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Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| You can tell from my user ID what kind of car I bought. It's a 4 door sedan that I just got last month. It sat in a garage for many years in southern Kentucky after the husband died and the wife finally decided to sell it to a guy in Tennessee for $3500 two years ago. He had it picked up on a rollback and taken to a mechanic who is familiar with old cars and told him to make it roadworthy. He did a complete brake job including master cylinder, rebuilt the 2 barrel carb on the Super Red Ram hemi and tuned it up and adjusted the parking brake, among other things. The new owner bought a set of Coker radials and had him install them too. It still has the original spare which I cleaned up with Armor All. The front seat has been reupholstered to match the back seat and the carpet has been replaced. Everything works except for the gas gauge, speedometer and horn and I'm working on them while I drive it almost every day. The engine doesn't smoke and the trans shifts smoothly and it drives great for being almost 70 years old. I think I did pretty good for $8200. I'll try to post some pics if it will let me. If not it's yellow and white and I believe the paint is original.... Attachments ----------------  car 3.jpeg (431KB - 22 downloads) car 1b.jpeg (239KB - 26 downloads) | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9968      Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Sounds like you have a winner there, Dave. We do need to see some photos (curiousity, etc) Here is a link with hints regarding posting photos: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=64340&... Main things are: 1 1. No iPhone .jpegs if you can help it. Best if they are .jpgs 2. Photos need to be resized to less than 250 kb (1024 x 768 is a good size) Try. I presume that it will be something like this:   Edited by 56D500boy 2024-06-03 3:17 PM | ||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| Any idea what that dealer in Ohio got for that '55 Dodge? It's identical to my car including not having any outside rear view mirrors (until I put two on mine a couple of weeks ago). I like originality but safety is more important to me so at 72 I'm not going to look over my shoulder every time I want to change lanes. I forgot to mention that a lot of original paperwork came with the car including the bill of sale from June 1955 and also the owner's manual.... Edited by Dodge55CustomRoyal 2024-06-03 5:07 PM Attachments ---------------- car 1b.jpeg (239KB - 21 downloads) | |||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| Does anyone know how I can attach a horn button to the steering column to make the horn work? I bought a factory shop manual but there isn't much info in it for the horn... Attachments ---------------- car 2 b.jpeg (245KB - 18 downloads) car 2 b.jpeg (245KB - 18 downloads) | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9968 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Dodge55CustomRoyal - 2024-06-03 2:10 PM Does anyone know how I can attach a horn button to the steering column to make the horn work? I bought a factory shop manual but there isn't much info in it for the horn... Dave: Based on your photos, you don't have horn ring on your steering wheel. This might imply that horns were an option (check your paper work). There are quite a few components to a factory horn "switch", including the horns. (Do you have them??) Some reading on this topic: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=75319&... http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=78863&... http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=78824&... I (and others) are here if you have questions: Your photos so far (looks like your car has power steering so should like have horns). Edited by 56D500boy 2024-06-03 6:55 PM (DaveDsCustomRoyalSedan.jpg) (DaveDsCustomRoyalSedan_2.jpg) Attachments ---------------- DaveDsCustomRoyalSedan.jpg (333KB - 14 downloads) DaveDsCustomRoyalSedan_2.jpg (338KB - 14 downloads) | ||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| JedRhule |
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Veteran Posts: 103 Location: Palm Beach County Florida | Welcome to another yellowbird. I found my 56 CRL three years ago in a museum in Christianburg, VA. It took a year to get the A/C installed, a must here in Florida. (56 Dodge1.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 Dodge1.jpg (51KB - 13 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9968 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Dodge55CustomRoyal - 2024-06-03 4:40 PM So 1955 was the last year of the 6 volt system and 1956 was the first year of the 12 volt system? And mine has positive ground and the '56 has negative ground? So all of your diagrams for the '56 are the same on a '55?. The change over from 6V pos ground to 12V neg ground does not change anything about the horn system so that is good. The other "good" part is you can get the horn to honk. The bad news is the way that you are doing it. The brown circular thing in the middle of the steering wheel is the horn blowing switch. When installed with the horn ring, the horn ring gives the necessary leverage to make the two parts of the switch contact each other and complete the circuit so the horn gets voltage (via the horn relay on the driver's side fender). Without the horn ring, I have no idea how you can get the horn to blow if you have that "Full Time Power Steering" cover on the steering wheel. You really need the horn ring. I collect photos (digital impages) of 55 and 56 Dodges and that white and yellow one is just one example of my collection. I have no information about the car. As for the bumper, that one sports the optional bumper "wings" at the ends and the center "over-rider" bar. They were not stock. Options that some people like (I don't personally). Here is my 56 Dodge with the horn ring installed: Here is an example of a horn ring that was for sale https://www.hiltopautoparts.com/product/nos-mopar-horn-ring-1955-6-d... Edited by 56D500boy 2024-06-03 9:48 PM (Example55-56DodgeHornBlowingRing.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Example55-56DodgeHornBlowingRing.jpg (37KB - 14 downloads) | ||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| $300 for a horn ring? I could really use a whole new (used) steering wheel. I've owned a lot of old cars over the years but this one takes the cake with about 20 cracks in the upper part of it. Does anyone know where I can find a decent used one with the horn ring? I also included a pic of the center part of the steering wheel.... Attachments ---------------- IMG_1947.jpeg (98KB - 18 downloads) IMG_1948.jpeg (113KB - 14 downloads) IMG_1949.jpeg (115KB - 17 downloads) | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9968 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Dodge55CustomRoyal - 2024-06-04 9:11 AM $300 for a horn ring? I could really use a whole new (used) steering wheel. I've owned a lot of old cars over the years but this one takes the cake with about 20 cracks in the upper part of it. Does anyone know where I can find a decent used one with the horn ring? I also included a pic of the center part of the steering wheel.... Well first the good(ish) news. You have a horn ring (or at least part of one). So we know that your car was set up for horns and horn rings. Bad news is either you have to search out a good (non-broken) horn ring or figure out how to make what you have left work. Think "Frankenring" using bits from a non-Dodge ring attached to what is left of your Dodge ring. Used sources for a horn ring include John F. at Big M Auto in California, French Lake Auto Parts (FLAP) in Minnesota and Wildcat in Oregon (off the top of my head). As for the steering wheel repair there are a few options: 1. Having the steering wheel re-cast by a professional, e.g. Quality Restorations (last time I checked - before Covid - the cost was about US$1400.  https://qualityrestorations.com/dodge/ 2. Fixing your cracked upper portion of the steering wheel using expoxy filler. Dels56 (Del S) did this for his 56 Dodge Custom Royal: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=75193&... 3. I did something similar to Del S. but I started with a solid rubber 56 Coronet steering wheel that I got from FLAP and fixed the cracks in it with epoxy (JB Weld Plastic Weld): http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=69519&... Edited by 56D500boy 2024-06-04 1:12 PM | ||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| The horn works fine with the big "full time power steering" (FTPS) piece removed by pressing down on one of the remaining pieces of the horn ring. I made a short video but don't know how to add it to this site. If anyone has a broken horn ring for a '55 Dodge with a piece that extends out past the end of the FTPS piece please let me know. Thanks.... Attachments ---------------- IMG_1951.jpeg (96KB - 21 downloads) | |||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| This morning I drilled two holes in the steering wheel on either side of the longer piece of the horn ring on the left (see previous pic). Then I stuck both ends of a piece of wire through the holes and then attached a key ring to the wires and twisted them together. After screwing down the big piece with "full time power steering" on it I can now honk the horn by simply pulling on the key ring with my thumb. Problem solved. Next up is reattaching the speedometer cable to the back of the speedometer. The guy I bought the car from had it disconnected because it was noisy. There is no way I can get my arm up there from under the dash. Is there a way to access the speedometer by removing the black piece that is bolted to the firewall near the master cylinder? There is nothing in the factory shop manual covering this. I just want the speedo to work and don't care about the noise especially since the car is a radio delete. Thanks.... Attachments ---------------- IMG_1953.jpeg (54KB - 18 downloads) | |||
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| hondaman1974 |
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Veteran Posts: 192 Location: Northern Illinois | |||
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| Dodge55CustomRoyal |
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| hondaman1974 |
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Veteran Posts: 192 Location: Northern Illinois | |||
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