A buddy of mine recently finished a 3 yr resto on a 1938 Dodge business coupe with rumble seat. RARE,RARE! It has a 3speed and driveablity is a
problem. The flat head six doesn't smile on the R's, and top speed is ~50mph. Rumor has it that there was a 4 spd(OD)
trans available for that year. Any info would be appreciated.

Yes, there is an OD tranny for the flathead 6. Will dig up specifics and try to get back to you later today.

---Red

Torr66@aol.com

Try posting to the P15/D24 message board ('42- early '49 Dodge and Plymouth). Many parts exchange from the '30s to '60 cars and trucks.
O/D units are popular swaps and might be a little spendy.

<A HREF="http://207.114.216.163/~gtk/wwwboard//index.html">http://207.114.216.163/~gtk/wwwboard//index.html</A>

I know I have a good article on this someplace, but it may take me awhile to put my hands on it (that's the trouble with us "old timers")! In the mean time, here's a lead for you:

<A HREF="http://www.classiccar.com/chatsforums/f ... oupID=1009

copy and paste entire URL into your "go" bar, then scroll down to 6/15/01 entry by "Pete", subject: "overdrive"

I'll get back to you. Good luck.
---Red


Torr66@aol.com

Best I can make out, 1953-56 Dodges & Plymouths are the cars which had manual overdrive as an option on the Mopar flat 6. If you find one, it will likely not be cheap as I understand they are getting pretty rare...and lot's of people want them to keep the rpms down when highway/freeway driving their antique. Stock rearend on your car was a dropout 3rd member type...look for a flat spot on the bottom of the 3rd member just right of center: gear ratio should be stamped there (under 60+ years of crud!) and could be anything from 4.3 to 3.5. If it's 4.3, that would explain alot of the problem r.e. top end! Finding a higher rear gear would be easier (than an OD) as this type rearend or similar was used all the up into 50s (as was the flat head) If you want to e-mail me a mailing address, I have other info I could photocopy and send you which might be of help.

--Red

Torr66@aol.com

These guys might also be able to point you in the right direction...they've obviously given the problem some thought:

<A HREF="http://www.gearvendors.com/index.html"> ... ex.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.gearvendors.com/articles/hot ... ex.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.gearvendors.com/agmanual.htm ... al.html</A>

Good luck
---Red

Torr66@aol.com