Hey everyone,
I've been in a dilemma, lamenting the lack of seventies/eightes/nineties D-series crew cab diesel from the factory. I've got an '82 that's been a possible conversion candidate, though that sounds like an awful lot of work.
Anyway, I was browsing my local craigslist and I found a '92 upbuilt chassis-cab truck, 159" wheelbase (as opposed to the normal 149" crew cab short bed wheelbase) narrower dually axle typical of the chassis-cab trucks, and with a bunch of upgrades. The seller said the following in the ad:
This is an exceptional custom truck. It has been VERY well maintained with most all service records, documentation and reciepts since new. This truck was custom ordered in 1992 and has 205k original miles with NO LEAKS! It is the intercooled Cummins turbo diesel motor with a Suncoast automatic/overdrive transmission and a stretch/sleeper cab 3 full door conversion on a D350 dually chassis. Everything works with very COLD AC, power windows, power door locks and cruise control. All interior in excellent condition as well. NEVER had any kind of heavy duty hitch installed in the bed at all. Over $10k new and upgraded parts including a $5000 SUNCOAST heavy duty transmission with warranty and receipt. New upgraded HX35 turbo $1200. New upgraded fuel injection pump $1100. Almost new 10 ply tires all the way around $1200. Triple gauge pillar pod with pyrometer, boost and transmission monitors $600. Has a matching fiberglass bed cover $1000. The back seat lays down flat at the push of a button. Has remote TV video entertainment system. Very comfy aftermarket front and rear seats. There is just too much aftermarket and upgraded components to list them all on here. There has been OVER $10k put into this truck in the last couple years alone. Only asking $8995 O.B.O. for this ONE OF A KIND beauty... Intelligible trades and/or cash offers may be considered. Clean, clear title in hand.
Now, I think that the $9000 he's asking is probably too much, and is more than I'm willing to pay. Trying to figure out the right price is what I'm asking for assistance with.
I took a bunch of pictures and have posted them in my "Garage"...
https://www.allpar.com/forums/garage/vehicle/2937-dodge-d300-or-d350/
There are some condition issues. On the outside there's rust around the door lip drip molding, at the roof-to-back seam, and at the rocker seams at the back of the extended aftermarket cab. The front passenger's fender is messed up in front of the wheel, and the trim is coming loose in places. There's also paint issues, peeling clearcoat on the high-top, and something stuck on the flat hood. The plastic grille is cracked. On the inside the front seats are a bit worn, the back is immaculate.
The truck sounded really nice idling, I did not drive it. The oil pressure light is lit and the factory gauge needle is buried on the low end, there's an aftermarket oil pressure gauge that is on the low side but does read. I don't know what oil pressure range is considered normal on this engine.
The construction is interesting. It looks like the upbuilder, I think a company called "Federal", bought regular-cab chassis-cab trucks, cut the back off, bought a crash-repair passenger's side crew cab door frame and rear door, and then fabbed the rest of the cab including the odd extended segment and roof. The floor in the back seat area is higher to clear the frame's upward tilt behind what had been the regular cab, and the raised roof is definitely necessary for an adult of my height to comfortably use the rear. They also seem to have bought short-bed dually beds and dropped them on, so the axle is narrower than a normal pickup truck dually.
If I bought this truck my goal would be to turn it into my "Big Red Express" tribute truck. A utiline bed would go on, probably modified with wider fender flares or some kind of extension piece on each side to kick 'em out a bit, and possibly modifications on the inside fenderwells to make the bed fit the narrowness of the area between the inside dually tires. I'd also swap different fenders, doors (moving over the power accessories and the door panels), radiator core support, and grille to the '79'-80 style for the dual-stacked headlights and the like, keeping the hood that remained from '79-'93 for clearance around the diesel and intercooler. It would be painted red, get the exhaust stacks in the stepside areas, and get the wood, pinstriping, and some modified decals that would say, "Big Red Express Truck".
I could probably sell the existing sweptline bed, dually flares, and cap, and could possibly sell the one good fender and maybe even the core support stuff and doors, but that's probably about all that could be practically sold to recoup some costs.
Any thoughts?
