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All Original: 1947 Dodge Business Coupe

If truly “all original” as described, this 1947 Dodge Business Coupe may have spent more time in a plastic bubble than any kind of barn. Offered here on craigslist in Denver, Colorado, it can be yours for $12,000. The Business coupe catered to traveling businessmen, providing room for luggage and a golf bag or catalog case behind the seats. Some had small seats in the rear.

If the pictures were taken in 1955, the appearance of this vehicle seems about right. The seller seems to understand that “all original” means the vehicle includes all its original parts including paint, upholstery, and engine parts because he or she includes the phrase “they are only original once.” To be fair, an “all original” car might have minimal replacement parts such as hose clamps, belts, tires, etc. replaced with parts identical to the originals, and these items should be listed. If you have an “all original” car, please  –I beg you– don’t “touch up” the shabby bits with Rustoleum or similar “improvements.”

Though this Dodge is rather low on the Chrysler totem-pole, it features a lovely art-deco dash of chrome/stainless and painted wood-grain metal. The tan lever on the far left is the parking brake. Dodge’s Fluidrive combines elements of automatic transmissions with a conventional 3-speed manual. It will not change gears automatically but in traffic you need not depress the clutch.

All 1947 Dodges came with this 230 cid I6, the eveolution of Chrysler’s corporate I6 that began life in 1924 and continued as a mainstay powerplant in various brands and displacements through 1960. Because inline six-cylinder engines are inherently balanced, they have advantages of running smoothly with no balance shafts and (all things being equal) making more torque than a V8. For these reasons, they have been popular with luxury cars and truck applications for decades. What do you see that contradicts the “all original” moniker?

Comments

  1. Avatar jw454

    I don’t know the market for these so I don’t know if the price is in the ballpark but, I like the car. I like the “three window” coupe type of design on these.

    Like 2
  2. Avatar whippeteer

    I don’t like the electical tape wrap on the battery cables though.

    Like 2
  3. Avatar Bob

    The fluid drive trans does shift somewhat automatically. You can look at it almost like a two speed automatic with a high and low range. With the selector in what would normally be first gear on the column, you’re in low range. When you reach the desired shift point you let off the gas and it will shift automatically up to “second”. When you’re almost to a stop it will downshift back to “first”. You can also move the selector into high range and it functions the same for higher speeds. When running around town (unless it’s hilly) you can leave it in high range. They marketed these transmissions to the cabbys with the promise of not having to use the clutch pedal once you were going.

    Like 3
    • Avatar Greg g

      The fluid drive is not the transmission. This description clearly says fluid drive with three speed standard, not gyromatic semi automatic. Two distinct and different units powered through the fluid drive coupling. The car can be drive in second gear or third gear without de clutching, using the brake pedal and gas pedal only.

      Like 1
  4. Avatar txchief

    I see it with a 3″ chop, slammed on the ground and with a Gen III Hemi under the hood.

    Like 1
  5. Avatar Dean

    Is the adjustable spotlight original for these cars?

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Dave Member

    Cool car for sure. The battery terminals are definitely non-original, and at that, are possibly the worst kind.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Jerry Brentnell

      whats with the battery cables! don’t like them half a hour and you got them changed! if thats all you can find fault with to bad move on!

      Like 2
  7. Avatar bcaviller

    The spot lights were a dealer installed accessory. Dodge had quite an array of add on’s available. I have an original accessory catalog from 1939, later years post war were very similar.

    Like 2
  8. Avatar Mountainwoodie

    Worth it’s weight in gold for it’s originality! Kudos to the owner for maintaining it. Aesthetically speaking, these business coupes were ungainly at a minimum. There was a guy in my town that had a later Wayfarer era Dodge business coupe maybe a ’53? Still looked ungainly. Nonetheless they’re only original once. Or twice.

    Like 2
  9. Avatar Wayne

    Regarding originality, the oil filler cap and tube should be gloss black and the spark plug wires are not a factory style. The most impressive part of this car (to me) is the condition of the floor mat, which would be in pieces if it were not well cared for. The way the paint is chipped suggests to me that this car may have received a front end respray at some point in its life. I’ve owned many of the 1930’s – mid-fifties MoPars and only those that have been repainted and are suffering from poor adhesion have chipped away like that showing gray primer.
    The price is about right for this car if it is fully operable.
    Only one comment on the history of the F/H six, the last year for that motor in standard production Chrysler brands automobiles was 1959. The slant six replaced it for the 1960 model year.

    Like 2
    • Avatar Dave Wright

      The flathead was in W300 Power Wagons until 1971. They also continued production of the engine to support numerous military vehicles that used it and for industrial or Marine use.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Wayne

        Yep!
        Great motors; simple – reliable – durable.

        Like 2
      • Avatar Old Car Guy

        During WW2 Chrysler built a tank engine that was actually 5 flathead 6’s on a common crankcase for a 30 cylinder engine.

        Like 1
    • Avatar Dereck

      I agree on the respray. A closer look at the fender to door shows a slight difference in paint color. Coming from a 25+ year body guy…

      Like 1
  10. Avatar Ken Carney

    An old friend of mine named Jonesy owned one similar to this one. Even though his was a ’49 or ’50, I still admired
    the lines of these coupes. I tried several
    times to buy it from him, but he refused to sell it to me– or anyone else for that
    matter. He finally let me buy his late
    wife’s ’57 Pontiac Star Chief 4-door
    hardtop because he couldn’t bare to
    see it parked in his garage. And while it
    was a mint condition car with 54K miles
    showing, it wasn’t the coupe. When he
    finally passed away in the mid ’80’s, his
    family wound up inheriting it, and selling
    it for $5K to settle his estate. Wished for
    years that it was mine, bet I’d still own it
    today!

    Like 2
  11. Avatar Dennis Hruby

    Oh this car is the total package! If I didn’t just drop $20,000 on a pro-tour 69 Camaro roller that is going to need another $20,000 to finish and $42,000 on the Porsche Turbo car in feb, I would be on this like ducks on June bugs!! I will see what cash I can muster. I wanted one of these for 30 years! I wanted the Porsche for 14 years. Good thing rich people buy them and take the Depreciation hit!

    Does this car have a clear title?

    I have about $30,000 in assets upfor sale so I wilol be watching this car and we shall see….

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Lord Humungous

    “The Big Sleep”. Humphrey Bogart drove one I believe. Pretty cool.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Bellingham Fred

      Bogart drove a ’38 Plymouth Deluxe. The movie came out in 1946.

      Like 2
  13. Avatar Rex Kahrs Member

    That sure is one bulgy front door.

    Like 1
  14. Avatar lawrence

    It’s what my dad brought my mom back from California in 1948 – he fresh out of the Navy….she was in San Francisco when they meet….the trip from Sacramento included some snow time – there are pictures somewhere. My grand ma and grand pa along with my mom drove back to Texas in one of these….must have been close quarters !

    Like 1
  15. Avatar Howard

    No Bob, the fluid drive does not change gears at all by itself, you are thinking of the Fluid-O-Matic. The fluid drive is nothing more than a standard stick shift with the addition of a fluid coupling in front of the clutch. You could leave it in high gear and drive all day without pushing in the clutch if you wanted to leave a stop light at a snails pace. It was popular in hilly areas cause it had a hill holder function where it would not roll backwards as you prepared to leave a stop light. I had a 47 two door sedan that I bought from the original owner circa 63. He had tacked the rear fenders on with sheet metal tags and painted it red with a brush. The rear floors were gone, my tow chain fell out regularly lol but boy would that baby run. In the coldest temps, rub your thumb across that starter button and she was purring. The water pump froze and busted and I kept driving it. Highway speeds for nearly an hour with no coolant and didn’t seem to do any damage to it.

    Like 2
  16. Avatar John D.

    I paid $300 for my 1948 Dodge Business Coupe in 1973. I always wanted to give it a 4 inch chop. I loved the way it rode and handled the dirt roads. I disliked the Fluid Drive, I felt you could time the acceleration from a light with a calendar and the parking brake was worn out, so you could not even park it in gear if you were on a grade. I carried a piece of firewood behind my seat to throw under a wheel to keep the car from rolling away.

    I have a finned aluminum cylinder head for it out in the garage, so now I am hot to get another flathead to build. I wonder if I could buy it back for $300?

    Like 3
  17. HoA Howard A Member

    The choke cable is aftermarket,,,,the deal’s off,,,just kidding, this car is so cool, because of it’s originality. Business coupes are pretty rare, especially like this. Salesmen ( sorry ladies, not many saleswomen in ’47) usually drove the heck out of these. There was no media, and “in person” was the most effective way of selling products. Remember, after the war, many rural areas were just getting electricity, the field was wide open for sales and it was not uncommon, for these guys to rack up hundreds of thousands of miles on these, there usually was nothing left. What a fantastic example of a bygone era.

    Like 1
  18. Avatar Rex Kahrs Member

    Great photo Howard. This guy’s slogan was “May the forks be with you!”.

    Like 1
    • HoA Howard A Member

      Hi Rex, I bet these guys knew where the best places to eat were. And those “traveling salesmens/farmers daughter jokes” had to come from somewhere. This woman’s daughter??? Oh boy, well, never know!!

      Like 1
  19. Avatar Rodney

    The automotive mullet: “Business in the front, business in the back”.

    Like 1
  20. Avatar Milt
  21. Avatar Jim pace

    I bought my first car at 14 yrs. old, it was a 1947. Business coupe single bench seat. Fluid drive. My father had a Texaco station that I would work at which is where. I got the opportunity to purchase this vehicle. That was in 1966, while in Vietnam my father sold my dodge, since then I spent another 22 years in the Army traveling to various assignments.Now retired I have been trying to locate a 1947 dodge coupe, if anyone knows where I can locate this vehicle please contact me at jimpace59@gmail.com. Thanks

    Like 4
    • Avatar Dennis

      Love to hear everyone’s opinion on these car have 1947 dodge custom coupe

      Like 0
  22. Avatar john kudritz

    I have a 1947 dodge club coupe now , beautiful car, in my opinion. Certainly wont win any races but she runs good and with a changeover to 12 volt , starts pretty much every time. Had a 46 coupe for 7 yrs prior to the 47 and sold it. Kicked myself in the butt for that move until i got my 47. The fluid drive is very similar to a standard except you dont have to depress the clutch when stopped at a light etc. I like how the designers set up the controls inside and it’s a comfortable ride. I really enjoy mine.

    Like 1
  23. Avatar Rick

    This little me seeing an old friend. I am 89 years old but way back in 1955 I bought my first car, a 1947 black Dodge business coupe for $225 in Amsterdam, N.Y.
    The auto insurance cost more than the car at $326 and the car needed a ring job badly as burned over a quart of oil every 150 miles or so and I paid $40 to put a set of retreads on it. I bought it in my senior year in college and traded it that September when I reported to the Marines.
    Now many years later and 34 cars later, I tool around in my red 2020 Mustang and think back to when it all began, in a 6 cylinder Dodge business coupe.

    Like 0

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