President’s Message July-August 2024

Greetings Dodge Brothers and Sisters,

A new project always gets my juices flowing.  Whether it’s working in the yard, around the house, or on a car, a new project can stimulate the imagination and get the ideas perking.  As I write this, I am preparing for the big trip west to South Dakota, which is just two weeks away.   As you read this, I hope everyone enjoyed the 2024 Dodge Brothers Brookings Meet.

 hope to bring my 1914 Dodge Brothers to the meet, but I’ve had problems with it for the last month.  When I got the car out this spring, I drove it about three miles and started to hear a loud knocking from the engine just before it quit.  I rolled to the side of the road, went to get a trailer, and took it home.  While checking the car over, I realized it was about two quarts low of oil.  I wonder if the oil was low to start with or if that happened during the incident because I didn’t check the oil before I started it.  This was a bonehead move because I did check the radiator and the tire pressure but forgot to look under the hood.  So, what to do?  After taking with Dan Kerr and Doug Walters, I topped off the oil and turned the engine on with the hand crank.  Everything seemed to be fine.  Then I tried hitting the starter with the key turned off to see if I could hear any noise when it turned at speed.  Everything seemed fine.  Then I started the engine.  Everything seems fine.  It will idle nice and quietly all day.  Now, I have to drive it and put the engine under load to see if a bearing split or came loose.  We will all know the answer if you see me in Brookings with the 1914.  If I’m driving something else, you’ll know the story by then.  There is always something new to work on with these cars.  I try not to think of them as setbacks but as new projects.  Although most of my “new projects” are my own doing.

I will be excited to see everyone.  I missed the 2024 Meet in New York last year because of health problems, so I’m really looking forward to the trip out west.

As we start to get ready for Hershey in a few months, how about if we hear from some of our Dodge brothers and sisters about how they spent their summer with their cars.

See you down the road,

Mark Ounan,

Dodge Brothers Club President