The Polara is pretty cool ,definitely worth saving ,cleaning the interior would make a big difference .

It's been a very long time since I've seen a decent 61 Dodge two door Phoenix or Polara. Over time, they've become a car I shoulda', woulda', coulda' sought out as their body lines appeal to me greatly. Thanks for giving this particular Mopar a well done video...complete with the realities of bustin' knuckes and fingertips.

What a cool looking old car, it has style

Early 60s Mopars were pretty odd looking for the most part . This one is more cool than odd . Go for it !

The outboard taillights are kinda nifty in my opinion. Also, that dash with the "wingtips" below the speedo are really odd, yet so fitting on that car.

These cars are gold, I've had several of these 1961 Dodges. These cars do catch the wind on very windy highways....

I love the 61 Polara! I own a former CHP version. These cars are super cool

I used to own a 1961 Dodge Polara. I loved that car.

Love the tail lights!

That looks like a good candidate for another project for Scott up there at Cold war motors 👍🤠

Stuck at work on Saturday morning, what better way to start the day! Commenting before I even watch the whole video, just going to assume cool shit happens.

I think it's amazing how they paid attention to the detail and the style of vehicles back then cause all the lines and everything is what made em so unique in their own way..I don't think I could've ever came up with the ideas of how they wanted em to look back then cause I use to love drawing car's that just popped in my mind but none of the ideas I had came close to what the people that designed em came up with..Engine's that hasn't run in 4ever I always used 2 cycle gas to hopefully get em goin again cause I always thought it'd help lube the top of the pistons and cylinder walls. I've changed the oil out with not so expensive oil and I'd pull the distributor to pump the oil pressure up and hope they'd fire up lol..You gave it your best shot and banged your knuckles and fingers in the process, that's a plus and I figured it fire up but some of em will and some won't. It'd make a good project for someone that's 4sure cause I 4get about alot of vehicles that use to be on the roads in the 60s and 70s..

Oh man -- I love these! Favorite Exner era car. I can't recall the last time I saw a reasonably priced '61 Polara 2 door for sale.

A little 25-1 2 cycle gas does double duty. Lubes and seals rings temporarily

Big fan of Virgil Exner's designed cars, love the fin designs, especially the 61' Plymouth Fury. My 64' Dodge 880 has got the 361 also, damn good motors. Appreciate the look at the Early C body Dodges, from my view, a rare platform to come across at local events/shows.

Gotta admire young mechanics with such patience, reminds me of myself 60 years ago... with Chevys

I have a 58 Coronet that ran after 30 years in a junkyard, now I'm a Forward Look fanatic. Sometimes they pop off, sometimes there is no hope.

I owned a 61 Polara station wagon loaded..great auto........glad to see this car...

You definitely not vice grip garage but that's not a bad thing. Keep being you doing your channel your way and real fans not haters will come.

Worth restoring. Deserves a different engine if this one can't get freed up. Keep up the great work!

Just found your video. Dude, awesome stuff. Keep up the good work. Who knows. 50 years from now, they maybe the only things on the road!

Glad to see someone young saving these old Chrysler products. the ones from the early 1960s kinda looked spooky cool definitely unique.keep up the great work I just subscribed 👍

Love this Dodge!Its a BEAUTY!The "MUD" in the distributor cap is Bees or Wasp nests!

Still binge-watching. Lol got several hours in . I'm enjoying it immensely !!!!!! Cheers 🎉

Just found this channel, must say I would LOVE one of those car, especially the rocket one :)

Those cars are so homely they're cool. It's only been in recent years that I've come to appreciate them. I've never been a fan of the 361. 383's were being produced at this time and seemed to be a better engine...certainly more powerful. I never could figure out why Papa Chrysler wanted to produce a smaller version. Seems like it would have been cheaper to just do one. Anyway interesting. Id.

I love it We had that front end in 🇦🇺on our Dodge Phyixes

Old Dodge had personality.

I had a loaded '61 Polara wagon. Loved that car.

Very cool old rig man, nicely done!

"Bring the thunder!" Well, maybe, not. First time on your channel. I like it. I'll be back!

As a welder for 44 years I can’t count how many times the cow hide has saved my fingers. When in doubt wear gloves.

Valiant effort brother. Can't win them all

I love your '61's! My own '61 is a Pioneer 2-door post Slant car that is not cursed with the auxiliary tail lights that your PHX vert has. I guess that was a mid-model add-on because the small low lights weren't very visible (true story). They offered these lights as dealer-install items for the earlier cars. There are no shortage of NOS sets of these on FleaBay.

Another good one..well video that is

My Grandfather, Ulysses Byrd, had a 1960 Phoenix 2dr htp. 361. I have a picture of it sitting in his driveway in Macon, Ga., covered with snow.

That's right you are not Dereck but you are defiantly gifted,,Keep on doing what you do.

Another great video

Those side -sweep tailights.......so cool.

What a car,,,never saw one until this,,,tnx,,,land o' lakes,wi.

Thanks for helping me ID a car! There is one of these at a local junkyard thats actually a police car...still has all the "Police package" parts on it black with white doors...and its super solid...been thinking about brining it home.

With regard to the paperwork problems, I hear that the so-called 'Vermont Loophole' is now closed, which sucks. I am sorry this one didn't pop off; I was rooting for you. Hopefully it has a future. I was really tempted by a C body last week (1970 Sport Fury). Need to stop looking at cars online.

I think those cars had two different quarter panel and taillight styles in 61 depending on the model. The frenched taillights on yours is indicative of a high trim level.

Love the early 60’s Mopars, we had a 4 door 63 Saratoga, beautiful car

I hope you'll take care of this car even though its definitely a 'not for me' style. Most Mopars clicked in for me in 1964, and while I love nearly all the late 60s to 1973-76 (and a few after that), the fuselage Chryslers are my epitome of beautiful lines and elegance, but that '61 is cool in its weirdness and deserves to live and run again.

That car is a beast please save it . 👍🏻🇦🇺💯⛽️

Amazing good job man

Dude...that ragtop is KILLER. Too bad it doesn't have the cool rocket taillights.

Can’t go wrong with the Blues Brothers car

I support you and your quest for global dominance! My dad had a '60 Phoenix, and it was the first car that I there are pictures of me in it. I like their front end better than the '61, but to each their own.

Love that body style!

Liked, first time viewers, Subscribed also

BLESS YOU😊

I appreciate you trying to save these cars 🚗 🙏 Absolutely 💯 love the Virgil Exner Era , Mopars . Never see these anymore . I would love too see you , resurrect this one from the , mechanically undead rhelm , And make it road worthy again

I LOVE these cars!

These cars look so good

Awesome video😊😊😊

Lordy I do Love that body style!!!

My dad had a 64 Polara, was a cool car.

Well now, I was put into the WayBack machine when you showed the 64 wagon, my uncle traded in his pride and joy 59 Buick Invicta convertible for a new wagon, cause kids.... remember riding in it on a 200 mile family reunion trip.

You look like a guy a raced in 1987. His name was George and he had a ratty looking 68 Dart GT 340 automatic, 410 gears. I had a 69 big block Corvette, 4-speed, 410 gears. I only beat him by half a fender!That Dart was REALLY QUICK!made me a believer!😂

Love these old amazing American beauties 🇺🇸

I had a dodge seneca wagon in high school.lovedit

A great thing with old Mopars is pretty much ANY Mopar V8 starter from then until in the 80's or even the 90's will fit it so a replacement starter to get it going should not be a problem. I had a 60 Phoenix and currently have a smaller Dodge --- 63 Dodge 440 with the 318 Poly. A friend now has my old 60 Phoenix and also a 61.

That is a good looking Dodge!

That car is actually pretty cool and would make a nice cruiser so I hope it gets a shot at a new life...

Had a super low mile 61 Phoenix, 2dr, white with blue interior. Wish I still had it.

I love that white Dodge I've never seen one

Yep! That is just exactly how I start up fire up Every single morning... A ton of race gas coffee then some starting fluid with something really super sweet and I just might start firing on all 8 cyl...

That convertible's upper set of rear lights were a later fix of the lower sets placement. Mid-year if I remember correctly. They were set too low to be seen so the upper set were used. Those cars also used the 383 with 2-4 Ram Induction as an option. Think the 4-speed was available.

I love your channel.

that car is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!

It deserves to run the roads again

Those tailights are pretty swank.

There were all kinds of odd stuff back then but that taillight is hight on the list. Always thought the push button trans was kinda cool too

Hell yeah brother. Awsome cars. Chrysler sold same body De sotos (Diplomat) in europe.

Bought 63 custom 880 and had exact same luck. Total rebuild of the 383 was needed

I used to watch Derek all the time, but I lost interest when he hit the Big Time and became commercialized. Don't get me wrong; I think it's great he's providing a good life for his family and all, but it's just not the same.

Those are very cool cars. Very different. 😊😊

Interesting that the dash on the convertible is identical to the 63 Dodge Custom 880. I had one of those in convertible form a long time ago. The interior was also red.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?😊

A valiant effort (pun intended) but it was probably junk before you ever laid a wrench on it. I'm a big Exner fan, especially the incredibly odd '61's. I haven't seen a can of Chrysler Heat Riser lube for years. I started using it as an all purpose penetrating oil in the 1970's and never came across a fastener it couldn't break loose. I called it "torch in a can", but it got so I couldn't find it at any MoPar dealer parts departments anymore about 20 years ago. In fact, the parts guy at my local dealer just flat GAVE me the last six cans of it that he had on the shelf back then and I think it was discontinued after that.

I just saw some really nice Polaras at The Chrysler Nationals yesterday, but not one like this unless I missed it, very cool. I wore my DDG t shirt there to "represent" as they say and I noticed it seem to garner a lot of attention. Even my wife said to me "So many people are reading your shirt". Car shirts are normally super busy, DDG shirt is basic, large font, catchy name. BTW, the sneeze almost made me spit out my coffee. Ill post a photo on your FB merch post, in all my goofy glory.

What I really enjoy is the factory installed sleeping quarters 🤠

I had a 58 desoto with the 350 b block with the same issue. Only differnce was it would start fine when cold but if it was hot, I had to wait a couple hours. Finally locked it up after flooring down the freeway a few miles.

SAVE HER

Damn,that's way cool! I want.

You should have pulled the valve covers- standard B engine Mopar, and checked for stuck valves - or did you individually check each cylinder for any compression ??

New subscriber here. Great video. Please, you have to do the Blues Mobile. You are on a mission from God. I have been looking for one forever...lol

I remember when I was a young boy thinking the 61 dodge was a ford, really different grille for a dodge at the time. But as I got older I came to love Virgil Exner's styling! 61 was a kinda strange styling year for the big 3, they were all kinda out of place and different compared to the year before and after.

Beautiful car

I've seen a few people use 2 batteries to get the car to run on last resort and it's worked. Not great for the starter but it got it started quickly lol

Owned a 61Dodge Polara Convertible 383. Bought it from a woman (in 1968) who had upgraded to A Monaco. About the only thing that car couldn't pass was a gas station. The car was in great shape, and I gave the woman $300 for it. The last hundred was a coffee can full of change. It had thirty-seven + thousand miles on the odometer, and although the car was a convertible, it had an air conditioner. Chrysler was one of the few car companies (maybe the only one) which made their own air-conditioning systems. BTW Chrysler's "downsizing" of the early Sixties (64. 65, 66 was short lived. The 68 Monaco was huge, as were the early Seventies high-end models. Thanks for the vid and the memories. Wish I'd kept that car. Hope you get yours running!!

Did this thing run eventually? Its too good to part out!

Makes me wish I had kept my 61 Seneca. I got it free via barter system helping another car guy save his 69-70 Corvette aluminum big block from getting seized by a landlord for the guy “forgetting” to pay his shop rent in Big Timber, Montana. I did not fully appreciate the aesthetic Lind’s of the Seneca so I donated it to a local father/son project . . . but then the son joined the Army Rangers and headed to the big desert across the pond for some “on the job” training. So the father, instead of letting me know his son left the country, sold the Seneca. Wish he would have told me so I could give him back ALL of his money (ZERO) and get it back. Lesson learned . . . no good deed goes unpunished.

I love this 61 body It got me subscribed hope you will do more with her spun bearing and all.. Gee if you pre lubed it you would not have had that happen JK lol . That's nonsense. Thanks for sharing this 😊

I have watched VGG for quite a few years now. I don’t get the comparison. Oh wait, now I see it, you both work on cars. Otherwise I don’t see it.

Is that an infamous Thermoquad carb on there? My 68 C10 has an old Rochester Quadrajet that I really like. Finicky at times, but still a solid carb.

BIZARRO styling for sure. The dash-board styling could open up your browl in a panic stop(seat-belts were'nt common yet).

Just a hunch but I have a 61 Phoenix and had the same problem with starting it and I'll explain. The car was running great when I bought it but it needed a good going thru. Tore the engine down so I could mask the engine compartment and paint the block and this is where the issue came up. The FACTORY manual for the timing sequence in 61 is incorrect! The picture of the numbers in the distributor are one off. Mind you I have the 318 poly with the distributor in the back of the engine so I'm not sure about your big block. How I found this out was I was thumbing online and found a Dodge truck manual from I think 64 and it still was using the poly 318 and not the LA 318 and a noticeable difference in the wiring schematic. Change the plug order on it ran like it did when I bought it which was flawless. Didn't see anymore vids on the car so I'm curious on what happened.