38 Dodge 4 door

1938 Dodge 4 Door

After the 34 Plymouth didn't work out, we had been keeping our eyes open for another potential Street Rod project car.

Seen here stock, as purchased in May of 1981. It found us at a local car show.

It was fully functional and we drove it stock for a full year, 2-3 thousand miles. Then in May of 1982 we made the momentous decision to do the Street Rod thing and go to the Street Rod Nationals in St. Paul MN... in early July!

After much thought and careful measurements, I decided to use a '78 Trans Am subframe to replace the front of the stock frame, a 350 Chev, 350 Turbo trans, Caprice tilt column w/shifter, Camaro dash, Nova rear suspension, VW front park/turn signals and tail lights. The interior would wait 'til later. The best local junkyard agreed to $1100 for everything I would need, and granted me free access any time, whether they were open or not! I now had 5 weeks to get it done!

Subframe welded in, engine installed, power brakes installed.

Column, brake & parking brake pedals installed, engine & trans in place.

This was a 5 week crash program to get us to St. Paul for the Street Rod Nationals. I was still working full time, and it got down to the wire. 2 of the last 3 days became all-nighters. The last all-nighter was devoted to wiring the whole car. By 1:00 the next afternoon everything was working, so, while I took a shower, Sandy washed the car, and at 2:00 we left the coast of Maine for St Paul MN! I had done everything but the welding! We chose to go across Canada, so we headed for Montreal. Still in Maine, after maybe 45 minutes, everything seemed to be running like clockwork, so Sandy took over the wheel and I slept! Sandy continued through NH & VT, then I resumed driving into Canada to Montreal, then across the Trans Canada Highway to Sault Sainte Marie, then into the UP of MI and on to St. Paul.

National Street Rod Association 1982 Nationals, St Paul MN; Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
This is the only photo I can find of that trip, on the Fairgrounds in St Paul.

Note - those beautiful gold center chrome wheels proved to be a little too wide for the 38 and ended up on our 73 Vette, and the Vette's Rallye Wheels went on the 38.