alright looks like i set the deal on a new truck project, thats stevieg for checkin' itout for me and hopefully bringing it home first of the week. anyhow. first things first anyone know what the rear fenders it currently has is? they aren't staying but i've got to figure out what is going to replace them. ford or chevy fenders will of course be much easier to come by esp since part of me is thinking fender mount spare. any suggestions on what might work well. anyone used non dodge fenders on one of these? i'm thnking for the rear swap fenders, maybe do some sort of lights in the fenders(several options laying around the garage), and maybe do split bumpers out back. something small like 70-72 camaro splits modded to fit.
for the front i was blown away with the general idea from 56pu's mock up pic of the bumper for his 56. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198591 he said he thinks it's a 40s chrysler something that he has cut down to the correct lenght. mopar donors around here are few and far between. anyone got any other ideas off the top of their head? i've been combing my 50s reference books for ideas but am not coming up with much that would be easy to find. most of the stuff i think might work well is odd makes and would be equally hard to find. grille will probably be chromed stock grille bars(they look good in there). or a drawer pull grille. i think this front might also yield itself to a 53 buick headlight treatment pretty well. that or quads. of course it's been a while since i've seen one of these in front of me and it may get here i i realize some of my ideas may not flow but in general most seem simple. anybody got other suggestions/ideas? gonna shoot for keeping mods simple as i'm trying to get it one the road asap and suspension is gonna take up most of the timeframe i'm thinking(if i go volare swap)...ken....
the truck pictured in the color photos isnt a 56 im afraid. the rear fenders give it away as a 52-53. they didnt run that style of fender on the bed until one or two years later. amazing though, they ran that same fender from the day they made them until they quit making stepsides. my 80 stepside had the same fender on it. later models had one piece glass for a windshield too. hope that helps.
truck is deff a 56. bed may be a pilot house bed or maybe just pilothouse era fenders(i've heard the bedsides were the same from 49 to 60). truck has the wrap around windshield which is 55-56. it's had a repaint so maybe the bed or fenders were swapped at that point for some reason. so i guess now the question is is it just pilothouse fenders or an entire pilothouse bed. heres a shot of the cab to verify the 56 part though....ken....
I'm pretty sure it's a '56, but the bed looks earlier as was suggested. I think my Dad's was a 241 or 271 cube inch V8? What about a '41 Desoto waterfall grille?
I had a 56 with a 315 poly in it. Although I do like the front end on the 56, I always wondered about flipping it upside down and installing canted quad headlights....
A friend of mine has a early 50's one that he sectioned 4", chopped about the same and channelled it over a early 80's Malibu frame. He is in the middle of trying to build a 'Dream Truck" style of bed for it. I'll try to get some pics later today.
Cool! I have a '55 1st series and saw a '55 2nd series at the "Okie Twist-Off" I'd like to see one channeled. More info on http://www.dodgeclassictrucks.com/
and did anyone get a pic of the one at the twist off? stevieg should be dropping mine off today...ken....
Dodge was never much in the styling department when it came to pickups. Those clunky fenders were used for years on Dodge commercial vehicles with narrow beds.
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