Hey there,
Well, I've got my hands on something... I've always wanted a pre-war humpback sedan and finally got the green light from the missus ...
So..... a couple of months ago I reacted to an add for a 1937 Dodge D5 sedan for sale in the USA, placed on another forum;
After a ton of Emails and arranging transport, the car got dropped of at the warehouse in Tx. (I work for a company that imports car parts from the USA)... ;
It then took a lot more time and headaches to get it here, but last week it finally arrived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands... We unloaded it from the container, put some gas in it, and with a little help from a second battery it started right up.
Unfortunately gas poured out of the fuelpump, so I couldn't drive it to the shop . I guess the diaphragm dried out during transport, as my colleague in Texas drove it around the block a few times with no trouble.
In the last week I;
- got the fuelpump rebuilt and mounted
- gave it a good inspection and removed about a pound of Texas muck from the underside of the beast;
- got the cowl vent and swingout windshield moving again (nothing a spray of WD40 and some elbow grease couldn't cure );
- adjusted the steering box to remove most of the play;
- removed and cleaned the left front drum, I'll have to test it on the bench to make sure it doesn't stick anymore (gave me kind of a scare on the first test drive, LOL);
- adjusted the E-brake and tightened everything up with some new washers;
- charged the battery and discovered an 8V unit from a forklift or something (haven't seen that one before!)
- went through all the lube points;
- made a ''bushing'' for the steering column, which had a lot of play.
MOT to do list (as far as I've discovered);
- all four shocks are fried
- 2 kingpin sets
- 2 tie rod ends
- wheel cylinder right front is leaking
- 4 dried-out tires
- windshield wipers don't work
- pinion seal is leaking
- battery isn't tied down
All in all, I'm really happy with the car. It's solid and 99% complete. I shat my pants buying a car unseen and overseas, but the seller came through and even had the alternator rebuilt after he sold it to me. Props for that!
In a far, far future, I'm aiming for something like this (Photoshop not done by me!);
Right now it's looking like this...
Thanks for looking!! I'll update this thread as I move along, don't expect fast results though...
Shiva
Well, I've got my hands on something... I've always wanted a pre-war humpback sedan and finally got the green light from the missus ...
So..... a couple of months ago I reacted to an add for a 1937 Dodge D5 sedan for sale in the USA, placed on another forum;
After a ton of Emails and arranging transport, the car got dropped of at the warehouse in Tx. (I work for a company that imports car parts from the USA)... ;
It then took a lot more time and headaches to get it here, but last week it finally arrived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands... We unloaded it from the container, put some gas in it, and with a little help from a second battery it started right up.
Unfortunately gas poured out of the fuelpump, so I couldn't drive it to the shop . I guess the diaphragm dried out during transport, as my colleague in Texas drove it around the block a few times with no trouble.
In the last week I;
- got the fuelpump rebuilt and mounted
- gave it a good inspection and removed about a pound of Texas muck from the underside of the beast;
- got the cowl vent and swingout windshield moving again (nothing a spray of WD40 and some elbow grease couldn't cure );
- adjusted the steering box to remove most of the play;
- removed and cleaned the left front drum, I'll have to test it on the bench to make sure it doesn't stick anymore (gave me kind of a scare on the first test drive, LOL);
- adjusted the E-brake and tightened everything up with some new washers;
- charged the battery and discovered an 8V unit from a forklift or something (haven't seen that one before!)
- went through all the lube points;
- made a ''bushing'' for the steering column, which had a lot of play.
MOT to do list (as far as I've discovered);
- all four shocks are fried
- 2 kingpin sets
- 2 tie rod ends
- wheel cylinder right front is leaking
- 4 dried-out tires
- windshield wipers don't work
- pinion seal is leaking
- battery isn't tied down
All in all, I'm really happy with the car. It's solid and 99% complete. I shat my pants buying a car unseen and overseas, but the seller came through and even had the alternator rebuilt after he sold it to me. Props for that!
In a far, far future, I'm aiming for something like this (Photoshop not done by me!);
Right now it's looking like this...
Thanks for looking!! I'll update this thread as I move along, don't expect fast results though...
Shiva