Brad's DODGE TRUCK Restoration
1951 Dodge 1/2 Ton Pickup
I bought the truck in Ketchum Idaho during the fall of 1996. However I didn't really start working
on it until the fall of 1997. The truck was pretty much rust free when I bought it and it ran
well enough for me to drive it up onto the U-Haul trailer for the trip back to Nebraska. Currently
the frame has been sandblasted and painted and the suspension is just about back together.
The engine has been at the rebuild shop since February of 1998 unfortunately there has been one problem
after another with the rebuild but it's finally been assembled and ready to set into the frame. All of
body work is done and painted with the exception of the bed, tailgate and rear fenders. Those should be
done by the fall of 2001 if all goes according to plan.
NOTE: The picture above is from an original sales brochure. Some day I hope
to have my truck looking like that!
1949 DODGE 1-Ton Pickup - Owner, Don Fenton
Below are photos of Don Fenton's nice 1949 1-ton pickup. He bought this truck in Montana for a song!
Ok, here are some shots of my truck in progress.
The frame is being painted with a base coat of Bill Hirschs "Miracle Paint".
I'm real impressed with this paint. It seems to be extremely durable. If the
length of time that it stays one your fingers once its dried is any indication
this paint should last forever! The paint was applied with foam brushes, lots
and lots of foam brushes! One of the reasons I used foam brushes was so that
no brush marks would be visible when complete. The frame has sinse been top
coated with Bill Hirschs "Chassis Black" spray paint. This particular paint has
a high resistance to salt spray.
This picture was taken with the frame suspended from the garage ceiling joists using
3/16" cable. The frame is heavy enough that it takes a minimum of three and preferrably
five people to move it around. This allowed me to work on the bottom side without having
to work around jack stands. As you can see I haven't applied the final coat of paint yet.
Here is the stripped cab. It was delivered to the paint shop in October of 2000 and
returned in late May 2001.
Here is the finished cab. Quite a difference isn't there!
I totally dismantled the differential and after taping and sealing all openings I sandblasted
the outer shell. I then applied Bill Hirschs Miracle paint and then a coat of his Chassis Black
spray paint. Again, I'm real impressed with this paint also. Sprays on nicely and seems to flow
real well.
Painting the rear wheels has been taking place over period of several weeks. I had the local
Sherwin-Williams automotive paint store mix up 7 cans of spray paint (1-quart) in the original
color scheme Dodge used for wheels. Definitely an intersting color that Dodge chose! I have
also mounted 225/75 R16 radial light truck tires. A friend is running them on his truck and is
quite happy with them. So why not give them a try!
In this photo you can see the hole that was drilled through the windshield post for a spotlight.
I've scoured the swap meets and junk yards for one that fit the hole and also had the same bolt
pattern with no luck. I did find one that looked good and had the right angle for the mounting
block but the two screw holes didn't line up. So I had the body shop weld up the two holes and
I'll drill new ones when it comes time to fit the spotlamp.
Here is the right side of the hood and the right front fender. Ignore the spots in the photo, the
sheetmetal got a little dirty in transport from the shop to my garage.
Here is a view of the inside of the cab. You can also ignore the dirty looking floor. The finished
cab sat in at the painters for a long time!
And last but not least we have a picture of the drivers door.
Here is an original hand crank that I picked up from Ric Hall that he had leftover after
selling his stake bed truck. When I was tearing my truck engine down I noticed that the
crank nut had provisions for a crank handle and then looking closer at the front grille
it was obvious that the Dodge Engineers had left the provisions for the hand crank to be
inserted through the grille. So when this one came available I couldn't pass it up!
I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to trying to start it that way, but you never know....
Chris Worcester of Southern Australia is looking for information on Dodge Export models from Canada.
If you have any information please contact Chris.
Chris Worcester's 1946 Dodge Coupe Utility (added 2/10/2000)
Here are some photos of Ken Moffitt's great looking 1949 Dodge B-1-B 1/2 ton pickup. If you want to e-mail Ken you can reach him
here.
Ken Moffitt's 1949 Dodge Pickup (added 1/28/2003)
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Looking for some LINKS
to other Dodge Truck sites?
Have a look at my other restoration projects :
Triumphs Restoration Page
Photos of the Offenhauser dual intake manifold that I'm installing:
Dual intake (added 10/25/2002)
E-Mail Address: Brad
One of my many hobbies is the preservation
and restoration of Triumph sports cars.
