I Can’t Help Falling In love...1951 Dodge

[me and my dog]

Hi Keithb7

 

    I really feel for your dilemma about my new car     I do want to say she is a real beauty , runs , drives , stops as if new .  Actually looked better in the flesh (tin)  as it did in the ad pics .  She's not a 100 point car and that's not a bad thing at all . I have been wanting an excellent stock driver , in the summer at least for quite some time . I felt exactly as you did when you saw the car .  I am glad I got a chance to buy it . The family is amazing and were glad the cars going to a good home .  See you all around this summer , Gord

[keithb7]

8 hours ago, me and my dog said:

Hi Keithb7

 

    I really feel for your dilemma about my new car     I do want to say she is a real beauty , runs , drives , stops as if new .  Actually looked better in the flesh (tin)  as it did in the ad pics .  She's not a 100 point car and that's not a bad thing at all . I have been wanting an excellent stock driver , in the summer at least for quite some time . I felt exactly as you did when you saw the car .  I am glad I got a chance to buy it . The family is amazing and were glad the cars going to a good home .  See you all around this summer , Gord

 

Congrats! I'm glad to learn that you purchased it. It will brings you lots of great memories. You'll soon have all walks of life walking up to you to talk about your car.

I managed to restrain myself and stayed away from it. ;).  I already have one old Mopar and limited space for another.

Edited April 23, 2018 by keithb7

[me and my dog]

Thanks Keith , What part of Western Canada do you call home ?

[keithb7]

Kamloops

[me and my dog]

Hi there , can anyone point me in the correct direction please ....I'm trying to find out where to go to find production numbers on my 1951 Dodge Kingsway business coupe ...?

Thanks in advance , Gordon

[RobertKB]

They made 345 of them in 1951. I, like you, own one of them.

 

[me and my dog]

Thanks for the info Robert , OMG  that's all ..kind of a rare model for that year ...Where did you get that info , I've looked all over the net ...guess I didn't use correct questions ...Gord

[B-Watson]

On 4/13/2018 at 9:30 PM, dpollo said:

I will defer to your research but my hands on experience suggests to me that a 54 V-8 Royal  shares very few body parts with a 54 Mayfair.

 

If you would please note that I mentioned only the front clip - fenders, hood, grille.  Never mentioned other parts of the car,  which in the case of the D43 and D49 are all but pure Plymouth.  The 1953-54 Dodge Royal, Coronet and Meadowbrook shared internal parts of the Plymouth body - cowl, floor, structural members, predominantly things you cannot see.  Pushing the rear axle back 5" necessitated the extension of the middle floor pan as well as the roof.  The external sheet metal went through the most changes to make the Dodge not look like a Plymouth - windshield, rear window, rear doors, rear fenders, trunk lid, front clip.  And the full-size Dodge would share bodies with Plymouth through to the end of the big models in 1977.

 

Unfortunately the 1953 and 1954 Dodge hardtop, convertible and 2 door wagon remained on Plymouth's 114" wheelbase, which resulted in a lot of lost sales.  Hardtop production in 1954 came to 2.6% of total production. All 1955 Dodge Coronet, Royal and Custom Royal models shared a 120" wheelbase and the 2 door hardtop took 20.4% of Dodge production.

 

When it comes to car bodies, it is what is inside that they share.   The exterior surface is what changes from car line to car line.  Generally the internal bits are the most expensive, and complicated, to tool.  The exterior sheet metal the cheapest.  But the exterior is the most important to sales - it's the way the car buyer could tell, for example, a 1965 Fury from a 1965 Polara or 1965 Chrysler.  Internally the big differences were the cowl and the rear floor section added to increase the Fury wheelbase 2" to 121.5" for Dodge or 4" to 123.5" for Chrysler.

 

Bill

Vancouver, BC

 

[B-Watson]

Jerry Heasley's "The Production Figure Book for U.S. Cars" or the "Standard Catalog of Chrysler" are the best.

 

Neither contain information on Canadian-built cars although the production figures quoted are the total of cars built in the U.S. and Canada for the world.

 

For Dodge, the Jerry Heasley book does not list the 1939 D11C, the Luxury Liner DeLuxe, but does list the 1939 D13, the Plymouth-based Dodge (DeLuxe Six) for the Canadian market.   The 1949 figures are missing the D30 LWB 7-pass sedan (757) and includes the D39 for 1951-52 .   The D39 was the 111" wheelbase Canadian Kingsway series based on the Plymouth Concord.  Production figures do not exist for the American-built Plymouth-based Dodges ("Plodge") for the period 1951 to 1956, but the Canadian-built figures do.  The U.S.-built Plodges serial numbers were actually Plymouth serial numbers.   Same situation for the 1938-1959 DeSoto Diplomat - a DeSoto based on the Plymouth for export.   

 

Although the 1951 and 1952 models are combined together in one model number,  some body styles were built only for the 1951 model year - D39 business coupe (345), D41 convertible coupe (not roadster) (1,002) and D42 LWB 7-pass sedan (1,150). 

 

I am trying to collect production figures for Canadian and American markets.   Once that is done I would like to publish a book listing all the models built over the years with prices, weights and production for both the U.S. and Canada.  I have the price and weight information from about 1912 through to 2000, but the production information would be from 1930 and on as Chrysler does not have anything earlier.

 

Bill

Vancouver, BC

[me and my dog]

Thanks guys , great info Bill ....Gord

[RobertKB]

10 hours ago, me and my dog said:

Thanks for the info Robert , OMG  that's all ..kind of a rare model for that year ...Where did you get that info , I've looked all over the net ...guess I didn't use correct questions ...Gord

 

B-Watson gives the answer quite clearly but I actually got my information from dpollo of this forum and he's on this thread as well. Yes, they are pretty rare. That is why I decided to fully restore my car. Before picture is earlier on this thread.

Edited May 4, 2018 by RobertKB

[me and my dog]

Yours is looking awesome ....Mine was restore 20 years ago and is still in very nice condition , obviously not used a whole lot ...I will drive her though ...Thanks again for the info ...Gord

[me and my dog]

I've ordered a set of metal fender skirts and I think will change the look a lot, really like the sun visor look too  ...love the lowriders motto .. "low and slow "