Me and the Meadowbrook

[Plymouthy Adams]

amazing the time that often flies by between drives.....this winter was a bit rough for most all in terms of adverse weather conditions....I took one of my cars to the cruise in first of the month and realized it had been 5 months since I did some service to the hydraulic and put it back to bed.

[Saskwatch]

Always look forward to your posts with the Meadowbrook !  
  Never get tired of reading how much you & family are enjoying and how reliable the flathead is. 
 Thank you ?

[oldodge41]

Great to see you back on the road! Have fun and keep sharing.

[Dan Hiebert]

Right about now is when I really enjoy you'uns getting your cars out and about.  Provides inspiration, we got 8" of fresh snow today (was supposed to be 3"), so all of you who can get your cars dusted off and out on the road is awesome.  (FWIW, snow here through March and into April is normal.)

[Worden18]

3-26:

Out running some errands.  Stopped at the Bluff Country Co-op for some goat milk and a few other things.  Man I tell ya it felt good to drive the Meadowbrook.  What a cool car!  Got some strange stares as not many people around here drive a rusty early 50s car.  Actually, I think I'm the only one! ?

[Worden18]

3-27:

Out running more errands.  Stopped for gas first.  Then on to Menards for fence post stabilizers.  Heat on; running good.  More looks.  At least people notice ?

Second picture looks like a toy car out of a Godzilla movie!

Edited March 28, 2023 by Worden18

[Tim Larson]

I love the updates! My cars are locked in the barn by snow and ice for who knows how long. This winter is unrelenting... 

[Young Ed]

37 minutes ago, Tim Larson said:

I love the updates! My cars are locked in the barn by snow and ice for who knows how long. This winter is unrelenting... 

Mine come out Saturday regardless of snow......

[keithb7]

Had my Chrysler out last night for a cruise with Mrs. We went to Costco.

 

Indeed we had conversations with strangers about it. “Is that an 8 cylinder?”  “I’ll guess 1936”, another said.  I educated the Ford and Chevy fans on the fine Chrysler engineering of the day.  They backed off the dial a bit when I brought up full pressure oil system with oil filter. ?
 

We came home on the 4 lane hiway. I pushed in the cruise control knob and floated home at about 55 mph.  What a pleasure to drive. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by keithb7

[Worden18]

3-29:

Drove the Meadowbrook to work this morning.  19F; heater was nice.  

Last night me and my two older kids cruised around town late.  Got the new headlight in, but I'm having a grounding issue on the opposite side with the headlights on and the right blinker not working.  I'll figure it out ?

Edited March 29, 2023 by Worden18

[Worden18]

4-8-23:

So last night I worked on the passenger headlight ground in hopes of getting my blinkers to work while the headlights are on.  I was not successful.

Anyway, I cruised around town with the window down and the heat on low while the engine lulled me.  Later I drove back home to pick up my older kids.  (Pic is from then).  We stopped for snacks and cruised for another hour while the drunken college kids hollered from the sidewalks saying they liked my car.  It was a fun night.  Mostly kept the car in second gear.

Early last week while on another run to Menards I talked to an admirer in the parking lot for half an hour while he looked over my car.  I love it when that happens.  

On another note, on our cruise route there is 3 terrible, unavoidable bumps in the road that totally rock every other vehicle I own in such a way I get pissed every time I drive over them.  The 72 year old Meadowbrook floats right over.  Hardly noticeable.  Gotta love it ?

[greg g]

How are the wires going to the signals?  Has some one replaced them with 16 gauge modern stuff?  Is this a factory system or an aftermarket deal? Where does the switch pick up power?  Are the contacts inside the switch clean?  How old is the flasher ?

 

You might look into putting relays on your headlights to pull their load out of the regular wiring system.

[Worden18]

6-15:

I'm still here.  Out for a cruise.  Stopped to wash off all the bird doo doo and then met up with my daughter at the lake (she was out for a walk).  Back to cruising now....

[Worden18]

Thought you guys might like this.  The pictures are of downtown Winona, MN (I currently live there).  The car in the foreground of the old picture sure looks like my Meadowbrook.  It's a possibility that it is.  My car is a Winona native.  I have some of it's history as I had talked to the original owner's daughter a few years ago.  She's in her 80s now.  She drove the car to H.S. and to the local college (Winona State University) starting in 1960.  To ME the car in the photo is definitely a 51 or 52 Dodge Meadowbrook or Coronet. And by the looks of the other cars in the photo it seems that the picture probably was taken in 51 or 52.  I sent a PM to the woman who posted the picture on Facebook asking her if I could see the photo in person.  She's a member of the Winona county historical society.  Maybe I can get a license plate number off it and trace it back.  Thoughts?

[Dan Hiebert]

Tracing it with the period license plate may be problematic, paper records back then, and a lot of DMV's purge their systems after a while.  Worth trying, though, nothing ventured - nothing gained, won't know unless you ask.  You may have better luck with the serial number as it changed ownership over the years, there may be a trail of registrations back to when new that could have the license plate number issued at the time.  Kind of depends on how Minnesota does their DMV.  I was lightly surprised when I first registered our Terraplane here in Maine, not that they had any title or registry information, but here we pay an excise tax based on the MSRP of the vehicle when new, even for antique autos, and they had the MSRP of a 1937 Terraplane Deluxe 4dr Sedan virtually at their fingertips.  No such depth of information when we registered it in NM, MI, or NY.  

Edited February 6 by Dan Hiebert

[Sniper]

When it comes to taxes they got what they need to get what they want. Out here in Texas they decide how much tax you pay doesn't matter what you bought the car for.

[Worden18]

2-10-24:

Out on a sunny Saturday running some errands.  Parked across the street from the post office while there mailing tax documents.

Also zipped over to the co-op for spelt bread and organic apples.  Attempted to stop on 3rd St for a photo op (see previous post), but the traffic was too heavy.  

[andyd]

Nice to hear from you again, I've always enjoyed your posts & the car looks just as nice.......regards from Oztralia..........andyd 

[Worden18]

Easter Sunday 2024:

Finally had the opportunity to recreate a photo here in downtown Winona; East 3rd and Main St.  Traffic was super light where normally it would be impossible to stop and pose the Meadowbrook for a shot.  

The beautiful buildings on the left were demolished in the 70s in favor of the mini mall.  The foreground buildings on the right were demolished to make a parking lot.  

I put on a new fuel pump and hard line yesterday.  Meadowbrook is back in business.

Happy Easter everyone! 🙂