My New Baby - D24 Bought from 101 Year Old WWII Veteran

[tmorelli]

Hi Everyone - I wanted to share pictures of the 1948 D-24 that I bought a few months ago from a 101 year old WWII veteran.  He was getting ready to move into a Nursing Home and had to sell off his possessions.  The car has about 85,000 original miles on it and lived most of its life garaged in a barn.  For that reason the body is remarkably good shape and the interior is not too bad either for being 100% original.  It runs very well and the engine idles smooth.  The only issue that I have discovered thus far is that it seems to slip when in 3rd gear and accelerating hard.  I don't know if this is just the fluid drive performing 'normally' or if there is an issue with either it or the clutch slipping.  This car was the owner's pride and joy and I promised him that I would take very good care of it.  He kept very good records and even had the original Bill of Sale (bonus points are that the dealership where the car was purchased still exists and the original building signage from when it was a dealership was recently 'discovered' under several layers of siding).  Based on the records I have the car has not seen much road action since 1980 (about 4,000 miles on the odometer since then based on VA State Inspection slips) and it last was inspected in 2005, meaning that it may not have even been driven on the roads much, if at all since then.  I have taken it out on a few short drives since then and it does okay other than the apparent slipping and some noise coming out of the passenger side front wheel when going around curves (which is why I want to replace the bearings, etc...)

 

Since I bought it I have put on new tires, flushed out the cooling system, replaced the oil and filter and am getting ready to replace the wheel bearings, brake components and rubber lines.  I am going going to do a full tune-up on the motor.  I also want to drain / replace the fluid in the axle, transmission and fluid-drive.  Once I get through all of those items I need to replace gas tank and sending unit and re-do the wiring as much of the insulation is broken or missing - especially under the hood.  It does not seem to be effecting the operation of the car though.  I would love to hear any advice any of you may have and any recommendations that you have regarding things I should add to my 'to do' list.

 

 

Dodge Bill of Sale_2.pdf

[plymjim]

Nice car. You did real good!

[Doug&Deb]

Not sure about the slippage in 3rd. I had a D24 for 12 years and I recall the acceleration being leisurely. Changing fluid in the fluid coupling can be problematic. James Douglas on this forum is very knowledgeable about these. Hopefully he’ll chime in. Beautiful car! I might add that replacing the metal brake lines with nickel copper would be advisable also. 

[tmorelli]

1 hour ago, plymjim said:

Nice car. You did real good!

Thank you.  I am looking forward to taking it out on longer drives once I do the wheel bearing and brake-work.  It is quite a transition going from this one to my 1963 Catalina.  Things evolved quite a bit in the 15 years between the two models.  

[tmorelli]

1 hour ago, Doug&Deb said:

Not sure about the slippage in 3rd. I had a D24 for 12 years and I recall the acceleration being leisurely. Changing fluid in the fluid coupling can be problematic. James Douglas on this forum is very knowledgeable about these. Hopefully he’ll chime in. Beautiful car! I might add that replacing the metal brake lines with nickel copper would be advisable also. 

Thank you.  I will take your advice on the brake lines.  I read a very informative post on the fluid drive maintenance on this forum so it might have been James' work.  I have a local firm that does restoration work (White Post Restoration) and I may have them go through the transmission, fluid-drive and differential so that I don't mess anything up. 

[weirdscience]

What an amazing find!!! Second the brake lines suggestion. 

[Hghspd50]

What an amazing find will be a joy to drive.once.you go through it. I bet the seller had some amazing stories to tell as well. Love.talking with those guys. Enjoy 

[John Reddie]

Hello and welcome to the forum. What a great score. I love the D24 club coupes. This one appears to have survived very well. I had a '48 Dodge 4 door sedan and it was a fun car. Keep this one and enjoy it.

John R

[soth122003]

Welcome to the forum. A very sweet find. After you do the fixin on the car, what do you plan to do about the finish? The paint looks faded more than anything and you might just do a compound and wax to bring it back to original. If you go that route, Drive by that old vets nursing home and show him. It will bring a smile to his face to know you kept your word. Might even add a few more years to him if you take him for a ride once in a while.

 

Joe Lee

[Worden18]

Awesome!  And congrats.  Don't mess with the oil in the Fluid Drive just yet.  Wait till some others chime in on that....

[dpollo]

very nice !   so long as the FD is not leaking I would be inclined to leave it alone.   It should not feel like it is slipping   at speeds above 40 mph

 

My experience with them is limited but by and large they are pretty reliable.  Good luck with the car.

[Purple Moo Cow]

@tmorelli what a find! I just got my D24 on Saturday, but welcome to the club. Extra cool IMO that you bought it from a WWII vet, not many of them left. Enjoy!

[Marcel Backs]

Well that’s a remarkable time capsule with a “class A” pedigree. This truly rare find is preserving lots of history! My sincere congrats on making sure this old iron sees more history of its own. M

[Merle Coggins]

It's possible that your clutch friction material has been contaminated and glazed up. 

My truck has Fluid Drive with a 4 speed. A couple years after I finished my rebuild I noticed the clutch slipping in 4 gear, on a hard pull. When I was putting it together I cleaned up the clutch disc with solvent, which effected the clutch material over time. I pulled the clutch and had the pressure plate rebuilt, FD clutch plate resurfaced, and reassembled with a new disc. It's been fine ever since. 

I would advise caution when working with the FD unit. I was naive at the time, when I pulled the clutch plate from my FD. I learned later that this type of work could potentially damage the seal. But my work method turned out to be decent and no damage was done. I also drained and refilled the FD when I was reassembling the engine/trans. I used AW32 Tractor Hydraulic fluid, which seems to be working well. Also, since that time I've seen several posts here regarding leaving it alone unless you are having an issue. 

[busycoupe]

I agree with not trying to drain the fluiddrive, but you could check the fluid level in it.  My 48 D24 started to slip in third gear a couple of years ago.  When I checked the fluid level I found that it was low.  I added 2 qts of tractor fluid and it has been running great since then.  Apparently my fluid drive has a very slow leak.  I have checked it twice since filling it and it has not lost a drop, but some how over 70 years it lost 2 qts.  It is simple to check it, you may want check it before doing anything more intensive.

[Conn47D24]

Sweet !

Enjoy it

[Dan Hiebert]

Welcome to the Forum!  Nice find, I'm partial to D24's myself.  Regarding the "slipping" issue, check your clutch adjustment as well.  Low FD fluid usually manifests as the car's performance being more "majestic" (sluggish) than normal.  In my experience, slipping in high gear is usually either the clutch out of adjustment (free play), or as mentioned already,  a contaminated clutch surface.  I would echo not to mess with the FD unit initially, other than ensuring the fluid level is correct.  

[Booger]

nice score! components have a tendency to dry out when they sit. as for wheel sound it could be a lazy brake shoe. but I would certainly pack bearings

your on the right path amigo! OMG the interior is awesome

[Frank Elder]

On 6/7/2021 at 3:20 PM, tmorelli said:

Thank you.  I will take your advice on the brake lines.  I read a very informative post on the fluid drive maintenance on this forum so it might have been James' work.  I have a local firm that does restoration work (White Post Restoration) and I may have them go through the transmission, fluid-drive and differential so that I don't mess anything up. 

White post will also sleeve your slave cylinders so they never leak or pit in your lifetime, you will never regret doing it.

[tom'sB2B]

Beautiful car.

I will humbly chime in with the fluid drive.

I have two vehicles with fluid drive. Other than checking the fluid level, I leave them alone. They are very reliable.

Before I would touch the fluid drive unit, I would check the clutch linkage and then the clutch itself. From your description it sounds like a slipping clutch.

Please keep the photos coming on your progress. ?