1950 DODGE PASSED DOWN IN THE FAMILY
Saved from uncle’s farm, Canadian-built classic car has been lovingly restored
“Some people, they pick a car,” Neil Hovdestad says. “But in my situation, the car picked me.”
In 2009, Hovdestad and his wife Trudy of Saskatoon became the caretakers of a 1950 Dodge Special Deluxe coupe. The car has been in Trudy’s family since 1953.
Originally purchased as a new vehicle from Howard’s Garage in Kindersley, Sask., by Trudy’s great-grandmother, Lena Dagg, the Dodge was an everyday driver until 1969. That’s when the car went to Lena’s son, Ivan, who farmed on a property near Brock, Sask. He occasionally drove the Dodge, but for the most part it simply stayed parked in an old granary.
Enter Trudy’s dad, Lena’s grandson, Darwin Dagg. He’d often work for cash during the summer on his uncle Ivan’s farm. One summer, in the early 1990s, instead of cash he asked Ivan for the car.
“Darwin got the car in 1992, and he had every intention of getting it running and driving,” Hovdestad explains. “But it was always something he was going to do next year.”
As singer-songwriter Donovan Woods points out in the chorus of his song, Next Year, “Life goes by / So damn fast / Another 12 months flies on by / You’re still here / But it’s never quite next year.” In Darwin’s case, those years kept flying by until early 2009, when he suffered a debilitating stroke. Then, unable to do anything with the Dodge, Hovdestad and Trudy brought the car home with them, keeping it in the Dagg family for the fourth generation by registering it in Trudy’s name.
The Dodge Special Deluxe (D36) is essentially a Canadian-built Plymouth. Based on Plymouth running gear and sheet metal with a Dodge grille, tail lights, trim and interior, the Special Deluxe came with a 218cubic-inch (3.6-litre) Plymouth flathead six-cylinder engine.
“That flathead engine was made up until the early 1970s, although by that time it wasn’t in any vehicles, mostly being used in industrial applications,” Hovdestad says of the 95-horsepower power plant.
Because of that longevity, mechanical parts are still fairly easy to come by.
In Hovdestad’s Dodge, the six-cylinder engine is paired with a three-speed column-shift manual transmission. The car was equipped with an optional radio, lighter and clock, and also featured dealer-installed signal lights.
“The Dodge would have been fairly common back in the day, but most people were driving the four-door version,” Hovdestad says. “The two-door is a little more special.”
Upon getting the car home on Father’s Day 2009, Hovdestad proceeded to get the Dodge running. With help from co-worker Ed Unrau, the pair flushed the gas tank and added fresh fuel, changed other vital fluids, installed a new coil and rotor, and serviced the brakes.
“It was pretty simple to get it running,” Hovdestad says.
With the car cleaned up in late August, Hovdestad drove his father-in-law, Darwin, to the Saskatoon Cruise Weekend Show & Shine.
The next year, following more work, including replacing the brake master cylinder, individual wheel cylinders and front wheel seals, Hovdestad drove the Dodge to Darwin’s hometown, Rosetown, Sask. Hovdestad also bought a Dodge parts car for its radiator, wheel rims and a couple of the missing letters on the hood that spell out Dodge. He painted the replacement rims red, added wide whitewall tires, had the radiator recored and brought the paint back to life by using a clay bar followed by a hand polish.
“The paint shows very well,” Hovdestad says. “It was never going to be a frame-up restoration, just an honest car with a couple of small dents and some Saskatchewan gravel chips.”
Because Hovdestad was dealing with a few electrical issues, he rewired the Dodge with a homebuilt harness. All of the gauges work, and fellow Saskatoon Antique Car Club member Manly Fairburn repaired the radio. Mice had spent time inside the car at one point, so Hovdestad replaced the fabric seat covers and changed the carpet. Ken Johnson, also of the Saskatoon Antique Car Club, installed a new, custom-made headliner that Hovdestad ordered out of the U.S.
Father-in-law Darwin died early in 2016; he at least enjoyed a few years reconnected with the car he saved from Uncle Ivan’s farm. The Dodge Special Deluxe just turned 91,000 miles on the odometer and Hovdestad drives the “hobby car” near and far, having once travelled 150 miles each way to Moose Jaw.
“The Dodge cruises along nicely at 50 miles an hour,” Hovdestad reports.
Of keeping the 67-year old car in the family, he says, “Trudy and I have two sons who show some interest in the car.
“So, hopefully it’ll stay in the family when we have to pass it on.”
It was never going to be a frame-up restoration, just an honest car with a couple of small dents and some Saskatchewan gravel chips.