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Locke coachwork


Guest Juergen

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Guest Juergen

Hallo,

my name is Juergen I am a private collector from germany and like the US-prewar cars, I own a few. I have seen a beautiful 1929 Chrysler 75, convertible coupe with Custom Locke-Body. I would be very pleased if someone can explain me the difference between a Locke Body and the factory body. Does somewhere an overview existe about the Locke bodies for chrysler and the number of produced bodies ? I have the "Seventy years Chrysler" Book, but cannot find any information about.

Every answer is appreciate

Regards from germany

Juergen

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Locke was an independent company that made bodies for any chassis the customer desired.

Chrysler chose Locke as a supplier of bodies that could be ordered from Chrysler dealers, as an alternative to the standard factory bodies.

In those days, luxury car makers offered such choices to their customers. They usually bought the bodies in batches of 25, 5O or 1OO. The bodies were kept in the warehouse until an order was obtained. Then the body would be painted and upholstered to the customers specifications and accessories added.

In this way the factory could offer their customers something different and special. But the car could be built faster and at lower cost than building the body from scratch.

An old timer in the custom body trade, said at least 9O% of all custom bodies were made in this way. Today such bodies are sometimes called semi custom bodies but he said when they were new, they were called custom bodies. They did not differentiate between such bodies built in batches, or one off jobs that are now called full custom. All their bodies were built of the same materials, by the same workmen, in the same workshops to the same standards.

For more on the Locke body company see this.

Coachbult.com - Locke

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Juergen,,,,,,,,,,,At this time Chrysler did not produce any of their bodies. They ordered all of them from suppliers; as they did their radiators (Fedders) and their steering (Gemmer) and other parts. There is a possibility yours is a low production or custom unit; however I doubt it . Could you post some pictures? By the way, Locke was one of Walter P's favorites.

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Guest Juergen

Hallo,

thank you for the information it is a great help for me. When I have pics I will post them.

It was told only 11 bodies of this model by Locke were built, but I am not so sure.

Do I understand well, that there is no difference to see between Locke body or standart factory bodies ?

Best regards from germany

Juergen

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Hallo,

thank you for the information it is a great help for me. When I have pics I will post them.

It was told only 11 bodies of this model by Locke were built, but I am not so sure.

Do I understand well, that there is no difference to see between Locke body or standart factory bodies ?

Best regards from germany

Juergen

There are differences. Most obvious are the scalloped hood and the rumble seat access door on the side of the rumble seat on the Locke bodied cars.

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There are definitely differences between a standard body and a Locke body. They are completely different, made in different workshops or factories.

The Locke body was a more expensive alternative to the standard body for those who wished for a hand made body on a Chrysler chassis.

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In those days many customers desired a hand made body on an expensive chassis. The Chrysler company catered to these customers by offering Locke bodies. In this way they could have a hand made body faster and at lower cost, than if they ordered the chassis and body separately.

All manufacturers of expensive cars had a catalog of custom bodies.

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Guest stephen48

Here is a photo I took a few years ago in NZ of a 1929 Chrysler Imperial Locke bodied roadster that was sold new in NZ and survived. Unfortunately someone sold it to England.:(

post-76051-143138597464_thumb.jpg

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Guest Juergen

Thanks for the information, please excuse my stupid question ...I cannot see the attached pics, what is going wrong and where is my mistake ? The attached thumbnailfield is empty ??

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We have an interesting line of discussion going on here. Is their someone out there that knows where Chrysler's bodies came from at this time? To my knowledge and refering to the sources I have; all of Chrysler's bodies were bought from outside suppliers. This includes those on Plymouths, Dodges, and Desotos. From my knowledge, until Chrysler bought Budd in the early fifties they did not build any of their own. I believe Locke as with LeBaron designed and built production bodies for different manufacturers. My '28 Chrysler has a Fisher body.

Edited by Harry J. (see edit history)
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We have an interesting line of discussion going on here. Is their someone out there that knows where Chryslers's bodies came from at this time? To my knowledge and refering to the sources I have; all of Chrysler's bodies were bought from outside suppliers. This includes those on Plymouths, Dodges, and Desotos. From my knowledge, until Chrysler bought Budd in the early fifties they did not build any of their own. I believe Locke as with LeBaron designed and built production bodies for different manufacturers. My '28 Chrysler has a Fisher body.

My 1926 Model 58 Chrysler had a Fisher body, too.

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Guest stephen48
My 1930 Model 66 has a Hayes Co. body. Does anyone know how many coach builders there were for Chrysler?

The 1931 Chilton Automotive Multi Guide lists the suppliers for bodies for 1925 to 1930 Chrysler as Fisher,Budd,Briggs,Mullin,Murray and own. Desoto and Plymouth are shown as Hayes,Briggs and Budd.Different body styles often have different builders.Dodge is Budd throughout these years.Locke does not appear in the listing but obviously there were some.

Edited by stephen48
Left out one word. (see edit history)
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Guest stephen48
stephen48..........this is great...............could you post some scans of these pages?

Yes I will try.The original is very small print on yellow pages so here goes.

post-76051-143138598943_thumb.jpg

post-76051-143138598963_thumb.jpg

post-76051-143138598979_thumb.jpg

post-76051-143138598994_thumb.jpg

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And here another, I found the reason why I could not see the pics

Regards Juergen

My Chrysler books show that car as being a factory cabriolet Model 75 and one of 1,430 built in that style, but no mention at all of it being a Locke body. The Locke body would have been on the Imperial, more than likely.

Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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I found a copy of " The Custom Body Era" by Hugo Pfau. First I would like to make a correction in two statements I made earlier. Chrysler bought Briggs (not Budd) and along with that purchase obtained the rights to the LeBaron name. Also, in his chapter (#6) on Locke, Pfau says in 1925 Locke received some orders for small series production bodies from Franklin; which were followed by similiar ones from both Lincoln and Chrysler. From these orders Locke bought a larger factory in Rochester, New York and started to focus on production bodies. According to Mr. Pfau this happened in January 1926.

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Guest stephen48

Nice car Juegen!

The photo you have posted shows that the car has the styling that was used throughout the Chrysler ,Plymouth ,Desoto range in 1929.It is scaled up from the smaller models to fit the Chrysler 75 or vice versa.They all have the same look.

But the Locke designed and bodied Imperial roadster has totally different styling.I am attaching copies of two of my photos of a 1929 Plymouth convertible coupe(cabriolet) and a 1929 Chrysler 75 roadster.You will note the similarity in appearance to your car.

If you compare these to the Chrysler Imperial roadster posted above you will note the Locke design has a completely different style.

I saw the Imperial Locke roadster several times and although it was an impressive vehicle I always felt the mainstream Chrysler products had nicer lines.

post-76051-143138603244_thumb.jpg

post-76051-143138603249_thumb.jpg

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Guest Juergen

Hallo,

yes, the most cars in this mid price level have similar body styles. I own a 1930 Buick Country Club Coupe serie 64 C with nearly the same shape with Fisher Body. Only detail are different, as is the 1931 chevy Convertible cabriolet I own. I guess it is difficult to recognize a coachbuilder on his individual style of this era. Of course there are many exeptions in higher price level, like the imperial roadster with the special rumble seat acces or ex. Saoutchuk, Figoni a. Falaschi or Chapron.Me was told that the Locke records were destroyed by a fire in the office and it is nearly impossible to prove the production in detail. J.P. Joans wrote: "A convertible sedan and coupe joined the 75 line. Both body styles were designed by Chrysler and built by Locke".

Regards Juergen

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Guest stephen48

Here is a rear view photo I took a few years ago showing the styling on the Locke designed and built Imperial roadster.

An interesting car but I still think the conventional Chrysler designed bodies look better!

post-76051-143138604758_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Juergen

Hallo,

I got a lot of informations from people here in this forum very well informed about old chryslers, thank you.

I would be very pleased if would know how many of the chrysler 75 convertible coupe are ca. still left in your estimation. Here in germany there are the US-prewarcars not very well known. This model doesn´t existe in germany

Regards Juergen

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Guest Juergen

Great, and thank you, I would be very pleased if you post here a picture of your car - or send me a private message -, that I can compare it with mine, do you have any further information to prove, that the body was made by Locke ?

Regards

Juergen

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Guest Juergen

Hallo John, hallo mikzjr,

thank you for the pics, it is great to compare them with mine. What is your experiences with reliability of the chrysler ? You know, I drive all my cars as often as possible also longer distances on the german autobahn with 65 mph 3 or 4 hours. The chrysler is new in my collection, do you think it works well, the car is completly restored, near to new.

What is your experiences to pay attention to ?

By the way, which country do you come from ?

Best regards

Juergen

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Guest 1929model75

I can tell you that the Chrysler 75 is one of the finest driving cars of that era. There really are no issues with them mine even still runs on the vacume tank. Good luck with your new purchase. Chris

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Hi Juergen,

I live in England. The car has been laid up since 1963, it was gently recommisioned this time last year and i have since only done 130 miles with it in short trips. As it is unrestored I am always a little worried about what may go wrong. So far the only thing that has broken is the Dynamo. I suspect the cut out failed or there was a loose wire to the battery as the Armature over heated and threw the solder from the commutator. A rewind and a electronic regulator to replace the third brush regulation (and offer some protection for the armature) has fixed it.

I like to use it when ever possible and have found it powerful with excellent brakes. The de-mountable wheel rims are far from true so 65 MPH i think would shake it to bits.

I like you would love to know how many survive.

Yours

John F

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Guest Juergen

Hallo,

unfortunately a few days before I was going to pick up the chrysler 75 in Denmark the owner told me that an engine problem (noises) appeared. Now I have to wait what the problem is and what´s about the repair. I´m not sure the owner is willing to sell after the repair, what a pity I am very disappointed, nevertheless I thank you all for the very intresting informations, perhaps I find another similar one if the deal dont work.

Regards from germany

Juergen

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Chrysler in those days named their cars by the top speed. So the 75 model had a top speed of 75 MPH or 120 KMHr. This was very fast for a 1920s passenger car.

When new your car would have been capable of fast travel, sustained speeds of 100 KMHr or more as long as you like. As for today, who knows? You would not expect an athlete or dancer of 1929 to be capable of the same feats as when they were young.

What I am trying to say is driving on the Autobahn at 65 MPH for hours at a time is out of the question. It might be technically possible, if you took the car completely to pieces and made sure every part was in perfect condition. But you would not be happy driving an open car of that age, at that speed for very long. Although I am sure some young bloods of the roaring twenties tried it.

You will be much happier on normal roads, at speeds of 50 MPH or less.

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