Meet Miss Frump

There are unseen things in this world that direct us in ways that leave us helpless to resist.  Like salmon returning to their spawning spot the poor things have no say in the matter.  Migratory animals who seasonally, and blindly, follow an instinct.  Mothers who defend their guilty terrorist children.   

(Not my picture)

Like some unknowing salmon I bought a 1939 Dodge in high school with great hopes of restoring her.  My buddy Ed and I picked her up and brought her to Seaton and stored her in my grandparents garage.  Needless to say, no restoration took place and Ed bought her from me and took back to Peoria.  From there she went to St. Louis to a fellow who used the same model for taxi service.  It became a donor car for his business, I think.  It was a cool car with suicide doors, but the work needed was beyond my means.

My second Old Car, a 1947 Plymouth.  

I bought a Plymouth from some guy in Aledo while in college.  It was a great running old car with the mohair seats.  I had Stan Brown paint it for me and it was a neat car. They made them with all kinds of room back in those days and I sold it to loyal Existing In BFE reader Russ Foust, college friend from Iowa.  

From then it was a long dry period before I got another.  I had a career to establish, a family to make and life to be lived.  Eventually I would purchase Baby*, a 1962 Plymouth sedan and my old car stable would grow at one point to four.  

I gave it all up to move to Florida but the instinct to have one would never leave.  A guy can have just so many holes in their soul until a higher power, or instinct kicks in.  

Meet Miss Frump.  Miss Frump needed a home and I decided to adopt her.  The name comes from someone in the family who, upon seeing her, said something about her being a little frumpy.  Miss Frump travelled from Fort Wayne, Indiana to spend the rest of her life with me.  Or perhaps I should say, for me to spend the rest of my life with her.  I am aging, but Miss Frump remains as pretty as the day she left the assembly line.  

When I told a friend what car I had bought they kind of "harrumphed" and said that was an old man's car.  They didn't know that that was exactly what I wanted.  Go to a car show these days and you will be besieged by Mustangs, Camaro's, 'Vettes and every kind of Muscle car you can imagine.  What you will NOT see is a 1963 Dodge Custom 880.  In fact, perhaps never in your life have you ever seen one and your only chance now is to find mine.  Otherwise, enjoy your rat rods, trailer queen GTO's and after-market chromed up headers.  My kind of car is what got the kids to school, the Dad to work and the family to the lake on Saturday.  They got things done. 

MSRP (1963).................2964.00

SHIPPING WEIGHT......3730

PRODUCTION TOTAL..9233

WHEELBASE.................122 INCHES

TOTAL LENGTH............214.8 INCHES

ENGINE.........................361 CI

TRANSMISSION............TORQUEFLITE

For you gear heads, this is a 361 2-barrel.  It is a big-block which for some is kind of neat.  Richard told me the rear end is good, too.    But then I already knew that.

A slight indentation in the roof line, for some reason.

Dodge had several varieties of 880.  The base 880 and the Custom 880.  The only difference between the two were their trim packages.  The Custom 880 has more chrome and is a bit fancier inside.  You can tell the difference between a 880 and Custom by the rear end belt chrome piece.  The 880 is straight, but the Custom has a piece that juts down. 

Spinner hubcaps.

She is a 1963 Dodge Custom 880.  A bit rare, only 9,000 were made, because Dodge and Plymouth were scammed in 1962.  The story goes that during a golf outing between some upper management types, one who worked for Chrysler and the other for General Motors, it was stated that Chevy was downsizing.  

What wasn't clearly understood however, was that Chevy was not downsizing, but simply introducing a downsized car.  The Chrysler employee rushed back to headquarters and told them what he overheard, and Chrysler, not wanting to be left behind downsized their cars  for 1962.  My old Belvedere was a result of the downsizing and was a sales disaster, although they made 31,000 sedans.  Dodge downsized in 1962 also because of the rumor, and not wanting to be in the sales hole like Plymouth, they decided to build a larger car.  Dealerships and loyal Dodge owners wanted a large car,  so they quickly produced a mid-year 62 version and this is the continuation of that model in 1963.  They would make another Custom 880 for 1964 and then give up this marque and introduce the Monaco.

It is a rather unique car.  A mutt of sorts.  They didn't have much money or time to get these built (some makes take 3 years to engineer, the '62 Dodge mid-year model took 3 months) so they cobbled together various parts that were already there.  They used the the '62 Newport chassis and tacked on the Newport rear end.  The interior was all Chrysler.  The Dodge designers didn't want a Newport front end, preferring to make it distinctively Dodge in some respect so they made a new front end.  The rear taillight was something the designers made just for this car.  It is actually a Chrysler from the front of the doors to the rear.  

What eventually happened was that Chrysler owners were pissed off because they went out and bought new Chryslers, when they could have bought this Dodge, which was a de facto Newport, for less money than they paid for their Newports.  

This particular car was along the side of the road near Fort Wayne as a sales rep from a local old car dealership drove by.  He spotted it and bought it from the original owner.  That's right, I'm the 2nd owner.  Nowadays to find an old car that you are the 2nd owner is something of a rarity in itself.   It also has the original spare in the trunk.  

There is no rust, or corrosion, or previous work.  It is pristine and car show ready.  I've never had a car that good.  I've always had to either paint or re-do the upholstery, or something.  Miss Frump is ready for showing as is.  

The interior is immaculate and except for a couple curious holes in the headliner, it is really just like it rolled off the assembly line.  

  

We went over to Clearwater to check out a similar year car but blue.  It was a piece of junk, really, that would have required extensive work: new paint, new interior, rust in trunk, etc.  They wanted way too much for theirs but it was a chance to see a model and get an idea of its appearance.   Discussing price around a lady is rude, but I was pleased.  He came down a lot, I went up very little.  

Seat belts were optional in 1963 and Miss Frump does not a have them so I'll have to find them somewhere.  Interior is in excellent shape.

Here is Richard Barton checking out the engine, with Janine in the background on the phone telling her friends to come over and look at a really cool old car.  OK, so I lied about that last part.

She will be stored in Burgess until I figure out where I'm living.  Storage costs are very expensive in St. Pete.  I need a garage. 

So why a 1963 Dodge?

• relative rarity - only 9,000 made and many are gone now.  To put it in perspective, they made 561,000 Chevy Impala sedans in 1963.
• I have always been drawn to the unloved, overlooked cars.  These are forgotten. And most certainly unloved.
• Show-ready cars are expensive.  This one was cheap.
• Only one owner in 50 years is unusual.
• Original spare is in trunk. 
• It's big and I rather like big old cars.
• It is under the Chrysler umbrella and that is my favorite marque.

She needs a carb rebuild.   That is an easy fix so while a bit disappointed in that, she is still a great car and in very fine condition.  I'm planning on taking her to the Railroad Days car show when I travel North in June,

It is wonderful to have an old car again.  And I'm glad to have found Miss Frump.  It's great to be in love again.

Advertising video from Dealership.

Turn the sound off, Rich is doing his selling routine and is a bit redundant.   Why it is not running is because he probably couldn't get it started, which he failed to tell me in the negotiations.  Either way I'm great with it and feel my instinctual DNA has been restored.  Think of me as an old salmon having successfully returned to my spawning.  

*Baby was actually purchased for me by the current Mrs. Blythe.  Sure, she used my credit card but the sentiment was the same.  One of the all-time best stories ever for a wife who wanted to shut her husband up once and for all.