Mid depression era vehicles have always been fascinating to me. At a time when the nation, and much of the world, was suffering inconceivably, many automakers never yielded in their attempt to make a statement. While people lost their jobs and their livelyhood, cars of the era were were stuffed with bells and whistles, lots of chrome, big grilles, couch-like interiors and a lovely AOOGA horn . Nothing like a big, honking car. That’s exactly what we have here with the sad looking 1936 Dodge Brothers D2 Touring Sedan that is said to have been saved from the crusher. Having seen many times that much of the world would love to forget, I think this old Dodge deserves a second chance, what about you?
While in dire need of — pretty much everything — this D2 is fairly complete, minus a few trim pieces and the floorboards. There are a lot of ways you can go with a car like this. It’s unfortunate, but the cost of restoring this car certainly wouldn’t return the value unless you are a master craftsman with a lot of time on your hands. Let’s be real, NADA places a high retail value of this car at only $13,000. But there are a few elements that should be saved, no matter how the restoration or build goes, such as that wonderful grille. It appears unbroken and fits perfectly between those bucket headlights.
Under the hood is a nearly 218 ci straight six that in one form or another was used in Chrysler products up through the early 1950s. While the owner claims this is a numbers matching car, they also state the engine is likely frozen, meaning its 87 ponies aren’t going to do you any good right now. One can only assume the three speed transmission isn’t in that great of shape either. It’s quite unfortunately, because I for one would love to see that big speedometer wind up on the dashboard once again.
While the dash has a glimmer of hope, the rest of the interior of this car looks worse than the outside. It’s going to need to be completely redone or retrofitted no matter what avenue you take with this beast.
This car could certainly be someone’s labor of love, but at $5,700 out the door, you’re already in it pretty heavy. While a full restoration could leave this car looking quite gorgeous (in 1936 Dodge labeled its cars as the “Beauty Winner” series), it seems the likelihood of that happening is quite slim. Hopefully someone has an idea that will get this car rolling again so it can continue making memories, even if they’re ones we want to forget. If you were to score this dusty and rusty Dodge, what would be your end goal?
