"Cars in Barns", Field cars and other "Treasure" like this 90% restored 1938 Chrysler Royal Gary Dunbar came across in October 2006.
I bought a 90% restored 1938 Chrysler Royal from the 65 year old Grandson of the original owner. His Grandfather drove it for five years in Iowa and kept it in his barn until he died at 102 years old. The Grandson towed it to White Post Restorations in Virginia to restore the drive train and chassis. It was taken to Penn-Dutch Restorations in Maryland for body and paint restoration. They bagged and tagged every part. The dashboard was complete and everything worked. The only thing damaged was the small lower grille. I am looking for another lower grille or a shop to weld the broken pot metal piece back on. The original interior is 100% complete and without damage. I am looking for a shop to restore the mohair interior. When he finally got the Chrysler back to his Virginia home, it was parked in it's new garage. His restoration plans came to an abrupt halt when he made a drastic mistake. He air conditioned the new garage and not his wife's sewing room. I felt guilty buying it for $3,000 because he gave me $17,000 of restoration receipts. I really felt guilty sacrificing it to the hot rod gods. I sold the rebuilt flathead, transmission and differential for what I paid for the car. I was relieved to find the unused parts a good home in Wisconsin. The first photo was taken by the Grandson when he went to Iowa for the car. The second is the car in front of it's new air conditioned garage. The rest of the photos were given to me along with the original title, build sheet, original color chip pamphlet and original technical manual. The Grandson had photos taken of every aspect of the restoration. My Ford 460, C6 transmission and 9" differential fit in with room to spare.

When my hot rod friends saw the frame and suspension, the most common reaction was "WOW"! It was very well built and braced. The cross members are huge. From the outside it will look stock except it will be a smoothy. The only change to the interior is to the modified/updated dash and new air conditioning. We kept the original independent front suspension and installed rack and pinion steering from Steering Rack. We connected the rack and pinion steering to a new Ididit steering column. The only change we made to the suspension was to relocate the shock absorbers top attachment point to allow larger shocks to be installed. We replaced the original front brakes with a disk brake conversion kit. We purchased a magnificent wiring harness from Ron Francis Wiring. Finding replacement safety glass was proving difficult until I found Sanders Reproduction Glass in Kelso, Washington. All seventeen pieces cost me only $491.00. Thank God for Summit Racing Equipment and the Edelbrock family. Norfolk, Virginia is fortunate to have Flatlanders Hot Rod Shop and A&B Auto Parts to rely on for reliable common sense advice and correct parts. I will send more photos of our build if you care to see them.
Best Regards,
Gary Dunbar - Norfolk, VA
Thanks Gary Dunbar for sending us your find. We hope everyone enjoys them as much as we did.