62/63 Early Crew Cab Questions

[Doubleup]

Does anyone know when Coach quit building the crew cabs for Dodge? I have a 62 with the obvious frame rivets from when Coach extended the frame. I've seen 62's without the rivets so wondering if those are Dodge built vs. Coach built or just possible newer frame swaps.

[PowerMan]

Hmmm... haven't seen many of these. My old 63 D200 did not have these rivets and frame bracing.
What wheelbase is listed on the door tag... 122" or 146"?
Is there any SERT sticker for frame modifications: "Frame Reinf"
I had a 1964 W200 crew cab that was extended to a long bed likely by a coach company.


This one didn't have a SERT sticker so it was likely done after the truck left the dealer and not by the Special Equipment division either.

[soopernaut]

Dodge started building them for the 1963 model year and I think they started around August of 1962. Dodge only built crew cabs with short beds until 1969, so any long bed crew cabs prior to 1969 will also have frame modifications.

[Doubleup]

Thanks for the input.

My door tag shows 122 as the wheelbase, lol. However I can assure you this is an original Crew SB nearly all original too. Just a mess if I do restore it. The old times tell me that Dodge would send them to Coach (I assume this is a specific company) to get the early Crews extended. Later the process was moved in house. I'm not likely going to find any proof of this but I guess that's what I'm looking for... Lol

[soopernaut]

I've never heard of a company called Coach, but a coachbuilder is a body maker. There were 1,000s of companies out there. http://www.coachbuilt.com/ Long ago, someone here had the paperwork from the company that did the frame extension on their truck and it wasn't "Coach".

Since your truck has a 122" wheelbase, it was most likely sent out to another company for the conversion. Is there a sticker below the door tag that lists equipment and a SERT number? This would be for any non-standard equipment that would be installed off the assembly line.

[Kaegi]

whoever did it did a nice job! with rivets frame retains proper flexability

[Doubleup]

"Coach" is just a name/term I've heard thrown around. I have no clue the actual company Dodge would have entrusted to do this. Truck has been painted at least once so not sure I'll find a sert number unfortunately...