Aussie 8

G'day Stewart., The Dodge Brothers Club of Australasia holds a major rally every 4 years. The last one was in Forbes in 2014 where there were 102 Dodge Bros. Vehicles in attendance for the centenary of the first Dodge. In the intervening years "Tweeny" rallys are held at 2 points in Australia to allow more cars to attend. Next years will be at Mt.Gambier in South Australia, and at Warwick in Qld. These will be held in September and October. Also. I don't know what ratio diff I am using. Cheers. Jim

G'day Stewart. Pleased to see the progress on your DC 8. I can relate to the rear mudguard problems. I needed to modify tourer guards to fit my car but it all worked out well in the end. Keep up the good work. Perhaps I will see you in Warwick next year? I've done close to 3,000 miles now and it is running very well. I'm sure it would benefit with the 19 inch wheels from your DeSoto sedan. It just seems too low geared. Cheers. Jim

G'day Stewart. I'm very impressed with the progress you've made with your DC. It looks great. Did you make the boot lid or repair the original? I found it very time consuming getting the right curvature on mine. Keep up with the good work. I will drop over to see you next time I'm in Melbourne. I've now done 1,200 miles in mine since it returned to the road and I am very happy with it now. Initially there were a few niggling problems but all sorted and the car is a very satisfying drive. Cheers. Jim:)

Hi Gunsmoke. I was in the same position as you having to find and rebuild an engine for my Dodge DC8. I had a set of pistons made to suit the rebored block by JP Pistons in Adelaide, Sth. Australia. They came complete with rings and wrist pins (gudgeon pins). Good luck with your project. You will have a very nice car when finished. I really enjoy our Dodge DC 8 roadster, and it certainly looks the part. The only pistons I have are early DC 8 that are very well used and were the very early ones with the steel insert. The bore of the original engine was worn to the point of having a .019" taper. Jim

Mike and Tony. I was told by the son in law of my DC8 roadster's original owner that the colours could be chosen by the buyer. The purchaser and the dealer agreed on a colour before the car was assembled by the Australian body builder. This was in 1930 when production was minimal and sales were slowing up. This applied to T J Richard bodied cars at least. It may have only applied to the less produced variants with minimal production. More popular variants like the 6 cylinder sedans and tourers may have been available off the floor. Jim

Mobile collection of numberplates.

A really nice roadster. Top roadster of the rally. Congrats Garry.

Still more.[ATTACH=CONFIG]277923[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]277925[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]277926[/ATTACH] Interesting special body but original. 2. John's semi hauled logs in theSnowy Mountains of NSW into the 1950's. Scary thought with 2 wheel brakes. Now has electric brakes on the trav filer. 3.Tom Brown's ute. Tom writes regular articles in theDBCA magazine. Doors are light metal frames covered with fabric. 4. Graham Bros 1 tonner truck

And some more. 1. Veterans. 2 Senior. 6 3.Original condition. 4.Tom with his immaculately restored sedan. 5.Beautiful imported coupe Sorry Stewart for my mistake in the original post. Your car is definitely not a Victory 6

Here come some pictures of the Rally. 1 Shearer's truck. with Kelpie sheep dog. 2 Very smart DA roadster. 3 Adam had this 1916 ute up and running 3 days before heading to the rally. 4 Steve with his 4 cyl. tourer. Plagued with intermittent magneto problems

Try again. Pls ignore the highlights. I didn't put them in.

The Dodge Bros. Club of Australasia Centenary Rally has now finished and we are home again. Despite not having our car there we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the weeks activities. We made a lot of contacts, rode in many and varied cars, enjoyed great meals and yarns with members from all states of Australia and even New Zealand. The activities and places visited were very interesting. Unfortunately we were unable to get a picture of all the 101 cars together however one will be coming taken from a cherry picker organised by the Forbes Council. The event ran without a hitch, apart from rain on the Monday. The Towns and villages made us feel really welcome. Highlights included Eugowra. A very small town, relic of the gold rush in the 1850's and site of Australia's biggest ever gold heist. The town is adorned with very well done and interesting murals depicting the history of the town. All the children came to the park to see the cars and ride on Barry's Dodge 4 CFA fire truck. Barry drove up from Victoria towing a vintage tear drop caravan. At the farewell dinner we had an extremely interesting talk and presentation from a member Ian Neuss who, together with a mate in a 1927 Whippet is travelling overland to Helsinki in a 1920 Dodge tourer. This trip will take about two years. They are presently in Nepal but have returned home for a winter break. We also visited Utes in the Paddock. Here 17 old Holden utes have been transformed into art works. Look up the following for more information and pictures.............. Ian's blog bonditothebaltic.blogspot.com.au utesinthepaddock.com.au Eugowra N.S.W murals and also dodgebrosclub.australasia.asn.au/ Thumbnails of all members cars. I have now resized the photos and will post them in the next couple of days. Here is my car that didn't make it. Just a trial posting. Jim

What is a "Feral Ute?. Firstly a ute is an abbreviation for utility vehicle. In other countries other than Australia or New Zealand known as pick ups or bakkies. Feral means wild, as in a wild dog. During World War 2 petrol was in very short supply and was rationed for private cars however it was available for vehicles used for production of food for a lot of the war at least. As a result many farmers cut the backs off their cars and made up various types of bodies usable for carrying produce and general farm goods to markets. Some were professionally done by body builders but most were pretty rough conversions. After the war many of these utes were made redundant as the owners purchased new cars and utes. Many were put to very menial farm duties where as long as they went it was good enough. Others were used for pig, rabbit and kangaroo shooting or as general carry alls about farms cattle and sheep stations. Most were deregistered and used solely off road. Most had an extremely hard life but many survived or were just put into a shed to be patched up again later. These surviving vehicles are made drivable and roadworthy and left in the general condition they were found. These are known as "feral utes" The Dodge Brothers Club of Australasia freely accepts these utes as an important part of our motoring history. Jim

G'day all. Ken you aren't the only one to arrive without their car. We were really looking forward to being there with our DC8 but our usually trusty LandRover blew a head gasket on the Toowoomba Range. No room in a roadster to carry the luggage so after a day of deliberations and attempts to hire a suitable vehicle as well as getting transport for our Land Rover and trailer back to Brisbane we set off to Forbes in our modern car. All going well. We have been enjoying the company of all the Dodge owners and have been passengers, and drivers, of several cars. I enjoyed the ride in Graham Neivant's DC 8 sedan. It is the first Dodge 8 apart from my own I have ever had a ride in. 101 cars entered ranging from the immaculately restored to the feral utes that have somehow managed to survive 80 plus years of farm work and still keep going strong. There was even a shearer's ute complete with Kelpie sheep dog! The dog's owner was concerned about the dog going bald with all the pats she was getting. It was also great to see some young blokes in their cars. They wouldn't win any trophies but they were sure having fun. Adam Key's didn't even have his 1916 ute running till the Wednesday before the run. Tom and his mate looked a sight in their 1924 ute with a blue polytarp attached to the windscreen pillars and blowing back but keeping them partially dry. All of us had a great trip despite the weather. Today was display day at McFeeters Museum. It was great to see so many Dodge Brothers cars displayed. It was a pity we couldn't get a photo of them all together. I have been taking pics and will post some when I return home. Cheers. Jim Aussie 8

G'day Tristan. Congratulations. My first car was a 1937 Talbot 3 litre which I bought when I was 17 so I understand the situation you are in. Be warned. Life gets in the way but persevere. I've had a few cars since. A 1921 Wolseley which I ended up selling as I couldn't get the beaded edge tyres for it . A Morris Cowley tourer, 1925 vintage. A Morris 850, 1960, which I did up from scratch and I still have. About 40 years ago I was still a young bloke and bought an absolute basket case. It was a 1930 Dodge Brothers straight 8. You can see the story about it on the Dodge Brothers forum on the AACA site. After many setbacks it is now registered and on the road and being enjoyed by me and my wife. There is an Essex 6 tourer up here in Brisbane that has undergone a beautiful restoration. If you live near here I can take you to see it. It will give you a boost of enthusiasm to carry on. my email is <mini1132@yahoo.com.au> or send me a PM. Cheers. Jim

Here are the photos.

Hi Graham. My daughter in law is coming back from overseas today and I am hoping she will be able to sort out the posting of the up to date photos. The size is the problem and using a different computer is a problem and also the photos are from a higher resolution camera. I will check out what cartridge I fitted in the oil filter canister. All I can remember is that it was a Ryco unit. The carburettor I am using is an English Zenith. It came off a Commer truck and now has an adjustable main jet installed. This carb was also used on Ford Zephyr Mk3. (Not US Lincoln Zephyr V12.) After the weekend rally I will have a better idea of fuel consumption. I do know that it isn't an economy car but would expect fuel economy to be better than in a sedan as it has a lighter body. The differential ratio also seems to be far too low for cruising which would be detrimental to economy. I now have a working odometer so I will be better able to get an accurate consumption figure. I will also check the reading for accuracy against a sat nav. ( I converted the car to 12 volt using the Delco Remy electrics from a 1955 International bulldozer.) I have been told that the Stromberg carburettor from an early Holden 202 ( Blue motor ) is a good alternative.) and this should be quite easy to source in New Zealand. When I first had the car running it had a Stromberg off an early Holden on it which was very whezzy. I replaced this with the correct type for a while and it was even worse but it did pull like a train at low revs. My health is quite OK now so I will be able to get out and enjoy the car as a driver after 40 years of ownership. Cheers. Jim

I'll try again to post some pics.

G'day all. Back again after a considerable absence. After putting new seals in the water pump and doing permanent repairs on the twin point distributor we took the car on another rally also in northern N.S.W. We had problems with fuel vapourisation which we overcame by using premium unleaded petrol. It has a higher vapourising point than the standard unleaded fuel available here. Apart from a flat battery it ran perfectly over the two days of the run. We were heading home when it started to rain so I diverted to my sister's house for the night then set off in the morning. I had done about 10 miles when suddenly a heavy knock started in the engine. It had dropped a big end bearing. The engine had to come out and have the bearings redone. They were not a pretty sight. Apart from the bearing that had run several others were on the way out. The man who did the engine had disappeared from the face of the earth. I would not have trusted him to do the job a second time anyway. Anyway,to cut a long story short, the bearings were all redone a second time by another engineer who guaranteed his work and came with impeccable references. He also was redoing the engine from an Isotta Fraschini done by the same person who had done the Dodge and had the same problems. The engine was redone, rebuilt and reinstalled and once again the same knock reoccurred. This happened after about 30 miles of driving. Once again the engine came out and had the offending bearing redone. All others were perfect. True to his word he redid the engine and covered the costs of taking the engine out and reinstalling it. All was well again and it has done about 140 miles and is running beautifully. A hood has been made and looks great. The car has now been registered and is on the road again. We are very happy with it now. Next weekend we are taking it on another rally and I will report on how it went next week. I will now attempt to attach a few photos of the car.

I have no experience on Chrysler replacement water pumps but have quite a bit of experience with Morris Minis and their pumps. Where I live in southern Queensland, Australia, the area is sub tropical and as the original Mini engine and pump is all cast iron there is no real need for anti freeze to be added to the radiator water. There are quite a few replacement pumps available made of aluminium with pressed steel impellers. The vanes on the impellers are bent at 90 degrees. I have seen pumps with no vanes left on the impeller after a few years, even when running corrosion inhibitor in the engine. Some have a few vanes missing. All have broken off at the same place. The bend in the steel. Needless to say this severely challenges the cooling ability which is often marginal in summer. When I buy a replacement I prefer an all iron pump and impeller. I suspect that the breakdown is caused by the introduction of the aluminium into the system causing some sort of galvanic (?) or electrolysis (?) between ferrous and non ferrous metals. A similar reaction can occur in the doors and bonnets of aluminium bodied Land Rovers where the aluminium meets up with steel. Modern engines absolutely require corrosion inhibitor because of all the aluminium and alloys including zinc used in their construction. In our old engines we can get away without corrosion inhibitor to a point but it is still highly advisable. Cheers. Jim. P.S. Love your car.