About Us
California Dodge Brothers and Sisters is a community of owners and fans of vintage Dodge Brothers and Graham Brothers vehicles. CDBS is dedicated to restoring, promoting, and celebrating these vintage autos and trucks in our every day lives.
Our Beginnings
The California Dodge Brothers and Sisters Region formed circa 1985 as a group of about ten owners of Dodge Brothers vehicles who had a common desire to tour together in the antique cars they adored.
It started when Tom and Sharon Barham purchased a 1926 Dodge Brothers sedan and enjoyed it with their young children, Travis and Jennifer. They knew Leonard Needham who had a 1918 Dodge Brothers Screenside truck. Leonard knew Gene and Vicki Stadelhofer who owned a 1918 DB touring car and Ben Miller who had a 1922 DB Fisher bodied coupe.
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From this nucleus, the California Group has grown to a community of over 100 families today and 249 “other” known aficionados – the vast majority are located in California.
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Growth comes from acquaintances and friends of those on the Group’s roster, as well as chance meetings with Dodge Brothers folks at swap meets and other functions. The Group's growth has been pretty much word-of-mouth, and it is still growing today.
Our Mission
California Dodge Brothers and Sisters is a group of people who love and own vintage Dodge Brothers and Graham Brothers vehicles. Our membership is primarily located in California. We promote Dodge Brothers vehicles and Graham Brothers trucks in our everyday life. We find the time in today’s fast paced living to appreciate slower times when the DB was the King of Automobiles. The California Dodge Brothers and Sisters Group hold tours throughout the year along with social events.
In addition to providing social opportunities centered on the Dodge Brothers vehicles, we also try to help each other find parts, and even share technical information and restoration skills. Children, who have grown up around these vehicles and the people who enjoy them, are beginning to purchase, restore, and drive their own Dodge Brothers vehicles!
Over the past 30 plus years, the National Dodge Brothers Club has also been growing, becoming an international organization. The majority of members of the California Group are also members of the National Club. The Club publishes a very professional periodical every other month, with articles ranging from Dodge Brothers history, to technical research, to parts reproduction, to a “For Sale” and “Wanted” marketplace. The Club provides support to members through a network of volunteer Technical Advisors whose expertise tends to cover Dodge Brothers vehicles in the years that immediately bracket the year of manufacture of their personally owned Dodge Brothers vehicle(s). The Club promotes the formation of localized regions to build on the social and supportive aspects of this hobby that are so important to its growth. The National Club also sponsors annual National Meets (the 2003 Golden State Meet in Woodland, California, was the 17th such gathering), centered in a different geographic region of the country. These National Meets showcase the breadth of interest in these vehicles. These nearly week-long social gatherings present opportunities to meet people as well as to see and experience Dodge Brothers vehicles from all over the nation, even the world. The common thread that holds these people together is the interest and fascination with these automobiles and trucks that, from 1914 to 1938, were the visible expression of the craftsmanship embodied in the persons and ideals of brothers John and Horace Dodge.