Rides — 1938 Dodge a great fit for museum

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This article was published 12/01/2018 (2897 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Any classic vehicle will carry a unique history, but those vehicles housed within the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum have the benefit of having their histories well documented.

One of museum president John McNarry’s favourite vehicles is their 1938 Dodge four-door sedan.

It’s a favourite not only because it’s a beautiful piece of era machinery, but also because its history adds a personal touch to the museum’s telling of wartime history.

Housed within the museum’s expansive Second World War-era airplane hangar, the black vehicle remains in nearly the same shape it was several decades ago. Aside from a few patches of paint, it remains as it did when its first owner, Eaton Morgan, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Shortly after Morgan purchased the car, the Second World War broke out and he found himself enlisting.

He became a bomb aimer with the 419 Moose Squadron, for which he served overseas in a Lancaster bomber KB765.

The aircraft was hit by heavy flak over Germany in late December 1944, and blew up.

Following Eaton’s death at 22 years of age, his prized 1938 Dodge became his mother’s, who eventually passed it on to her nephew, Robert Quirk, who chauffeured his aunt as a tribute to his late cousin.

Quirk ended up donating his car to the museum a few years ago, where volunteers fixed it up.

Although McNarry said that he was able to drive the car into the car trailer, its gas tank was unable to regain gas and “there were a bunch of little things wrong with it.”

A brake repair and several other little things later, and now the car is considered road-worthy.

“I actually needs a paint job, but it’s basically, I would say, other than repairing some mechanical issues, it’s an unrestored original car,” McNarry said. “It’s pretty much as we got it.”

Although the car is Second World War-era and didn’t actually serve the RCAF or commonwealth air training efforts directly, he said that the personal story behind it makes it a valuable part of the museum’s collection.

Another particularly valuable car —one with direct ties to the flying school —is parked right next to the ’38 Dodge.

Their 1940 Chevrolet is the very same car that served as Service Flying Training School No. 12’s staff car during the Second World War effort.

After the wartime effort, the car was sold to the A.M. Dunham family, which kept it until it was donated to the museum several years ago, around which time the Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School’s automotive class repainted it its current immaculate black.

The past few years have seen museum volunteers replace its suspension, drivetrain, brakes and engine.

Now, McNarry said, “It’s in the condition where it can be driven anywhere a 1940 Chevy can go.”

Various other road vehicles join several vintage aircraft in filling out the hangar space, which are maintained by a small group of museum volunteers, including McNarry, a mechanic who said that the main thing he gets out of it is that he gets “to play with some really neat machines.”

Located just east of the Brandon Municipal Airport, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is open to the public seven days per week from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB