Is this a stock option on my '51 B3B?

[RonaldC]

Recently purchased this '51 but not thinking certain things are factory or stock. Can anyone offer insight?

1. I don't believe the Cab/Marker lights are factory and want to remove.
2. I think the "D100" badges are incorrect as I thought the D100 was not offered until later in the '50's ('54?)
3. Don't think the exterior color is correct. I'm not a fan of the blue interior. But, its not to bad and appears to match under the bonnet. Thought exterior and interior would have matched. with the exception of the bed and running boards (which should be black, correct?).
4. And the most notable and interesting to me is this courtesy light. I hadn't seen this before and wondered if an option.

Any help with the above would be appreciated. Thanks guys!

[Bobacuda]

The D100 tags were probably put there to hide a very common rust area around those large rivets on the fenders.  The light in the door way is a previous owner's engineering.  I have only seen clearance lights on heavy trucks, unless someone just liked the looks of them - blame a previous owner.

My B4B is Equador blue, and it is blue inside and outside of the cab.  Most pre-B4B's I have seen have black beds, running boards and bumpers.  I have seen some with matching color beds, but not very many.  Look on your bed in the hard to paint areas to see what color you find.  I have never seen that shade of green on a Dodge truck, so I would say that your truck was most likely blue with a black bed prior to the previous owner painting it.

[Reg Evans]

When ordering a pilot house you could opt for the bed to be painted to match the cab.

[desoto1939]

good luck wit the truck. Since you were considering to purchase the truck from the seller I would have thought tht you might have asked those same questions to the seller during you inspection of the truck. The seller might not have know the answer but then atleast you would then have to do some research onthe truck via the internet.  Hope you got a fiar price onthe truck and it al depend on what you want to do with the truck. If just for fun and your pleasure and local car/truck shows or to have it judged in an AACA show.

 

If having judged then there are some issues that need to be addressed prior toshowing the turck, but if it is intended to be a driver and useable truck then you are fine.

 

Noticed that there is some paint discoloration on the fender where the D100 badges are attached so this is an indicator that there might have been rust of prior damage that is now starting to show up again.

 

But all in all you can park this truck in my garage anyday becasue i want a fun truck to use and not a trailor queen truck.  Just my observations.

Rich Hartung 

[Jeff Balazs]

FWIW I added cab marker lights like you already have. I highly recommend leaving them as they make a huge visibility difference when driving at night. They are period correct and could have been added by a dealer.

Jeff

[Dodgeb4ya]

I like cab lights too. I have them on a couple of my trucks.

They were common on the bigger trucks back in the day.

[rb1949]

Not fond of that Blue either. Did you miss posting on the truck forum?