Well I've been off the board for some time now, not because I wanted to be, but due to circumstance. I bought a 84 dodge crewcab with a cummins/5spd conversion, back in March and it turned into a real lemon. 7 months later, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears...and money, I finally got it on the road. Thought I'd share some pics and info on how things went. I bought the Desoto earlier this year, then had it shipped from Southern CA to a friends place in OR. Well I left Saturday morning from Abbotsford BC at 9am to go get my 48 Desoto from Tigard OR. Went down bare, no trailer, took me about 6 hours to get there. Went 400 miles on 15 gallons...that's 26.6 mpg. On the way down I met up with a P15-D24 member in Seattle WA to pick up a Spitfire head...No performance upgrade...just looks cool. Picked up the U-Haul trailer Sunday morning and loaded up Fernando, my old 48 Desoto. Hear I am ready to roll out of OR, Truck hauled well. Here's the truck and Desoto at the first rest area I stopped at. Who's this that keeps following me so close. Took me a little over 8 hours to get to Belingham WA, with a couple major highway slow downs due to accidents...WA state and rain....who knew they couldn't drive in that weather. Here's where I slept Sunday night....Not the most comfortable sleep for a guy my size, 6'8" and 275lbs, but good enough to save me another $75 for a hotel room. I arrived at the Canada/USA border at 8 am Monday morning, got the US paper work taken care of in a matter of minutes...the Canadians Customs...well I was there for over 90 minutes and got the royal run around. Here's one at the Canadian customs... And finally the Desoto is at it's new home. I was impressed at how well the truck did, the only thing that went wrong was the clutch fan seized solid, so it's pulling a begeezes amount of air and making a heck of a noise at RPM's over 1500. I have a new clutch on the way. So all in all a good trip and I'm very happy with the way old RAE performed. I used about the same amount of fuel, 15 gallons, and went 350 miles...so pulling it got 23 mpg!! Glad to get Fernando home...Finally...but now have to catch up on my "Honey Do" list. Wife was not happy about the 7 months of working on the truck and not getting any of the summer projects done!! Will work on the car when I can find time and will be on the board a bit more now I have a car to actually work on.
cripes, if I would have known you were passing that close and needed a place to sleep, you could have stayed at my place. I would have fed you too.
Hey I appreciate the offer..even if it's a little late... Next time I'll post up my move on the board and see if I can help share the experience with a member or two.
A very ugly girl can still be fun...... The car looks to be in great condition! Don't you dare paint it.
That DeSoto is really nice. I've always liked 46-48 Mopars. Most people don't realize how well they are built and how they drive. Good Luck with it....wish it was in my driveway!! Murph
Congrats on the score. I think those bubbley early mopars have tons of potential. I actually like the truck too, but dont tell anybody.
Sweet score! I love the grille on those post-war DeSotos! Ad me to the list of wishing it was in my driveway...
Who's this that keeps following me so close. love this shot i have done that so many times myself who's following that close got ticked off then just laughed
Love Desotos! You know the Cunningham's had one and Richie never wanted to drive the thing! But seriously.. I love the look of these cars and would sure like to see more guys fixin' them up. Now if it were meeeeee... I'd do a full outside resto and in the engine compartment maybe stick a nice big block of some sort (I'd say Hemi, but Cha-ching $$$).. Make it the ultimate sleeper! Enjoy your project whatever you decide to do. Possibilities are endless!
Hey Thrashingcows, Cool story and car. I did a similar ride (here in the north east) this July to get my 38 Ply coupe and kept looking in the rear view mirror. That was fun. What year cummins did you put in the truck? I've been thinking of buying a diesel for some time now.
Congrats on the new project. pretty cool sedan similar to my Plymouth. good luck stay focused. ps those bumpers are sweet
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement guys...appreciate it!! As for my truck, it's a 84 dodge ram D350 crewcab, with a 89 Cummins 12V diesel, and a 95 NV4500 manual 5 speed tranny and a dana 60 with 3:54 gears. Just love it!! Funny some of you have done the same thing as me. It took me several hours to get used to looking in the rear view mirror and not getting pi$$ed at the "clown" following so close..... Will definitely post progress pics and info as I go.
Plans..right now at least...just get it running and driving so I can get it safetied and registered and insured. Ultimately I will be keeping the original flat head 6, with some period upgrades, split exhaust manifold, and dual/triple carbs, shave the head to bump compression. Swap in an A833 4 speed OD tranny for better driveability. Drop it 3-4 inches, wide whites, with either the stock "Desoto" caps, or 56 Chrysler full stainless wheel covers. Will be adding a Visor, and an original drivers side spot light. Redo the interior and get cruising!!
I like your ideas. This will be one sweet ride. Please take pics of progress. You could also run the wide whites with painted steelies for more of a hot rod look.. regardless.. it'll be sweet!
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