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Jan. 9 Before we left. Car warming up...

Jan. 9, 2018 First ride of the year! The dogs and I couldn't resist as the roads were pretty clear and we've been blessed with a 43F afternoon. It had been -10F at night with highs in the single digits, so this has been nice. Not much for sand and salt on the road either. I hooked up the battery and it took maybe 8 or 10 cranks and it started up. Drove to Spring Grove and back; roughly a 35 mile round trip. Man, it was a great drive!

Hi Keith, this one is a 1950, not in the range you're looking for but at least you get a good walk around of it. I'm sure there's many similarities. Also, this one has been FS on CL for quite some time...not a Chrysler, but my favorite: a Dodge! At least its a little bit of eye candy for you to look at anyway https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/d/1948-vintage-dodge-4-door/6417910259.html Also, here's a 1950 straight 8 running nicely; not in a limo, but a straight 8 nonetheless.

I figured it was something like that; sorry the whole thing is a pain in the a**. Getting car parts shouldn't have to cost so much. Hope you can find a way man

Hi Franky, can you not order an oil pan gasket set from here? Scroll down about 3/4 of the page. They have many other parts for your Plymouth it seems. http://www.oldmoparts.com/parts-engine.aspx

That finish has been the topic of discussion between myself and many people, young and old. I have yet to hear a solid answer on how they did it. Its driving me nuts

I'd do it in a heartbeat if our roads weren't plastered with salt and sand. And they just spread a fresh batch this morning after a dusting of snow.

Looks great! Thanks for sharing and good luck with the work you plan on doing to it. Keep us updated.

That's a good idea. Ultimately, if I want to use the building then I will have to make the bats vacate. I think that the soffit on the building is nonexistent. I'd have to seal it up tight. Lots of possibilities I guess. I keep thinking about a NEW building though. Premier makes several different garage-type sheds. I looked at some last summer and liked them a lot. If I knew a damn thing about carpentry I'd build my own I guess. I've got some time to think about it all. For now the Meadowbrook is in the garage safe and sound. Ain't pretty in there, but the roof doesn't leak, etc.

Mike 36 and Pflaming, I agree that the granary is in pretty good shape. The foundation needs work, which wouldn't be too terrible because its only raised up on a few blocks, which are tipping off to one side and starting to crumble. The lowest part of the exterior boards have seen better days, but again, those could be replaced easily enough. The roof is solid, the building doesn't leak. The interior boards/floor/support beams are in excellent shape. Here's my concern: the bats have sh*t in there an enormous amount. I didn't know it at first, but bat sh*t is super toxic and can make you really really sick, even just breathing in the dust if you sweep it up. I have thought about having it professionally cleaned and then yes, modify the building to put an overhead door in (I was originally thinking about putting my 1977 JD loader in there since the building is tall enough to accommodate it). I just don't really know what to do, and I don't want to deal with the bat sh*t. But I do understand your comments for sure. I guess I'll rethink the whole thing. Maybe it would be cheaper for me to have someone clean it and then a guy could modify it to his liking. We shall see...

Dec. 20, 2017 continued: I drove about a 30 mile round trip to visit a guy that tears down old barns and repurposes the wood. I'm probably going to tear down the granary and replace it with a new garage for the Meadowbrook. The foundation is shot, and its just time for it to go. Pic #1: On County 4 enroute Pic #2: Leaving that guy's place; his barn was built in 1880 and has had recent work, i.e. replaced some old rotten boards, new plexiglass windows, etc. Pic #3: My granary to be torn down or moved

Dec. 20, 2017: Tomorrow's forecast calls for about 3 inches of snow, and the salt and sand that was spread on the roads on Dec. 9 has mostly disappeared, so I took the opportunity to drive the Meadowbrook today. After not starting it for almost 2 weeks it was almost like driving it for the first time again. The smell of the interior and the purr of the engine were extra special today.

Looking good man! Have fun with it

Thanks for the well wishes, Andy. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well. Minnesota is part of the "rust belt". The plows haul a mixture of sand and salt; you can always tell that salt was spread because the road turns white in spots. I will admit though, southeastern Minnesota's plows (and the men who drive them of course) do a superb job during the winter months. Its amazing how thorough they are. I'm just not going to drive my Meadowbrook on these winter roads LOL. As long as I can keep my car maintained and road ready, and nothing out of the ordinary happens (accident, blown engine, etc.) we will keep driving it and sharing stories here. We should be able to keep going for many years. I might even be able to get it back on the road in March. Around here winter can end in early March, or it can go to the middle of May. So we will see. This off-season I have to do the rear brakes, change all the fluids and give it a good tune-up. I will also have someone patch a small hole in the rear floor (driver's side). I already miss not giving any real updates. The car is just sitting in the garage looking lonely. Maybe this week I'll jack it up and tear into those brakes....

Thanks for thinking of me Keith, and awesome picture btw. I like the looks of it. Surely its just a lawn ornament now, but I guess that's better than the scrap heap. I'd haul that sucker home and get it running! Fellas, turns out that I made the right decision putting the Meadowbrook away the other day. Although we didn't get hardly any snow at all, the County decided it would be a good idea to sand AND salt the roads. I don't want any of that mess splattering up underneath my car. Its already rusty enough.

Dec. 8, 2017: Well fellas, I hate to admit it but I think I'm putting the Meadowbrook away for the winter. Its going to snow tonight, and even if they don't spread salt or sand I don't want snow spraying up into the rust holes and making them bigger. I took it to town and filled it up, then when I got back home I put some Stabile and Heet in the gas tank and topped it off again with some gas from a can. Then I unhooked the battery. Some stats for 2017: We drove it from May 8 - Dec 8 (7 months) and put on 6,532 miles (from the fresh engine rebuild), spent $1,200.00 on gas, and averaged 933 miles a month. The car now has 68,706 miles. I've put on 9,581 miles since I bought it in March of 2016. So from March of 2016 - May 7th 2017 3,049 miles were put on the car. If we get an early spring I'm gonna shoot for 10,000 miles in 2018! I hope to heat up my garage enough during winter to work on the rear brakes, and install a new master cylinder. Otherwise I will wait until the warmer spring weather shows up, then do some of the maintenance that needs to be done before hitting the road again. Its been a great run this year! Pic: final shot before driving it into the garage...

Nice score man, what a beautiful car. And nice work getting it all cleaned up. Happy to hear that you're going to drive it. I think that's something a lot of people forget when it comes to their classic cars. I've read some old posts and people recommend NOT changing the fluid in the fluid drive coupling. If its full (and not leaking, etc.) leave it alone. That's what I ended up doing with my Meadowbrook, even after I had purchased 2.5 gallons of ISO 32 from a local Fleet Farm with the intention of draining and replacing it. If you're determined to change the oil in it anyway, and can't find this viscosity, lmk and I'll send you mine for cost. Just PM me if you get to that point.

Dec 2- Hollidazzle cont. Our feet were cold by the time we made it back to the Meadowbrook. I cranked the heater. We were parked right by the "Dickens Village" which is a really nice little display that my son wished he could play with. It was a fun, toasty ride home, which I remind my son is "night driving". The moon was so bright I think I could've driven with my lights off.

Dec. 2: 6:30pm We drove into town (Houston, MN) for the Hollidazzle Parade. There were quite a number of floats and other entries, like this school bus all lit up (pic #1) and the horses pulling a wagon (pic #2). Pic #3 is after the lighting of the park and fireworks display. I lost my wife and son during the parade, but found them for the park lighting. I was chauffeuring my daughter and her friends around for a little bit. Believe it when I say that 12 year old girls (5 of them) loved the Meadowbrook! Two of them said they liked the way it smelled inside (and also the raw gassy exhaust LOL).

Dec. 2 Car ran good as usual. Taking it into town later this evening for the Holidazzle Parade.

Dec. 2 At home

Dec. 2 quick stop at the library on the way home.

Dec. 2

We got lots of looks as usual, mostly bewildered. "How can they be driving that old car? Its December!" is what I imagined some saying to themselves. My answer would be: "How could I not?"

Dec. 2 Dogs were ready to go!