1948 Dodge B1B-108 Pickup

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74Dusted

Stock Piler of 340's
Joined
Apr 11, 2011
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Location
Lewistown, PA
Well after seeing the thread for the '40 Plymouth, I figured you guys might be into that kind of stuff.. :glasses7:

This is my '48 B-Series Dodge (B1B-108... decodes to B Series, 1948, Half Ton, 108" Wheelbase). I picked this critter up about 2 years ago on a whim, simply because I wanted another project.

48,000 Original Miles, Last drove in 1977, served as a farm truck (a "one family truck" until I bought it). The guy I bought it from (a retired state cop) Was having a shop do a "Restoration" on it, but they were cutting corners, and he lost interest in the truck and sold it.

It's still got the original 218 Flathead 6, Optional 4-Speed Manual Transmission, Optional Heater, Optional 2-Speed (Electric) Wipers and the rare "5 Window Cab" However, it has a 1953 Nose/Grille on it, because the shop that was doing the restoration tossed the original nose (it had rust holes) and swapped on a '53 Nose instead. Try finding a 1948 - 1951 Nose & Grille for one of these trucks, damn near impossible.

I towed it home and the first thing I did was fire the beast up. Sure didn't run that great with what appeared to be 50+ year old spark plugs & wires :eek:ops:

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(Video, click on it)


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Then I rolled it into the Paint Booth (the only open spot in the garage that was available) and started to convert it to 12 Volt and remove the parts

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Yes the Floor unbolts in several pieces :glasses7:

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Mocked up all the mounts and wiring for the 12 Volt Conversion and fired the engine again to test it. Ran as smooth as you'd expect an engine to run when it hasn't been tuned up in half a century :D

Then I started to dismantle the truck again for the restoration (no new pics), and the truck got pushed to the back burner, currently hiding under a car cover in one of the other garages :eek:ops:

I figured, after I paint my '74 Duster (hoping to roll it into the Paint Booth on Saturday), I'll start working on the '48 again. I'll probably keep the 218/4-Speed in it, although I wouldn't pass up the chance to drop an early Hemi in it, if one of those engines happened to find it's way onto the engine crane :D
 
Keep up the work, I really liked my 56 dodge truck.
 
Love the truck! My first hot rod was a pickup, 1955 International that my buddy and I replaced the inline six with a Chivvy 348. It was a rat rod before rat rods, what with oxide primer for paint and a pretty stripped interior. He had already talked my dad out of his dodge hemi which he put in his 53 Ferd coupe.

Keep us posted!
 
My friend Eric used to roll a '50 Dodge. Neat little truck and he kept it running well. Traded it for a 5th Ave, though...
 
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