10,000 Jalop points to whoever identifies this car

"area man" (hurrburgring) 12/27/2014 at 19:20 • Filed to: None

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41

About a hundred yards into the woods behind my parents' house lies the rusty remains of an old car. The question is, which one? (UPDATE: Old-Busted-Hotness says all signs point to an early-40s Oldsmobile, and it's hard to disagree!)

This has been here forever, and was a little more intact when I was a kid. The roof is a twisted mess of rusty metal lying about ten feet away; it won't be any help to you. So, you have a hood, doors, engine block, and what's left of the interior to help you. I checked all over, and there are no markings or badges of any kind, likely stripped long ago.

It appears to be a coupe, since there's no sign of rear doors. According to local legend, after the farms in this area were abandoned in the late 19th century, the land became an illegal dump of sorts before people starting building houses nearby. I never found anything interesting aside from this car though.

I caught a spanking and a tetanus shot as a kid for ruining a pair of my mom's garden shears while trying to extract some rusty souvenirs, like these awesome handles, which even today I tried to pry off before my girl stopped me. What did these all do?

Bonus woods picture. Running around this place as a kid was pretty sweet.

Thunderface > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:24

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darude- sandstorm

area man > Thunderface 12/27/2014 at 19:28

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that is probably incorrect

roflcopter > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:28

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1940-ish Chrysler Coupe.

FocusedMark > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:30

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what state is this in? Looks awfully familiar to me.

area man > roflcopter 12/27/2014 at 19:30

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Imma be real sad if that's correct because those things are awesome

area man > FocusedMark 12/27/2014 at 19:30

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CT

JGrabowMSt > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:32

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10k jalop point if you dig that thing out and make something out of it.

jkm7680 > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:33

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It's a Chrysler for sure, But I just don't know which one.

area man > JGrabowMSt 12/27/2014 at 19:34

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It has fused to the forest floor at this point unfortunately

area man > jkm7680 12/27/2014 at 19:34

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what makes you say Chrysler

JGrabowMSt > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:35

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Pull a door off and hang it in the garage.

any VIN plate still on it?

area man > JGrabowMSt 12/27/2014 at 19:38

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that could happen. No sign of a VIN, although I probably didn't look hard enough, just nosed around the engine bay. If I brought my work gloves I would've been able to dig around more.

JGrabowMSt > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:40

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I would take a can of PB Blaster and a small wrench set and some other tools with those gloves. You may be able to sell some of the smaller fittings or door handles/other accessories for a small fortune. Could probably identify the car by some of the part numbers.

cbell04 > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:44

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This trim piece on the window sill above and between the window crank and door handle reminds me of a Chevy look.. Here's a 41 special for reference but maybe they all did that back then

Tohru > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:44

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It's a 1948 Chevrolet.

Check the door handles - crank for the vent, crank for the main, handle for the door latch, all in the same locations. Plus the door shape is the same.

Tohru > cbell04 12/27/2014 at 19:46

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It's a 48, probably a top-spec model.

roflcopter > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:46

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The hood protrusion and shape seem correct, and the A-pillar/door is pretty spot on. But that was literally my knee jerk reaction, I could be wrong for sure.

Thunderface > area man 12/27/2014 at 19:47

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You sure?

area man > Tohru 12/27/2014 at 19:50

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this looks very promising!

Steve in Manhattan > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:14

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My Spidey sense said Plymouth or Chevy for no reason I can remember. The neighbor, when I was a child, had a few '53s (Chevys) sitting around, but that door trim bit says late 30s, early 40s, sort of an art deco touch. Other than that, I got nuthin'.

MultiplaOrgasms > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:15

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?

Old-Busted-Hotness > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:17

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That's how you're going to identify it. Look for that little art-deco chrome piece.

Door-handle spacing matches late-30's/early 40's GM. Flathead six (or 8?) indicates Pontiac.

jkm7680 > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:25

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Style of the door panel, shares the two handles and takes some cues from the one pictured.

McMike > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:26

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Early 40s. All those holes along the window make me think woody.

area man > McMike 12/27/2014 at 20:27

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I'm just noticing the holes again, although others are thinking Chevy.

area man > Old-Busted-Hotness 12/27/2014 at 20:29

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I'll have to go investigate the engine further

McMike > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:30

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That metal trim on the door panel will probably be the identifier.

Old-Busted-Hotness > Tohru 12/27/2014 at 20:47

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Chevy had overhead valves, though. This one's a flathead. My money's on Pontiac.

Old-Busted-Hotness > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:49

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At least count the spark plugs, and try to get a pic of what's left of the dash.

I'm still thinking 39-40 Pontiac.

Tohru > area man 12/27/2014 at 20:52

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After a lot more research, I found a picture of a '41 Oldsmobile that used a similar trim piece on the door. I haven't been able to find any interior shots of an Olds from this era to verify.

Pontiac and Chevrolet in 46-48 used a different trim piece on the doors. Buick and Cadillac did not use this body style that I could find.

I'm going to say definitively that this car is a 1946-1948 Oldsmobile coupe.

Tohru > Old-Busted-Hotness 12/27/2014 at 20:55

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With some more research, the door trim badge looks like an Oldsmobile badge. Pontiac's trim piece that went there looked different, as did the Chevrolet.

Old-Busted-Hotness > area man 12/27/2014 at 21:00

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Coil-spring suspension is unusual for the time.

Old-Busted-Hotness > Tohru 12/27/2014 at 21:09

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Coil springs also point to Olds...

ranwhenparked > area man 12/27/2014 at 21:10

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The trim piece looks very close to a 1940 Oldsmobile, except they had two vertical strips instead of three. The door handle arrangement does seem to match ca. 1940-1948 GM. The smaller handle to the left of the picture was to open the quarter window, the one in the center was for the side window, and the one on the right opened the door.

Old-Busted-Hotness > area man 12/27/2014 at 21:14

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1941 Olds, and that's my final offer.

Compare the rear suspension and frame, and the core-plug location on the engine block.

area man > McMike 12/27/2014 at 21:14

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people say that likely points to an Olds

Old-Busted-Hotness > Old-Busted-Hotness 12/27/2014 at 21:22

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And here's the little chrome trim piece:

(hidden behind the column) Click for full size:

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Olds…

area man > Old-Busted-Hotness 12/27/2014 at 21:25

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wow, that seems like a match... The points are currently in escrow, but they will be transferred to you when we can confirm this somehow. Either more people will chime in or I'll go out to look again tomorrow and hopefully find some more evidence backing you up. But the suspension/frame is very convincing!

Takuro Spirit > area man 12/27/2014 at 21:46

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Post it to the Abandoned and Neglected Cars Facebook page. There's a bunch of savants on there, one of them will ID it. And many others will ask if its for sale.

area man > Takuro Spirit 12/27/2014 at 21:57

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haha I might have to do that!

area man > Old-Busted-Hotness 12/27/2014 at 23:04

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fantastic. I'm calling it, you win!