1931 Chrysler CD8 Sedan & CD8 Roadster Project

[Gunsmoke]

Thanks to a tip from and encouragement as well for VintChry, I purchased this '31 Chrysler CD8 Twin Sidemount Sedan a month ago. As I understand it, the car was brought to Virginia from NYC in the early 60's and barned, not likely driven since. Has 64K miles on odometer, car is complete except for tail/stoplight and a couple door handles. I'm rebuilding a CD8 Roadster found in barn fall of 2014 and will use a variety of parts from the sedan to complete the "parts needed list". Disassembled the car this past week, including raising body a couple inches free of chassis. Ready to remove body shortly. While chassis has surface rust throughout, a sandblasting should yield a good solid frame.  I plan to install Roadster on the best of the 2 chassis I have and then reassemble Sedan on other chassis and re-sell. Have 2 sets of most parts (rad and shell, hood, fenders, lights, engines, rear-ends, suspensions,gauges steering, etc) so buyer will have a good starting point. Body of Sedan is remarkably solid, no rust out except in a small area on one rocker panel. Will make a good and interesting project for someone, no cars like these around here.

[Taylormade]

Wow, this should resolve most of those originality problems you’ve been having.  Are you going to use the front fenders off the sedan?  I recall the roadster fenders were a problem early on.

[auburnseeker]

Looks like a good score.  I've determined this will probably be the best route to go for my Cord as well.  For what guys want for individual pieces,  they quickly add up to a whole parts car.  The car also acts as a big set of directions on how all the parts fit together on your car.  You also get all those little parts, that no one remembers where they go when they come in a big coffee can. 

Really valuable when putting a car together like yours and mine.  Mine had a 40's Flathead Cadillac rear wheel drive conversion,  so you and I are in similar boats. 

Good luck.

[Gunsmoke]

All 4 fenders are better than what I have. The passenger side front fender is pretty good, solid and straight, couple of small dents, so easy re-use. The 2 rears are solid although driver side one is dinged. Both are different between Sedan and Roadster, but can likely be modified to use, means adding 2" of new steel to inner edge that goes into wheel well. On the other hand, the driver's front fender was obviously hit pretty hard at some point, even bent the headlight crossbar. Once I get it off I will get a body shop guy to give me an idea on fixability. Steel is good, but dents and rips are numerous. If $1000 or so will make it paintable, I will plan for now to use it. The trunk rack and the special cast brackets is a good added value, very hard to find this stuff. Brackets and hardware are perfect, rack only needed a bit of straightening. Gas tank is solid but rusty, not sure if I can salvage it or just use as pattern. I'm told there is a local company that has had good success salvaging old tanks through patching and coating inside. If not, it makes a perfect pattern for a repo. Doors on Sedan are in remarkable condition, no significant rust anywhere, and all open and close true. Will need to make passenger side running board.

[Spinneyhill]

On first looking at that body I was struck by how similar it is to the Dodge Brothers DC-8 and DD-6 (and I suppose the DeSoto CF-8). Without measuring anything, the main difference I can see is that the Dodge has an extra raised swage around the waist line. Here is a pair of DC Dodge Brothers.

[Gunsmoke]

I agree a complete but beat donor car is the way to go, been looking for an affordable CD8 for 3 years finally found one. As some know, the dash for the Roadster barnfind had been unceremoniously carved out by the most recent PO (grrr) who had welded in place one from a '33 Chevy (what was he thinking) and used gauges from an MGB. After 3 years of searching and a bit of metal work to match the existing cut-out opening, I now have a complete replacement dash ready to install, and an almost complete extra set of gauges. The dash will weld to existing remains, and that area is covered by an upholstered soffit piece original to the car making for an easier clean-up.  These gauges are tough items to find in any condition, some have flat lenses and some concave to make it even tougher. Be a while before these get installed, but a measure of progress.

[dbmarkc]

Hello

Would you have extra gauges that you could sell?

Thanks

Mark

[Gunsmoke]

Once I have decided which 5 gauges I will use on the Roadster (and assuming I don't keep spares), the rest will likely be offered for sale as a package with the '31 CD8 Sedan body/chassis. If the only interest in the Sedan comes from the hot-rod hobby, the buyer may be not be interested in also paying for the set of gauges which are likely worth circa $600-$700 if sold separately (a good speedometer alone is valued about $300-$400). So it will be several months before I will know if they are for sale.