when it rolled off the assembly line.

Your D16 is basically a Plymouth with a Dodge grille, emblems and nameplates. But you have a Canadian-built Dodge / Plymouth so it has a Canadian 25 inch block engine and there are many unique pieces on your D16, which is a DeLuxe series by the way. Or if your body tag on the firewall has D16S you have the higher priced DeLuxe Special. In any case, you need to get a Canadian parts book for 1940. As the D16 was a Canada-only model it will not be in any American Plymouth or Dodge book.

Couple of things about the export DeSoto (called Diplomat starting in 1946) and Dodge (Kingsway starting 1946). The DeSoto version was offered in the same dual series as Plymouth before the war. Thus the 1941 Plymouth P10 was SP10 for DeSoto and the P11 was a DeSoto SP11. Dodge, on the other hand, had but one model number for the export series from 1935 through 1941. It was the same model number as the base Canadian-built Dodge - DV, D3, D6, D9, D12, D15 and D20. The Canadian versions of these models were based on the lowest priced U.S. Plymouth series. The DeLuxe Plymouths were the basis for the DV DeLuxe, D4, D7, D10, D13, D16 and D21. The export Dodge offered all Plymouth body styles in one series. Thus Chrysler of Canada did not import Plymouth-based Dodge models not built in Canada from the U.S. From 1937 through to 1953 there were no Plymouth-based Dodge convertibles sold in Canada, although they did import station wagons in 1946-48. Chrysler built Plymouth DeLuxe convertible sedans in 1939 as well as 13 Plymouth-based Dodge convertible sedans. But as these were built as Dodge D12 models and thus were not sold in Canada. The models Chrysler of Canada imported from the U.S. were identical in equipment to the models sold in the U.S. They used 23-inch engine blocks, U.S. Plymouth interiors and exterior colours. After the war, the 1946-48 Diplomats and Kingsways came only as Special DeLuxe models. No DeLuxe series. Thus the D25S models listed in production charts were Canadian-built Dodge DeLuxe D25S models. Going through the British specifications, you might have noticed a Dodge D18 in 1938 and D23 in 1939. These were 8 cylinder Dodge Custom 8 models based on Chrysler Imperial 8 (C18 and C23) models. The front ends were Chrysler but all nameplates and emblems were Dodge. (Bill - will be emailing you tomorrow.) Bill Toronto, ON

The reason for the poor showing for exports in 1940 through 1942 is the fact that, although the U.S. went to war in December, 1941, Europe, North Africa and West Asia went to war in late 1939 and 1940. Asia was at war with Japan in late 1939, although China was fighting off the Japanese back in 1931. Thus the markets for Canadian-built export cars all but evaporated in 1940. Those export 1941 models shipped in 1942 would have been leftover models, probably originally ordered by some dealer outside of North America, but the order could not be shipped due to increasing war restrictions. The fact they were all shipped in one month in 1942 leads to the conclusion they may have been shipped for use as military vehicles somewhere across the ocean. And that would also explain the lack of 1942 SP14 models. There were no markets to ship Canadian-built cars for civilian sale. The American plant supplied cars to South America and Africa, two areas of the world that were not as deeply in involved in war at that time as Europe and Asia.

In the service manual, the engine numbers ending with `C`and serial numbers starting with `9`were imported from Canada. All the others were imported from the U.S. Chrysler Australia did not start using Kew-built engines until the Chrysler Royal appeared as the chassis was not a North American production unit. Prior to the Royal all chassis, with engine, transmission, etc., were imported. Thus the engines were either American or Canadian, depending upon where the chassis units came from. Also, the 1955-57 Australian Plymouth, DeSoto (Diplomat) and Dodge (Kingsway) used chassis that were built in the U.S. and Canada in 1954. The 1954 Plymouth figures show 3,588 chassis units in the P25-2 series and 2,031 in the P25-3. 2,148 of the P25-2 were built in Canada for export as Plymouth or Diplomat while the rest were built in the U.S. as export Plymouth, Diplomat or Kingsway. The U.S.-built Kingsway starting using U.S. Plymouth serial numbers with the 1951 model year. Chrysler of Canada also built 1,680 D49-2 chassis units for export as Kingsway. The reason for switching sourcing chassis from Detroit to Windsor had to do with balance of payments after WW II. Almost every country was deep in debt, most of it owed to the U.S. Canada, for example, had currency restrictions in place from 1948 through 1951 where you needed government approval of purchase a car built in the U.S. Bill Toronto, ON

Interesting the number of 1941 cars shipped/exported in 1942. To decode the 1941 Plymouth & Dodge models - P11 - Roadking P11 Spec - Roadking Special P12 Del - DeLuxe P12 Cus - Custom D20 - Kingsway D20 Spec - Kingsway Special D21 - DeLuxe D21 Spec - DeLuxe Special Car production came to an end by early February, 1942, and cars were stockpiled. Thus any cars shipped after February, 1942, through to Decmber, 1945, were cars from that store of cars. Although truck production continued at the truck plant on Tecumseh at McDougall, the car assembly line at Chrysler Centre was ripped up and all the tools and equipment placed into storage for the duration. Chrysler of Canada had purchased the Fisher Body plant on Edna Street at St.Luke in Windsor in January, 1927, for body production. The plant became a storage facility for Chrysler of Canada from 1941 through 1945. At war`s end the production equipment stored at Edna Street was transferred back to the Chrysler Centre plant. The plant burned down in the 1970`s, I believe. Another plant used by Chrysler during that era was the old American Auto Trimming plant on Walker Road. It had been used by Graham-Paige from 1931 to 1936, and Chrysler began using it for export preparation (CKD) in 1939. Again, the plant was abandoned after the war when the export of vehicles returned to normal levels. This plant also burned down in the 1970`s.

That would be a first series 1949 P-15 that is a continuation of the 1946-48 P-15. There was only one P-17, which went into production in February, 1949, and used a 111" wheelbase, 6" shorter than the P-15 (117"). The larger P18 was on a 118½" wheelbase. Bill Toronto, ON

1940 Plymouths came with carpet in the rear seat area on DeLuxe models. In 1951-52 models used black rubber mats. Canadian-built 1952 Belvedere and Regent hardtops with trim DBE (red combination) apparently had carpet. Not sure when Plymouth stopped offering carpet in the rear seat area. By 1954 the Belvedere had carpet front and rear while the Savoy had rubber mats in dark blue, dark green or brown, while all Plaza models had black rubber mats. During the 1960s and into the 1970s the cheapest series (Savoy, Fury I, V-100, Belvedere I) had rubber floor mats while the higher priced series had carpeting. My 1963 Valiant V-100 and 1972 Dart sedan had rubber floor mats, while my 1962 and 1965 Signets had carpet.

The eBay listing has it right. It is for a 1941-42 DeSoto or Chrysler. The seller says "Vacumatic" which is not quite right. In the U.S. Chrysler called it Vacamatic while DeSoto called it Simplimatic. In Canada both DeSoto and Chrysler sold it as Simplimatic. The detail section states it is for cars "w/semi automatic transmission". Bill

The 217 refers to the model number Chrysler gave that engine. I have Canadian parts books but they do not show the engine model numbers until the 1951 edition. Model 222 is for a US-built 1951 Plymouth so would be a 217 engine. Undoubtedly, an engine rebuilder would tag the engine according to Chrysler's specifications - bore, stoke, compression ratio. Any deviations from norm for cylinder bore, main bearings, etc. would be noted by the letters after the engine model number. "Official" engine builders were located across the US and Canada. For many years Breen Motors in Winnipeg, the Dodge-DeSoto distributor, rebuilt Chrysler engines. Century Motors took over from Breen in the 1950's. Chrysler of Canada had unique rebuild engine numbers that began with "R".

In the United States, Chrysler Corporation began building 1st series 1949 models on December 1, 1948. The last P15 Plymouth was built by the first week of February 1949. I have never seen a production by month report for P15 Plymouths, only SHIPMENTS by month. Which is to say, the cars listed for March 1949 in the Shipments by Month report were built long before they were shipped. By the time the "real" 1949 models went into production sales of the first series models had softened considerably, thus the leftover cars. Chrysler was the last manufacturer to introduce a 'postwar' car. In Canada it was worse. Chrysler of Canada never produced a 1949 version of the 1946-48 models and actually ended all production by the end of December, 1948. The assembly plant sat idle until the new models went into production in late February, 1949.

Vauxhalls were sold by Pontiac-Buick dealers in Canada, arriving in the dealers when all Buicks were imported. From 1948 through to early 1951 there were currency restrictions on the American dollar in Canada and any imported car had to have government clearance first. Thus the drop in sales of Packard, Kaiser-Frazer, Hudson, Nash, Buick, Cadillac, Lincoln and 8 cylinder Chryslers. The Wyvern 4 was sold in Canada 1949 to 1957, Velox 6 1949 to 1962, Cresta 1955 to 1962, Victor 1957 to 1970 and Viva 1964 to 1970. The one in the photo was built before 1955. The 1955 models got larger, fancier taillights although still on the sides. The Envoy (1960-1970) and Envoy Epic (1964-1970) were sold at Chevrolet- Oldsmobile dealers. Did very well the first year, outselling the Corvair, but sales dropped over the decade and the Vega replaced it for 1971. Over at the Pontiac-Buick dealers, the Vauxhall Victor and Viva were replaced by the Vauxhall Firenza for 1971. It became the poster child for all the troubles with British cars - shoddy workmanship, troublesome electricals, engines that would not run, rust, etc. For 1973 P-B dealers got their own versions of the Vega, the Astre, and the Firenza was no more. Some British manufacturers sold cars in Canada prior to WW II. Vauxhalls were imported before the GM takeover in 1926, and Austin, Morris and Hillman had distributors in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver in the 1930's. These cars were usually left hand drive. A 1930's Austin 7 owner in Winnipeg liked the car so much it was planted in the back garden when it was replaced. Do not know if it is still there (doubtful) but it was there in the summer of 1980. No Biritsh cars were built in Canada, although Austin did build a factory in Hamilton, I believe. No cars rolled out of the doors, but it was used as the main parts warehouse for Canada. Austin, Ford and GM had parts warehouses in Canada, but the rest relied on their distrubutors to keep their parts supplies up and had no main warehouses. Which cost them in the long run.

V-12 engines were offered by Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Cadillac, Lincoln, Auburn, Franklin and others. Franklin's engines were air cooled. Packard was the first (1915) to offer a V-12 while the last V-12 was the 1948 Lincoln. Weidely, an American engine bulder, offered a 389.5-cid V-12 that was used by a number of small firms in the 1916-1922 period. V-16 engines were offered by two firms - Cadillac and Marmon. Marmon (1931-33, 490.8-cid)) used an aluminum block while Cadillac actually had two V16 engines. The 1930 to 1937 engine was an ohv engine (452.4-cd), just like the V12 of the same era, while the 1938-1940 V-16 (431.4-cid) was a flathead engine. I believe Packard played with the idea of straight 12, but only one prototype was built and the idea was quickly dropped.

Tooling would not have been that great. For the transmission all you really needed was to have the spline of the transmission shaft fit into the clutch and the housing bolt up to the bell housing. The only changes internally might be the gear ratios. For the brakes, you would need unique backing plates and drums but the shoes and wheel cylinders could be shared with other makes. Just need to have the drum diameter and shoe width the same as some other make. Interesting, and simple, way they activate the parking brake on the Girlock brakes. A lever is pulled by the parking brake cables which forces the brake shoes against the drum. When the parking brake is released, the return springs pull the shoes away from the drum. Also, the use a normal u-joint behind the transmission instead of the more common, for Mopar, ball and trunnion set up.

All 1940-1948 Plymouths were on a 117" wheelbase, except for the 1940-1941 LWB sedans which were on a 137.5" wheelbase. 1941-1948 Dodge models were 119.5" (137.5" for LWB) while DeSoto and 6-cylinder Chryslers were 121.5" (139.5" for LWB). The 8-cylinder Chryslers were 127.5" with the Crown Imperial on a 145.5" frame. The extra 2" on the 6-cylinder DeSotos and Chryslers was for the 25" engines (Plymouth and Dodge used the 23" block) while the 8-cylinder engine needed another 6" under the hood. In other words, the Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler models shared the same body.

The rear axle / spring location is usually on American vehicles. Prior to 1949 they were up front by the front axle, serial number on the right side of the vehicle and engine number on the left side. Is your 1949 Chrysler an American or Canadian model? Have had people look on Canadian-built models at the American spec locations and never find anything.

The Chrysler Royal was NOT built in North America, only in Australia. It used a modified 1953-54 Plymouth body and was built on a modified 1953-54 Plymouth chassis. Neither were made in North America after 1954. Australia had their import duties set up to encourage the use of Australian made parts. You have a Chrysler manual that shows a unique transmission and brake system that was not used on North American cars, and thus could not have been supplied by Chrysler in Detroit. The only logical conclusion is that Chrysler Australia used local suppliers for the standard transmission and the related brake system. Nash of Canada did something similar when they began building the Nash Statesman in Canada back in 1950. Instead of importing transmissions and brakes, subject to import duties, excise taxes and American dollar trade restrictions, Nash purchased Canadian-built Chevrolet units from GM of Canada. Both Chevrolet and Nash used torque-tube drive which made the units adaptable. Girlock was a brake and clutch manufacturer in Australia and South Africa (still in business, I believe) and their products were also used on Australian Ford and Holden vehicles. The Australian Girlock manufacturing arm was apparently acquired by PBR while the brake and clutch service centres were acquired by Repco. As Girlock (Girling + Lockheed ??) supplied Ford and Holden, why not Chrysler? Any manufacturer markings on the transmission?

The first North American Mopar car to have the "normal" emergency brake was the 1960 Valiant. The Valiant adopted Bendix brakes instead of the Lockheed brakes. As well, the new A904 Torqueflite for the 1960 Valiant had a park lever, something that the Plymouth and Dart with their Lockheed brakes did not have. For 1962 the new B-body Plymouth and Dodge Dart adopted Bendix brakes and the Torqueflite had a park lever. Chrysler, Imperial and Dodge 880 were the last to switch to Bendix brakes in 1963. The Australian Chrysler Royal used imported automatic transmissions, which is why they had the transmission brake. However, Chrysler Australia could use local suppliers for the manual transmission and brakes, which would eliminate the import duties on those parts and reduce costs (and prices). Wonder who supplied the brakes. They look similar to prewar Lockheed brakes used on the Graham Hollywood (for one) with the wheel cylinder on the side rather that the top. Bill Toronto, ON

Fluid Drive was not a transmission, but a fluid coupling between the engine and the clutch. The starter ring gear was attached to the fluid coupling. At first a three-speed manual transmission was mated to Fluid Drive, but in 1941 Chrysler introduced a 4-speed semi-automatic. The 3-speed was your basic manual transmission, no surprises there. The semi-automatic had three positions, reverse (where reverse normally is on a 3-speed), low range (2nd gear on a 2-speed) and high range (3rd gear). First gear position did not exist on the semi-automatic. A torque converter was introduced for 1951, Fluid Torque Drive, on V8 models. For 1953 the torque converter took its oil from the engine supply and dropped the small pump behind the torque converter. Plymouth's 1953-54 Hy-Drive was basically Fluid Torque Drive mated to a 3-speed manual transmission.

Your Dodge Regent is basically a Plymouth Cranbrook. Thus it came with a clutch and 3-speed manual transmission - no Fluid Drive and no Gyromatic. In Canada the Coronet offered FD and GM, but not on the Regent, Crusader or Kingsway. The engine / transmission swap should be fairly easy. Both were basically the same from 1940 through to 1952. The 1948 wheelbase is 117" while the Regent is 118.5". The engines in both are 218.1-cid units - 3.375" bore and 4.06" stroke. Engine number on the Plymouth should start with P15 and the Dodge D40-2. Both should end with a C.

There were two sizes of Dodge in 1940, a Plymouth-based Dodge on a 117" wheelbase and the larger Dodge on a 119.5" wheelbase. The fenders on the 117" Dodge are the same as the Plymouth while the 119.5" Dodge are different. And the front fenders will not interchange as the extra length for the 119.5" Dodge is in the front clip. The 117" Dodges were D15 (Detroit export and Windsor) and D16 (Windsor only). The 119.5" Dodges were D14 (Detroit and Windsor) and D17 (Detroit only). The Australian Dodges used D14 and D15 chassis units shipped from Detroit. Bodies were built in Australia, but I am not sure if the Australian D14 and D15 models used different front ends. Have not seen enough of them to know.

Came across one in my father`s stuff. He borrowed his younger brother`s almost new 1948 Studebaker Champion when he and my mother went on their honeymoon. While in Minneapolis he picked up a radio (much cheaper in the U.S.) and brought it back to Canada. At the border he declared the radio and paid the necessary fees and taxes (still cheaper than buying a radio in Canada!) and was on his way. If the radio had been installed in the U.S., my father would have had to pay those charges on the radio PLUS the value of the Studebaker! That law was still in effect in the 1970`s. A friend went south in his new GMC van and had a stereo installed. Got back to the border and declared a number of items, although not the stereo. It would have been fine had he mailed the owners manual to himself instead of placing it in the glove box. The border agent found the English-only manual and asked my friend if he was sure there was nothing else to declare. When he replied no, nothing else, he was asked to explain the unilingual stereo manual. He was nailed the taxes and duties on the stereo as well as the new GMC van! And because he tried to smuggle the stereo across the border the van was impounded. When asked how he was to get home, the border agent gave him directions to the nearest Greyhound bus station. (As Canada is a bilingual country, all manuals, packaging, etc. must be in English and French.)