1963 Dodge D300 W300 Ram Power Wagon Cummins Diesel Pickup Truck Rat Rod on 2040-cars

Up for auction is a really nice unrestored 1963 Dodge D300 1 ton stepside pickup that has spent most of its life in California.

This truck would be great for a body swap to a power wagon, a good Cummins diesel candidate, rat rod, a nice restore job, or with a few repairs, enjoy as is.

It is virtually free of rust with the exception of the lower edge of the inner fender wells in the bed and the foot area of the floor boards in the cab.  It is mainly just surface rust.

Underneath the truck, it still has its original under coating and is very rust free.  It does not appear to have ever been on any salty roads.

It appears to have had one re-paint in the original color long ago.  I’m guessing sometime in the 70’s.  The paint has a really great shiny patina to it and is pretty nice for its age.  This is a 51 year old truck so it does have places on the roof and the rear fenders where the green paint has worn thru to the primer and it does have a few nicks, scratches, chips, and small dents. 

The bed of the truck is a 9’ stepside that currently has a 5/8” plywood floor with a Formica type material top sheet on it.  It is very solid and functional.  It isn’t as pretty as the oak plank boards, but it does come with the metal strips for the oak floor.  It only has one of the pieces that go around the fender wells and it isn’t in that great of shape.

The worst thing in the bed is that some idiot (no, not me) cut a strip of metal about 20” X 1 1/4 ” out of the right lower edge of the inner fender well, so this would have to be repaired.

It does start, run, shift, drive and stop pretty good.  It does have some issues that will need to be addressed if you want to drive as is. 

The internals of the driveshaft style parking brake are in a box in the floor board apparently some pieces are missing as the mechanic was unable to reassemble shoes to backing plate. The drum, shoes, backing plate and cable are all in good shape; just need some small pieces to complete.

The kicker is that this truck is equipped with the rare push button 727 LoadFlite automatic transmission which does not have a park pall in it, so needless to say, the park brake is a pretty vital component, unless you want to haul around wheel chocks. Oh by the way, it will start in gear, because the neutral safety switch has been bypassed so you need to make sure it is in neutral when starting.

The other major issue is that a new carrier bearing was installed on the drive shaft and a new bracket was built to bolt the bearing to, but the idiot (again, not me) that welded it only spot tacked the angle iron to the channel iron and forgot to run a full bead of weld on it.  I would not recommend driving very fast or far until this is properly welded and it actually needs to be angled slightly to match the driveshaft angle before being welded.

Those are the worst things.  Not too bad if you have the resources, which I don’t.

Smaller issues are that the radio, horn, wipers and brake lights do not work.

The speedometer does not work either.  This was not disclosed to me when I bought the truck with the mileage stated as being 97,250.  I don’t think this is right since I found that there was no speedometer cable in the speedometer cable housing, so the mileage is unknown.

It does have a few leaks up front.  The oil pan drips a little and the right front brake wheel cylinder leaks.  It isn’t very bad.  The brakes still work; you just need to add fluid occasionally.

The tires are weather cracked.  The rear tires are worse than the front ones.  They hold air fine and are fine for low speed around town driving.  I just don’t recommend them for long distance or highway driving.

Anyway, this is a really cool old Mighty Mopar.  It is very fun to drive and it gets a lot of attention.  I’m just really an International Harvester guy at heart and this Dodge just doesn’t suit me.

By the way the specs are:

318 big block polyspherical engine

727  LoadFlite 3 speed push button automatic transmission

Dana 70 rear differential with 4.8 gear ratio that appears to have a posi trac or limited slip.

Also a standard feature on the 1 tons and up was the large steps on the cab, that if you are overweight, or have a bad back or knees (as I do on all), make it extremely nice and easy to get in and out of.  Small bonus: I do have an extra new rebuilt Carter carburetor for it which is included.

Okay, I am done writing.  If you have any questions or need any pictures that I haven’t included, contact me (Jon) by phone (361-960-1650) or email and I will be glad to accommodate.

I know of someone in Nebraska that hauls vehicles and would be glad to give you his name and number.  He has always done a good job for me. 

This is a really nice rare truck especially for the price as I have my reserve set very reasonable.