The summer sun had just started to form long shadows across the still cool pavement and my feet appreciated the temporary absence of pounding heat from the ground below. I pulled the brim of my faded hat down a bit to keep the sun out of my eyes. I wasn’t really sure what I expected to see there though; I didn’t set out to find anything in particular, not there.
I had been searching for my next old car for almost a year at that point, with little to show for my efforts. So on that early morning in 2007 I found myself at the annual Long Beach California Model T Club swap meet in an effort to temper my frustration at the lack of car-finding progress. I was not looking for a Model T Ford, I was just there to get a mental dose of rust and dust, that’s all.
A year earlier I sold a 1924 Dodge Brothers roadster that the previous owner had partially restored. Even though I really liked the DB roadster, I owned the car for less than two years. When I bought the DB it came with a set of photographs taken when it was still original — before it was repainted. Something happened to me when I saw those photos; I absolutely loved the original patina. The photographs screamed of “history”and “honesty” and “real”. All the restored cars and trucks that I had before, from the 1940 Cadillac to the 1929 Hudson to the 1936 Chevy, didn’t look as great as that unrestored roadster, with its age spots and all. I was a convert. No more restored cars for me, only original cars from now on. I had to have an original Dodge Brothers roadster.
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