1952 Dodge shorter-bed pickup cool craigslist obtain

With prices on vintage iron definitely going by the roof, any time we find anything for sale that’s more mature than 1980 with a value tag beneath $4,000, we get all sorts of thrilled, even if we have no intention in any way of shopping for. For a pair decades now our on the web drug of option has been browsing the “automobiles & vans” segment of Craigslist to see what’s out there. This 7 days, the gateway drug turned up this tremendous-neat 1952 Dodge quick-bed pickup truck with a (for these days) paltry $3,200 cost tag. Absolutely sure, if we turned the clock back 10 years or so, we might probably expect to pay back $500 for a similarly rusted, dented, and patinated non-managing incomplete pile of venture sheetmetal even if it did have the engine in the mattress and was missing a transmission like this 1. But hey, it is not 10 many years in the past, and from the rather lackluster photos the vendor provided in their advertisement, this 1 seems like it can be got some very good bones to operate with.




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We really don’t have nearly anything from very long-mattress pickups, but there is certainly one thing definitely distinctive about a small-bed pickup when you are eyeballing a thing that’ll be applied much more for fun than do the job. The inventory 1952 mattress seems to be full and not missing any of its panels. There is a tiny trim piece missing from the grille, but we’d get by without the need of it.





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The manufacturing unit inline flathead 6-cylinder is in the mattress. It really is sort of a disgrace mainly because when tuned up and working nicely, these 6-cylinder engines go as efficiently as a sewing machine and truly give sufficient oomph to make the occasional weekend journey to the ice cream shop or vehicle show pleasant. That explained, engines are typically yanked for a reason, and for the cash it would get to rebuild the manufacturing facility 95-hp 218ci motor, we could way more very easily plunk in a 4.0L inline-6 from a Jeep Cherokee or Wrangler. Absolutely sure, it truly is not the typical option, but with a 190-hp rating and placing down 225 lb-ft, it really is ample to encourage this B-3-B 50 percent-ton pickup devoid of breaking a sweat.





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And talking of breaking a sweat, the inside of these vans with their a person-piece rear glass window and compact facet windows heat up to a terrible degree in the SoCal summer months. On the inside we would go away the sprint by yourself and have the factory bench seat rebuilt and covered in a time period-right brownish burgundy vinyl. To retain our bits and pieces from receiving sticky, we would mount an under-dash aftermarket A/C device that will work in conjunction with the manufacturing unit Jeep A/C condenser that we’d have on the 4.0L.





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The other concession to modernization we might make in the inside would sadly be to ditch the column-shift guide transmission linkage for an much easier to offer with through-the-flooring shifter so we could toggle our 2WD AX15 transmission.





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Assuming the mattress boards need changing, we would supply some force-treated wooden from our neighborhood constructing offer location and retain the bed flooring wooden. We would depart the patina’s paint alone, but we’d give the new boards a good, deep coating of oil to aid make them glance fantastic and last.





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Underneath we would give the stock suspension a rebuild with new bushings and make guaranteed all the steering elements have been in very good shape. We would not use electricity steering on this truck, particularly due to the fact the factory steering box ought to distinct the Jeep 4.0L motor without the clearance issues that could arise with a V-style engine.





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As for the rear axle, B-series Dodge pickups utilized a 3.73, 4.10, or 4.78 axle ratio. Any of these would function properly with the 4.0L engine and overdrive AX15 transmission to make freeway speeds a reality, so alternatively of messing with swapping in a distinctive rear axle, we might whip up a disc brake conversion for all four corners, and we might exchange the factory one-pot master with a Wilwood minimal-mount dual-pot learn mated to the manufacturing facility pedal. We might best it all off with a good stainless header on the Jeep 4.0L that feeds a reverse-flow 2.5-inch muffler and exhaust, and then we would push the Coker replica tires off of it!