@RMONTY and I just bought this. It was cheap enough to be an impulse buy… like, we dropped what we were doing and drove to go grab it. It came with 4 doors and a grille shell, sorry - didn’t grab a pic of the grille shell yet but I will. I don’t think it goes to the car and don’t know if any of the doors do, either. We know what we’re gonna do with it, but we don’t know what it is. Any ideas? Seller thought maybe Es***?
Hahaha, I joked to Robin that @VANDENPLAS would know what it was! The doors we got do match it & are suicide doors. I do not think the grille is for this car. This car will probably be a low buck fenderless hot rod in the future…
The OP doesn’t know what it is so it is a DODGE! Very rare body known as “The VanDenPlas”, ***embled in Hamilton, Ontario! Dodge grille badges were a six sided shape though it could very well be an Es*** grille.
1928-9 Es*** top looks like this, the whole top is wood frame with material on it, then fitted to body. You can see the hinge style for door as well.
@Algoma56 I think your right it's a '28 Es*** super six. http://www.driveduncan.com/steering-system-upgrade-1928-es***/
So that shell IS for this car. Cool!!! Thanks for the help guys. Finally home. OK, so what we have is basically a complete body from the cowl back, less trunk lid, which is easy enough to make. It needs no rust repair except the bottom of one door, the rest of the body is 100% solid original tin without even any thin spots. We got the piano hinges for both doors and the p***enger door even has exterior and interior handles, unfortunately they are missing on the driver side. Not bad for $300. No, seriously... it was $300. So... what to do with it? Well, hot rod it of course. A Model A frame is too skinny so hopefully an early big car frame turns up, otherwise we will just make one. We are thinking OHV straight six with a late banjo rear end. Right now we are ***uming no fenders unless a set of Es*** fenders magically materializes. We are thinking we want to put the body in primer ASAP but will probably not get started on the build for a while - between my T and Robin's sedan delivery there are already some irons in the fire, plus he has an AV8 project in the works.
Personally, I think you should just sell it to me since there are at least 4 mid to late '20's Es*** frames about 4 miles from me. I could swing by your place to pick up the shell on the way to visit my son in Whitney and then stop off and pick up the frame I need on the way home. How's that for a plan?
If it’s lasted this long I don’t think I would rush to primer unless you’re in that part of Texas where things rust quickly....LOL!
Quick note. early 70's, I'm working with a mechanic that was born in 1800's. Working for Packard he was able to buy an Es*** to go courting with. Whenever he referred to the car, he would stress the second syllable. Ess ***
Well, since you have the grille, and seems you might be looking for the fenders, I guess you’re going to restore it, huh? seriously though the looks like there’s plenty of room inside based on the long looking doors heck, looks like a long cowl too. I see a coupe with some storage behind the driver seat, and plenty of leg room.
Yup, 28/29 Es***. Glad to see another one saved from oblivion. On the door handles you have, are they plain or ornate? Plain handles/gauge panel/etc = 28, very ornate(but exactly the same outer shape, = 29. No frame? I might be able to help, a couple of ways, if wanted. PM me for ph#. FWIW, these had parallel leaf springs up front w/a dropped axle, splayed leaf springs out back. & yes, the frames were well built - highly sought after for early dirt/sprint car racing. For the time, these things handled rather well. Look to see if it has remnants for a rumble seat. A trunk = business coupe. Biggest difference is, afaik, the drain-lip for the bottom of a trunk lid; it's in the way for rumble lid & shaped way different. Mine is a trunk lid. Had vision(s) of a hot 6 for mine, say a Hudson 308 hopped up incl supercharging(or turbo). Well, also thought about hopping the 28-31 Challenger 6, too. & considered a "Hudson" 374(made n sold by Packard. Since Packard only sold them 320" mills, & the 320/352/374 were identical on the outside, Hudson valvecovers fit perfectly! - still gotta find a set of them - ). I like to try to keep-it-in-the-"family"(even if "extended"), if for no other reason, than to develop an amusing " what-if plausabile deniability backstory". . Was planning a resto-rod sort-of-affair, as they look pretty good stock. Dirty-words around here, but I still like the concept. Too many other things, projects, & life, got in the way, like usual. Never got that far, but still have the car. It awaits patiently, some needed attention. Hope you treat this one w/care & do a nice job on it. If you get a bit of time, look up the history of these. Hudson/Es*** pushed them hard & set a lot of factory records(against other mftrs) in 28/29. Similar to Studebaker, although in different leagues/cl***es. Marcus...
It has the very ornate handles inside & out on the p***enger door, so a '29 I suppose. It looks like it was a rumble seat car, I think some of the hardware is still in there. Robin & I were talking about maybe stretching some 32 rails, but if we could get our hands on an original Es*** frame that would of course be even better. I'll shoot you a DM soon.
Lol, we were welding up his trailer fenders when I saw it on fb marketplace. He said “tell them we’ll come right now” and we left the welder on in our haste!
So we are on the hunt for door handles, a frame, and any other "Es***" parts that we can find that are compatible with this body and grill. We haven't decided what for the engine, what type of rear end, etc. My vision is a bad *** fast hot rod. I'm still a rookie so mistakes may be made but going for it will be fun! I'm sure some will argue and say no.....but fenders would be cool as hell on this one! I think the chances of finding originals will be nada. But you never know!
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