Beschreibung
Well, after 7 years (most of that in storage) the time has come for the Dodge and I to part. At 17. feet long, this must be the best potential publicity vehicle going, imagine it re-painted and with your business graphics on the side, EVERYONE looks at it, you can't ignore the thing, it's huge!
Engine: 383 (6. 2 litres) Chrysler.
Carb: Barry Grant Road Demon (not the ideal carb, car would benefit from a smaller carb)
Manifold: Edelbrock something or other. Original was stolen from outside my house.
Tyres all good with loads of tread.
Passed last MOT with no advisories. Done about 250 miles since MOT.
It's pillarless.
Seats three on the front seat and three on the rear, with room to spare on the back seat.
Boot is HUGE! I got an Aprilia Climber in there after pulling the wheels and forks off.
It has full electronic ignition which is why it starts very well after long periods of inactivity.
It has a Facet electric fuel pump and regualtor, the original started leaking, it's still there and can be fixed if you are so inclined.
Obviously, it has power steering, full power steering.
Tax is free and insurance is peanuts (£273 FC in East London)
It has the original build sheet intact (very unusual) and was previously owned by Victor Graff of San Fransisco, he's probably 100 years old by now, but he captained a massive ship in WW2, irrelevant to this sale, but interesting.
Right, bad bits:
It's 45 years old, and unrestored, everything apart from the carb, manifold and ignition is original. Any rust you see in the pics is surface only, there are not holes in this vehicle caused by rust, NONE! The undercarriage has about 3mm of 1960's bitumen on it and it's done a great job.
The fuel gauge only works once every 9 months when the moon is full. I suspect this is down to a bad earth on the tank.
The temp gauge sometimes hoofs it's way into the hot zone, then drops out and stabilises, I think this it more likely to be the thermostat than the head gasket, but even if it is the head gasket, it's a doddle to do because it's all pushrods.
There's a leak (see pics) in the seal between the front nearside and rear nearside door. This has resulted in a mouldy carpet and a rusty ashtray. Not floor rust has resulted because it's smothered in bitumen from the factory.
Speedo needle wobbles a bit, the screen washer is a switch on the end of a bit of wire under the dash, the interior chrome trim could do with removing and buffing up, there are some good size dents on various wings but the steel is thick enough to hammer it out and get it looking good if that's your scene, personally I like to think if it as history. The rear windows have seen little action in a long time and could do with the mech stripping and re-greasing.
It currently only does about 13mpg, I suspect this is down to my bad choice of carb or setup. It's running pretty rich and would probably return 20-25 with a smaller carb on it or an original Carter. The original carb went missing some time ago but they are the same ones as the Jensen Interceptor (same engine)
The gearbox goes from neutral to drive with a clunk, but after that it's smooth as butter, you can barely tell it's changed up or down.
In summary, it's a 45 year old car, totally solid but would benefit massively from someone who cares about automotive history enough to spend some time and a little cash bringing here back up to scratch. Or you could just drive round on sunny Sunday afternoons and pretend to be James Dean or something.
More pictures here.
- details above
Video of start up and run here.
- details above
