Sunday, April 28, 2013


1928 Dodge Victory 6 -original post date 4/17/2013
 
Here we have a 1928 Dodge Victory 6... made by the Dodge Brothers Company. This was the last model year of Dodge brother Dodges before it was bought out by Walter Chrysler in the same year for $170 million. At that time, Dodge was owned by Dillon, Read & Company, who bought out the original Dodge Brothers company from the family heirs three years prior in 1925 for $146 million.
This little beauty is sitting in the front show room of Ellingson Classic Car sales in Rogers, MN (formerly Ellingson car museum). This car has a 208 cubic inch (3.4L) in-line 6 cylinder engine that makes 58HP. There were just under 150,000 of these cars made during their production run, and I think at this point, it's safe to say that most of those didn't survive as long or as well as this example has.
I don't think this one is actually for sale, as I couldn't find a price posted on it, and it wasn't listed in the price list they gave me. Brand new back in 1928, though, one of these would have set you back almost $1,100.
What's cool about this car is that even though it's completely elderly and not very powerful, it can hold its own in terms of styling. In a way, it was actually ahead of its time. Pull up next to a tinted-out Escalade with a stereo that's shaking the nuts and bolts right of the car and hold your head high. I promise that 99 times out of 100, you're rolling on bigger rims than that beast next to you. That's right. The Victory 6 is rolling on 29" rims. Time to honk that horn to celebrate petty one-upmanship -Ah-oooh-gah! Granted the wheels are wooden, but still, they're bigger than most of the outlandishly sized aftermarket crap people bolt onto their cars now.
Here's something else interesting. I was talking to a guy at Ellingson who just happened to have an old Nash from around this same era, complete with wood wheels. Wanna guess what type of upkeep you have to do on those things? According to the person I spoke to, the owners manual for his Nash recommends driving into a shallow creek about once a week, letting the wheels soak for 15 minutes, then pulling ahead a couple feet to do it again until all the spokes are good and soggy. -Well, those were certainly less litigious times, when companies could advise their customers to drive cars into bodies of water without going bankrupt from the legal action that would ensue after some hapless motorist mistakes a raging river or white water rapids for a good place to perform wheel maintenance. One does wonder if this creek driving business had any influence on the later development of the part boat, mostly car contraption known as the Amphicar. I know Ellingson used to have one of those, but I think they sold it.
 

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