How Do You Start Your Car?

[larryconnors]

I was watching Driving Miss Daisy today and I was suprised to see her start her 1948 Chrysler by just turning the key. I started thinking about how I started the Chrysler products I've owned. My 37 and 39 plymouths had a starter pedal on the floor above the gas pedal. My 47 and 48 plymouths had the dashboard starter button on the left. My 49 Dodge, 50 Plymouth and 50 Chrysler had turn key starting. Did Chrysler get this a year earlier than Plymouth and Dodge? Did they ever have hand crank starting or any other systems? When did they change over from one setup to the next?

[TodFitch]

. . . Did they ever have hand crank starting or any other systems? When did they change over from one setup to the next?

The first Plymouth was built in 1928, a long time after it became standard to have electric starters fitted on cars. So your primary method of starting was with a pedal or switch on the floor. On the '33 there is a mechanical pedal that engages the starter gear and once engaged closes a high current switch on the starter.

 

For the years leading up to WW2, or at least through most of the '30s (not sure when they stopped), the car also came with a hand crank and there was a removable crank hole cover on the front of the car. So you could, in theory, hand crank the car to start it if the battery was too low or there was a problem with the starter.

 

FWIW, when I saw that bit in Driving Miss Daisy I took it to be an artistic liberty. The producers probably thought that the viewers wouldn't get the concept of a non-key starter. OTOH, maybe Chrysler got the key start before Plymouth and I'm just ignorant.

[Dodgeb4ya]

I start my 1946 and 1948 Chryslers by turning the key on then pushing the starter buttom.

[TodFitch]

FWIW, I don't see the '48 Chrysler using turn key starting shown as a goof at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097239/trivia?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf

 

I guess someone should add it. Or maybe that is covered by this comment:

 

In the very early scene where Miss Daisy is inside starting her car it is a 1949-1953 Chrysler. The car shown backing over the wall from the outside is a 1946-1948 Chrysler.

 

[greg g]

When I first got my car (46), it started by turning the key to the start position.  But the key for the ign did not match the key for the door lock, so I suspect that somewhere along the line the ign switched was changed for a later one which incorporated the starter circuit.  I have since reconnected the starter button and the key no longer engages the starter.  This probably gave me a bit of anti theft protection, but know that cars have reverted to push button start systems, that has probably gone by the wayside as more folks can figure out the start button.

[Frank Elder]

FWIW, when I saw that bit in Driving Miss Daisy I took it to be an artistic liberty. The producers probably thought that the viewers wouldn't get the concept of a non-key starter. OTOH, maybe Chrysler got the key start before Plymouth and I'm just ignorant.

 

Tod...in a tony curtis movie they have him hand cranking a d24 vert........

[desoto1939]

I have 39 Desoto that uses the starter push rod that is just above the gas pedal.  I have two NOS front nose pieces for my car.  I has the crack hole and also came with the cover, the other does not have the crank hole cover. Also the one that came with my car does not have the crank hole.

 

even thought there is a crank hole in the one unit there is no possible way to crank over the car since the radiator comes down to low in the nose piece to allow a crank rod to engage the  crank shaft.  This was just a left over.  So at least 39 Does not have the hand crank option for the Desoto.  I also know that the Dodge, Chrysler and Desoto had the basic same body style so I would assume that the hand cranking is not available.  And also who would want to try to crank over by hand our flat head 6, And since Doctor Kettering from the Sloan Kettering Cancer hospital designed the electric start back in the teens for Cadillac who would want to hand crank a car and then have to worry about breaking a wrist if you held you hand in the wrong position on the crank handle.  Remember never over lap your thumb on the crank handle open palm to prevent a broken thumb.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[TodFitch]

. . . And since Doctor Kettering from the Sloan Kettering Cancer hospital designed the electric start back in the teens for Cadillac . . .

I'm not sure that Charles Kettering had a PhD much less a MD degree.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Kettering

[desoto1939]

If you do a search on who invented the electric starter you will find the Charles Kettering developed the electric start mechanism for cadilacc.

Edited September 10, 2013 by desoto1939

[desoto1939]

[here is a copy of my finding about kettering

[TodFitch]

If you do a search on who invented the electric starter you will find the Charles Kettering developed the electric start mechanism for cadilacc.

Yep. The wikipedia article noted that his inventions, especially his invention of the electric starter, made him a fortune. And, among other things he did with that fortune, he founded the organization that became the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Rather a remarkable person with lots of inventions including the points type ignition system that was in use for so many decades.

 

But I first read your posting as implying that he was an MD, of Sloan-Kettering fame. . .

[garbagestate 44]

Although I haven't seen the beginning of the movie in a while, it looked to me like they used a 48 Chrysler for the outside shot of the car rolling over the embankment and a 49 or 50 Chrysler for the brief interior shot of the dashboard when she goes to start it.

[Andydodge]

When I got my 1st Andy Bernbaum catalog in the 1980's, I couldn't work out what the listing for a "starter pedal pad" was.........you see that here in Oz with RHD the cars had the key ignition on the dash with a small chromed push button above the headlight switch.........it then dawned on me that with the starter being on the Oz passenger side there must have been a button on the floor....and sure enough looking at the original 1940 Dodge owners manual that came with my car when I bought it in 1971 it showed a picture with this floor button...........and I learnt something else then about the car.....as far as I know this setup was the norm here in Oz from the mid 30's.......on the attached pic the chrome starter button is on the right side of the dash, between the gauges......the small black button is the windscreen washers........regards, andyd

[JIPJOBXX]

With a wing and pray!  No mine starts right up with a push of the foot!

[knuckleharley]

 

 

even thought there is a crank hole in the one unit there is no possible way to crank over the car since the radiator comes down to low in the nose piece to allow a crank rod to engage the  crank shaft.  This was just a left over.

 

Rich,is there any possibility the radiator in your car is a aftermarket replacement radiator,and that's why it doesn't have the hole for the crank in it?

 

Does the engine crank have the special nut on the end of it?

 

I ask this because I know at least some 39 Fords came with a crank because I have one of the original radiators laying around somewhere that has the split center so both banks of the V-8 get independent cooling,and it has the crack hole in the center,too. If you can hand crank the V-8,I see no reason why you can't hand crank the 6.

[desoto1939]

Rich,is there any possibility the radiator in your car is a aftermarket replacement radiator,and that's why it doesn't have the hole for the crank in it?

 

Does the engine crank have the special nut on the end of it?

 

I ask this because I know at least some 39 Fords came with a crank because I have one of the original radiators laying around somewhere that has the split center so both banks of the V-8 get independent cooling,and it has the crack hole in the center,too. If you can hand crank the V-8,I see no reason why you can't hand crank the 6.

Mine has the original Radiator and I have verified the MOPAR number that is stampped on the top of the resevior tank

 

Rich

[Young Ed]

I thought the crank was supposed to slip under the radiator in the gap between the bottom tank and the top of the radiator U.

[TodFitch]

I thought the crank was supposed to slip under the radiator in the gap between the bottom tank and the top of the radiator U.

Probably depends on the year.

 

In 1933 and, I think, 1934 there are holes punched in the front frame cross member for the crank to slide through to get to the pully. Definitely below the radiator which sits a couple of inches above.

[De Soto Frank]

Personally, I use the starter !

 

 

 

Back to "Driving Miss Daisy".

 

 

They used two different cars for the "backing out of the garage and over the wall" scene.

 

All exteriors are of a '46-'48 Chrysler.

 

The interior shot of her starting the car used a '49 or '50 Chrysler.  It's a quick shot, but those familiar with the '46-'50 Chryslers will catch it.

 

I saw DMD as a first-run movie, while in college ( 1989 or 90 ), at the Garden Drive-In  in Hunlock's Creek, PA (Just south of Wilkes-Barre),  with my girlfriend at that time, in my 1948 CHRYSLER NEW YORKER !   (key to the right of the column, under the cluster, starter button on the extreme left of the dash, to the left of the cluster)

 

Chrysler Corp used the floor-starter on cars through 1942 ( some Chrysler models may have gone to the dash-button for '41-'42, especially on the eights), the dash button from '46-'49 first-series, then the key-starter.

 

I think the foot starter continued on the trucks at least thorugh the end of the WC series, maybe later ?

Edited September 11, 2013 by De Soto Frank

[De Soto Frank]

As for hand-cranks and 1940's MoPars, at least with the Chrysler and De Soto, I think the hand-crank option was dropped by 1940 or so... definitely by '41.  There is absolutely no provision to use the crank on the '41 & later cars, not even so much as a crank jaw on the damper-pulley.

 

And in the case of my '41 De Soto and the '46-'48 Chryslers, the front X-member comes in front of the damper pulley, right across the axis for the crankshaft centerline.  So unless the X-member were bored or otherwise clearanced, there would be no way to access the crank jaw.

 

I think the trucks may have continued the hand-crnak provision in to the Pilot House era...

 

Chevrolet did keep the hand-crank option alive into the early '50's on the trucks... through 1953, there was a trough stamped in the gravel-pan between the the grille and radiator to admit the crank, as well as a "hump" in the center of the radiator lower tank.  There was also a swing-up tab behind the center bumper-bolt to suport the crank, which was quite long - at least 3 ft, end-to-end.

I think '48 was the last year for cank provision on Chevy cars, in terms of the grille and front sheetmetal, although the crank pulley on the 216 kept the hand-crank jaw until that engine was phased-out in '52-'53.

[knuckleharley]

I think the foot starter continued on the trucks at least thorugh the end of the WC series, maybe later ?

The 48 Dodge pu I sold last summer had the foot starter pedal.

[YukonJack]

My 47 Plymouth Deluxe will start off of the key or button. Ignition switch has a start position or I can just turn it to on and use the button. A 48 Plymouth Special Deluxe I had would only start off of the button.

[40phil41]

FWIW, my '40 Dodge (D14) has a crank hole with cover on the grille. It also has a hole in the lower rad. support to access the pulley nut which has the 'ears' for a crank. My Canadian '41 (D20) is much the same.

 

Phil

[busycoupe]

My 48 D24 has a key and a separate starter button as it should have.  However, it also has a foot starter pedal mounted at the base of the firewall just above the gas pedal.  The foot pedal is not used because the starter is activated by the solenoid.  I suspect that some previous owner installed the pedal to make use of an older design starter.  I keep thinking I should remove the pedal, but it is not really in the way and seems like a low priority problem. 

Dave

[Oldguy48]

On my previous P15, back in the mid 60's, if the weather was cold....Turn on the ignition switch, a push from another vehicle, or a roll down a nearby hill whilst the P15 was in second gear and clutch disengaged, to about 10 or 20 MPH, then release the clutch.  Usually proved successful !!

 

I'm sorry gang...I just couldn't help myself on that one. I have never forgotten just how cantankerous that  old girl was when the weather turned cold.   But the P15 I've got now starts right up, without the push.    

 

Wayne