1952 Dodge Power Wagon

Pickup Truck

3.8L, 230 CID I think

Manual

88767106

Clear

Gasoline

Auction Description: Please note that auction may be updated at any time. The Basics: For sale by owner, private party, clear California title. 1952 Dodge Power Wagon, B3PW, 1Ton, 4WD, missing its original bed. Serial Number 88767106. California registration, currently PNO. Truck is also for sale locally, and so the Seller reserves the right to end this auction at ANY TIME. The Details: This was always a California truck, and was built in the plant up by San Jose. It seems to be virtually unmolested, all parts are stock and I have really enjoyed working on it. If you are familiar with these, then you know these trucks are hard to find not rusted out, beat to death, heavily modified and actually running. This is a really fine example of brute American truck engineering, from America's finest hours. I found it around 2010 in Barstow, Calif., at the time the last registration was 1973. It was parked, not running and I brought it home undisturbed until I could go through it one section at a time. I was going to keep and enjoy this truck, and I did put a lot of time and money into it over the past two years to make it a driver. Unfortunately, I'm totally screwed and will not be able to finish this. Hopefully, I won't be able to sell it anyway. If you have ever had the unique pleasure of bringing a desert truck back to life, you know what I mean by hoping it doesn't sell. Starting in the early part of 2011, I replaced all the brake lines. All new steel brake lines, and flex hoses, clips and fittings where possible. I re-honed and rebuilt the master cylinder, and the brakes were adjusted then, but are a little soft now. Pedal travel has always been long, but it stops fine, just not like a new Honda or whatever. It is after all, a single circuit drum brake system, not currently vacuum assisted. It came with a Bendix HydroVac vacuum booster, but I removed it and plumbed around it because I figured the vacuum booster would have a leak, but it might actually be fine. The booster is included with the sale. The Wheel Cylinders were all re-honed, with some of the pistons replaced new and re-packed. The drums were not turned, and I haven't done anything to the parking brake, it is out of adjustment. It has DOT-3 fluid. I then completely rewired the truck, following as best I could the original wiring diagram in the service manual I bought (you get all the paperwork, receipts and manuals I bought). All of the lights work, the horn works and the vintage aftermarket turn signal system works. The side marker lights are complete, but I took the pieces off and put them in a box. The starter and generator were reconditioned by a firm in Fresno, Calif. that deals with farm machinery, and they were experienced with this older equipment. A new 12VDC voltage regulator was installed at the same time. It is regulated and wired up as Negative Ground. There is some information out there that indicates it might originally be a positive ground, but I had conflicting information on that at the time, so that's what I went with. The battery is missing, but I am looking at getting something in there that will last for a month or two. Don't get too excited about There is no bed, and there wasn't one when I got it. Later, I found some parts for a bed, but they are in poor condition, and there are not enough parts to make a complete bed. There are two 7 1/2 foot sides, a proper tailgate and the front headboard. That's pretty much it. You will take all that with you and decide on your own what to do with it. There are two Braden winches. One of them is missing a casting on one end of it, and the gearing is exposed. They were not part of the truck when I bought it; I found them later with the intention of putting one of them in service. Each of them is missing parts on the outside, but I never opened them up, so I cannot vouch for their insides. There is a used dual PTO that is in a crate. I bought it for the truck, but never installed it. I was assured that it works, and it has the shift handle. The windshield frame is in great shape, and the windshield regulator is all there, but needs a little help to function. A lot of the glass is cracked or broken, and obviously all the weather stripping is shot. The bench seat is original, and the springs and foundation feel good to me, but it needs reupholstering, of course. This has a Carter BB single barrel carburetor, which I completely rebuilt and it has the choke feature, and with what I believe to be an optional linkage to set up for Throttle, for when you are out in the field and you are applying the power train to run other machinery. If you are not clear on this idea, it's pretty interesting to see how these trucks were used on farms, mines, oil derricks and the like. Google around, you'll see some cool stuff. I replaced all the spark plugs, a new wire set, coil and rotor and cap. The points seemed fine. When I finally did start it, it fired right up! It has always ran great once warmed up, so I didn’t do anything else to the ignition system. I have not adjusted the valves, ran a compression check or set the timing. I lubed the water pump and acid flushed the cooling system. I replaced the top radiator hose only because it was cracked, but the other one is still there. This cooling system is non-pressurized, and I added a half gallon of ethylene glycol coolant to the system if only for the anti-corrosion properties. I am pretty sure these trucks were cooled with clean water and alcohol with a tablespoon of oil. You might know different. The doors shut nicely, but the window crank mechanisms need cleaning, lubrication and adjusting. You'll most likely do all that when you replace the broken glass and weather stripping. The hoods lock down fine, but one side rubs on the fender, it looks like the fender or cab is not perfectly straight. The running boards are slightly bent. The frame has virtually no rust; the only rust on this truck is light surface. I was very happy to find this desert truck, and am not too happy about selling it. I hate rust, and this is a beauty to me. If you live in Ohio or someplace like that, you know what I'm talking about. On a warm day, when you open the door, you are greeted with the sweet smell of old grease, gear oil and dust. If I could bottle that and sell it, I’d be a millionaire! The gages and gage lights work fine. You can see the temperature gage meet the thermostat cycle. The ammeter gage shows the functioning voltage regulator, but the fuel sender from the tank is defective. I had a different tank on it, and the gas gage pegged full with that one, but this tank with the 1942 sender doesn't register. The speedometer works, but it jumps around over 20 MPH most likely due to a dried out cable and gearing. The fuel system was replaced as follows: All new steel fuel lines and brass compression fittings, and the tank was repaired and coated inside. It might not be the right tank for this truck, but it replaces the automobile tank it came with. The tank for this truck came off a 1942 WC, and was in fair condition. You may decide to replace the tank, but it doesn't leak and most of the dents have been dealt with. I've got an assortment of parts for it, but not too much. Just a few gaskets, and pieces of original mirror brackets. There is the hand crank and the special crankshaft nut for that if you are so inclined to put that back on it. The bottom radiator tank has the center hole to allow for this operation. I removed the two Power Wagon emblems before someone else did it for me, of course they come with it. The nose emblem is still there, as is the original radiator cap. Somewhere along the way, someone painted over the beautiful, lead-based deep dark green that was once handsomely applied by Dodge. They painted it a sky blue, and then maybe a silver color, and finally someone thought olive drab would be nice. When they painted the Olive Drab, they thoughtlessly painted over the instruction plates on the glove box door. You can see that the fiberboard glove box is long gone. I have tried using the truck in LOW and it seems to shift fine. It seems like 4WD also works just fine, keep in mind the wheels do not feature locking hubs. You'll get all my notes, books (reprinted original Owner’s Manual and also the reprinted Shop Manual) and receipts (well over $1,200 in parts and supplies, some from Vintage Power Wagons and most from Napa). When I rewired it, I made notes on color and wire size changes from what it was originally built with. If anything, I increased the wire size, but may have used left over colors for short runs instead of buying a roll of wire just to use three feet. I noted those changes. The ignition key switch was cleaned and lubricated, and so were the dash switches wherever possible. I took a lot of pictures as I did the work, maybe you would like to see a picture of something not seen here. Let me know and I will try to accomodate! Alright, you spent that much time reading all that, so now what do you think? Questions? Comments or concerns? Contact me at once! Don’t wait until the last minute to ask a question! I am not hanging on the edge of my seat watching this auction, and I don’t have instant text messaging, Facebook, Twitter or other goofy things like that. The Fine Print: Sales Agreement: First, I'd like you to take it for a test drive. Right now it's PNO. That means until I renew the registration, I can't legally drive it on the street, but no delinquent fees will accrue while it is PNO status. I figure we can at least drive it up and down the alley, if conditions permit, we can do more than that. You will need a sizeable deposit made to me at the end of the auction if you are the successful bidder. That is noted in the EBay auction rules template, please review that. Final price will expected before it leaves my posession. There is no possibility of me accepting a return on this. No 'Buyer's Remorse' and NO cooling off period. There is NO WARRANTY of any kind, expressed or implied. This truck does NOT meet today's safety standards. It is not OSHA approved, thankfully. No seat belts, no antilock brakes, no airbags. The successful bidder will already have a good working knowledge of the esteemed value of this truck, and will not disgust me with some ill-conceived fantasy of making this truck into a fiberglass monster truck, slammed ghetto bird, or other such idiocy. I will help you load it, time permitting, or you can drive it away. Bring plenty of gas if you plan to drive it away. If you trailer it out, please be absolutely certain that your trailer is safely designed to accept this truck, and that you do not endanger your fellow motorists by trying to drive this to Nebraska on some little Chinese stamped-out Home Depot yard work trailer with wheelbarrow tires. I work on call, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, but often have time available for things like this. Because of this, it is difficult for me to keep appointments, and often you will be directed to my voicemail. I apologize for that. I WILL return your calls, and I’m not blowing you off. When you are the successful bidder, I will give you my phone number, and we'll talk about what you and I can do to get it in your possession. On Jan-21-13 at 20:47:17 PST, seller added the following information: Auction listing edited on Jan 21, 2012 at 8:40 PM PST....as follows: I recently had an inquiry about rust. I consider this to be "not rusted out" which means the structure and sheet metal are soild and sound. YES< there is some surface rust on unpainted areas. NO< it is not a concern to me. It is only surface rust, not bad rust that is common on 50+ year old trucks from snowy/rainy climates. I hope this clarifies this. Also, please keep in mind that if you are the winning bidder, you are expected to pay for it completely within seven (7) calendar days. Please do not bid if you do not want to buy it. And finally, I can take some more pictures of it and email then to you. Please conact me as soon as possible if you want to see other detailed pictures of certain parts of the truck, or if you have any questions. Thanks! On Jan-23-13 at 12:18:26 PST, seller added the following information:Here is a question that was asked recently: **** Is the truck currently running? and all together? Are those bed sides that go with the truck? **** Answer: As the description states, it does run, starts easily and is a driver. The brakes are a little soft. No problems for me driving it. I have the side marker lights in a box, along with the Power Wagon emblems and the headlight bezel that is not shown. There are some other misc. parts. You can arrange for a test drive, as I stated in the auction. The Bed sides that are included with the auction are not that good, and I don't think they were stock to this model of truck. The bedsides did not come off this truck. There are two sides, the Dodge tailgate which I am certain is appropriate for this model year, and headboard. No rear fenders, no rear running boards, no bed rails or bed frame. The winches are appropriate for this truck, as is the PTO. The auction states they are all included, but they are not attached or installed on the truck. Contact me if you would like to arrange to drive it around.