LO AND BEHOLD - WE KNOW WHAT SIZE ENGINE WE HAVE!

 When Mary Lou was in to see Trevor at J-Town, I mentioned where I should find the engine code on the block (so far I wasn't see it) and he pointed out that he could see a "D".  I knew right then that once she got home, I could get a closer look and then look up online.

Below are pics I took of the engine block and in my Bingo voice "D44"!

This chart is hard to see but confirms the D44-1001 is a 1953 Red Ram Hemi.  241 C.I. / 140 HP.  I had a suspicion it was a 241 and from 1954 from talking to Randy when we bought it.  But we were told it was a 270 and we were also told it was Royal.  We now know the engine is smaller but how cool to know it's the first year Dodge had the Hemi!  Very authentic First Gen!

MARY LOU B.C. (Bob Clark) WE MET THE MAN THAT BUILT MARY LOU

 Both John McClain and Ed Brose pointed us toward Bob Clark in Mitchellville as someone to talk to about the car.  We knew he used to own the car and had a Slant 6 engine but that's it.  I wrote Bob a letter telling him we'd love to hear more about the car and we could bring it out for him to see.  He gave me a call and said he'd love to meet and looked forward to seeing the car again.  We went out on Sunday July 2 and met with Bob and his wife Lonnie.  The nicest couple.  We learned that Bob had the car for 20+ years and built her as you see her with the exception of the Hemi, transmission and likely the exhaust.  Oh, and it turns out they used to be neighbors of Bill and Maggie!

Bob went to a car show in Bondurant with a For Sale sign and met Gordy there.  He said they struck a deal.  Marie Johnson remembered that happening because they were at the show.

When you look at the photos, it looks like light reflections or splotches...I was taking pictures of pictures outside on a bubble glass table.  I have a separate post under Who Did What with more details.

Bob and Lonnie Clark

Bob won Best Work In Progress at The Goodguys

Note the steering wheel is different.

His grandson wanted the car in his graduation photos.

The collage below was a gift from John McClain.

Mary Lou was featured in the October 2009 Goodguys Gazette.

His grandson custom painted this 1:64 diecast to match the car.

Current project is a 1950 Studebaker.  

"MARY LOU IS A WHAT?"

I've joined a few different Facebook groups for 1955/1956 Dodges.  I learned about the possibility of getting a "build card".  A build card provides the specs on the car as it came down the assembly line...what engine it had and what accessories, etc.  There was no cost to order but I had to provide a copy of the title to the car and the Serial Number (no VIN numbers back then).

OUR BUILD CARD

The Serial Number alone would not have told us what we have (see below).

The Serial Number can be found on our car when you open the driver’s side door (ours is 34922295). From this number, we can determine our car was built in Detroit and the 31,047^th car built that year. 

We learned we do NOT have a Dodge ROYAL Lancer but rather a CORONET Lancer.  The number 216 circled on the build card indicates a Coronet Lancer with a V-8 engine (see charts below). 

Royal below with number 226

Here are model numbers for all 1955 Dodges

Lancer was the designation for hardtop or convertible (although I've seen it used describing 4-door cars as well).  The bodies were the same for Coronet, Royal and Custom Royal.  Some of the differences were the trim and the Custom Royal got bolted on chrome fins.  There were 26,727 Coronet Lancers built that year (about 24% of total Coronet production and about 8.5% of total Dodge production that year).  A new 1955 Dodge Coronet Lancer would have cost $2260.  The average car that year cost $1900.

SO...we will need to change our car show sign and our license plates but who would have known with all of the badging and some of the chrome removed?  We are glad to know more about her.

FUN FACT!  Mary Lou was "born" (assembled) on May 20, 1955.  May 20 is our wedding anniversary 😊💕

Below is the email I received with the build card.  We can see that the car was delivered to a now-defunct dealer in Burlington, IA.

Hello Alan,

Thank you for your patience while we work through our orders. Attached please find the copy of the build card for your vehicle. The selling dealer was Sheagren-Hunt Company, located in Burlington, IA.

Please note, we cannot reprint build cards any differently.  The build cards were put on microfilm many years before they arrived to the archives.  Everything possible has been done to provide you with the best copy from our files.  We cannot make the build cards any larger or clearer, than what has been provided to you. 

We are also unable to provide the decoding of the build records due to a high volume of requests and limited staffing.  I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

We hope you find this information useful.

Danielle Szostak-Viers

Stellantis Historical Services

12501 Chrysler Freeway

CIMS 410-11-21

Detroit, MI 48288

 

HISTORY OF THE CAR / WHO DID WHAT WORK

OWNERSHIP

>  Gordon "Gordy" Jones - Newton   We know Justin Jones delivered the car to Randy Jones around November 2021.  Gordy died November 16, 2020.  He was 78.

>  Bob Clark (Lonnie) - Mitchellville  20+ years

Bob owned the car for 20+ years and built the car.  Gordy bought it and added the Hemi, the transmission, stereo/speakers and possibly different whitewall tires.  Janice Endsley Meador (Gordy's girlfriend) was very involved including either paying for part of the car and engine or both.

UPDATE FROM JANICE - FEBRUARY 2024    

I reached out to Janice on Facebook letting her know what I've learned and asking her (2) questions...

1) Is the engine a 241 or 270? and 2) Did it come from a 1954 or 1955 Dodge?  

Here is her reply...

I will get back to you as soon as I can.  I know a guy who can get ahold of Dave as I don't remember, but it might take some time to get ahold of Dave.  I think the car won first place at Good Guys for interior but don't know what year.  You could ask Bob as I think he had the car at that time.  The engine is a new build.  It had never been in a car before.  Mike (Hoffman) had it built.

UPDATE - Engine is a 241 from a 1953 Dodge.  That was the first year Dodge had a Hemi.

WHO DID WHAT

ENGINE

> The engine is from California (Mike Hoffman in Palm Springs).  Mike is deceased but his son Mikey is still around.  We were told Mike had the engine for Gordy for a while and finally just sent to him (apparently without a cost).  UPDATE  The "without a cost" comment likely meant Janice paid for it per Walt.  Walt Johnson told us the engine from LA and that it had a Slant 6 before.  We met a guy named Curt at Carfest that worked at DBz and his memory was that it's a 241.  He said the "year before" when I said 1955.  It is a 241 from 1953 we've learned by finding the number on the engine block.

> Dave Blankenship (formerly of DBz Customs in Newton) put the engine in.  We were told he's no longer at the shop due to health and working somewhere else for benefits (we were told at Sprint Car Hall of Fame).  Gary Pullen knows Dave and called on our behalf but no answer and has not heard from him in a while.  I texted Dave and no reply.  Dave's number (641) 417-9742.

INTERIOR

> Pat Woody of Reasnor did the interior.  Bob had it done.

PAINT

> John Welter did the paint.  Welter Auto Body in Mitchellville    (515) 967-9755  Bob had this done.

    Painted in factory-correct colors   Emerald Green / Sapphire White.

PINSTRIPING

> Pinstriping done by Jim Hetzler our of Muscatine.  He's a House of Kolor guy.  Has a Facebook page.  Very talented.  Frosty Harrington is the one who told us based on the signature on the back of the car.

Bob had the front and back done (at different times) and said Gordy had the dash done.

BUMPERS

> Bob had these done with The Bumper Boyz out of California.  He said something about meeting in Nebraska.

Bob said right rear quarter was bad and used one from a 4-door.