Quick Facts

This table concentrates on the specifications that separate the 1922 High Hood Second Series from loosely described Model 30 and Dodge Four listings. Body catalogs and surviving cars can differ in detail, but the underlying chassis specification is comparatively consistent.

The term Second Series is essential when ordering body, hood, radiator, and cowl-related parts. Mechanical components may interchange across a broader span of Model 30 production, but visible components should not be assumed to fit both low-hood and High Hood cars.

Why the 1922 High Hood Matters

The High Hood revision changed the Dodge Brothers car where buyers could see it most clearly. Raising the radiator and carrying the hood line rearward into a higher cowl reduced the pronounced step between bonnet and passenger compartment, giving the car a more substantial profile without requiring an entirely new engine or frame.

That strategy made commercial sense. Dodge Brothers already had a mature powertrain, a broad dealer organization, and a reputation for building a sturdier, better-equipped alternative to the Ford Model T. A body and frontal redesign could refresh the product while production continued around familiar mechanical assemblies.

For present-day historians, the Second Series also demonstrates why calendar year alone is not enough to identify an early automobile. Two cars titled as 1922 Dodges can differ visibly and require different sheet metal. The High Hood designation therefore affects authenticity, restoration cost, parts compatibility, and the accuracy of an auction catalog description.

Historical Context and Development

Dodge Brothers after John and Horace Dodge

John and Horace Dodge had established their Detroit company as a major component supplier before introducing a complete Dodge Brothers automobile for the 1915 model year. The first cars used an all-steel open body developed with the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, a 12-volt electrical system, a conventional three-speed gearbox, and a four-cylinder engine substantially larger than the Model T's.

Both brothers died in 1920, John in January and Horace in December. Management continued under company president Frederick Haynes while ownership remained with the Dodge estates. The 1922 range was therefore built after the founders' deaths but before the 1925 sale of Dodge Brothers to Dillon, Read & Company and well before Chrysler acquired the business in 1928.

A competitive market that was changing quickly

Ford dominated the low-price field with the Model T, but Dodge Brothers did not attempt to duplicate Ford's planetary transmission, minimal specification, or production economics. Chevrolet, Buick, Studebaker, Essex, and Maxwell competed across nearby price bands with conventional gearboxes, increasingly enclosed bodies, and annual styling changes that made older low-cowl designs look dated.

The Second Series addressed that visual pressure. Its taller front end did not transform the drivetrain, yet it aligned the Dodge more closely with the high, level hood lines appearing on newer American cars. The upright radiator, simple fenders, external lamps, artillery wheels, and nearly vertical passenger compartment remained unmistakably early 1920s, but the relationship between hood and cowl was cleaner than on the First Series.

No homologation fiction

This was a mass-market road car, not a homologation special, and no racing requirement dictated its specification. Dodge Brothers' reputation rested instead on service use, difficult-road durability, and the company's wartime production record. Any competition history attached to an individual car should be documented separately rather than projected onto the entire High Hood series.

Engine and Drivetrain

The 212.3-cu-in Dodge four

The engine was a water-cooled, side-valve inline-four with a bore of 3.875 inches and a stroke of 4.5 inches. That long-stroke geometry produced 212.3 cubic inches, or approximately 3.48 liters. Intake and exhaust valves sat in the block beside the cylinders, operated by a camshaft through tappets rather than overhead rocker gear.

Period references commonly give 35 brake horsepower, while the NACC taxable or rated figure was 24 horsepower. These numbers describe different standards and should not be treated as contradictory dyno results. Surviving factory literature and later specification books do not provide a consistently comparable torque figure, governed speed, or compression ratio, so those values are best omitted rather than reconstructed.

An updraft carburetor supplied the mixture, with fuel delivered through the period vacuum-feed arrangement used with a rear-mounted tank. Battery-and-coil ignition, a distributor, electric starting, and a 12-volt electrical system were notable equipment in an era when some cheaper cars remained far more basic. Correct carburetor, distributor, starter-generator, and vacuum-tank details should be checked against a period parts book covering the car's serial range.

Cooling used a radiator, fan, and positive coolant circulation. The lubrication system combined pumped oil delivery with the splash practices typical of the period. Restoration requires attention to internal oil passages, bearing clearances, pump condition, and the accuracy of any later modifications, especially where an engine has been fitted with an external oil line or modern electric fuel pump.

Clutch, gearbox, and rear axle

A dry clutch transmitted power to a three-speed selective sliding-gear transmission. There was no synchromesh. Clean shifts depend upon matching shaft speeds, pausing in neutral, and using double-declutching when road speed and gear speed do not naturally coincide.

Drive passed through a propeller shaft to a full-floating rear axle with spiral-bevel final drive. The full-floating arrangement allowed the axle housing and wheel bearings to carry vehicle weight while the shafts transmitted torque, a robust specification that suited poor roads and commercial use.

The most useful documented powertrain dimensions appear below. Figures such as torque and redline have been excluded because period sources do not provide them on a dependable modern test basis.

The engine's generous displacement mattered more in ordinary use than its modest power figure suggests. It was expected to pull from low speed, negotiate grades in the appropriate gear, and operate at road speeds that placed less continuous stress on cooling, tires, and brakes than modern traffic does.

Chassis, Suspension, and Braking

The High Hood retained a separate ladder-type frame with rigid front and rear axles. Semi-elliptic leaf springs located and supported both axles, providing ample wheel movement for rutted roads but little of the roll control or steering precision associated with later independent suspension.

Steering was by a mechanical reduction box acting through exposed linkages to the front axle. Wood artillery wheels with demountable rims were normal period equipment. Tire dimensions and rim details must be matched carefully because surviving cars often acquired later wheels, truck rims, or replacement tire sizes during decades of continued use.

Braking acted on the rear wheels only, with separate service and parking mechanisms associated with the rear drums. The absence of front-wheel brakes is the single largest operational difference between this Dodge and a car built only a few years later. Proper adjustment, round drums, sound linings, correctly set rods, and equal action from side to side are safety essentials rather than concours minutiae.

The chassis figures below help distinguish this car from the later Series 116 and are particularly useful when inspecting an incomplete restoration.

Closed and open bodies place different loads on this chassis, so spring condition and ride height should be evaluated against the correct body style. Re-arched springs can make a car sit attractively while giving the wrong shackle angle and an unnecessarily harsh ride.

Driving Experience and Road Behavior

A properly set-up High Hood Dodge starts with the deliberate rhythm expected of a large, low-compression side-valve four. Throttle response is measured rather than sharp, and the long-stroke engine delivers its useful work at modest crankshaft speed. A correctly adjusted carburetor and ignition system should allow steady pulling without repeated stumbling, spitting through the intake, or heavy black exhaust smoke.

The gearbox requires patience. First gear gets the car moving, second carries much of the acceleration and hill work, and top serves as direct cruising gear. Since the gears are unsynchronized, forcing a quick downshift damages teeth and selectors while doing nothing to improve progress.

At parking speed the steering is heavy, particularly if the tires are underinflated or the steering box has been tightened to conceal wear. Once moving, the large wheel supplies leverage and the car tracks with the slow, progressive response of a rigid-front-axle chassis. Excessive shimmy is not authentic character; it points to wheel runout, worn kingpins, loose tie-rod joints, incorrect caster, weak spring shackles, or badly balanced tires.

Leaf springs permit noticeable body movement over broken surfaces, but a sound chassis should settle rather than continue oscillating. Open touring bodies add scuttle and body flex that can become pronounced when sill structure, body mounts, or frame crossmembers are loose.

Rear-only brakes demand anticipation. Brake effort is substantial, stopping distances are long, and locking the rear wheels provides little directional control. Sensible driving leaves a large margin for traffic lights, gradients, wet pavement, and motorists who do not understand the limitations of a century-old braking system.

Identification and Originality

Confirming a genuine High Hood Second Series

The primary visual test is the relationship among radiator, hood, and cowl. A Second Series High Hood should present a raised, comparatively level bonnet line flowing toward the cowl. A low radiator and hood from early 1922 production should not be represented as Second Series equipment simply because the title gives the same year.

Identification must then move beyond appearance. Record the vehicle serial number, engine number, body number or body tag where present, and every surviving plate before dismantling the car. Compare those markings with a recognized Dodge Brothers serial reference, a period parts list, and club records covering the relevant production range. Stamping locations and plate treatment can differ with body style and past repairs, so an unsupported internet decoding chart is not enough.

What matching numbers means on an early Dodge

The modern expectation that engine and chassis numbers must be identical does not translate neatly to a 1922 Dodge Brothers product. The important question is whether the engine type and number fall within a historically plausible relationship to the vehicle's serial range, and whether evidence suggests a long-ago service replacement or a recent attempt to create a more saleable identity.

Engines, rear axles, gearboxes, and electrical units were routinely exchanged to keep working cars on the road. A documented period replacement can be preferable to a restamped component. Freshly altered digits, mismatched typefaces, ground pads, reproduction plates without supporting paperwork, and title numbers that cannot be located physically deserve careful investigation.

Correct components and finishes

High Hood restoration is most difficult at the front of the body. The radiator shell and core, hood panels, hinge, latches, splash aprons, cowl, and firewall must fit one another. Touring-car doors, windscreen hardware, top bows, side curtains, seat frames, and rear body panels are also expensive to reconstruct when absent.

Surviving cars commonly contain later carburetors, electric fuel pumps, improvised generators, sealed-beam headlamp conversions, truck wheels, incorrect gauges, and modern hydraulic brakes. Such changes may have been practical, but they should be disclosed and assessed according to the buyer's intended use.

Dodge Brothers did not use modern standardized paint-code labels in the manner of a postwar automobile. Finish research should begin with body style, serial period, factory sales literature, paint schedules, and protected areas of original material. Black fenders and chassis components were common, but a generic black-over-any-color scheme is not proof of factory accuracy.

Original upholstery scraps under trim, linoleum or mat remnants, top material, fasteners, plating, and wood species can be more reliable than a bright older restoration. Photograph and preserve these traces before replacing them, even when they are too deteriorated for reuse.

Variant and Body-Style Breakdown

The Second Series was offered as a passenger-car range rather than as a performance hierarchy. The engine and principal chassis specification remained shared, while body construction, seating, weather protection, weight, and price separated the versions.

Exact production totals for the late-1922 High Hood body styles are not consistently separated in readily available factory records. Commercial screenside, panel, and light-delivery Dodges require their own chassis and body research and should not automatically be grouped with the passenger-car Second Series merely because they use related mechanical parts.

Performance and Dimensional Specifications

Modern acceleration and quarter-mile figures were not normal factory selling data for a 1922 Dodge, and dependable instrumented tests are scarce. Published top-speed and body-weight figures vary with body style, axle gearing, tires, and test conditions, so they should not be presented as a single definitive number.

A restored car's safe cruising pace is governed by far more than nominal engine output. Bearing condition, cooling capacity, ignition advance, axle ratio, wheel integrity, tire speed rating, steering wear, and rear-brake adjustment all matter. A brief burst to a claimed period maximum proves little and can expose components that were never designed for sustained modern-road speeds.

Compared With Related Dodge Brothers Models

1922 First Series Low Hood

The early 1922 First Series is the car most likely to be confused with the High Hood. It uses closely related Model 30 mechanical hardware and the same 114-inch wheelbase, but its lower radiator, hood, and cowl create a visibly earlier profile. Buyers should resist descriptions that treat High Hood as a decorative radiator-shell option.

Later Series 116 cars

The Series 116 that followed took its designation from a 116-inch wheelbase and represented another stage in Dodge Brothers' development. It is not simply a 1922 High Hood with a later title. Frame length, body fit, and cataloged components must be checked before purchasing parts advertised broadly as fitting an early-1920s Dodge.

Earlier Model 30 production

Earlier Model 30 and Model 30/35 cars established the basic 212.3-cu-in four-cylinder formula, 12-volt electrics, conventional transmission, and rugged rear axle that continued into 1922. Their narrower period details, lower body lines, lighting equipment, controls, and trim can differ substantially even when major engine parts appear familiar.

Ford Model T and Chevrolet rivals

Against a contemporary Ford Model T, the Dodge offered a larger engine, a conventional three-speed sliding-gear transmission rather than Ford's two-speed planetary unit, and more substantial standard electrical equipment. That did not make it a fast car by modern definitions, but it gave drivers controls and road manners closer to those that became standard across the American industry.

Chevrolet and other medium-priced manufacturers increasingly offered conventional gearboxes and closed coachwork, eroding the distinction Dodge had enjoyed earlier. The High Hood revision answered that competition through appearance and body presentation while retaining established mechanical tooling.

Ownership and Restoration Notes

Engine work demands old-car machine skills

A worn Dodge four may run surprisingly well while suffering low oil pressure, excessive bearing clearance, cracked castings, weak compression, or sediment packed around the lower cylinders. A proper rebuild can require poured and line-bored babbitt bearings, cylinder boring, piston manufacture or adaptation, valve-seat repair, camshaft and tappet work, and restoration of the oil pump.

These operations belong with a machine shop familiar with prewar engines. Applying modern clearances or assembling old bearings without measuring crankshaft alignment can produce an engine that is quiet when cold but fails after sustained running.

Cooling and fuel systems

Rust scale and mineral deposits reduce coolant circulation, while a cosmetically restored radiator may still have inadequate thermal capacity. The core, water passages, pump, fan, hoses, and ignition timing must be treated as one system. Retarded timing and a lean mixture can produce overheating that is wrongly blamed on the radiator alone.

Vacuum fuel systems work reliably when airtight and correctly rebuilt. Hidden electric pumps often mask air leaks, damaged check valves, blocked tank outlets, or an unsuitable carburetor. If an electric pump is retained for priming or emergency use, its pressure and installation must not overwhelm the carburetor needle valve.

Transmission, axle, and brakes

Gear noise is common, but chipped teeth, jumping out of gear, and metallic oil are not harmless period character. Check shafts, bushings, bearings, selector wear, clutch release parts, universal joints, pinion adjustment, and axle hubs before assuming that lubricant alone will cure a noisy drivetrain.

Brake rods, clevis pins, cross-shafts, bushings, cams, linings, and drums accumulate wear throughout the linkage. Adjusting only the final rods can leave lost motion elsewhere and produce uneven rear-wheel braking. Any oil leak at a rear hub can contaminate a lining and make the car pull sharply under braking.

Body structure and sheet metal

Touring and roadster bodies should be checked at the sills, door posts, seat supports, floor mounts, rear body attachment points, and the junction between cowl and frame. Closed cars add roof framing, door alignment, window regulators, interior wood, and upholstery hardware to the restoration workload.

Rust commonly attacks splash aprons, lower body edges, running-board brackets, floor panels, fender mounting points, battery areas, and metal trapped against damp wood. Cracks around hood latches and radiator supports can indicate long-term misalignment rather than simple fatigue.

Parts supply

Routine ignition and carburetor service pieces can often be sourced through specialist suppliers, clubs, and careful adaptation. High Hood sheet metal, correct lamps, instruments, windscreen components, top hardware, body fittings, and usable radiator assemblies are much harder to find.

Reproduction availability changes, and not every reproduction part duplicates factory dimensions or finish. A complete but worn car is usually a better restoration basis than a freshly painted project missing its small fittings, because dozens of unique brackets and fasteners can consume more time than the major mechanical overhaul.

Buyer and Inspection Points

A serious inspection should establish identity and completeness before evaluating paint or upholstery. The following checks focus on expensive faults and on details specific to a High Hood Dodge.

A running inspection should include a full warm-up, not merely a cold start in the seller's building. Watch oil delivery, charging behavior, coolant temperature, clutch release, fuel flow, hot restarting, and rear-hub temperature after driving.

Collector and Market Relevance

Open touring cars account for many surviving early Dodges and usually provide the most direct route into Model 30 ownership. Roadsters attract buyers who favor lighter open coachwork, while complete closed cars can be considerably more demanding to restore because of their interior fittings, window hardware, roof structure, and body wood.

Collectors value the 1922 Second Series chiefly for its identifiable High Hood body treatment, mechanical continuity with the proven Dodge four, and place immediately before later Series 116 development. Desirability depends heavily on correct sheet metal, a sound radiator, complete body hardware, credible identification, and a restoration that has not concealed structural deterioration beneath new paint.

Rarity claims require caution. Survival rates differ by body style, but exact late-1922 production totals are not consistently documented in a form that supports confident statements about how many High Hood cars of each body were built. A seller's claim that a car is one of only a handful should be supported by a marque registry or surviving factory documentation.

Auction buyers tend to distinguish between usable older restorations, authentically preserved cars, and cosmetic rebuilds assembled from mixed-year components. Originality has particular weight when a car retains its correct hood, cowl, instruments, lighting, upholstery evidence, wheels, and serial plates, since replacing those details can exceed the cost of routine engine work.

Cultural Relevance and Club Support

Dodge Brothers automobiles became familiar American transport through private ownership, business use, municipal fleets, and demanding rural service. Their cultural significance comes less from a single competition victory than from the sight of a comparatively substantial, electrically equipped car working on roads that could still be muddy, deeply rutted, and poorly graded.

The marque's earlier military and service reputation reinforced buyer confidence in the four-cylinder chassis. By 1922, Dodge Brothers was selling a mature product supported by years of production experience rather than an experimental design.

High Hood cars now appear most often at Antique Automobile Club of America events, Dodge Brothers gatherings, local tours, and preservation displays. The Dodge Brothers Club and specialist prewar communities provide serial references, technical experience, patterns, and leads on scarce parts. That accumulated knowledge is often more valuable than a generic restoration manual.

Unlike later cars, the 1922 Dodge did not develop a major factory-backed tuning culture. Period accessories and practical modifications existed, but modern speed upgrades can overtax rear-only brakes, wood wheels, steering components, and an engine designed for low-speed torque. Sympathetic touring preparation should favor reliability and reversibility over conspicuous modification.

Frequently Asked Questions

What engine is in the 1922 Dodge Brothers High Hood?

It uses Dodge Brothers' 212.3-cu-in, approximately 3.48-liter, L-head inline-four. Bore and stroke are 3.875 by 4.5 inches, and output is commonly listed as 35 bhp. The separate NACC rating is 24 horsepower.

What does High Hood Second Series mean?

It identifies the later 1922 passenger-car design with a taller radiator, raised hood line, and corresponding higher cowl. Second Series is a practical collector and catalog description, not a modern alphanumeric chassis code.

How can a High Hood be distinguished from an early 1922 Dodge?

Examine the complete front-body relationship rather than the radiator shell alone. The hood height, cowl profile, splash aprons, hinges, latches, and adjoining sheet metal should form a coherent Second Series assembly. Serial research should support the physical evidence.

Is Model 30 the correct name for the 1922 Dodge Four?

Model 30 and Model 30/35 are widely used by historians, clubs, parts suppliers, and collectors for this Dodge Brothers family. Contemporary advertising often emphasized the Dodge Brothers marque without displaying a modern-style model badge, which explains the range of catalog names encountered today.

Does a matching-numbers 1922 Dodge have identical chassis and engine numbers?

Not in the modern sense. A credible car should have an engine type and number appropriate to its production period, but the engine number should not automatically be expected to duplicate the vehicle serial number. Restamping is less desirable than a documented period service replacement.

What are the major known problems?

Important concerns include worn babbitt bearings, blocked cooling passages, tired radiators, vacuum-tank leaks, carburetor wear, gearbox tooth damage, rear-hub leakage, loose steering joints, deteriorated wood wheels, worn brake linkage, and rust or decay around body mounts and structural wood.

Are restoration parts available for the 1922 High Hood?

Many service items can be rebuilt or sourced through prewar specialists, but correct High Hood sheet metal, radiator components, lamps, instruments, windscreen hardware, top fittings, and closed-body trim can be scarce. Completeness should carry substantial weight when selecting a project.

Collector Takeaway

The 1922 Dodge Brothers High Hood Second Series deserves precise identification because its significance resides in a specific factory transition. Dodge raised the radiator, hood, and cowl to modernize the car's appearance while retaining the 212.3-cu-in four, 114-inch chassis, three-speed gearbox, full-floating rear axle, and rear-wheel braking system familiar to established owners and dealers.

The best example is not necessarily the one with the brightest paint. It is the car whose serial evidence, High Hood sheet metal, body fittings, mechanical specification, and surviving documentation tell the same story. Get those elements right and the result is a remarkably clear record of Dodge Brothers engineering between the founders' deaths and the later Series 116 era. Get them wrong and it becomes an expensive assortment of broadly compatible Model 30 parts.