Piston.Broke Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi all. I am a new member and I have (what I believe is) a 1929 Chrysler 75 'Locke' bodied coupe. I am restoring the car - It has a very different door window design to all the other Chrysler 75 coupes I have seen. It is very similar to the Chrysler 75 Locke 'convertible phaeton' in that (although it is a two door hardtop, it has the same framed glass windows including the framed pivoting window behind the door). I haven't been able to find out a lot of information on the car and have not seen any car similar. I would be interested to know how many of these 'Locke' hard top coupes were made. The car is RHD and was (I believe), delivered new, to a Doctor in Perth Western Australia and was very highly optioned with auxiliary lights, twin side mount spares and wire wheels. Any information on the 1929 Chrysler 75 Locke hard top coupes would be of great interest to me. Thank you. Piston.Broke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 How about a few pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston.Broke Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi GregLaR Hopefully I have been able to attach a couple of pics with this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston.Broke Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 One more photo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Good looking car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Nice car. I do not believe it has the Locke body as those USUALLY have a scalloped hood and radiator shell. They also USUALLY have a side entrance to the rumble seat. Something DOES look odd to me and that is the exterior visor. It looks to be molded into the body with no separating seam. It also looks to be bent up in the center. Those normally would be straight across. Is there a "Locke" body tag on the car anywhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 (edited) Here is a previous discussion of Locke bodies. and here is a little article about the company. http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/l/locke/locke.htm Edited July 7, 2018 by Spinneyhill (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 I know Locke built bodies for the Imperial 80 but were they offered on the 75? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambroast Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi Piston Broke, Nice Car! Was this car in Victoria? If so, I believe this car started out as a Cabriolet, that has been modified with a solid roof (maybe off a sedan)! Does the chrome frame disappear into the door body when you wind the front windows up and down? I only know of one 1929 model 75 cabriolet in Australia, so this car would be very rare! Does the car require much work to get it road worthy, as it looks very solid and complete in the photo's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston.Broke Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 9 hours ago, keiser31 said: Nice car. I do not believe it has the Locke body as those USUALLY have a scalloped hood and radiator shell. They also USUALLY have a side entrance to the rumble seat. Something DOES look odd to me and that is the exterior visor. It looks to be molded into the body with no separating seam. It also looks to be bent up in the center. Those normally would be straight across. Is there a "Locke" body tag on the car anywhere? Hi Keiser31 Locke did list a custom body for the Chrysler 75 in 1929. The side entrance to the rumble seat and scalloped hood were produced on the Chrysler Imperial 80 but not on the 75 bodies. The visor and top all look like they were manufactured that way from new. The car does have a Locke body tag which states - Locke and company - New York.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston.Broke Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 1 hour ago, lambroast said: Hi Piston Broke, Nice Car! Was this car in Victoria? If so, I believe this car started out as a Cabriolet, that has been modified with a solid roof (maybe off a sedan)! Does the chrome frame disappear into the door body when you wind the front windows up and down? I only know of one 1929 model 75 cabriolet in Australia, so this car would be very rare! Does the car require much work to get it road worthy, as it looks very solid and complete in the photo's? Hi Lambroast. The roof- line looks like it was manufactured that way from new. There doesn't seem to be enough room behind the rear window line for the car to be built up from a Cabriolet. The car has a Locke body tag on the lower RHS. Are any images available for the 1929 75 Cabriolet you mentioned? Does anyone know of any literature I could review which shows the Locke body options for 1929? The car is in good average condition but has been off the road for quite a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambroast Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Wow, that's very interesting that your car has the Locke body tag! I didn't realise Locke made bodies for the 75! I will look forward to hearing more about the research of your car. If I can locate a picture of the cabriolet I mentioned earlier, I will add it to this post. The car is sitting in the back corner of my friends shed, waiting to be restored! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambroast Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Chrysler 75, waiting for some love! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston.Broke Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 Thanks Lambroast. I am very interested in any information I can get on the Locke body production numbers and types. It is possible that this body style is is quite rare as although Locke offered a Coupe and Roadster on the 1929 75 Chassis the only information I have been able to glean on the Locke bodies, states that they only made a few hard top top bodies. Cheers! Piston.Broke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Scafani Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 (edited) Here is a video of a car with very similar body features. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJi_KcZkA84 Edited July 10, 2018 by Bob Scafani (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston.Broke Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 8 hours ago, Dave Fields said: Probably produced in 1928, but it is a 1929. My 65 series was cast in July of 28, about the time of LeMans, but is titled as a 1929. Not unusual to title cars by year of manufacture or date of sale in those days. Many states did not have titles. Thanks Bob and Dave for supplying a copy of the video. I think the car in the video is a Locke body on the 29 Chrysler 75, known as a "convertible sedan". My car has exactly the same door and window treatment as well as the pivoting 'quarter' windows at the back. David, thank you for the extra information on the Locke company, I am aware that Locke listed a custom body for the 75 Chassis as either a Coupe or Roadster and also produced a very small number of the 'convertible sedans'. I have read a few different accounts which state that between 6 and 8 of the 'convertible sedans were produced by Locke on the 75 chassis and I understand that they also produced some hard-top designs but unfortunately (as you stated) I haven't yet seen a car the same as my Coupe. I don't know if there are any 'Locke' experts out there who may have some copies of early sales literature or body styles? You are right-on David - the Car would have been a very expensive car when new. Apart from the Locke body, the car was highly optioned and was exported new to Australia in Right Hand Drive form. (I understand that the car was imported to Australia - new, for a wealthy Doctor who lived in Western Australia). Thanks for the invitation to join the club - as for the Locke plate it is located very low down on the cowl on the RHS (I assume it would be on the LHS for LHD cars?) Thank you all very much for your input and assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, Piston.Broke said: Thanks Bob and Dave for supplying a copy of the video. I think the car in the video is a Locke body on the 29 Chrysler 75, known as a "convertible sedan". My car has exactly the same door and window treatment as well as the pivoting 'quarter' windows at the back. David, thank you for the extra information on the Locke company, I am aware that Locke listed a custom body for the 75 Chassis as either a Coupe or Roadster and also produced a very small number of the 'convertible sedans'. I have read a few different accounts which state that between 6 and 8 of the 'convertible sedans were produced by Locke on the 75 chassis and I understand that they also produced some hard-top designs but unfortunately (as you stated) I haven't yet seen a car the same as my Coupe. I don't know if there are any 'Locke' experts out there who may have some copies of early sales literature or body styles? You are right-on David - the Car would have been a very expensive car when new. Apart from the Locke body, the car was highly optioned and was exported new to Australia in Right Hand Drive form. (I understand that the car was imported to Australia - new, for a wealthy Doctor who lived in Western Australia). Thanks for the invitation to join the club - as for the Locke plate it is located very low down on the cowl on the RHS (I assume it would be on the LHS for LHD cars?) Thank you all very much for your input and assistance. I think the body tag is found always on the right side of the cowl. Edited July 10, 2018 by keiser31 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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