1937 Dodge, Ol Bessy Is Coming Home!

[Sharps40]

99.9% sure it'll get a late model LS V8 with auto OD and all the accessories like PS, AC, EFI, etc. Rear gear will be about 3.73,likely posi.

[Sharps40]

Induction art is completed.  Got a plaque made and found Mr Gasket air cleaners just like it used to have on it.

Done just in time.  Dad will be here this afternoon to hunt deer and he doesn't know his first speed parts have been turned into a display.

[Sharps40]

Time for an update. One month later, just got a text from Dad as follows:

"Checked on Dodge Friday. Fenders, hood, rear roll panel all hung. Looks good. I will get photos tomorrow....."

So, naturally I immediatly followed up with an email to the Shop today....

"Mr. Walker,

Howdy from soggy wet NC. Just got a text from Dad. I understand he'll be down to photo the old Gal now that the body is coming together. Looking
forward to the photos. First trip in the Dodge will be to South Mountain, MD and Camp Sinoquipe BSA to revisit where Dad first broke 100 mph in that
car when he worked at the Scout Camp in the late 50s, early 60s.

Assuming your crew is getting close to the next move and that that move is suspension, I've been thinking over your recommendations and concur with
what I remember of our discussion at the end of August.

- Heidts Mustang front suspension with power rack, power disc front and sprung for a GM V8 with Auto Overdrive.

- Semi Elliptic rear suspension with a differential geared for an Auto Overdrive, disc or drum rear is fine. (Note, rear springs/shackles/bushings
were NOS/1000 miles of use 23 years ago. They ride great, I'd be happy to grease and retain or replace, as you see fit. If the front is lowered
significantly by the Mustang II, perhaps a set of lowering blocks can even up the rear for a slight forward rake??)

- Body mounts as we discussed/as needed.

- Standing by here with Visa Card and/or check as needed on your end.

- Special thanks to the build team for their work so far, I'm excited to see the photos and am sure I'll be happy with their work!

V.R."

So, now all I need is some new photographs!

[Sharps40]

Visiting with Dad and Mom.  A trip to the shop.....body work nearly finished and we finalized the suspension iders......Heidts power rack front, GM disc/drum/hubs front to back.  Selecting a 5.3/Auto OD from a truck/suburban for the powertrain, computer, pulleys, harness, ports, AC, PS, etc. and measuring now, a 20K mile Pontiac LeMans rear end for fitment out back.  Body is nearing completion and in a week or two ready to go to prime and then we can start cutting off all the items under the fame more than 2 weeks old for transplant.

For now.....a run around the body to see where we are at.  The craftsmen are excited....no straight lines on this one.....all compound curves and graceful swoops.....a real chore to fit and finish!

23 years since I've seen fenders on it.

Deck lid and roll pan and trunk fitted and 95% finished....

Dad with his car, a few days post heart surgery......both lookin great!

Here the DS rear quarter....the most destroyed in the accident as the truck overroad the front fender and drove down the DS running board into this section.....dozens of creases and dents, pulled out, hammered and straightened.....along with the NC Doors and NC Fenders and NC Door Post acquired in the purchase of a clean dry Raleigh 4 Door 23 years ago, has the left side looking great.

DS Firewall and cowl completed.  All old factory holes welded shut for a clean look and the 2" of wrinkles at 3 oclock were beaten straight and flat!

[Sharps40]

A tremendous amount of hand straightening with hammer and dolly to bring the original PS front fender and nose back into alignment with each other.

Wicked mean looking out front....long, pointed and wide.

Trunk and roll pan nearly done.  Mostly hand work.  Solid as a concrete floor.

[Sharps40]

Fender and trunk lines/gaps are good at this point.

Ol Bessy is a Beast of a Big Car!

Dad is not a bit unhappy to see her nearly ready for prime and suspension/drive line....

Neither am I!

A few more adjustments to make on the upper cowl to grill supports and the lines will be perfect here too...

[casper50]

Looking pretty good.

[Sharps40]

One more fender to fit.  NC Born and Raised fender for the DS of this MD born and raised car!

New NC frond and rear doors and center door post for the DS side that was crushed, post welded in and the doors hung and they open and close perfect.

And here on this side, all original MD!

Soon, very soon, the all new NC Drivers side will be completed and looking grand with the original MD Passenger side!!

[Sharps40]

This old gal never had more than 80 odd horses. She'll be 320 soon!

[Sharps40]

Got the license plate (Dads Truck) in the photos blanked out and fixed up this thread a bit.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Sharps40

[Sharps40]

The old heater core on the 47 popped....drained mosta the motors coolant on the floor in the cab.....so, for now and to get it to the shop for heater, oil/filter, state inspection....and to see if we can get a ride today or tomorrow.......maybe after the RedSkins play today.....

Looping the water pump to the intake for now and capping off the heater core so no more sauce drains down the inside of the fender well and firewall.....

A bit of old hose over the clamps on the heater core stub out to keep them from marring up the paint under the hood for now.

She's on the charger now.  Cranked slow but just not enough to pump gas up to the carb and work the plugs....so, waitin for some stronger fire from the battery.

Got most of the stuff outta the way, if she fires, she's goin for a ride,,,,,,after we air up the tires!

Edited October 23, 2015 by Sharps40

[Sharps40]

Got it fired.  And, enough brake for a ride.....rear is drums and I bet they need pulled up.  We'll see....but for now....after charging and priming twice, (been run once in 2 years!) it smoothed out and the trans even pumped up and started moving oil back up to the torque convertor!!!!!!  Runs great!

Just finishing up putting air in the tires while it idles along at 165 degrees and with the slightest cam induced vibration.....

Somebody's been putting stuff in the bed again......hmmm, wonder who that coulda been?....Dad?

I still ain't got no long pants but its almost warm enough for shorts in Northern Virginia today!

Mom came out to drive to town in her car for groceries.....we sneeked out in the truck while she was gone!

The view from the Drivers seat.....

We was having fun, getting some gears, found all three in that good old TCI StreetFighter TH350 right quick too!

Back home, resting comfortable till next drive.  Oh yeah, no leaks!!!

Edited October 23, 2015 by Sharps40

[Sharps40]

Pulled the rear wheels today. One weepy cylinder and shoes too far from the trucks drums. Put it back as is....Dad wanted it to the shop for inspection anyway and it needed a heater core, so......fired it up.

No gears. Nothing. Checked linkage, perfect.


Looked at the inspection sticker.....expired 9/2013.......Dad recalled som red oil on the floor. Old trucks been sittin still way too long.

Hmmm....pulled the dipstick....nothin.....

4 quarts of dex/merc later we are rollin hot to the shop with a punch list for Eddy including new tires.

We'll have back on the road soon and ready to cruise side be side with Ol Bessy in no time!!!

Edited October 23, 2015 by Sharps40

[deathbound]

I never understood why some folks block out the tag. Do you block it out when driving down the road?

I have a friend who was so paranoid, that if we took our motorcycles out, he would put his helmet over his plate when we parked them. All somebody had to do was lift it up for a second or watch him pull away to get a look at it. But I digress, carry on with the build.

[Merle Coggins]

I have a friend who was so paranoid, that if we took our motorcycles out, he would put his helmet over his plate when we parked them. All somebody had to do was lift it up for a second or watch him pull away to get a look at it. But I digress, carry on with the build.

 

He was more worried about someone steeling his plate number than his helmet?

[Sharps40]

Just protectin Dads privacy to the best of my ability. 

[Sharps40]

Been looking at paint colors on a lot of vehicles.  I decided the Ford Deep Impact Blue was going to be too dark, too much for such a big car.  Found a color blue that is close to what has been on the car for years.  Charger B5 Blue Pearl.  Also used on Challenger, Trucks and known as Surf Blue on the Jeep Wranglers and JK's.

Left front fender is on and Dad chose the fender welting.  We don't have the Drivers side running board or mounting brackets as they were destroyed in the accident and the Raleigh Parts car boards were totally rusted.  So, will have to buy new made ones, fortunately, they are being manufactured in steel and from reviews, it appears the fit is good. 

Last bit of body work is being done on the smashed left rear quarter.  Smoothing and shaping mostly. 

Dad is heading down to the shop soon to help go through the parts pile and sort out the stainless trim making up a box for left side and one for right side.  Christmas I'll go to visit and bring down the grill and other large parts that are spares from the parts car and currently stored at Dads house. 

Progress.  With luck, by the time I get there at Christmas I hope to see some suspension and perhaps a driveline going into place!

[Sharps40]

Dads feeling good.  Made another trip to the shop.  He took along old ad copy and photos of restored D5s for the body men to use on aligning parts and sorting trim holes from antenna holes from years of holes drilled for accessories. 

The last fender was going in for paint, all shaped and aligned for final mounting and in the process he sorted the 23 years piled up parts and located the last of the body bolt ons for simultaneous prep and prime.  Both headlights, both headlight mounts, both tail lights and tail light stands, license light, license mount and trunk lid holder upper mechanism.

Now we start sorting through the piles of trim and spares to see if by Christmas we can locate and organize a complete set of original stainless bright work and the few potmetal surrounds and cloisonne badges front and rear.

Merry Christmas Ol Bessy, yer about to get yer bling back!

[Sharps40]

Quick email update to Dad this morning fielding his questions on parts and in particular, trim work.

Dad,

Regarding your question on the stainless molding for the Dodge.

- We have spares of grill (left and right), grill center and grill potmetal surrounds (left and right) under your deck.

- We have most or all of the hood spare molding and a spare ram hood ornament in your attic.

- We may have additional spare door molding on the few spare doors in your attic.

- The original rear bumper, bumper uprights and rear mounting brackets are in your attic.

- We may (not sure at all on this) have spare rear quarter molding on the spare quarters under the deck.

- We should have a few hinge beauty covers on the doors in your attic.  These should be reversible from side to side by simply flipping them upside down.....I hope!

- We DO NOT have any spare running boards.  The only one we have is passenger side down at Jims.  I believe the drivers side was destroyed.

As for finding all the trim.....Worst case, and before we weld any trim holes shut on the body (i.e. substitute a paint line for stainless molding), check out the attached link.

Its expensive, but its custom made stainless steel molding that can be mounted to the Dodge if we are missing too much or can't find any on another parts car.

http://www.mcmillanrodandcustom.com/Moldings.ivnu

[casper50]

I bet if you bought some stainless rod at a metal shop someone near you could cut it in half and weld on a few bolts.  A lot cheaper.  Of course you'd have to polish it but that's not hard.

[Sharps40]

       I don't think so....!!! 

 

I think, with spares, we have it all but not sure till we inventory it.  If its too shy of a complete set, we'll see about finding onesies or twosies or having something professionally made.

[58prostreet]

take a look at Max Merrit Auto for stainless.

[Sharps40]

Thanks.  Emailed Dad this one too.

[Sharps40]

Happily, I found the original brown rubber gear shift knob attached to the original three speed trans!  Its in great shape and I'm gonna have to machine up an adapter to mount it on the new shift lever for the OD automatic that'll be going in the car!

[Sharps40]

Email from Dad today.  Glad he is there in town with the car, 10 minutes away from his home for 23 years......he's having a ball inventorying all the parts.  (Never could figger why he kept all the parts all those years when I had "Sold" Ol Bessy to a hot rod shop......guess I'm more than a bit slow.)

Richard,

 I checked under the deck and in the garage attic.

Deck

Grill, left, right, center top all there.  Also, the curved stainless steel trim that goes around the headlight mounting bracket---there for left and right.  Missing is the lower center section (about 5 inches), which I believe was a crank hole access piece.  I don't think the original one was two piece,. 

  Left and right rear quarter panels--no chrome on these pieces, and I don't believe there was one originally.

Attic:

The hood has the center SS strip, and the Dodge Ram.  The SS trim on side of the hood is there left and right. 

Where the hood ends, and the body panel begins, there is one 4 inch piece in a box in the attic.  So one is missing---I believe it is floating around the inside of the house somewhere---in a letter box, or something, but for the garage attic, only one, so one i missing.

There are 4 doors, a complete set in the attic.  All have the beauty covers,and all have been separated from the body by removing the hinge pin.  Two doors have SS trim, and 3 have handles, and the passenger side has a lock piece.  Drivers side has no lock insert, just a hole. I am away from my notes, going from memory, so I can't remember which doors have the handles, which have the rim.  Will come back with that later.  Rear fenders are there, one has a tail light, one does not   Again---memory as to which one.

There is one bumper, with two uprights.  So, we have both the bumpers.  The bumper has the rubber piece that covers that ugly bolt, but could not find the metal covers that go over the rubber---If that is in fact supposed to be. 

I will try and get down there to Jim's next week to go through some boxes and better sort and catalog the pieces.