I joined back in 2019 when I was looking at a 53 B-1 truck project and I passed on that one. I've cleared the barn and will have some money towards the middle of December and started looking for another project truck. Here in SW Ohio there aren't many left but I found one that seems to have some possibilities. It's a 54 C-1 with the high side bed, 6 cylinder, 3 on the tree, and single rear window that is supposedly original. Still has the Job Rated trim, grille is all there and not bent, it is said to be "good running", has all of the glass intact, and doesn't appear to be rusty. Interior looks like it might have been white but the body was painted light blue at some point. Looks like Dodge had Panama Sand and Sonora Blue in 54 so who knows. Original doesn't extend to the wheels, there are some kind of 5 spoke mag style wheels on there now. EDIT - is the bolt pattern on these fairly "modern"? As in 15" steel wheels and Mopar dog dish hubcaps being possible? I'd love to have a set of original hub caps but I imagine those are scarce. Pictures make it appear like it's been stored inside a concrete floored warehouse or large garage for some years. Of course, you never know what something is till you go see it in person, which I may do in the next week or so if it's still for sale. Looking up info on the C-1, it appears that they aren't as popular with collectors as the B and D? The guy wants a lot for it (to me anyway) and the price is said to be firm, but it's been for sale for quite a while. My intent is not to restore it, but make an reliable good weather daily out of it, but even that will probably take some investment. I sorted through a few pages of posts and the post below provides a lot of information about things I would have questions on, but I have a few more: Looks like it is straight axle/drum brakes up front. I usually work on older aircooled VW's that have kingpin/drums up front and they can be a handful unless you get rid of bias ply tires and stopping takes some advance planning. How is the steering and braking on these? About what you would expect from a 1954 but manageable? I found a link to a kit to discs but it only is guaranteed to work through 1952. Were there some changes after 1952? Thanks!

I found the FB listing in question and this picture has some details worth expanding upon. Original color probably is that white hue on the firewall...if the back of the glovebox door is the same color, then more than likely that was the original paint. The heater core appears to be aftermarket and the hacked appearance of installation and disuse is not a good thing...it's not a deal breaker as it's peripheral to the engine and can be addressed. That carburetor looks cleaner than anything in the engine compartment, so maybe that's recent. The head bolts have been changed to studs with chrome cap acorn nuts, maybe the engine has been gone through, maybe not. The missing rad.cap bothers me, that's easy enough to replace but that chore has been neglected. That plastic fuel filter dangling in proximity to the exhaust manifold really bothers me, kinda tells me the engine has been re-fired after years of being dormant and the owner has lost interest and needs to pay bills before January...who knows what jive he's pushing to unload this beast. The engine number is stamped on the block, and casting dates can be found on the block and head, directly above and below the distributor. A build card would need to be procured to determine if the engine was original to the truck...a shortcut might be that if the truck title number and flathead engine number are the same, then maybe that flathead is original. Modern VINs didn't appear until nearly two decades after this truck was manufactured, so the engine number was used on many titling documents...which can be a problem as back in the day there was a legitimate business in engine rebuilding and replacement to maintain vehicles longer rather than buying new vehicles. These flathead engines from 1951 onwards were basically the same, with changes in compression achieved by head machining. Parts availability should not be an issue though more expensive than blue oval or gm of that era as Dodge accounted for something like 10% of the truck market back then, so Dodges are rare compared to them. The side-mounted spare was not a factory option until 1957 or so, definitely not on a C-1, but there were aftermarket kits available as well as many homemade versions found in the wild. That spare was originally underslung of the bed, out of the way. This truck looks to be a good candidate for restoration, but missing pieces, quick (sloppy) mods and its deteriorated condition are not causing me to drool over it. If there's no title available right now, I would be even less interested. If'n ya showed up with a trailer and 3k in unmarked bills in a paper bag, maybe that could close a deal, but more than 5k price tag is a deal that I'd pass on...these guys want top dollar from somebody who is running on emotion and don't like to haggle with someone armed with knowledge. I like to save a relic from the past from an unfortunate fate, but I don't wanna end up in the poor house reviving a basketcase

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Questions on 54 C-1 truck project

By 888
November 28, 2024 in Mopar Flathead Truck Forum

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Go to solution Solved by JBNeal, November 29, 2024

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