Old Dodge Captures Spirit Of Car Collecting
I was jockeying for a parking space at the local Saturday morning
farmer’s market when this 1920s Dodge Brothers convertible appeared
carrying a family of four (or maybe five) and their dog. I occurred to
me that if you want to have fun with an old car, this is how it’s done.
There
are many events supposedly tailor-made for classic cars, but they often
lack the joy of a simple drive into town. I have never been big on car
shows where you wind up sitting next to your classic all day, or
vintage rallies that require you to drive for hours on end. But a
collectible car adds interest and fun to outings for dinner, ice cream
or groceries.
I sometimes think about finding a nice, solid
antique project car that I could eventually drive longer distances. But
really, that’s what modern cars are for. Don’t get me wrong. The
thought of driving a 1960s convertible to the New Jersey shore on a
perfect summer day is appealing. Realistically, though, it too easily
becomes a chore.
The 1966 Ford Mustang I drove in the mid 1980s
was a perfect beach car, until it started running hot on congested
roads and stop-and-go traffic made every application of its four-wheel
drum brakes seem like a roll of the dice. But the old Ford always
performed flawlessly in the low-stress environment of local cruising.
You’d
probably never consider running the ancient Dodge Brothers car on the
highway. It and other 80- or 90-year-old cars just weren’t made with
the Interstate system in mind. But they can handle short trips on local
roads or slightly longer ones on winding county highways.
I
think this Dodge Brothers – later the Dodge division of Chrysler — is a
1921 Touring Car, but it can be hard to tell because styling didn’t
change much year-to-year. Still this car, like many in the teens and
early ’20s, has hints of styling left over from horse-drawn carriages,
from its awning-like roof to the shape of the seats and the buggy-style
suspension springs visible underneath.
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