Why did you buy your Pilot house/So how did you get started with the old Dodge trucks?

[JBNeal]

...

'53 B4B116: Parts truck that my neighbor told me about. The previous owner had dismantled it to hot-rod it; tossed the drivetrain, stripped all the sheetmetal, primed all but the back of the cab, then lost interest in '02. It sat rotting in his mother's front yard and was slated to be hauled to the junk yard because his mother was going into a nursing home and her house was being sold to make way for an elementary school...

just saw this post while repairing some embedded links on previous posts...a few days after I posted this, most of that '53 was absconded by scrap metal thieves

 

about a year and a half later, I picked up another '53 B4B116...this one was an almost complete Spring Special, listed on Dallas CL as a '52 Dodge $1 

[Apittslife]

In 1990 I found a 1948 Panel truck sitting in a back yard, I was hyped & left a note for the owner. a week later I was the newest owner.

In 1998 I ended up selling her & most of my other toys, as the wife wanted a morgage payment.

In 2011 A friend heard me talking about wanting another pilothouse, & he says he has one sitting around someplace & he was willing to sell it to me.  

[1oldtruck]

The economy went sour about 10 years ago and I was into Volkswagens. 1962 and 1966 Busses and a 62 Beetle. Luckily, I sold them for a profit and kept my head above water. I used the money for bills, kids and food since I was out of work.

 

I have always wanted an old pickup so I was scouring Craigslist and found a 48 Dodge pickup about 60 miles from L.A. in October in 2010.  It used to be farm country out there and the truck was used hauling around farm gear for years. This truck was purchased for the sole purpose of getting dirt under it's fingernails. Hey, it needed work and wasnt a show car. Of course, I asked a million questions.

 

The owner wanted $2,500 but I had to pass. The truck wasn't a priority since I still wasnt working. I kept checking back and the price was then $2,000. I called a few times and the price kept getting lower. I had to tell the owner that I'm just not ready even though the price was a good deal.

 

Then, just before Christmas, the owner called me and said that he needed money to finish his 36 Chevy so he would let go of the Dodge for $800. Well, I couldn't pass that up and headed out there. Since I couldnt take it on the LA freeways since it was geared so low, I had it towed back to L.A. and stood outside trying to get a mental image on what I needed to do.

 

It had the OG motor and was pretty barebone stock. I needed new bed wood and hardware, the rear fenders needed new hardware and were just hanging off the bed. The running boards were almost bent down to the ground and needed new hardware to connect to the fender. Plus, it was painted primer gray and even that was sloppy.

 

 I stared at the truck not knowing where to start. Well, the running boards looked like a good spot.  I had the bright idea to but some 2 x 4's on my floor jack and bend them back up into place by force. It worked perfectly. Everything came along and then I had it painted. I wanted the suede primer paintjob since it looked like a shop truck. I replaced the bed wood and the rails along with some minor adjustments. It drove like a charm. Then, a friend handpainted the logos on the side and it looked straight out of the late 40's. I learned alot about the truck and did most of the tinkering myself to save money and learn a little something.

 

Since it was a farm truck, it has double leaf springs, a 3 speed transmission and a kick start on the floor. It's rough! I've replaced the intake and exhaust manifolds, welded a straight pipe all the way out the back with no muffler, rebuilt the carb, replaced the back window, replaced the usual plugs, points, belts etc and have so much fun wrenching and showing it off. The local saturday morning classic car hangout has every car you can imagine. The 48 gets alot of attention because it looks original without all the Billet crap, 20 inch rims and electronic dashes. We all appreciate good, American made quality.

 

What's left? I'm replacing the oil pan and next will be an emergency brake and door rubber so the windows dont rattle. The interior will have to wait as will the powder coated wheels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scruffy49]

Inherited mine, my grandfather traded a Hudson Terraplane in on it brand new in 49 when he needed a truck. I inherited a 92 Ranger parts junker when my brother in law died in 2011. Between the two of them, I'm making one truck. I was going to use the bought as a parts donor 69 D100 as an engine, transmission and rear axle donor, but, the 69 has turned out to be too useful as purchased to justify cutting it up.

[Jeff Balazs]

Why? I suppose the simple answer is that I wanted a classic work truck. Something I could fix up and drive until I drop. No plastic and more importantly no electronics!!! And if it was a bit different then so much the better. As I looked through what was available and in my price range (cheap!) it became apparent pretty quickly where the real buys were. I didn't know a thing about the old Dodges but I could see that I could definitely get a lot more truck for my initial outlay.

 

The more I looked it became obvious that these trucks had all the attributes I was looking for. And you just hardly ever see one. They are out there but not nearly in the kind of numbers you see GMs or Fords. What I began to notice is that they have a sort of an almost "stealthy" quality to them. By this I mean that while they are definitely a true classic truck design they generally go un-noticed by the masses. And that really appealed to me. Kind of like finding a gem hidden in a mountain of tailings.

 

So here I am more than a year and half later. And my view of this truck has evolved a bit. Boy are they different!!! But very, very cool.  And I have had to get an education on the Mopar way which I had no clue about to begin with. And of course ... We all know that bringing one of these back to life is a ton of work. And not nearly as simple as picking up a superstore catalog and placing an order. Has it been worth it so far? Absolutely. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.....and I haven't even had a proper drive in it yet.

 

Jeff

[Mikec4193]

HI Everybody

 

I have been a thinking about this post for a little while. My dad had a Dodge Pilothouse truck back in the mid 1960's and he built the house I grew up in with it back in that time frame. I have owned several vintage trucks but I am really getting drawn back to this type of vehicle.

 

I can still see myself and dad going to the dump with it, going to the local oval track on Fridays during the summer too. It was a much quieter time in the town I grew up in and his Pilothouse was very much a part of it.

 

Once we got stopped by the local police because it was a work truck and they kept trying to find stuff wrong with it but they never could.

 

So what got you going down the vintage Dodge truck road you are currently on?

 

I think mine were the fond memories of me and my dad so long ago.

 

MikeC

[Bobacuda]

I learned to drive in our '51 Dodge 1/2 ton farm truck. Our family always seemed to gravitate to old Plymouth cars and Dodge trucks. When I was in Jr. High and High School, I worked in a full service gas station, so I was always working on them (my boss's son took care of the Fords and Chevys).

I bought my B4B from the estate of a man who had turned me down several times when I tried to buy it while he was

alive. Drove it all through college and on the farm. I have now owned it 40 years...lots of memories, which is why the whole family is on my rear for me to get finished rebuilding it.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Bobacuda

[pflaming]

I found my truck parked for 17 years on the side of the road. Lady said I could have it for $25O, so I bought it. Was going to give it to my very wealthy brother for Christmas, but my friend said, "he can buy his own trucks, this is a good one, fix it up for yourself. that was 1O years and one fire ago.

[MartinsB3B]

Mine was given to me by my grandpa who was the third owner, parked it in the early 70's. My dad and his friend got it started in the 80's and drove forward and backwards a few feet which were its last tracks. I've started with a small restoration/drivable truck again.

[MBF]

My Dad worked for New York Telephone as an installer / repairman and had a 52 PH with one of their utility bodies on the back.  He brought that truck home every night, and I played in the cab.   Sometimes he'd get called back in at night and he'd take me with him.  I stood on the seat and played with the roof mounted spotlight.   The rest is history

[Mikec4193]

My Dad worked for New York Telephone as an installer / repairman and had a 52 PH with one of their utility bodies on the back.  He brought that truck home every night, and I played in the cab.   Sometimes he'd get called back in at night and he'd take me with him.  I stood on the seat and played with the roof mounted spotlight.   The rest is history

Hey MBFowler

 

That is so funny....my dads truck had that utility box on it too and it was a New York telephone truck too...he took that box off and found a stock Dodge one and drove for several years...

 

MikeC

[JBNeal]

here's a few stories...

[B1B Keven]

My grandfather sold Pilot House's new. There was always one around the farm when I

was little.

[Brent B3B]

My grandma bought mine in 1981 for her and me to get fire wood in the summers. We would get up early, go fishing for a couple hours, collect fire wood from "slash" piles in eastern Oregon, go back home, cut up, split, stack and repeat thru out the summer. Kind of like that song "..... He still here but now she's gone, so I hold on"

Edited February 2, 2015 by Brent B3B

[NiftyFifty]

I grew up with my dad liking and driving Dodgee, and it rubbed off on me I guess, when I finally got my own house with a shop to work in, I decided it was time to look for a project. I didn't want the same old chevy or Ford that everyone else was building, and when I seen my 1950 on a local classifieds site, with parts truck, I figured it was a no brainer. 4 1\2 hour drive later, I have my PH, and a few weeks later I had the parts truck. I also have a 1967 Monaco, same as my dad did...like father like son I guess

[Geekay]

Fabulous memories there of growing up with dodges.

Mine is quite different. As you can imagine not many dodges in Australia but my fargo was parked on a farm next to my sisters. Been there 30 years +.

My sisters husband Peter convinced the guy to sell it to him for $450 last year, however Peter really didn't need it, just didn't want to see it scrapped. Peter is a Ford nut, currently has about 20 of various descriptions (he loves a 351 ci) and said to me ( a complete novice, recently retired).."why don't you restore it as a project?"

Why not indeed...so here I am and loving it.

I was so green I didn't know a Fargo was a Dodge,   but hey, the less I know the more "secrets" there are to discover.

There is a whole new world a Dodge/Fargo/Chrysler/De Soto etc etc out there that I didn't know existed.

[jeffsunzeri]

Driven to them (Dodge) by previously owning and operating 4 Chevy pickups and 2 Fords!!

[jpwuertz]

I got mine from my daughters Grand mother in law after her husband died.  He used the truck in his construction business.  I believe he purchased it new in in 1952.  the B3B was restored when he retired from the business.

[ggdad1951]

FYI, I'm combining this tread with the other one linked in this thread.

[Ralph Pearce]

I owned many pick-ups (Dodge, Ford, Chevy) in my bachelor years (1980s), but gave them up when I started a family. Now I'm able to indulge again (they're very handy for all my projects), and took a look around locally. I had a taste of sticker shock (prices can change in 25 years!), but finally found a local '48 pilot house with a straight body and rebuilt engine that I could afford (asking $3200., bought for $1900.). Probably got it because guys around here prefer a short bed Chevy to a long bed Dodge. Fine with me, I've long been aware of Dodge's superiority!

[Phntm48]

Every summer while growing up I would go up and spend the summer at my Grandparents ranch. It was then in the '80's that I learned to drive in my Grandfathers pilothouse truck (somewhere around here I have a picture of my mother at 16 learning to drive in that same pilothouse truck). So the love started there. Sadly when my Grandperents passed, my uncle got all that stuff and promptly sold it.

Fast forward 20 years and I was driving around a '52 Chevy pickup...I happened across someone one day who was driving an old Dodge pilothouse, and in talking to him found out that he didnt particularly like Dodges but loved Chevys. So what else could we do? We traded trucks. And a friendship was born.

That old gent and I are still friends to this day.

[Darkrider]

My first exposure to old dodge trucks in general was my dads '63 D200 stepside with the 313/4 speed combo. Then he gave me his '73 D100 as a 17th bday gift and i drove that truck for a few years until it got to a condition i couldnt keep maintaining it without it costing an arm and a leg so that truck got scrapped. Fast forward to '12 when i purchased an '81 Ram D150 and used that truck for a work vehicle for almost a year and a half. During this period a friend of my landlord got ahold of a 3 ton PH truck and was working on it in the backyard. Ever since i seen that truck i knew i wanted an old one like that one day. Fast Forward again this time to march of this year i see this old PH posted up in one of the truck clubs im on on facebook and got talking to the owner about it. When i went to look at it it turned out the owner was an old riding buddy of mine and we ended up talking about the old days and the truck in general. By the time i was getting ready to leave i flat out stated that if it was still there when i got my contract check i would be walking up to him with the 2k asking price in my hand. Well as you can guess..it was still there and im now the proud owner of a '49 B1-D2 1 ton. Now i just gotta fully research just what the heck it is i got myself into lol

[pflaming]

Suggestion: each of us should add 4-6 progressive before / after pictures to our posts. Then set it up so that the thread is readily available to first time readers / new members. Do the same on the P15 -D 24 Forum.

[Brent B3B]

Bump, ?

been a few years since this thread and a lot of new members.....

[Los_Control]

Ok I will play, Been here awhile and never seen this thread before.

To be honest, I just came to a point in my life where I thought I wanted to have a old truck to play with and drive.

I had a 1951 ford 3/4 ton with a flathead v8 I guess was 1975 or 76 in school. I thought I wanted another.

I knew my Uncle had a 50th anniversary edition I could talk him out of. Think it was a 1955. 

Long story short, I waited too long and it was gone .... What he did have was a 1949 dodge pilothouse up for grabs.

 

I remember the old dodges were the most ugly duckling of all in the 70's, would not be caught dead driving one.

Then being 55 years old and wanting a old school truck, looking at the old pilothouse ... I fell in love with it.

I took on the 1949 B1C project, life happens moved out of state and never got to finish it.

Found a good home for her and gave it away.

 

Then in Texas, I saw a craigslist add for a 1949, fell in love again.

 

Here I am today

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Los_Control