MY 1941 DODGE… LIKE THE ONE DAD DROVE(BUT NICER)

My first remembrance of a car was my dad’s ’41 Dodge four-door sedan. It was a very used car when he got it sometime in the early ’50s. Being a very small person at the time I mostly remember the lower half of the car and sharing the seats inside the car with my brothers and sister. From the front seat I do remember the heater hanging under the dash. Once during the winter I put my foot near the little door that was opened to let the heat out. I didn’t know the fan would cut a hole in the toe of my boot. (The screen was missing from the hole in the heater.)

An Uncommon View

Our favorite pastime in the back seat was watching the road pass under the rust holes in the floor. Dad used old license plates, wood or anything else to cover those holes but they seemed to always grow larger. If we were going on a dirt road (which was often in those days) dust would blow up into the car. We were careful where we stood on that floor.

From One Family Dodge to the Next

A few years later dad traded the ’41 for a ’48 Dodge two-door sedan. It was a very nice car, gray and with a full un-rusted floor. The rear end had the nicest hum while we went down the road. It never changed or got louder so that’s the way it was. I went to sleep many evenings in that back seat on the way home from a long day out somewhere. A few years later Dad got a newer ’52 Dodge Medowbrook four-door. He kept the ’48 to sell on his own so it sat next to the garage for a week or two. When I got home from school I would change clothes and go out and play in that car. I “drove” it many miles sitting there shifting the gears and working the clutch and brakes behind that big steering wheel.

Then There Was Another Dodge…

Many decades later I went to a car show in the mountains of North Carolina. There I saw a ’41 Dodge Coupe. It brought back memories of those days gone by. The next summer I was in the same mountains at another show and there was a ’41 Dodge Coupe for sale. The man even let me drive it around the field. As I never thought about having an old car I enjoyed the day and moved on. But the next summer we went to the same show and the ’41 was there again and still for sale. The man remembered me and let me drive it again. As we talked my wife said “you should get this car.” I got the man’s address and agreed to go look at it at his place.

The car was in good shape with new paint and a new interior from top to bottom. I crawled under it from front to back. It had no rust or bad things under all that dirt. It had no work under it and still had a thick layer of grease and old oil everywhere. The man asked “what are you going to do with it?” I said drive it and enjoy it. After more talking he asked if I would put a V-8 in it. I said why would I do that? Well, we closed the deal. The following week a friend of mine went down there and picked it up and brought it to its new home in Louisville. That was in the fall of 1996.

I still drive my Dodge as much as I can. We recently did a tour of 119 miles with the original engine still in it. Yes, I did a lot of work for seven years, but it is in original condition right down to 6 volts and it’s still running points.

That’s the way it was back then.

Neil White

KYANA region AACA

Louisville, Kentucky