1950 Dodge Panel Van (My Long-Term project that needs to be completed!!!)

[BDL]

Arrival Day on transport from California (in 2001). I bought it on the Internet for $500 and it cost just over $900 to ship it to Iowa.



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Frame Pics. 1988 Dakota IFS 3" x 5" x 3/16" steel for the rest of the frame (I know... Way OVERKILL)


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Removing the body from the old frame was interesting... But fun!

 

[snakeyes]

Hi thanks for sharing your story and photos , what are you going to repower it with :eusa_think:

 

[BDL]

It's going to be powered with a 2002 5.9L MPFI out of a Ram. What I have posted so far are OOOLLLDDD pics The good ones are coming.

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2004 PT Cruiser Dash and wheel. 2000 Dodge Durango steering column

 

[snakeyes]

thanks , now bring us up to snuff

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dam we must both be working our keyboards at the same time

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boy that dash sure looks good in there

 

[BDL]

For Reference purposes... This was the original dash and a shot while I was fabbing up the new firewall.



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Too many holes here


I put a defined "point" on the front of the Panel Van to match the rake in the windshield... It was all too round and un-defined before.


I loved the look without body filler... but it just wasn't straight.

 

[snakeyes]

dam that's looking very good thanks :headbang:

 

[BDL]

Custom Tilt Front-End

 

[snakeyes]

that's some very nice work your doing there :headbang:

 

[BDL]

Some Exhaust work... That's two 3" exits for the exhaust.


Here's the Old Y-Pipe for the 2002 5.9L engine next to the one I fabb'd up out of 409 Stainless.

 

[snakeyes]

looking very sinister :headbang:

 

[BDL]

Some custom touches on the rear...


Here's the mount for the 7-Pin trailer connector. You can see it is hidden well in the previous pic.

Notice, there is no door handle...


Oh wait... There IS a door handle!

 

[razreddobie]

I like the look you're goin for Low And Mean. What color are you gonna paint it? Man you're just a fabricating fool!!!!!!!!!!! Love the work.

 

[BDL]

Thank you for the compliments Snakeyes and Razreddobie!

I have gone through the full gamete of possible colors for this thing and still have not decided. It may just end up a satin black. But I keep thinking about a straight up gray color that kind of looks like the truck did before I added that plastic filler... Kind of a polished gray. I have a few samples of colors from vintage '50's Dodges. But then Jeep came out with a new version of the same gray on the Wrangler this year so I may go with that. I know it's kind of a boring color, but I'm not looking for anything super flashy on this one.

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Here's a '49 Wayfarer sporting the gray I was thinking of.



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boy that dash sure looks good in there

Doesn't it though!! I was WAY surprised how good it looks. It's like it was meant for the '50's Dodge truck! Just a 1/4" to spare from side to side too. Of course, I had to cut down the dash top, but Okay...

 

[razreddobie]

I like the Jeep color better myself and yes that dash looks awsome. How did you come up with that dash? You couldn't ask for a better fit.

 

[Cranky]

Cool build! And you shouldn't have any problems pulling heavy stuff with that light weight frame under it. How much time do you have invested in it so far?

 

['67Satellite]

Awesome!

 

[khryslerkid]

Looking Bad ***!

The PT dash looks like it was made for it! Nice custom touches! Keep posting your progress, we're enjoying it...

 

[BDL]

I like the Jeep color better myself and yes that dash looks awsome. How did you come up with that dash? You couldn't ask for a better fit.

I'm kinda diggin' the Jeep color too... Plus, it has proven difficult to get the 1949 paint color formula for a 2014 paint. That dash was an accident... I spend time in one of the local junkyards "window shopping." I was trying to brainstorm one day and came across this PT Cruiser that someone had already pretty much dismantled. The dash was on the ground behind the car... It hit me as soon as I saw its shape. Nice thing is that I can work some amazing freakin deals at this particular yard. That whole dash (well, I had to buy pieces from three different ones to get one entire one) only ran me $30!

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Cool build! And you shouldn't have any problems pulling heavy stuff with that light weight frame under it. How much time do you have invested in it so far?

I don't want to know how much time I have in this truck... I can tell you that it's been my "therapy" after several relationships though;) It's kinda nice to just lose yourself in a project like this. Now, I actually have a fantastic Woman in my life and I am trying to get psych'd to pull myself away from her long enough to finally get this truck finished!

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I like the Jeep color better myself and yes that dash looks awsome. How did you come up with that dash? You couldn't ask for a better fit.

I'm kinda diggin' the Jeep color too... Plus, it has proven difficult to get the 1949 paint color formula for a 2014 paint. That dash was an accident... I spend time in one of the local junkyards "window shopping." I was trying to brainstorm one day and came across this PT Cruiser that someone had already pretty much dismantled. The dash was on the ground behind the car... It hit me as soon as I saw its shape. Nice thing is that I can work some amazing freakin deals at this particular yard. That whole dash (well, I had to buy pieces from three different ones to get one entire one) only ran me $30!

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Cool build! And you shouldn't have any problems pulling heavy stuff with that light weight frame under it. How much time do you have invested in it so far?

I don't want to know how much time I have in this truck... I can tell you that it's been my "therapy" after several relationships though;) It's kinda nice to just lose yourself in a project like this. Now, I actually have a fantastic Woman in my life and I am trying to get psych'd to pull myself away from her long enough to finally get this truck finished!

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I like the Jeep color better myself and yes that dash looks awsome. How did you come up with that dash? You couldn't ask for a better fit.

I'm kinda diggin' the Jeep color too... Plus, it has proven difficult to get the 1949 paint color formula for a 2014 paint. That dash was an accident... I spend time in one of the local junkyards "window shopping." I was trying to brainstorm one day and came across this PT Cruiser that someone had already pretty much dismantled. The dash was on the ground behind the car... It hit me as soon as I saw its shape. Nice thing is that I can work some amazing freakin deals at this particular yard. That whole dash (well, I had to buy pieces from three different ones to get one entire one) only ran me $30!

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Cool build! And you shouldn't have any problems pulling heavy stuff with that light weight frame under it. How much time do you have invested in it so far?

I don't want to know how much time I have in this truck... I can tell you that it's been my "therapy" after several relationships though;) It's kinda nice to just lose yourself in a project like this. Now, I actually have a fantastic Woman in my life and I am trying to get psych'd to pull myself away from her long enough to finally get this truck finished!

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Here's a video of the actuation on the rear doors.

[video=youtube_share;c0cs2NsNKEw]http://youtu.be/c0cs2NsNKEw[/video]

 

[Joe Mopar]

Build looks awesome.

 

[BDL]

Here's a video of the cowl vent with an adapted actuator from a heater box in a 2002 Ram.

[video=youtube_share;y7YDnAcL4Ak]http://youtu.be/y7YDnAcL4Ak[/video]