VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Good buy on a 38...ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...itemZ290386205977QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks

Seems cheap to me. Looks nice.

That is a very nice car,at a realistic price.The only problem is the fact that it is a four door and it would most likely be overlooked at and/or scoffed at shows or meets because of that.It seems that most people wouldn't want them because they don't bring the high dollars upon resale like the over accesorised coupes that you will see all over the place....wish I had the room for it.

just my 2 cents

You're right. I've $20k in a coupe that needs another $5k spent on it. I just love coupes. The 4 dr. would be more usable and still have the same fun. I wish I had a place to store it.

A four door would be a good touring car, it looks like a nice clean interior and a nice car over all.
A Master with a straight axle, is that original?

That is one of the better buys that I have seen on ebay. The only problem I can see is the trunk handle is up-side-down.

You can never look at my car !!! I can't believe you caught that. AMAZING. You definately know your old chevys.

Correct me if I am wrong but I think all Masters in 37 and 38 had the straight front axle and the Master Deluxe had the knee action.

My 38 Master HB is a straight axle.

My 38 coupe Master has a straight axle.

Ok 37 & 38
master=straight axle
master deluxe = knee action
Right?

Thanks for clearing that up, once I had a really slick black 39 4 door sedan and it had knee action, so it must of been a Master Deluxe. Quite a car, we (4 boys) got it for $50 in around 1953 because it had a bad #5 crank journel and the rod and piston were removed and a piece of fence post wrapped in burlap had been driven up into the cylinder. It shook like crazy but ran smooth at cruiseing speed. We had a ball in it!

The 1937 Master replaced the 1936 Standard. The 1936 Standard was the low priced model with a straight axle.
The low priced car in 1937 and 1938 was the Master (straight axle) and the high priced model was the Master Deluxe (knee-action" (MD name first used in 1935). In 1939 and 1940 the Master had the "85" added to the mame. Probably to counter the Fords at that time as teh economy Ford was the "Ford 60" due to the (weak) 60 HP engine and the good Fords were the "85" noting their horse power......and the Chevrolets all had 85 HP.

The only problem with the straight axle Chevrolets is they steered and rode like a lumber wagon compared to the knee-action cars. Their advantage was they has the 3.73 "econoomy" axle ratio and no expensive knee-action units to replace.

:vcca: Mr. Mack, These designations are correct for 37 and 38 but for 39, the Master became the Master 85 but was coded a JB instead of the earlier HB.. The Master Deluxe remained the same but was coded JA instead of HA. Beamer

I guess I was putting my posting together at the same time as Chev Nut but he beat me getting it on the site!! Beamer

Thanks guys!

We had a ball (16 year olds) driving the car over a street with bumps and humps as fast as we dared. the knee action gave us a nice bouncy ride. we decided we needed a 4 door convertable, we had already torn the headlinner out, and used my Dad's cutting torch to remove the top at the bottom of the windows and left the windshield. when winter came we had sold the car to a young broke newly wed guy to drive to work for $75 and we mounted the top back on for him!
We lined up the top by rolling the windows up and then used some sheet metal straps and metal screws to mount the top back on! It wasn't pretty anymore but it was warmer! I wish that we had some duct tape (wasn't invented yet) to make it a little more secure. :vcca:

The 1939 Master Deluxe had a completely different knee-action front suspension. It had the open coil springs. Either type of knee-action could get bouncy if the knees (built in shocks in 1939) wore out and lost thier fluid.

Gene,
In the photo's of the engine compartment, in the recess of the firewall, at the top there is a small copper colored elbow pointing down, what is that?
Greg

Vent drain?

That may be a private part ....or the rubber cowl vent drain hose changed colors.

Car has the accessory bumper guards, right wiper and tail light, front door arm rests and the correct heater.
The black shift knob is incorrect, whats attached below the instrument panel on the left side? has chrome moulding on the running boards (all replacement running boards sold by Chevrolet has the moulding clip holes so required the chrome.) Only MD had chrome. Has two stripes, one is correct. Still a darn nice car and worth the money.
May need an engine overhaul, clutch or have loose steering or ? - still worth the money.

I went back and looked at several photos of engine compartments that I have collected over the years. Some vehicles have a longer metal tube, one factory photo shows what appears to be a short piece of rubber hose. Some just show a hole.
Greg

The short piece of moulded rubber hose pointing down is correct....it is reproduced. Looks just like what that car has except fot the color. Some of that rubber turns funny colors when exposed to heat, etc.
The interior looks like the good old Hampton Coach interiors from the'80's. Car has $4000 worth of interior alone.

Gene, your eyes are better than mine on that shift knob. My coupe has the unthreaded push on black rubber knob. That one appears to be the threaded type and it's shape is slightly different from mine. The upper dash color is wrong and it has the wrong throttle and choke knobs. Don't know what the thing on the left of the dash is, a switch to something I suppose. That copper elbow is where the cowl vent drain exits (hose sticking through the firewall on mine). Agreed about the value though. It'll probably get turned into a harlot (street rod).

All the car shift knobs slipped on from 1934 and up. See the other 1938 on ebay for the correct knob. I wasn't sure of the dash colors as the colors don't always come out correct, especially the odd 1938 metalic dash colors.....and didn't notice the knobs.