Dodge Brothers Company was founded in 1900 by Horace and John Dodge. It was originally a parts supplier to other car makers, but in 1914, it made the Model 30-35. With more horsepower and a simpler, stouter transmission than the Model T, the new car sold well, putting Dodge into second place ranked by sales. Two body styles were available – a tourer and a roadster. After 1916, the car was situated on a longer wheelbase and thereafter called the Model 30; production lasted through 1922. Movie fans will recall that James Stewart drove a Dodge Model 30 in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, produced in 1946. More on that car later. Meanwhile, this fine example is located in Spokane, Washington, and is represented as so original that it, too, was a Hollywood celebrity, used in the series, Yellowstone.
John Dodge reportedly said of the Model T, “Someday people who own a Ford will want an automobile”, a not-so-subtle swipe at the shortcomings of Henry’s best-seller. Just one of the many advantages of the Model 30 was its 212 cu. in. flathead in-line four-cylinder engine, quite a bit larger than Ford’s 177 cu. in. four. Where the Ford managed 20 hp, the Dodge sailed along with 35. Its sliding gear transmission was easier to operate than the Model T’s planetary arrangement which required several coordinated movements from its driver. Mechanical brakes on the rear wheels brought the car to a halt. This example runs well, drives well, and stops “fine”.
The interior has ribbed outdoor matting on the floor (sold in rolls at Home Depot!) but other than that, the steering wheel, bench seat, trim, and gauges are original. A plaque on the dash attests to the car’s use in Yellowstone, and white labels appear to give running instructions or reminders of various functions. The rear seats are well-preserved. The top is slightly shabby; for safety’s sake, the new owner will replace its rear window.
This car retains its top saddles – a minor miracle. These metal loops hang on either side of the upper rear bodywork and are designed to capture the top when it is folded down. Thanks to a dearth of spares, owners have taken to making their own versions of these as replacements. Technically, the wheels should be painted “Dodge Blue” but the unpainted look is very popular. This early Dodge Model 30 touring sedan is listed here on eBay, bid to $2550, reserve not met. The buy-it-now price is $12,999. We hope you’re sitting down because Mecum managed to sell the other “celebrity” Model 30 – driven by James Stewart – for $475,000, exclusive of fees, in 2022. Back on Earth, Bonhams managed $20,160, inclusive of fees, for this beautiful example at Amelia this year. A scan of vintage car forums shows that these cars do seem to rustle up fans, including dedicated restorers. Do you think this Model 30 should be kept original, or would you restore it?
I’d pull the engine and clean it and the engine bay up and repaint both. Then I’d go driving.
Don’t forget to put the motor back in,, :), I don’t know, for a late teen car, it is relatively conventional in operation. I’m sure the sliding gear transmission is a non-synchro, while state of the art then, it will complicate matters, for most. Us gear jammers are a dying breed, you know. The design forbids any radical modification, and in 1919, 35hp was adequate, and could be today for very limited trips. Just the nostalgia of driving a 100+ year old car, should be entertainment enough. Aside from a stationary display for people to gawk at, or a parade, sadly, I’ve been to a couple parades locally, and the classic cars are shown less and less, one parade had none at all! I see very little interest in these today, and hence forth. It needs to be more user friendly.
I was actually going to hook up a Gerbil run to the transmission. Don’t know if l can get them run the other direction to reverse.
You don’t need parades to enjoy old cars. Just some back roads. I drive a 13 hp little Topolino around my back roads and when someone occasionally gets behind me, I pull over to the side and wave him on and get back to enjoying my trip.
Howzit Howard? Trying again with a re write. I once had the idea that I would also like to drive a 100 year old car so I acquired a 1912 Little, RHD and made in Flint, Michigan. Took several years to restore and on it’s second outing the crankshaft boke just behind the flywheel, which is at the front of the engine and also operates as the cooling fan. The break was on the first web just inside the sump. A friend had a crankshaft from a 1915 Chev engine which was known as a Mason engine I believe. After major surgery to the shaft and the conrods etc. I got to drive it on the open road. It was rubbish as first gear was way too low and second (Top) gear was way too high. As soon as it approached the slightest upgrade it would start slowing down! A Ford model T was a race car in comparison to the Little. I kept it for another 10-15 years but never drove it again until I sold it when it was on display at my Classic Car showroom to a guy who just had to have it. The deal was eventually completed but I only received half of the value that I was supposed to get for the car, which was supposed to be going into a museum where everybody could view a very rare, old car, but it never got there, however, justice was served due to it throwing a rod on it’s third or fourth outing, which was it’s first “timed” rally. The rod came through the side of the block and left all the bits on the tarmac behind the car. He eventually had it repaired and back on the road about ten years later!! Well, you get what you deserve in this life.
It’s a time capsule. My vote is to make it mechanically sound and reliable, but don’t touch anything else.
I remember reading that the Dodge Brothers had a successful machine shop when Henry Ford gave them an order for 500 transmissions. They dropped just about everything else they were working on to build the trannys. Next year he gave them an order for 4000 of them. They had to expand, buy more machinery and hire more help. The next year he wanted 15,000! His goal was to get his suppliers heavily in debt, then refuse to give them further orders. Then he could buy them up cheaply as they faced bankruptcy. Dodges were too smart for him!
It’s too bad the flu pandemic of 1918 carried off one or both of the brothers. Their cars were really good.
This is no joke – ten years ago I sold a 1919 Dodge touring car for a cool $100,000!! But it wasn’t quite like this one – mine was an early California post WWII hot rod that set some confirmed records on a dry lake and was the first feature car in the first issue of what become Car Craft Magazine. Although it started life as a 1919 Dodge, the bodybwas shortened into a pickup truck, it was set on a 1927 Chevrolet chassis with 1937 Chevrolet axles and brakes, it was powered by a 1928 Chevrolet engine topped with an Olds 3-port head modified by HARRY MILLER, it had an aircraft magneto, a homemade dry sump system, SU carburetors and Harley Davidson fenders! It was called the “Stovebolt Special” due to the preponderance of Chevy parts, but at the heart of it, it was a 1919 Dodge touring car.
Folks, the more I look at this Dodge, it’s hard to believe just how far ahead
of the curve the Dodge brothers really
were. Dodge was the only company to offer an all steel body for their cars
in 1914. And in a round about way, they were the first company to offer a
hybrid vehicle– in 1914! They did this by using something called a starterator that allowed you to drive the car using the battery only. And while I can’t recall what my Uncle Roscoe told me about it (He had a ’27
touring car equipped with this feature) and upon hearing that story, it blew my young Motorhead mind that such a thing ever existed. But it
did indeed. Dodge was also the first
company to use a 12 volt system in
their early cars before changing it to
6 volts in the ’30s. I did get to see a ’14 model that belonged to a very old
friend of my BILs. And I gotta tell ya’,
seeing his collection of Chrysler products really made my mouth water and my brain do wheelies when I laid
eyes on it 50 years ago. Along with the ’14 touring car, he owned a ’60
Chrysler 300 F (?) that was driven by
none other than Crag Ziegler who set
a speed record with it of 140 MPH in
the stock class at the Bonneville salt
flats in 1960. Mr. McAtee bought the
car from Mr.Zeigler not long after hr
raced it. It was 1 of 6 that came with
a Pont A Mosoun 4-speed gearbox.
And to round out the collection when I
saw it, he had 2 silver ’66 Dodge Chargers. Both of them had the NASCAR 426 HEMI and factory 4-speeds. Both cars were identical except for the rear axle ratios out back. He could race you either off the line or out of the hole. Either way, if you raced him, you were gonna lose.
Seeing this car brought it all back to
me. Thanks for the memories.
Every year at Christmas, I watch Its a Wonderful Life. I never knew exactly what the car was that Jimmy Stewart drove. So thanks Michelle. Now I know why he felt like he hadn’t done anything he had envisioned. Including still driving a 1919 car in the forties. Built Dodge tough.
I am trying to post a comment on the 1919 Dodge but every time I click on Enter I get a 404 FORBIDDEN notice coming up. Any ideas people?
Stay with it, mate, I enjoy your comments from “over dere”. I get that too, sometimes, it seems, the server is overwhelmed, or sunspots, or worse, keep trying, have a spot of tea, maybe some Benny Hill on the telly, and try again. After all, were only 4671 miles ( 7662 kilometers) away. It’s amazing it works at all.
I’m still trying but it still won’t post. Don’t know why as my other comments are going through o.k. Now to see if the comment works. Will add a picture of the Little that my comment is about and see if this one goes through.
One extremely obvious question no one has asked, why is this open car referred to as a “Touring SEDAN?”
They are NOT referred to as touring sedans. And Dodge Brothers NEVER called these model 30, NEVER. They built the entire drivetrain for Model T’s not just transmissions. They started out by building transmissions for the curved dash Olds.
Look at the headline on this lising “Survivor? 1919 Dodge Model 30 Touring Sedan” – if you can’t read the words Touring followed by Sedan, I suggest you get new glasses.
HMM, lots of misinformation about the business relationship between the Dodge brothers and Ford in the comments. I’ll attempt to clarify a bit here.
Keep in mind that the Model T was in production from late 1908 to May of 1927. Fords practices and supplier relationships would evolve and change over the course of 19 years in production.
As Michele stated, the Dodge brothers had a machine shop that supplied several different car manufacturers in the formative years of the car industry. Casting, forging and machining operations (all very capital intensive) were contracted out to numerous different companies around Detroit. As Detroit already had a well established cast iron stove industry for many years it was fairly easy for the existing companies to shift to auto component manufacturing, most of which were made of cast iron.
Ford like the other early startups used suppliers to make components of their own design, not that of the suppliers. Yes, the earliest Mode T’s used components made by Dodge, in fact. if you are showing your 1908-1911 Model T for judging at a car show it better have the proper Dodge produced components if you want to win first prize. To be sure, the Model T was fully designed in secret by Ford and his engineers in the Piquette plant in downtown Detroit. The Dodge brothers became major shareholders in the Ford Motor company, sometimes taking shares of stock as payment for components they supplied to Ford.
By the time Ford made the move to the Highland Park plant in 1913 and began using the moving assembly line more and more of Model T parts were made in house. By the end of production in 1927 virtually all components except for tires were produced at either the Rouge complex or in the Highland park plant. The Rouge complex included a steel mill and was fully capable of all casting, forging and machining operations. It also had a glass plant.
As for the “starterator”, look closely at the engine pic and the front of the engine. You will see a fan belt driving only the fan, and not driving the generator. The combination starter/generator drives the crankshaft via an enclosed chain at the front rather than back at the flywheel. Once running the crankshaft then drives the start/generator. What is remarkable is that the starter operation is virtually silent, no bendix/solenoid to engage a drive gear with a flywheel ring gear. The engine just seems to start running spontaneously without gear noise.
The Dodge snide remarks about the Model T not being a real car, just reflected their realization that they could not possibly compete with Ford on price given how well developed Fords mass production techniques were by the time The Dodge brothers started production of their own cars. They realized they would have to offer something more upscale rather than try to offer a Dodge version of the Model T.