jpage

You're most likely looking for 600/650x 16 tires and tubes. I recommend the Goodyear tires as they look period correct. They come from Lucas Tire which is also owned by the Coker company. I think the T15 stem is a standard rubber offset stem. Lucas only showed 1 tube in that size. I don't think that those drop center rims require a rim strip, I've never used one, and I believe that the strip is to cover the welds on spoked wheels so they don't rub through the tube. Again, I've not used any, and I don't think that you'll need those with those style wheels, but I'm no expert. On my Model A, I just ran some duct tape around the center to cover the spoke ends and it worked fine for as long as I had the car. Caution, there has been some talk about really cheap and lousy tubes lately, so make sure that there is some guarantee on them when you purchase. Ask questions, I'm sure the tire folks will have some answers for you.

I anyone is interested, I know of a '47-'48 DeSoto Club Coupe for sale near me. Car looks complete, and in fair shape but needs a complete restoration. Garage kept and probably could be had for low money! Located in Johnstown PA. If interested, please PM me for more details.

Call Restoration Specialties in Pa at 814-467-9842. They have a good stock of nice material and are currently making new windlace in house. Ask for Jeff, he'll send you samples.

I don't know...Looks like a pretty solid and complete car to me and a good candidate for restoration, if you like Chryslers, especially for the price! I'm restoring a '36 Dodge that was much worse than this car! In the hobby today, you can't see every car as a money maker!

Restoration Specialties carries a stock of "cowlboard" which has a painted grained finish on one side' It's fairly flexible and could probably be moulded by slightly wetting the back. See online or call 814-467-9842

Check with Restoration Specialties in PA at 814-467-9842. First photo looks like their numbers 1360 and 1355 respectively, but you have to call for availability. You can also check online. Ask for Jeff. Good hunting

I may be wrong, but I think you can only register a car as a regular car, antique or classic, but not more than one. If you register it now as a regular car, you'll pay the standard fees for title, registration and licensing. Later , if you want to change it to antique status, you'll be required to retitle it as antique, which will cost around $100 I think, and apply for an antique plate, which is also around that figure now. I still think, that you'd be further ahead to go the antique route. Good luck in whatever you decide! Where is McKean county, I'm not familiar with it. I live in the Johnstown area.

Bottom line is that if you are going to use it as a daily driver, in PA, it must be registered as a regular vehicle, which means it will have to pass inspection and be insured. You'd be foolish to just get liability insurance and then risk having an accident that could destroy the car with no coverage . All lights, turn signals will have to be brought up to modern standards and in some areas, it will have to pass a pollution test. As far as I know, there's no way around that. I really think that you'd be further ahead to buy yourself a good modern car as a daily driver as a '36 Desoto, while being a nice car, will not suffice as your only car, both in reliability and traffic speed. These cars can be hard to find parts for and even harder to find someone who will be willing to repair it if it breaks down, unless you are mechanically knowledgeable. Enjoy the car as a hobby car and insure it with one of the collectable car insurance companies. They will give better coverage at a much lower price. As far as PA antique tag restrictions, I found out that they really don't watch that closely, as I used to drive my "A" alot. Then one must ask, define one day a week and you still have to have modern lights to drive at night. Still, one has to follow the guidelines. The state does not limit mileage. I've found that the insurance companies put far more restrictions on the vehicle than the state, including mileage. Where in PA are you located?

Bob Giles, a forum member is selling some wool fabric that might look pretty good in your car. He has a thread for this under the "parts for sale" section> Check it out!

The fittings should be obtainable from any good parts store!

Tom, when click on the reply button or start a new post, look at the lower portion of the block, it will say add attachments. Click on the choose files, then you can pull a photo from your files and attach it to the post. You have to do this for each photo. I'm not familiar with the DeSotos, but my '36 Dodge uses steel lines from the oil filter. Would it be possible to replace the hoses with steel lines? i just made mine out of brake lines. Just a thought.

Yeah, thank you for your service. sounds like an interesting but dangerous job!

You may have some broken piston rings causing the compression loss, or, and this is highly unlikely, maybe the rod cap came loose and fell of so that the rod is not moving in the cylinder. the knock you hear may be the crank slapping the rod end. Sounds to me, that you may have to pull the head and pan to check. This is not a big job. Here's a picture of the original air cleaner. I'm sure Ron Lyons will have one.

If there is no compression at all in one cylinder, it does sound like a stuck valve. You should be able to buy a Fel Pro gasket set at a good auto store or from one of the Mopar parts houses like Bernbaum Auto. You should try to find a Motor's Manual or a service book for the '36 Dodge. You can find these online and they are worth the cost. If you google the head bolt tightening sequence for this car it might come up. Engine looks complete and those cars used a Burgess sealed air cleaner. I am restoring one of these cars and if you cam wait until next week, I can send you a photo of the air cleaner. I'm away and using another computer that does not have my pics on it. You might contact Ron Lyons in Texas at 713-805-3949 for an air cleaner as he has many parts. Leave a message and he'll call back. Hope you can find the engine issue and gwt it resolved. if you have any questions, please feel free to PM me as I'm on the forum usually once a day. I'm happy to help, if I can. Jim

Yeah, sounds a little suspicious to me too! Just the wording and grammar does it for me.

I think that Restoration Specialties has some of these. Call 814-4567-9842. Not in the catalog!

Unfortunately, probably going to be another hot rod or custom build!

There are some 'replacement' parts available but they don't look like the originals.

Car looks good there WB. Interesting note. The spare tire clamp on your car is centrally located, on my car it's much further to the left.

As far as I know, original looking replacements are not being made. You'll either have to find originals or find a caster to make new ones. Good hunting

Most, if not all, the Dodge tags are oval like the patent plate and the numbers aren't similar to Dodge body numbers. My car was similar, having one color code marked in the body but having a different color on the body! probably will never know what happened. My one car is a local car but the dealer no longer has any paperwork going back that far to compare. All evidence points to the Gunmetal as being the original color.

The body number tag is a curiosity to me as none of my '36 Dodges had a tag like that. As far as the color, the paint on the cowl looks to be Dodge Gunmetal or Plymouth Gunmetal. The 805 is the code for Mercury Metallic Poly, which has a more greenish blue tint. I see that that Plymouth offered one other gray for 1936 , Palm Beach Gray, that is more of a tan shade. It can be hard to determine actual colors as many of the old color charts are no longer accurate and there were some colors that were only used for a short period and where only available in certain regions. It appears that the repaint color may have just been a color that your father liked at the time. Personally, I don't care for the darker gray shade. I also noticed that the firewall on your car is body color. On all 3 of my Dodges, the firewall face was painted black with the cowling in body color! Good luck in your search!

Roger, you never cease to amaze! Your work is incredible!

I of my favorite kits along with their '36 Ford kit. Very nice detail and the '36 kit was the only one at the time with the correct wheel detail!

Pm member 'knobless' on this forum. He repops a good seal for that application.