Coming next...

Alright everyone. I know it's been too long since my last post. That's life! Anyway, I just wanted to give you a little taste of some the cars and trucks that I will be blogging about in the next little bit.

1946 Desoto

1964 Dodge Dart

1950 Dodge Suburban

The First of an Amazing Collection

 

In 1914 Horace and John Dodge began a company that set a new standard for production vehicles. After working for Henry Ford (and not enjoying being in his pocket) the brother set out to show the world that the Model T was out of date. They set out to show how production cars should be built.

What they came up with were a few production car firsts. Their vehicle was the first "cheap" production vehicle with an all steel frame, a pressurized fuel system, an oil pump, a water pump an electric starter (which was also a generator while the car was running) and a 12 volt electrical system.

The car was released in November of 1914. It was a four door touring model (the two door roadster came later) with an L4 engine which produced approximately 35 horsepower, a backward shift transmission (which allows the lower gears to be idle while the car runs in high gear), as well as a more stable suspension set up than the Ford model T.

Vehicle number 912 off the Dodge Brother's line is now in Jim's (Jim is my wife's grandfather) garage. This car started his collection of vintage Dodge vehicles. He wanted to get this type of car for a few reasons.

The first reason was Jim's father. His dad had bought two cars prior to a Dodge. One of those vehicles was a Overland, the other a 490 Chev. To put it nicely, Jim's dad did not like the Chev. To put it in his dad's words "I know why the call it a 490. Its on the road for 4 days and in the garage for the next 90." Ouch. Anyway, after owning the Chev he bought a 1918 Dodge. He loved the car so much that from that moment on the Armstrong family was a Dodge family. A tradition that is still carried on by Jim's family. Two of his children own vintage Dodge vehicles and a third (of five) owns a Dodge Caravan and a Dodge Dakota.


The 1918 stuck with Jim. He always wanted to buy one and restore it to honour his father. Jim's farm was to host the upcoming International Plowing Match in 1978. He knew that the astronaut Neil Armstrong was coming to open the Plowing match. So, as Neil's host, he was looking for an interesting vehicle to drive Neil around the tent city of the plowing match.

In 1977 Jim found the 1914 for sale in a magazine. He and his wife Carol went down to Worthington, Ohio to pick up the car. They found out the this car only had two owner's. The first owner was also the owner of the first Dodge dealership in Ohio. The second owner was his son.

Jim loaded the car up on a trailer and headed home. They did make one stop on the way home though. They stopped at the Windsor, Ontario Chrysler plant. Chrysler executives, who were celebrating the release of the 1978 Charger, wanted to buy the 1914. He had to kindly turn down their offers.

After getting the Dodge home, they had the car restored (Jim modestly calls it an "amateur restoration") in time for the plowing match. Neil enjoyed his rides around in the Dodge and thanks to Neil coming the plowing match was extremely successful.

The car now is in storage in Jim's garage. He has maintained the car himself. And though he hasn't had it on the road for a number of years, he plans to bring it back out soon. Oh, and if you feel like you want to make an offer like the Chrysler executives did in 1977, you can try. But Jim won't be interested. He plans to pass this on in his Dodge family.

Notes:
- All pictures were taken by me in Jim's garage where the car is being stored.
- In 1999 Globe and Mail featured a story about Jim and his cars.

Getting Ready for my first true post

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I am really excited to get me first real post up here. I am currently working on a story about a 1914 Dodge. The serial number on this car is 921. And it is REALLY nice. Anyway, that is in the works.

At the same time I am working on a few other vehicles; 1946 DeSoto coupe, 1950 Dodge Suburban (Yes you read that correctly... Dodge made a Suburban), 1956 Dodge Lancer Royal, 1957 Fargo D100 with the V8, and a few more too!

Yeah, there is a Dodge theme for the first few posts. No, I don't live near a Dodge museum. It just feels like it! My wife's Grandfather, as he likes to say, is "open to anything, as long as it's a Dodge."

Anyway, I am really excited to get these stories out to you.

Stay tuned!

Starting it all off

The other day while riding on my 1999 Suzuki Marauder 800 a thought suddenly came to me. I am not a motorbike guy. Thought I was. Tried to be. Don't get me wrong, bikes are great and will be apart of this blog. They just don't have the same impact on me as a car or truck does. I do enjoy riding and looking at the odd bike, but I am a vintage car and truck guy. What brought on this thought? Well, while enjoying said ride, I caught myself staring at a 1960 Cobra... nice. First, the big opening on the nose. Then the way that the front fenders roll up and then fall to the windshield and continues on the door. The rear fenders take over from there all the way to the beautiful back end.  At that moment my love for cars came flooding back. That's also the moment I was shaken back to reality. A car horn does that to you when you almost run into it.

About a week later we (my family and I) were at my wife's grandparents when the bug bit again. How could it not? I was staring at an all original 1946 Desoto Club Coupe (review to come). Next to it was a red 1957 Fargo D100. What did I do? Grabbed the camera, took a ton of pictures and began asking question after question! Thankfully my wife's Grandfather loves these cars and trucks as much as I do and loves to talk about them as much as I do too.

Now that I consider myself a car guy, the transition from the couch to becoming a gear head can begin. So...

Welcome to Couch to GearHead. This blog is my way of talking about all the things in the auto industry that make me excited (which is a lot!), and also to discuss my personal favorites in cars, trucks, bikes (sometimes) and anything also that grabs my interest.

I hope you enjoy my journey to becoming a gear head and the stories I come across.