Great Dale House Car Dedication Site

1965 Dodge Coronet

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Ch.Ch.Changes

We successfully drove from Denver to Albuquerque and can finally say that there is real progress being made.

Here are some of the visible changes during the Great Dale Transformation:

 Old Engine

 New Engine

 Old windshield, wipers, and fluid

New windshield, wipers, and fluid

Old

 New Gas filler cover, 3″ Exhaust with chrome tips, side marker lights, water inlet, Cargo Pod, and deadbolt lock
No Suspension Work was really required

 No Ladder with new spare tire, hitch, tail lights, licence plate light,and rear glass

Old Entry View

New Entry View

Old Bridge View

New Bridge view with custom console and speaker boxes

Old Above the Bridge View

New memory foam bed and curtains

Bed and Bridge

New Bed and Bridge

Old View of the living space

New View of the Living Space with new curtains and working lights
Old Ice Box

New AC/DC Fridge

Old Ice Box Interior

New Fridge Interior

Old Ceiling Fan

New Ceiling Fan

Old Gas Lamp

Old Gas Lamp with Glass
New Cushions and Curtains Handmade by Lina

 

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First Trip

Well it has been quite the journey and I’ll post more details after the small claim court case is settled. I chose the wrong mechanic and had to find a Mopar specialist to fix the mistakes. We’re almost ready for prime time after:

  • Replacing the Rear axles
  • Replacing the rear brake pads
  • Replacing the rear differential (Twice)
  • Reconditioning the drive shaft
  • Rebuilding the transmission (Twice)
  • Replacing the complete fuel system from tank to carb
  • Replacing the radiator (3 times) and tweaking the fan system many, many times
  • Rebuilding the heads
  • Replacing the intake manifold
  • Replacing the carburetor
  • Replacing the air filter
  • Replacing the exhaust
  • Replacing all of the gauges and adding some new ones
  • Replacing the transmission cooler
  • Adding a deeper transmission pan
  • Replacing the front brakes with disc brakes
  • Replacing all front suspension bushings
  • Adding a massive sway bar on the front
  • Replacing the front windshields and rear window
  • Replacing the windshield wipers
  • New ignition system from distributor to plugs
  • New gas filler cover
  • Added Cruise control

We made it Canon City with no problems and here are some pics on a relatively level plot with no liquor store in the background.

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Great Dale’s First Checkup

We left Great Dale with an RV place to check out the frame and make sure she was structurally safe.  We couldn’t find any structural issues but the gas tank was pretty scary and might be the first project after a tune-up.  Nothing like a ratchet strap to make you feel safe and give you that Ford Pinto vibe.

Otherwise it seems that if there is a place to leak, she’s leaking, but no real surprising issues.

The tire guy was shocked how old the tires were and they had some fun with the rusted/stripped lug nuts. It turns out that the front driver’s side tires are reverse thread which threw them for a loop and we spent an extra couple of hours waiting for it all to be sorted out.

As we were driving back to the RV mechanic, something happened to the passenger-side front tire. I heard some clunking and completely lost the brakes.  When I walked around the hood to see what the problem was, I was stunned to see that the wheel seemed to have fallen off the drum but the lugs looked tight.

We got the tire guys over and it turned out the stud fell into the drum and knocked the brake seals off.  Luckily there was a mechanic half a block away and they helped us take the drum off and review the damage. We put her back together and limped over to the mechanic’s bay where she’ll get a complete flush of all fluids.

Turns out that reading that older car brakes are dangerous because you lose ALL of the brakes if the fluid leaks out of one brake is completely different than experiencing it.  The brakes were already scheduled for an upgrade but I may go Discs all the way around instead of just the front.

Good times!

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Lina and Chris Buy a Great Dale House Car

After the big accident of 2011, we were trying to decide whether to go RVing again.  I thought that Lina would never want to go again but she said she missed it.  We looked at some class C’s but decided the price wasn’t worth it.  Then we saw this little baby on craigslist and couldn’t resist taking a look…then had to have it.

Other posts copied from other websites will have better descriptions but, in a nutshell, a guy in Colorado hurt his back and couldn’t use the RV’s of the time and decided to build his own.  He and his wife started a factory where they could buy a car from a wrecker with a totaled rear end, cut it off, and then add a RV to the back. They made approx 53 of them including Thunderbird and Caddy versions. We bought ours from Denny who has three of them and figures that there are maybe 13 left.

Ours is based on a 1965 Dodge Coronet and it made it from Castle Rock to Arvada with minimal effort.  We’ll be working on the mechanical components and adding a fridge so that I can use it for burning man. Next year we’ll trick out the interior with a 50/60’s airstream theme. Then we’ll worry about the exterior.