Interior shot. The radio (tube type) was rebuilt and now works like a champ!

What still needs to be done :)

* Engine rebuilt. Runs good, but smokes.
* Replace left rear window, which is cracked. One of the front windshield sections has a crack - not a big deal, but should be replaced anyway.
*  Carpeting.
* Re-chrome front bumper.

My Car Today

Well, lots of things have happened since my last post - I put on a new manifold, rebuilt the carb, updated some of the wiring in the engine compartment, including solid state relays for the headlights and horns. I'm hoping to have the registration and license plates this weekend, and finally get the chance to drive her around town a little bit! Hooray for (glacial) progress!!

Ouch

After finding the manifold heat valve completely stuck shut, I decided that the manifold would have to come off. I knew this task would not be easy since I was dealing with 60+ year-old parts. How right I was.

In short, I got both the intake & exhaust manifolds off, but at the cost of 6 broken bolts and a smashed finger. In addition to that, the exhaust manifold had a rather large crack I hadn't noticed before (it already had a busted flange.)

I was very fortunate, however, to find someone on a classic car forum I'm a member of (P15/D24) that had a good manifold. He is sending it to me for $25 + shipping.

Hopefully if a few weeks I'll have everything back together and running again!

Interior Door Panels Underway

Well, I'm making progress on the door panels. The old ones were in pretty awful shape, so I bought some new boarding, cloth and set to work. Here's a couple of pics of the finished product:

Weekend Update

Well, Winter's fast approaching, and I've pretty well wound up whatever I needed to do before the temps dropped. I put the clock back in the dash for now - hopefully over the Winter I can find a good used one that someone doesn't want an arm, a leg and a kidney for.

I've decided to ditch that old oil bath air cleaner for a new chromed one that uses good old paper filters. I was never a big fan of the oil bath design :P Found a site on the 'net that has 'em for less than $20.00 so I'll be ordering one of those soon.

I've also decided to veer from restoring to original and customize it a little. The back seat is toast, so next Spring I'm gonna hit the junkyards and look for a suitable replacement. I'm also planning to replace the rims with Cragars or something similar.

Till next time!

What I still need to fix...

Well, here's a laundry list of what still needs to be done to the old girl:

• Radio no worky. It doesn't help that all the tubes were missing. Thanks to my old High School Electronics teacher (props to you, Del!) I got replacements for them all. It comes on now, but no audio :( To be continued...
• Dash clock. I thought that might be an easy fix, but when I opened it up, one of the spindles on a tiny gear was broken. Grrr. Double grrr. Well, at least it looks nice.
• Carpeting. Yup. Naaaaasty.
• Door panels. Dodge used a cloth material that doesn't age well. This isn't that big of a deal.
• Front bumper needs to be re-chromed, or I need to find someone who has a decent used one.
• Cracked rear passenger window. Most auto glass places can supply a good replacement.
• Exhaust pipe. In bad condition. Some guy has one on e-Bay, but he wants almost $90 for it, plus whatever shipping is involved. I'm pretty sure I can get one of the local muffler shops to do one for me.

As you can see. lots to do, but for me, this is fun work and I really don't care how long it takes. The excitement is in the doing!

Weekend fun!

Worked on the speedometer over the weekend. It operates, but fluctuates quite a bit as you're driving, probably due to 60 year-old grease gunking up the gears inside. Also put stainless steel hoods on the headlights. They look cool, but I think the manufacturer could have done something about the edges - you could get cut on those if you're not careful!

This is a pic taken about a month ago after the hood, front passenger fender and passenger doors were repainted. Since then, the rear passenger fender and trunk lid have been re-done also.

Timeline to a restoration

Hey folks! I've started this site to document the restoration on my recently purchased 1949 Dodge Coronet. I've already started re-painting, and have picked up a few misc things for it, like stainless trim. As Winter is fast approaching, the rest on the painting will have to wait until Spring. In the meantime, there is wet sanding the panels already painted and a lot of interior work left to do.