New guy - Help confirming the year of this Luxury Liner

[roofdown]

Hi,

Newby here. I just inherited a Dodge Luxury Liner which was my grandfather's back in the good ol days. I'm trying to confirm the year of the car. Someone (presumably my late grandmother) hand-wrote "1942 Dodge" on the keyring, but I just wanted to confirm the year so I can do my research and restore everything correctly (or as close as I can get w/ the money & resources I have). Judging the knowledge I've read in this forum so far, I'm guessing that many of you will able to nail the year just from the pics. I'm not an old car buff (not yet anyway) so your help is appreciated.

Here are the pics from the barn we pulled it out of last week. The inspection sticker on the window says "1964"....so, best guess is that it hasn't seen the road (or daylight) in about 45 years.

[Plymouthy Adams]

she be a 41...the grille design is by far one of the prettiest for the 40's..she is known as a D19..I have a business man coupe and a town sedan of this variety, I noticed that you do not have the optional trun signal assemblies on the front fenders...

your newly acquired vehicle appears to be a solid unit...as an added note, this is the last year for running boards..and the 218 engine..

Edited August 26, 2009 by Tim Adams

[paulmusiclover]

Congrats on the "new" car - who doesn't love a good barn find? Good luck on your restoration!

[roofdown]

Thanks for the quick replies. My dad "thought" he remembered it being a 41, but the "42" written on the keyring made us skeptical.

The car itself does seem to be VERY solid. Running boards are pretty shot, but everything else on the exterior looks good...better than my 1998 Jeep.

The interior is pretty thrashed (as you'd probably expect). Smells like squirrel pee and the seats are definitely junk. Dash is intact, but will certainly need some reconditioning to bring it back to life.

[Cpt.Fred]

looks like it was resprayed? is the color on the last picture of the firewall the original one?

congratulations on your find! looks like a very nice car!

[greg g]

Good looking Dodge, Some things to know, if unmolested the car is 6volt wioth positive ground, fluid drive means there is no mechanical connection from the engine to the transmission, so make sure your e brake works, or that you chock the tires when you park on aything but level surfaces. Chrysler corporation had a lot of different transmission behind the fluid drive coupling, so Identifying yours is probably something you will want to do. Cars are fairly simple parts are till available and once mechaically sound they can be driven with confidence.

Brakes are a traditional area of concern, as they use a system different from the other makes at the time.

Some soap and water and a bit of polish and you will have a nice looking car there.

The ALLPAR site has a lot of good information of these old MOPARS as does the home page that hosts this forum. Lots of home work to do.

Welcome to the world of Old mopars, car nuts and this forum.

I see you are in Mass, what area of the commonwealth are you from? Good to have another Northeaster aboard.

[roofdown]

looks like it was resprayed? is the color on the last picture of the firewall the original one?

congratulations on your find! looks like a very nice car!

Yes, it was resprayed at one point. My dad says it used to be a "battleship gray"....which appears to resemble that color on the firewall.

[roofdown]

Good looking Dodge, Some things to know, if unmolested the car is 6volt wioth positive ground, fluid drive means there is no mechanical connection from the engine to the transmission, so make sure your e brake works, or that you chock the tires when you park on aything but level surfaces. Chrysler corporation had a lot of different transmission behind the fluid drive coupling, so Identifying yours is probably something you will want to do. Cars are fairly simple parts are till available and once mechaically sound they can be driven with confidence.

Brakes are a traditional area of concern, as they use a system different from the other makes at the time.

Some soap and water and a bit of polish and you will have a nice looking car there.

The ALLPAR site has a lot of good information of these old MOPARS as does the home page that hosts this forum. Lots of home work to do.

Welcome to the world of Old mopars, car nuts and this forum.

I see you are in Mass, what area of the commonwealth are you from? Good to have another Northeaster aboard.

Thanks for all this info. Yeah, my dad says that the brakes were never that good on the car to start with. When I opened the trunk, there was a chock block in there...so, I guess that gives me an idea.

Don't know the exact transmission model, but do know that it's a 3 speed on the column. Looking forward to digging in and learning more about the history of old Mopars.

BTW, I live about 20mins outside of Boston.

[Cpt.Fred]

"battleship grey":D that's a great name for it! i have the same on my 40.

love the tail lights! i hope you post your progress and take a lot of pictures,

they're priceless afterwards!

[Joe Flanagan]

That car is in really good condition. You've got a great head start. Where in Mass. are you? I come from there.

[greg g]

grays seem to be prevailant color on the 41 chart but Battleship isn't one of the 7choices, however Persuit, Fortress, Cadet, Speedwing, Skyline, Opal, and Gunmetal were on the list. Green also had 7 shades to choose from. If that is a Dodge color it might be Squad red.

[Ed Fleming]

Nice looking old girl. Have fun with it and keep this forum handy its priceless GOOD LUCK

[roofdown]

That car is in really good condition. You've got a great head start. Where in Mass. are you? I come from there.

...

Edited August 27, 2009 by roofdown

[roofdown]

grays seem to be prevailant color on the 41 chart but Battleship isn't one of the 7choices, however Persuit, Fortress, Cadet, Speedwing, Skyline, Opal, and Gunmetal were on the list. Green also had 7 shades to choose from. If that is a Dodge color it might be Squad red.

To be totally honest, I'm not a huge fan of the original gray (although I probably like it better than the current red). Is it a cardinal sin to not paint it in it's exact original model color? I really like the look of gloss black in some pics I've seen of other cars (think it makes the chrome pieces jump out).

[Plymouthy Adams]

its a cardinal sin to paint it a color you are not going to be happy with....

[Don Coatney]

Congrats on your new old car. Loofs solid as does the barn it was stored in. I notice a gas pump in the barn. What is the history of the pump?

Remember this is your car and you should do with it as you see fit including the paint color.

[greg g]

Keep in mind the Black and Dark blues and Greens have a tendency to show any and all body flaws. As the owner of a very shiny black coupe, I am eminded of that everytime I wash and wax it.

[moose]

I'm just up the road in Maynard. We should meet up sometime. I'm good helper and I've got a lot of parts:)

Wayland

[TodFitch]

Keep in mind the Black and Dark blues and Greens have a tendency to show any and all body flaws. As the owner of a very shiny black coupe, I am eminded of that everytime I wash and wax it.

I think the solution to that is to avoid washing and waxing the car. Seems to work for me.

[BobT-47P15]

Great looking car. Congratulations. Now the fun begins.

As suggested to other new owners of old cars, it is a very good idea to

purchase a repair manual and a parts manual for the model. You can usually

find both originals and reprints for sale in the appropriate section of eBay.

They both offer exploded views of parts and the repair manual offers info on

how to check for and repair certain common problems. How to adjust the brakes

is a really handy one.

Sounds like a real good offer from Moose..........

[roofdown]

Congrats on your new old car. Loofs solid as does the barn it was stored in. I notice a gas pump in the barn. What is the history of the pump?

Remember this is your car and you should do with it as you see fit including the paint color.

The gas pump is from a Texaco that my dad used to own. My guess is that it's from the late 60s (the price is set at $.31/gal on the pump)...unfortunately it doesn't pump any gas at that rate.

[roofdown]

I'm just up the road in Maynard. We should meet up sometime. I'm good helper and I've got a lot of parts:)

Thanks for the offer Moose. The car is currently on the south shore, but I'll drop you a message at some point (gotta clean my garage out first).

Edited September 1, 2009 by roofdown

[Joe Flanagan]

I second what Greg said about black. Every little bump and divot will show. But it's up to you what color you want to paint it. Compared to what many of us started with, that car is in mint condition.

[roofdown]

So I've been investigating the various manuals that are available for the D19. I'm seeing the following:

-D19 Owner's manual

-Shop Manual (covers 1941-1948 D19, D22, D24)

-1941 D19 Parts List

-1936-1942 Dodge Condensed Master Parts List

The description of the Shop Manual "sounds" like it would be most useful to me. Do I need the Parts List book too or is it mostly duplicate info. Owner's manual appears to be the basics of operation, but I'll probably just grab one of those anyway for the sake of nostalgia.

[Young Ed]

Parts list gives all the part numbers for the car. Also has many different exploded views of the pieces. Both are quite usefull.