That's a great tip. It was already on my radar from discussions among vintage Airstream owners -- really gives their 60 year old tail lights a new lease on life.
Outstanding scores on the parts Bred.......Those bumpers are going to look outstanding on the car. LED conversion on the tailights will make a big difference, but the third brake light is still a good addition, particulary in todays environment. I like the idea about the drop the body on a new frame, it eliminates a lot of dicking around, at the same time, it is no easy conversion. We know a fellow who is putting a 1952 Suburban on a 2008 Escalade = basically making a Escaburb I think he termed it. A big job but when done the advantages are significant.
Right. It's a concession in that it's a dead giveaway that you've modernized things a bit. But I'm convinced our brains have literally been wired to expect that eye-level light. When it's not there I believe that sleepy, reptilian part of your brain that drives on autopilot just isn't watching for little lights down near the bumper. Nice - the Suburbcapade sounds cool, so send a link if he's posted the tale somewhere. I don't doubt it'll be a long, sticky job - just imagining the wiring kinda makes me nauseous.
As poet Robert Burns put it, The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry. So while I've made several references in this thread to the notion of keeping this station wagon in its stock configuration for a while, the wagon apparently hadn't yet weighed in with its opinion. That is to say, a closer examination of the frame (when up on the lift) revealed quite a bit of rot - no doubt due to spending the last 6 decades in the icy, road-salt laden environs near Rochester, New York. Rather than spending big bucks to strengthen and extend the life of the current frame, we began looking in earnest for the final solution for our tow vehicle. To that end, we landed on the 2nd generation Dodge Durango. 5.7 liter Hemi, 335 horses, 370 lbs of torque, and AWD / 4H / 4L modes. It's built on the fully boxed truck frame used in the Ram pickup. The other thing that makes it attractive is that the length is off by just an inch or two, and the track (width) is identical to the T&C. So there'll be very little work to mate it to the wagon's body. We'll likely split the difference between the Durango's 17" wheels and the T&C's 15's. Slightly wider 16's should still look mostly stock and put more rubber in contact with the road. It'll be an added bonus that when we're down to a bare frame, we'll seal the entire thing in Rhino-liner, and be able to weld the hitch receiver far forward to even out the center of gravity and improve towing. I found a candidate in southeast New York a couple days ago, and will be sending payment today: a 2004 model, with 80K on the Hemi. It was recently involved in a low speed rollover, which ruined much of the body but left the frame and drivetrain untouched. Because of the rollover, I was able to get it for about 1/3 the cost of similar examples. It has all new brakes, ball joints, and was meticulously maintained by a former Navy guy. Despite not having seen it in person, I've seen video of it running and driving perfectly, post rollover. The interior is now gone so I won't be running out for groceries with it, though. I'll have it shipped here in the next couple weeks... sell off whatever's left in good shape from the body, and prep it for winter. I'm not sure when we'll do the conversion, but I imagine this winter is as good a time as any. Thought you'd all be interested in the latest!
Sounds like you have the perfect solution to the entire thing. The great old body on a modern frame, with a very nice engine. I love the idea of using the Desoto brake light. You are dead right about needing that eye-level middle lamp. I have a 78 Thunderbird that does not have one. Even with lamps that run from one side of the car to the other, numpties out there cannot see it. A third lamp is most definitely in the near future for Nora.
Picked up the T&C today, runs like a champ after: ignition motor was rewired, carb and master cylinder rebuilt, and new brake lines. It'll only need to carry us through the fall, but that's still a lot of weekend jaunts to car shows and drive-in restaurants where we won't be worried about our safety. Then this winter, I hope to begin the process of moving it over to the Durango chassis. I have an old mechanic lined up to dismantle the Dodge when it's delivered in a few weeks. He works slowly, but charges just $15 an hour. With decades of experience, I intend to use his skills anywhere I can. Speaking of cheap labor - I'm driving to California tomorrow for a few weeks with my family (not in the wagon, of course). I've arranged to deliver several 10' long beams of clear-grained wood to a fellow antique canoe restorer along the way. He's thanking me by recasting the roof pillars from the Desoto rack. (I'll get to bend them into the correct position for the wagon's roofline during the wax stage.) I'm saving several hundred bucks... as is he by not shipping this unwieldy wood. A couple shots from this morning; sitting on donor springs from a '53 New Yorker sedan, and heading home. Runs like a sewing machine, as the hot rod shop owner said.
Finding the frame rust and a few other things proves we can't tell what we have until things are checked completely. I like the way you have planned this project. That third brake light will fool the non-car people. It looks stock and will do a good job. Love that wagon more each time I see it. Keep in mind, I only get 16 MPG on my Hemi truck with what is called cold air intake and not pulling a trailer. It's a simple chrome tube with a cone shaped air filter in place of all that plastic tubing and boxes. I don't think it was exactly a cold air intake while in Illinois this July and August!
I feared from the outset that 60 years of New York snow & salt had taken it's toll. The upside is, it makes the decision to go full Frankenstein far easier, emotionally. I'll have no guilt about making such drastic changes to an otherwise original car, and am already collecting a second dashboard to add additional trim below the dash with matching original knobs. Should be able to almost seamlessly blend new features like cruise control and 4WD settings. Now, stealth cup holders and an iPod dock... not sure how I'll accomplish that. It certainly won't fool anyone into thinking it's a Prius. In fact we had a little Prius and I LOVED it, just for being antithesis to this behemoth. I'll justify the Hemi knowing the Highlander sips around 28 MPG the rest of the time. Come on down! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima
Greetings, all! I've been in California the past month, both for a sister's wedding and to visit family after a year apart. Took a leisurely drive there and back, stopping in Jackson Hole, WY for a couple days on the way home. While in the Orange Country / LA area, I took in more than my fair share of car shows, including the famous crack-of-dawn Donuts & Derelicts in Huntington Beach... and Cars and Coffee in Irvine. Also of note was the annual Belmont Shores show, where the Long Beach neighborhood is completely shut down to accommodate a couple hundred unbelievable vintage autos... ranging from Model A hot rods to late model Ferraris. Anyhow, all this was the backdrop to a rather tense texting/voice mail standoff between myself and the seller of our donor Durango. He began holding my money hostage, and trying to squeeze hundreds more out of me for "storage" fees in his driveway when my first transport company fell through. Ultimately I hired a local-to-him service station to go grab it, after which it was held securely until another Uship company came through and saved the day. I'm now into the donor vehicle $5K, rather than $4K when all is said and done. I'm still satisfied with everything I'm getting for that, most importantly the 70-something thousand mile Hemi. It's now safely in a warehouse north of Chicago, being carefully dismantled so I can resell any good parts left, and work my way down to the rolling bare chassis. Photos attached. --------------- In other engine news, I should add that while we're extremely excited about the Hemi... it may ultimately wind up being a mid-range solution, though we'll always keep the car on this new frame. I've begun hearing rumblings of a wonderful new engine/trans combo coming down the pike, and when they're out on the road en masse, we may have to give it serious consideration if we're still towing long distances and gulping down gas at a shameful rate. It'll be found in the 2014 Grand Cherokee, and is a 3.0L diesel V6 with turbocharger. It'll make 406 lbs. of torque and should obtain 25 MPG overall. Chrysler intends to mate it to an 8-speed auto transmission for maximum efficiency, and they're reportedly surprisingly powerful motors. Mercedes' Blue Line vehicles and Sprinter cargo vans have been using this type of engine for years in the States, and for even longer in Europe. They're quiet, don't smell like the diesel we grew up with, and last hundreds of thousands of miles being that they're often used in commercial settings. They also perform extremely well and get great MPG's in a towing environment, as many Airstream folks have found out in the last few years. Should be an interesting option for our modified wagon in a few years. In the meantime? Bring on that HEMI.
I have to hand it to you, bred....you are doing a magnificent job and sparing no expense to get that beautiful wagon in perfect form for a towing vehicle and still maintain it's 50's look. Yes...that Euro type engine DOES sound great if it proves to be as good as the actual Euro engines. I wish you good luck in your continuing ventures and hats off to you!
Thanks guys! As with all things worth pursuing... it now boils down to cash. If I can free up most of what I need, this little hot rod shop here in Chicago's northwest burbs can knock it out in a few weeks this winter when there's nothing else on their plate. Otherwise it'll have to wait until spring, and thus juggled back and forth with repeat customers' rides. That would stretch things well into next summer, they estimate. We'll see. Certainly worth waiting until we can do it right, I know that. Below are few shots from one of the highlights of the California trip; a visit to the ICON 4x4 headquarters, where the CEO parks his daily driver - the Derelict to Jay Leno, into which he's shoehorned a Viper V10. Incredible.
It will be interesting to see if that new diesel engine is as good as they claim. I know a couple people who have the 3 litre turbo diesel in Jeep Grand Cherokees, and they are quite thrilled with the 10 litres /100 kilometers highway fuel economy. That is only 28 miles to the Imperial gallon, or about 24 U.S gallon. I manage that in my 78 Thunderbird with a 351M gas engine and no overdrive! Sounds like an amazing job you are doing on the T&C, though. Keep on having lots of fun with her!
Good grief, me.... ....on a forum, my kid is still laughing. Came from a big family so we always had a wagon packed with kids. I remember delivering Sunday morning papers sitting on the tailgate of Dad's '65 Custom 880 as he drove slowly around the neighborhood. I've got a red 92 Volvo 245 that I'm wanting to "woodify". My first attempt was a sticky disaster, shoot, I'll settle for half a woody, with wood only on the passengers side.
