1940 Dodge Deluxe Sedan

[jumpinjan]

http://www.californiaclassix.com/archive/40_Barn-Dodge_c154.html

 

[Green67Alpine]

Great story ! What a car. Wonder where it is now................
That '40's aroma, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Although not 40's, the smell of the Alpine is really one of my favorite things......esp. in the winter when I don't drive as much........

Merry Christmas !

Tom j

 

[Nickodell]

But ... but - no air conditioning?

Seriously, thanks for a wonderful tale. I can almost feel myself driving it. Probabky handled like my old 1951 Flathead Ford Pilot.

 

[Lee DeRamus saoca0404]

In 1965 when I first started with Southern Bell, an old maid in the same office had a 1929 Chevrolet as her daily dirver. Her brother was a contractor and gave it to her. He had been doing work at a Catholic chruch on the River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Before pushing over an old shed he looked inside, where he discovered this car. An agreement was made that the car would be part of his payment. No one knew anything at all about this car. It was discovered that in 1929 the church bought the car for the priest. Not too long later he passed away. After a wait, another priest was sent. He was a young guy that didn't know how to drive. The car was locked up in the shed. He spent the rest of his life as the parish priest, and never drove. The car stayed in the shed until 1963 when it was discovered. It had less than 1200 miles on it!!! She would give rides in it after work, and it was a great car. The paint and interior were like brand new. Her brother changed all of the fluids, and did a minor tune up on it and DROVE it onto the trailer to bring it home.

The closest I have ever come to owning something like this was a 1947 Packard. a friends father wanted to give it to me. He bought it new after the war. The only time they used it was on Sunday to go to church, and on their annual vacation. It spent its life in the garage. On their last vacation the rear end developed a loud noise. I had located a low mileage car in the junk yard that had been totaled because of a head on collision. For $75.00 they would remove the complete axle. Because Packard was an orphan my father put an end to my dreams. It was a very nice low mileage car. Everything was original.Almost as nice as this Dodge. Perhaps that is why I own another orphan, an Alpine.
Lee

 

[V6 JOSE]

Since I have been a poor boy almost all my life, I have owned a lot of old cars. I love the smell of mohair seats and old gas. I owned one of these fastback Dodges, but mine was a 49 model. Everything on that old Dodge was completely perfect, except that the engine used a lot of oil. I wanted to keep it because it was so cherry, but being newly married and POOR, I couldn't afford to rebuild it. Sold it for a song. Being poor sucks, for a young guy in love with old cars.

Jose

P.S. It still had the original light green paint, and not one scratch or ding in the body.

 

[MikeH]

In 1972, while I was still in High School, I came across a 1946 Mercury 2 door sedan parked in front of a house on a back road. Other than the paint being old and faded and a cracked passenger side window, the car was in perfect condition. It had $500.00 written on the windshield. It even had, which I guess was an option, the steering lock ignition switch. This was in Pennsylvania, where there is a vehicle state inspection. The last inspection sticker and the tag on the car were both from 1956. The car as I recall had about 38,000 miles on it. I wanted this car. Took my dad back to check it out and he, after finding out it was hard starting when the engine was hot, decided that it needed a valve job. And being that it was a flat head V8, said it wouldn't be worth the trouble. Oh to know now ...