Taylormade

Your motor looks great! What type of paint did you use?

"I'm not sure reproduction steel is 'more original' than wood covered with rubber and trim anyway." Not arguing with your choice to go with wood, but since the running boards were originally metal, that option would, indeed, be more original than hickory. I've seen many wood running board conversions and even thought about doing it on my 32 DL since I'm better with wood than metal, but finally decided to go with metal since the underside ribs are so prominent. Are you planning to trim the edges with metal or leave them all wood with just the step plate? Based on your previous woodworking posts, they should look fantastic. Why not tackle a woody wagon next?

That is great news. The inner rockers on these convertibles are really prone to rust and it is often hard to spot. I looked at a supposedly rust fre e example and poked the inner rocker with a screwdriver - it went right through and I was coated with a cloud of red dust. The danger is that they often rust from the inside out. You are lucky to have found a solid car. Enjoy it, they are great looking cars.

I had a 50 Wayfarer that I sold a few years ago. If you need any help, let me know, especially help concerning the rust issues on these cars! I still have quite a few parts from 50 and 49 Wayfarers if you're looking.

This thread will probably help you out. http://forums.aaca.org/topic/238646-1949-dodge-wayfarers-with-d29-vs-d30-engine-blocks/ Do you have roll up windows or the early removable side curtains?

Is this what you're looking for? Off my 1932 dodge Brothers DL sedan. Notice the crack in mine. I also cracked it trying to tighten it down. My banjo bolt did not fit loosely inside the fitting. I believe the fitting was slightly out of round, and forcing the banjo nut in as I tightened it cracked the brass. I was lucky and someone on the forum found two for me. I did find some very similar to the original on eBay, but the internal opening is just a bit larger, although the brake line fitting is correct. They might work, but I think you would have to find a banjo bolt with a slightly larger diameter just under the head. I'm sure you know you need a copper washer on both sides of the fitting to prevent leaks, and if the copper has hardened from age, you may have to heat the washers up to soften them enough so they compress correctly.

I installed my newly relined brake shoes and discovered, using my newly purchased Ammco 1750 tool, that they were not quite round when I spun the tool around the linings. Using some advice I found on ply33's website, I trued the linings using the following method. First I got a roll of 80 grit self-stick sandpaper at my local NAPA dealer. Twenty yards for 19 bucks - enough to do forty cars or more. I cut off a piece and stuck it inside the drum. Then I marked the surface of the lining with a marker as a guide. I simply held the shoe flat against the paper and moved the shoe back and forth against the paper. After only a few swipes, about half the guide markings were sanded off. Cover the bearings as even a light sanding produces lots of dust. Another 20 to 30 seconds of sanding had all the guide marks off, and when I installed the shoes, they were perfectly round according to the Ammco tool. Not exactly rocket science, but it worked great for this amateur restorer.

Ian, those knobs look great! On my 32 they are just nickel plated without the fancy white inserts. Is that plastic/Bakelite or painted?

I have mine - my 1932 Dodge DL sedan. The first car I ever owned (bought in 1965), found after 45 years and now back in my garage. I've dreamed about owning it again since the day I was forced to sell it in 1967.

Those are the later springs everyone is selling. I think the ones I just got will probably work. Thanks for looking.

I've been trying to find a set of correct brake return springs for my 1932 Dodge Brothers DL sedan, as mine are rust pitted. Several vendors advertised that they had the correct springs, but I discovered they were too short and actually were for later model Dodges. I found some that I thought might work from The Filling Station, a store that caters to the Chevrolet crowd. They are the same length as the originals with a wire diameter slightly less. The center spring is longer, but not as "fat" as the original. I hung sixty pounds of weight on both springs. They both stretched about 3/4 of an inch to a length within less than a 1/16th of an inch of each other, the new springs being the longer stretch of the two. Although the original springs probably received a bit of a built in stretch over the last eighty years, I think the new ones are close enough to use with no problems. Any opinions before I put my brakes back together? The new springs are on top in the photo below. I cleaned off all the rust and painted the original springs, but the pits bother me. I had one of these let go in my 1950 Wayfarer and it really tore up the drum.

I checked the new brake return springs i bought from The Filling Station, a store that caters to the Chevrolet crowd. They are the same length as the originals with a wire diameter slightly less. The center spring is longer, but not as "fat" as the original. I hung sixty pounds of weight on both springs. They stretched about 3/4 of an inch to a length of to within less than a 1/16th of an inch of each other, the new springs being the longer stretch of the two. Although the original springs probably received a bit of a built in stretch over the last eighty years, I think the new ones are close enough to use with no problems.

And as a hobbyist it was my decision to restore my first car, my 1932 Dodge Brothers DL, even though it won't be worth half of what I will spend on the restoration. I don't expect pats on the back, kudos or huzzas for this choice. All I have received, and expect to receive, is a lot of fun, many new friends and the reward of a job well done.

Personally, as an aficionado of 30s cars, it would kill me to see that beautiful car torn to pieces. As a business person, tearing it up probably makes the most sense these days. Dave has helped me out several times with parts (free of charge) over the last months and we met at the Centennial Meet in Detroit last year. I know he loves old cars, but I also know he has to make a living and is trying to get the parts business in some sort of reasonable order. Where the problem lies is in the dichotomy of business and hobby. Turn your hobby into a business and a whole new set of problems arises, not the least of which is past fellow hobbyists suddenly being dismayed by the new greedy, car destroying persona the businessman has become. Many of the people decrying the destruction of this original car would probably take it and stick it in their barn/shed/garage where it would rot for the next thirty years until their son/grandson/daughter/wife/nephew tried to sell it for some vastly inflated price. The new buyer would then keep it for another fifteen years until he died and his son sold it for parts. To my dismay, most of these old sedans don't garner much enthusiasm, although it might survive in hot rod form if the right buyer decided to alter it (at least it would remain somewhat intact). Parting it out makes perfect business sense, but this site is dedicated to preserving these cars and I'm sure a lot of us shudder at the thought of it being torn apart and sold piecemeal. Unless you are restoring a nice convertible and need a good set of front fenders.

Sometimes it's impossible to restore something back to "totally original" - and who knows what that even means. Should all the wood I use in the restoration of my 32 DL have been cut and harvested before 1932? Jeeze, I wouldn't want to be accused of using non-original, modern wood! I do try to use slotted screws and the original bolts when I can, because it just looks "older" and more like it came from the factory. I even go as far as grinding off the modern markings on my bolt heads when I can't use my old DB stamped bolts do to rust or replacement, but that's probably going too far for many and it's just my own little nod to keeping her looking right. As long as you are driving and enjoying your car, who cares? This is supposed to be fun, not an exercise in obsessive compulsive behavior.

Pix of some of the cars at the WPC National Meet in Springfield, Illinois a few weeks ago.

Advice from my plater and a guy with a 32 Plymouth who was in the shop picking up some parts - leave them on, he can plate them attached and showed me several that looked just fine.

You are probably correct, but they used a pin on the locking handle, which I assume takes as much stress as the other three. I think I will go with the weld and remaking of the ridges. Decisions, decisions...

I found some from The Filling Station that are for early Chevrolets and are very close. They are the correct length, but the spring center is slightly longer and a bit smaller in circumference. I need to put my pull scale on them and see if they have the same tension as the originals. If you have any originals I would be interested.

Ply33 was kind enough to send me some. I believe I have enough to finish my frame, but L'll let you know if I discover I need a few. Thanks for the offer.

Nice!

The locking handle uses a pin to hold it in place. I think the pin idea will work fine and enable me to remove it if ever needed. Thanks for the suggestion.

Those are the ones.

I'm getting ready to take the exterior door handles from my 1932 Dodge Brothers DL sedan to the chrome shop. I'm trying to figure out how to remove the decorative escutcheon from the handle itself. As you can see in the photo, the escutcheon is held to the square shaft by the round washer, which in turn is held in place by two peened extensions on each side. If I file them off to free the round washer that holds everything together, how do I put them back together after the chrome is applied - there won't be anything to peen over? This looks like one of the few instances on these old cars where something was designed NOT to be taken apart. I'd love to hear from anyone who has dealt with this in the past.