I am thinking of buying a 4 door 1950 dodge meadowbrook as my first rat rod. Any knowledge about them or should I avoid them? Found 2 different ones at a pretty decent deal I think. As long as I get my motorcycle sold soon I am hoping to pick one up.
I'm not fond of fluid-drive or Gyromatic transmissions, especially behind a flathead 6 which can be a good engine but isn't exactly a powerhouse. If you have the choice try to find a manual trans car. Stick and overdrive is the best possible stock configuration, unless you're planning to swap out the drivetrain. If you buy one of these cars, be on the lookout for a junk 2 door sedan parts car. This would be a prime cantidate for a 2 door conversion. If you have a decent amount of welding skills it's not that hard to do and you'll triple the value of the car. And don't say rat rod if you want anyone to respond to your question.
whats wrong with the gyromatic ******'s? I was thinking of getting a t5 swap or maybe an od ****** as a replacement as soon as I could afford it. Haha sorry I will not use the those two words again.
My first car was a '50 Meadowbrook. Now I have a bunch of '50 Wayfarers. I say go for it. Easy to work on, easy to get parts for, less common than a Ford or Chevy, what's not to like? Get a Fluid drive, rather than a Gyromatic, less to go wrong with the Fluid drive. To my knowledge there were no Dodges in '50 stock with a standard or overdrive 3 speed.
moparsled thanks for the info. Is there a pretty easy od swap? maybe from a close year but doesn't have to be '50. I like that its not a chevy or a ford. I used to have a amc rambler and loved not driving something that wasn't at every car show.
I see you're in Richmond, there's a decent looking Meadowbrook on the Hampton Roads craigslist at what looks like a fair price. I don't know the car, and it's not exactly my flavor, but looks like a lot of car for the money.
i have a 50 wayfarer ,only problem im having is my brakes ,no adj took . also hard to find a fender for .flat head runs great though
OK, where to start here....... I'm not even gonna touch on the rat rod thing, just going to ***ume you want to fix it up and the RR term is a misguided way to say that. That's about the worst car you could ever sink time/money/heart into. And because there's so little aftermarket support it'll require a ton of money and talent if you ever decide to make it really nice. See that's the thing about casual projects. There comes a point where you've got 6-8K invested, you start liking the car, and can't bring yourself to cut and run cause it's still only worth $2k on the open market. Lot of guys end up with huge dollars and time on cars that are like throwing money in a hole. If you wanna burn out on project cars first time out of the box, make sure you totally lose your *** at every step of the way, and build a not-popular car that everyone p***es by after all that hard work. My advice, start better. There's a reason 4-door early 50s mopars tend to be so cheap. Don't learn what the market is telling you the hard way, others have already learned it, hence the market. good luck whichever way
Shifty thanks for the advice. Sorry I will never use rat rod again. Im not looking for a show car and dont want one. I was thinking shave the door handles, front discs brake conversion, rebuild suspension, and maybe find a od ******. shoot some candy/pearl copper paint with a flat white top. Basic chrome steelies and rock it. Nothing special just a cool driver. Thanks again for all of the input guys.
Chappy I like that plan, doesn't sound like a rat rod. Mild custom is probably the term. Start right and when you decide to move into another project, you'll get every penny back and then some. It can still be done with an unusual car. Before taking on anything with a mopar flathead 6 as a driver, consider searching out owner's comments on it's ability to move with modern traffic. If that's an issue for your useage, make sure the plan has room for an engine swap. Good & realistic plan = happy project experience
DUDE.....DO IT! My first car build is still the '50 meadowbrooke i still have. You can get all the parts you want from a Andy Bernbaum.com "i think thats how you spell his name" he is located up in Penn state and i normally get my parts within 3 days from when i order them." im located in Hampton roads, Va. Not only that, however you can always find parts on ebay and a few other websites that i just cannot remember. My buddy in Norfolk has a 2 door version with a built 350sbc. He just sold a 50' 4 dr desoto to some military dude recently in the area. With my car, i have lowered the car already the easy way by cutting coils, 3" blocks in the rear. I have taken off the muffler and put on some working lake pipes on each side. Bought some 50 dollar tires and grinded them down to make white walls. Replaced some floor metal, rocker panels. I have also replaced the original flat 6 for a '40 chrysler flat 6 which everything bolted up perfectly and runs strong. I have the fluid drive and have had no problems with it at all. I have bought a bag system for the whole car and also 4 link yet havent put it in yet. since i just rambled....im done.....but dont worry what everyone else says....It may not be the most desired car, however that give you more reason to make it bad*** looking.
i sort a agree with both shifty AND squablow - It isnt the smartest choice in first time builds if resale value/easy build is your mission (which it sort of sounds like it is) But going at it with a plan to make it a 2door convert would bring ALOT more interest in the open market - plus diehard mopar fans will love it (and dammit we are a growing sector of the populus!!) Plus I think the meadowboork is a cool lookin car - but I am bias being a lover of all things 5star. Plus you got Mopar Mama tellin ya to do it - hmm wonder why I havent been able to do that LOL oi I second er third it - do it! and yea it doesnt sound like you want to build a ratrod = GOOD. Poke around the forum and find out why
you know what MOPAR stands for right?? aw nevermind as mentioned before a 2dr will bring more value to the car, but if your build skills are limited, either rock the 4dr and have fun with it or get a 2dr to start with. A car can be like a tattoo, "good tattoos usually aren't cheap; cheap tattoos usually aren't good". For a first project just make sure you're not getting into a big rust pile just because the price is good sure beats a honda civic as a cruiser! (no offense civic owners ) best of luck and like mentioned, poke around here, tons of good info!
Haha thanks guys for the info. Okay I know it will be fun as a project/cruiser. Just gotta s****e up the cash now lol.
DUDE, Just make yourself happy, I,m real happy with my '49, don't see many of them, they are very easy to get most parts for, NAPA, the flat head is very reliable and you can always go with the 3 spd. I have a t5 for mine, have not done it yet, hopefullly this winter. I also have a 54 Ply Plaza 2-door Wagon, pretty much the same stuff.
Buy it, I have several old plymouths, flathead's repsond very well to a little TLC, cut the head, dual carbs, dual exhaust, igniton, OD. I have driven my 49 everywhere. Drove it 1200 mile to Detroit, ran like a top, great gas mileage and plenty of thumbs up! I like being differnt.
As far as this being an unpopular car, I'm old enough to remember when '37 Fords were considered ugly ducklings and the prevailing wisdom would have been not to sink your money into one. Now '37s are popular with both street rodders and restorers. At one time '38 and '39 Ford trucks were considered second only to the '42-'47 Jailbar Fords as the Ugliest Truck of All Time. Didn't stop me from building my '38, and now they're considered fairly desirable. Go figure. If you're thinking about building it to sell and make money on, the car you have in mind may not be a good choice. However, if you're building it to drive and enjoy, if you've got a pretty solid old car to start with, and you have the money and/or skills to achieve what you want, go for it. Don't have much direct experience working on Chrysler products, but I know that these old Chrysler products had good handling characteristics, and from the ones I've looked at, it appears that you have room to put in whatever drivetrain you want. Those old flathead 6's are exceedingly reliable and easy to work on, and as others in this thread have noted, they lend themselves well to some performance modifications. 4 door cars are great if you're taking the family to the cruise-in or show, and you can't beat a 4 door car for cruising your buddies around at shows. If it's what you want and you like it, don't let anybody tell you not to build it.
Build it..Can't speculate on the market and if you build it right and want to sell it you may be surprised how well you will do..I have had a 49 Coronet and it was a great car.currently building a 51 Plymouth Cranbrook.BTW if anyone has a Lt qtr fender for a Cranbrook I need one. Mike
Sounds like you have your mind made up no matter what anyone says...that's ok, it's YOUR mind that matters. But it's always a good idea to ask for advise and direction. I have a '52 Dodge Coronet 4 dr. that I just recently purchased. I got all my brake parts from Andy Bernbaum and I'm getting a water pump from Advance Auto. Mine has fluid drive and seems to work fine. As far as power, it's not quick off the line but I had it up to 60 with power to spare and it ran smooth as silk. Check out this link for more inspiration. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4022 Good luck with the car and keep us up to date on it's progress. Here's mine when I bought it and a photoshop of the direction I'm going.
They're actually pretty nice cars if they're in good shape. The price is good on them too since they're not that popular (yet). I did some driving in a friend's '52 Plymouth, which had the 3 speed stick with no OD. I did drive a '49 Dodge with the Fluid Drive, which was fine if it was treated like a stick shift. Bob
I had a '50 Plymouth fastback years ago. Ran great, got almost 30mpg on the freeway, nice smooth ride! Screw resale value, enjoy it today! My best advice honestly, is start and retain as much chrome trim as possible. If you remove it, fine, keep it safe in the shed. Trim will back your *** in the corner if you let it, know what I mean? What they said about Andy Bernbaum is all true. And Caterpillar has engine parts in stock. They bought the rights to the flat 6, thats where I got all my stuff.
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