1958 Dodge

[Dartswinger70]

When it comes right down to it you have to paint your own car if you are capable. Paint guys want too much to do it.

 

[matthon]

Rattle can redo is chugging along, and it looks a gagillion times better already.

 

[barbee6043]

A guy can buy a little $300 compressor and $30 HF gun and actually do a decent to better job spraying real paint and primer. Rattle cans have their place, but not ..........

 

[matthon]

I got it, I'll put you down for hate it.

 

[Demonic]

Love the updates. That's how to do a big project, chip away a bit at a time.

 

[matthon]

Tell me this trunk floor isn't worth the effort to buy/ship, and I should just make one out of flat steel on top of square steel tubing.

My trunk in first pic, gas tank was attached to bottom of trunk floor, but there really isn't anything worth keeping.
Trunk dropoffs/extensions and floor patches are garbage galvanized sheets spot welded, yes, spot welded, to the rusty floor.

 

[Demonic]

How far away is it? I see a 66 Charger in the background. That old trunk looks a little rusty - new 18 ga welds much nicer than old stuff.

 

[moparmat2000]

It looks easy enough to just make your own.

 

[matthon]

How far away is it?

Other side of the country at Wildcat.

new 18 ga welds much nicer than old stuff.

Agreed.

 

[matthon]

Keep on keepin' on, and the kid pitches in again!

 

[matthon]

Got a rust free trunk floor from John Fowlie of Big M Automotive for our '58 Coronet over the weekend.

He said it was cut out of a rust free '57 D500 that was unfortunately parted out years ago.
Looks like the quarters were cut off first, so I have a few inches to make up on the back sides.

It has the frame mounts, gas tank mounts, and rear double floor section I didn't want to attempt to fabricate, as I wasn't sure exactly what it looked like.

It will be nice to have a floor I can't step through and sever an artery.

After a 3.5 hrs drive, as I was pulling into the parking lot my rpm gauge went way high, it was idling at 3k and would go up from there.

It also smelled like burnt gear oil, I thought, as I just went through the rear on the truck.

Then I realized it was a rotten egg smell. Popped the hood, voltage regulator quit, battery boiling over.

I watch all the gauges like a hawk on long trips, this is my only vehicle that still has an ammeter, and it was just a tick above the center, I guess that's enough.

John took me to the parts store as his wife went shopping, in his crew cab dually with 2 car trailer in tow.

They waited until I swapped in a new vr and battery and my truck was set.

I felt very fortunate that day.

Then his wife gave me some homemade sauce!

Generous, kind, good people.

 

[moparmat2000]

A company called Kirker makes a product called Duraprime I believe the name is. I will snap a pic of the can. It's a 2 part epoxy based primer that is designed to bite into the metal and provides a much better resistance to corrosion compared to the rattle cans. It is a primer/sealer. It comes in many colors from white, light grey, dark grey, black, and brown. That rattle can primer sitting on there it will start to rust through just from moisture sitting on the fenders and such. Just saying because that's an awful lot of work to have it end up with surface rust all over it again.

 

[matthon]

Kurker Enduro Prime?

The Rustoleum rusty metal primer is holding up.

Just watched the last few videos again, I made some great progress. It's inspired me to get going on it again.

I said in one of those videos, glad I got the worst part over.

On to the next worse part, and the next, and the next.

 

[moparmat2000]

Yep that's it Kirker Enduro Prime. Stuff is super tough, and grips bare metal great. Everything on the 69 cuda I am redoing is getting this on it after mechanical stripping or sandblasting.

 

[matthon]

Pic taken a month ago, now there's a foot of snow.
Need to get back on this asap.
Winter sucks.

 

[Bewy]

I loved the castellated tail light housings on the 58. So much so, that I found a set & replaced the ordinary looking front parkers on my 61 Dodge with them.

 

[matthon]

Cool!
I often thought the 58 tail lights could be a direct swap into a 62 Plymouth, they look very similar.

 

[Workingdog1]

1959 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer: The Forgotten Icon of 50s Automotive Design The Most Beautiful Car To Come Out Of The 1950s Was Completely Forgotten About

Saw this last week. FYI

 

[70DartMike]

What engine does it have? I'm sure you posted it before.

I have a few including: 2 '57 Royal Lancers, both American cars with a 325 Poly.
A '57 Custom Royal Lancer, Canadian car with a 301 Poly (Plymouth engine).
A '57 Dodge Custom Suburban 2 door wagon, it had a 301 and 3 on the tree.
A '58 Plymouth Sport Suburban 2 door wagon, it had a 301.
And I just picked up a '58 Dodge Custom Royal 4 door, with a rebuilt 354 Chrysler Poly.
I also have a '56 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman, it had a 330 Hemi but I sold the engine/trans. The rest is still in the back.

Most of mine are Canadian cars, minus the pair of '57 Royal's. Interesting to see what they did in Canada vs the US.

 

[FISHYPETE]

Jealous, I only have 2 Forward Look vehicles plus two parts cars

 

[matthon]

What engine does it have? I'm sure you posted it before.

325 poly with a 4 barrel, 3 speed push-button auto.

Interesting to see what they did in Canada vs the US.

I don't know all the specifics off the top of my head, but different engines, different names, and Dodges had a Plymouth rear body, quarters/fins, and dash, iirc, and vise-versa, I think.

Chrysler continued putting Dodge dashes into Canadian Plymouths until 62.

 

[70DartMike]

325 poly with a 4 barrel, 3 speed push-button auto.


I don't know all the specifics off the top of my head, but different engines, different names, and Dodges had a Plymouth rear body, quarters/fins, and dash, iirc, and vise-versa, I think.

Chrysler continued putting Dodge dashes into Canadian Plymouths until 62.

My blue/white '57 Royal (the one in my profile picture) has a 325, 4 bbl, 3 speed pushbutton Torqueflite, as well as power steering and power brakes. But I have a '57 Royal Lancer parts car, with a 325 2 bbl, manual steering and manual brakes. Interesting thing is the parts car 2 bbl engine has different castings for the rocker arms than the 325 4 bbl in my nice '57. I had to change one, and the geometry was different, but it has longer pushrods to make up for it. And both American cars. Strange.

Yes Canada had different models, including the Crusader, Regent, and Mayfair. Those were Plymouth bodies with Dodge front clips (fenders, hood, grill, bumper). They used Plymouth interiors but they read Dodge.

 

[Bewy]

The 57,58,59 Dodges here were sold as prestige cars. They were all 4 door, pillared, & called Custom Royals. Not sure about 57, but 58 had a 350BB & 59 had a 361 BB. They had p/brakes & p/steering. They had a beautiful dash. Five round gauges, oil pressure, ammeter & clock. Speedo was a rotating drum. Dash was so nice, I fitted one to my 61 Dodge which had a very plain dash.

 

[70DartMike]

Here are mine, just went out back to take pictures.

First is my '57 Royal Lancer, American car. It has the Custom Royal "teeth" on the bumper, but it originally didn't have them. It was red/white from new, with red interior, but was painted in 1982 blue/white, and the interior changed to blue. Yes, that paint is 43 years old.... the car still has less than 88,000 miles.
325 Poly 4 bbl, 3 speed Torqueflite, power steering, power brakes, original carb and air cleaner still on it. The neutral button still starts the car.
2nd and 3rd picture are older but you get the idea.

 

[70DartMike]

This is the recent addition, it's a parts car, but it's a '58 Dodge Custom Royal, and it had a rebuilt 354 Poly in it. I pulled the poly, it's currently apart in the shop as I wanted to confirm the bottom end looked ok, and regasket it (it sat 20 years). It has a rebuild tag, it was punched out .060" over, mains and rods .010" under.
354 Poly, 3 speed Torqueflite, power steering, manual brakes. Canadian car.