'48 Dodge windshield wipers??

[John Reddie]

Way back 50+ years ago, I had a '48 Dodge and I thought that it had electric wipers on it but now I'm not sure. Did the '48 Dodges have electric wipers? I know my P15's did not. I think my memory is fading:eek:.

John R

[Plymouthy Adams]

Dodge was very well know for having electric wipers...including the optional rear window wipers...

[Andydodge]

All Mopars had electric wipers...........lol.........well here in Australia they did, at least from 1936.on..........my 41 Plymouth Coupe although built in Sth Africa is a US sourced car, it has vaccum wipers, 1st time I had ever seen such a thing on mopars over here.......andyd

[Desotodav]

I have found electric motors in all of the trucks that I have played with so far John. My 51 (Canadian) Desoto truck was the only truck that had a Mopar brand electric wiper motor though. From what I've seen here in Oz, our truck wipers are activated by a small switch under the dash rather than the top centre dash mounted switches in the American trucks.

My mate Dave has vaccum wipers in his 61 Dodge Phoenix, so I don't know where (or when) the change came in.

Desotodav

[Roadkingcoupe]

Not only did Plymouth have vacuum wipers through 1948 and possibly beyond. But the 1939 Plymouth Convertibles still had vacuum operated "power" tops. The convertible top was automatically operated by two vacuum cylinders.

On another note....just came across (last night) a dual action fuel pump which I believe will increase the vacuum for the wipers even when the car is going slow or at idle.

[John Reddie]

Thank you all for the info. I remember that my '49 Chrysler had the electric wipers. I also recall that Cadillac still had vacuum wipers into the fifties after Plymouth went electric.

John R

[busycoupe]

1948 Dodges came with both vacuum and electric wipers. (not in the same car of course) Deluxe models came with vacuum wipers, the upscale Custom models came with electric wipers. My Deluxe business man's coupe has vacuum wipers.

Dave

[captden29]

i had a 51 buick special, it had vacuum wipers that did the typical cut out when you accelerated. no wipers all the way uphill. i did like the car though. drove it from california to new york in 1973. kept it until 1995. my 51 windsor had electric, and i had a 1950 dodge but i thnk it had electric, not sure. i wish these old cars had intermittent. capt den

[Young Ed]

i. i wish these old cars had intermittent. capt den

Heck I was just doing some research on brand new vehicles and one had optional delay wipers. Standard was only 2 spd! I was shocked to see that on a 2011 model. Not sure but I believe it was on the toyota tacomas.

[Dodgeb4ya]

1946-8 Dodge/DeSoto and Chrysler electric wiper motors are all the same. Also this same electric motor is used in some 1948-50 Dodge trucks as an optional motor. Linkage of course is completely different.

Edited April 17, 2011 by Dodgeb4ya

[WatchingWolf]

my 50 Wayfarer is vacuum wiper equipped... I'd like to switch to electric, but I'm waiting for the 12 volt conversion so I don't have to do it twice.

[knighthawk]

My '55 Mercury had vacumn wipers, My '48 dodge came with electric.... figure that !

[oldodge41]

My '41 Dodge has electric wipers...........Tim

[Dan Hiebert]

Dave pegged it. Dodge Customs came standard with electric wipers (part of the upscale package), Deluxe had vacuum. Read that in a sales brochure recently. Don't know if you could order electric for your Delux or not, tho.

[TodFitch]

My '55 Mercury had vacumn wipers, My '48 dodge came with electric.... figure that !

My father got a used 61 Ford for a commute car in the mid-1960s. First car I'd seen with vacuum wipers as all the other cars we'd had were 1950s or newer Plymouths with electric wipers. Don't know when Ford stopped using vacuum, maybe that was the last year...

[1940plymouth]

My Dad's '62 Falcon had electric wipers

[tinlizzy]

1948 dodge truck has vaccum but 49 panel I got parts from had an electric wiper?

go figure