1937 Dodge D-5 4 Door Touring Sedan

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Was just up last week. Grill is in place and looks great. Dash is painted blue and assembled with the chrome bits around the ash tray, cigaratte storage box, radio delete plate. Window garnish moldings are painted. All the door handles are installed and functioning. Door lock is installed. Front bumper is on. Tilt steering column is in.

End of april first of may all the hot rods move to a new building. Bessy is in the first rotation so she goes first with 4 other cars to be finished up.

Once she's moved over and work reestablished on the five cars, they'll start the ordering/working radiator, ac, trans brain, wiring harness, brakes, exhaust, etc.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
She's moved into the new shop!

Today is the first time we have seen Ol Bessy assembled since she was hit by a drunk way back in 1992. She is looking GRAND! (Even in her first rough assembly.) Hard to believe we are on the final leg of a journey that started in 1957 when Dad bought her for $50 with hopes of one day having a V8 in her. Now she sports a 21st century 315 horse mill and quite soon, all the creature comforts of a modern automobile. (Power steering, independent suspension, power disc brakes, Air Conditioning, Tilt Wheel, 4 speed automatic overdrive and she'll still look just like she did 82 years ago.)

And, I think my home made aluminum grill surround looks pretty good too!

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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Yep, he's standing strong. 80 years old in about 3 weeks! I am looking forward to filming him drive Ol Bessy out of the garage for the first time. I'm gonna have to invest in a GoPro and some lessons on editing and adding music to the film. With any luck, there will be bucks and does in that trunk in the fall of 2020.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Just got a call from the shop manager. Seems they want a meeting to discuss a solution to completion. They may want to set a goal as tight as 90 days to turn key resto mod. He feels the wait has been more than enough. Fingers crossed!
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
August update.....Rather pannicky call from the new owner. Seems the prior owner and recent full time partner on the hot rod side may have suddenly quit the business. No back story but, new owner ain't happy!. Not a good feeling call for sure. This new owner is either the guy that jumps on it and gets it done or the guy who has been pannicked into trying to catch shotgun pellets in flight. Dad is headed there tonight and tomorrow to see whats up. We went from 90 days and done/shouldn't take any more of your money to need to talk about the price and back to going to get it done and you've spent enough. I told dad I'm gathering my receipts to show investment to date and we need to get a face to face in Aug or Sep when I travel up there. This don't feel like telephone talk, I think its going to need Man to Man discussion.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Gentlemen, prepping for either a completed car or removing it from the shop in Sept. to bring it to NC.

Need your recommendations for a reputable NC based shop that does good auto/hot rod/resto rod work... It'll be a big big help if you know and respect them for their integrity and work and provide name and phone numbers! Not so much help will those recommendations that start with "My buddies buddies wifes sons Father in law did one once...…."

What I'll need/want is completion to turn key/drive home status. (I'll have the car truck delivered to the right shop.)


The heavy lift right now is:

- fab the exhaust and connect the tilt steering column to the power rack.

- Install/plumb GM power brakes

- Drive shaft

- Wiring harnesses and/or ECUs: Body, Engine, Transmission

- Glass, rubber, upholstery, wheels, tires
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Looks like we are bringing Ol Bessy home, incomplete.

In a nutshell, original owner sold the business then quit as chief of hot rods, abandoning 22 hotrods in progress. To his credit, new owner is working with customers to try to get all of those on track and completed.

But, Dad lost $15000 parts and labor funds posted to the businesses accounts in Feb to finish the car. That money is now gone. We are at zero and the new owner quotes $39000 to finish the job. A bit frustrating to say the least. I'm sure i can do everything except steering joints, wire and program the LS engine and 4L60e and if I can't do that i'll simply swap in a carbed crate engine and TCI trans controller.

Now I wonder if I'll ever get it done for Dad. At 80 years old and with health issues creeping into his life its hard to hope for that day when I throw him the keys and he drives me around town like we used to when i was just a little kid who opened the windshield even in the winter!

I need to call over to a new builder in Concord NC and see if we can get some help with start, run stop. If we can afford to pay for that amount of heavy lifting, I'll do the rest.
 
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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
heck the storage for 4 years likely cost ya that much


Right now new owner says no storage fees, he considers us at 0/starting fresh. Finish it there or remove it is fine with him. I suspect, given the high estimate, he's not willing to say he doesn't want the job. At least I'm not in like the Corvette owner, they are over $100K and no end in sight.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
Take it home $39k to finish it is highway robbery IMO for what you have listed. He is either super proud of his work or knew he could price it to where you said hell no and take it down the road.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Take it home $39k to finish it is highway robbery IMO for what you have listed. He is either super proud of his work or knew he could price it to where you said hell no and take it down the road.

Thats my assessment. Dad is torn up. e was talking parting it out. I just gotta get it here and show him the easy buttons in my and local garage.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Dad called. Working the shipment now. Tentative date to load Ol Bessy on the truck is 14 August. Awaiting confirmation from shop owner and trucking company. With any luck, I should have her in my garage sometime around the week of 18 August.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Been doing a lot of research. I'm thinking about first three steps in this soon to be garage project. After inventory and bolting up all the sheet metal, I think I am ditching the used modern engine and transmission. Looking at the cost (let alone complexity) of fuel system mods, trans wiring/programming, engine wiring/reprograming, coolant system hose monster, and the list go's on.......I am leaning towards a v8 and trans more closely aligned with my budget and knowledge.....a small block and a th350. The modern stuff would have been wonderful.....if they would have finished the car. Hell Bells, the engine alone needs 40eleven electrical connectors and 2 miles of coolant hose, brains, 6 million lbs of fuel pressure and its so wide, I can't even see where it'll all go..... I'm liking the simplicity and cost of a 600 CFM carb and HEI lots better.

Hell, a Goodwrench engine and TCI trans with converter are less new with warranty than all the mods to get the LS to run.


Crossed fingers, car might just be in my garage this week. Wed is supposed to be the loading day.
 

lasttombstone

Kinder, Gentler LTS
Good luck with it buddy. From what I've seen of your work, it will be just as good or better than what you would have paid. And putting something in there you can actually work on yourself is a big savings. She'll still sound great and roll good.
 
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