My new/old 1973 Powerwagon

[moparthug]

I know it's not a sweptline, but the price was too good to pass up! While out beating the bushes for an early crewcab I stumbled on this truck just sitting on the street with a for sale sign on it. 8/73 W200 longbed, built 360 with a 4 speed, less then 100 miles on the tires and wheels, original radio delete plate still there, side bed tool box, ps, bp, ALL electrical works, twin fuel tanks, all body trim there, surface rust but NO ROT. He was asking $2400 and I couldn't pay the man fast enough. It made the 150 mile drive home with no problems. In the past week or so I've been driving it I've noticed a small brake fluid leak at the master, the headlight adjusters on the passenger side were broken, and the windshield wipers were trashed.

[RussRoth]

I bought a green one new. Very similar. Mine didn't have the tool box but did have the dual tanks. I didn't care for that setup too much and put a tank where the spare goes. Mine rotted at the front of the bed and nearly every one I have seen were rotted over the rear wheel wells. Aftermarket metal is available for the wheelwell. I had a PTO winch on it also. These are pretty good rigs. My 360 would run circles around my bros 360 ford and would stay ahead of the original 383 in my W and got better mileage doing it. All I did was bump timing a bit, 340 intake/4 bbl and dual exhaust. My bro had to go through his and made it a 390 and added some kind of cam. I bought a comp cam thinking I would need to do something to stay ahead of him. That was about '80 and that cam is still sitting on my shelf. Still stayed ahead of him, and STILL got better mileage to boot.

[ramrod]

Nice truck,,,,i like the 70's body style also.i just bought a 75 club cab short bed PW.360 auto,,,,drove it home and parked it,,,,havent had time to play with it much,been too cold anyway.mine has rot above the rear wheels and the interior is trashed,but if it wheels at all like the 75 ramcharger i used to have,,,,i'll love it.
and someone correct me if i am wrong,but i believe it is still a sweptline,(although not a '61-'71 swept.)

[RussRoth]

You may know this but I forgot to mention that is a '74 and newer grille. '72-'73 were different.

[Hobcobble]

Very nice truck . What size tires are you
running? They look great. Also, has the truck been
lifted at all? Its got a real good stance.

I'm in the process of re-doing my '92 W250 [360 5 spd
manual OD, 4.10 Sure Grip rear DANA 60] and it'll be
[more than likely] getting a 4" suspension lift and
some new wheels & tires. My current thinking is to
go with a 285/75/16 which will be about 11.4" wide.

Russ.... you're so right about the rear wheel arches rusting out. I dropped off my W250 at the body shop
this past Saturday for rear wheel arch installation
and a re-spray for the box. Both rear arches had rust
through.... the front arches are fine.
John

[moparthug]

You may know this but I forgot to mention that is a '74 and newer grille. '72-'73 were different.

It has a build date of 8/73 so it's one of the very first 1974 models, but to me it's a 1973 dang it!

[moparthug]

Here is the whole story on this truck. It was bought new in Lancaster California (nice dry desert area) by an Aerospace Engineer who used it to drive from his home in Palmdale to the Air Base out there where he worked. At some point in it's life there was a cab over camper on it, lots of scuffs and scrapes in the bed but NO dents. There are also some screw holes on the top of the front fenders where stabalizer bars from the camper were mounted. He drove the truck for 30 years before retiring and moving out of the area. At some time in the last 4-6 years the motor was rebuilt with a hot cam, headders, Edlebrock intake and a big Holly carb. It doesn't take much to spin those big off road tires

Now the story gets interesting. The guy I bought the truck from (owner number 2) bought this truck for his 16 year old son as his first car. The dumb-@#% kid told his dad he wouldn't own the oldest car at his High School and refused to drive it! So his dad spends almost $1000 on the tires and wheels, LT305/70-16's, and his son tells him, "Dad, you just polished a turd, I still don't want it". Now, if this was MY son he's be riding a bicycle to school with a sore backside. But his father, who has more money then common sense, buys his son a new Ford F250 Super Duty crew cab.... what 16 year old kid needs a truck like that?

So now this old and unloved Dodge sits on the street for almost 2 years before his neighbors start to complain about it. So the dad accepts that he's going to lose money on the truck and just wants it gone so he sticks a for sale sign in the window. He makes no attempt to advertise it in local papers, just the sign in the window. For several months it just sits there with NO ONE asking about it! When I bought it he told me the tires and wheels are two years old but only have about 50 miles on them. He doesn't know anything about the engine except that "it's loud" and he didn't bother to ask the original owner any questions about it. So I'm the third owner of a mystery truck with no past, I don't even know what's been done to the engine, how many miles on it, or anything.

[Hobcobble]

One more question.... what brand of tires are those?

FYI.... that rear light duty bumper is quite a rare
piece

I know why you're called MoParthug now..... 'cause
you stole that truck for that price!
John

[RussRoth]

One more question.... what brand of tires are those?

FYI.... that rear light duty bumper is quite a rare
piece

I know why you're called MoParthug now..... 'cause
you stole that truck for that price!
John

Good one, John.

[Hobcobble]

I'm looking into 305's [Dunlop Mud Rover's, Kumho
Venture AT's & Firestone Destination AT's] for my
'92. What brand are yours? At the very least, I'll
go with some 285's.

I'm assuming that your truck has some additional
lift to accommodate those 305's [?]

You should locate that spoiled kid and challenge
him to a pull off.... it would be funny to pull
his ungrateful @#% all over his school parking
lot in front of his snooty friends
John

[moparthug]

The tire brand is Pro-Comp Mud Terrain, it may be an off brand as I've never heard of them.

My car club, CPW, or Chrysler Performance West, gave me the nick-name because whenever we have a show or swap meet (you may have read about our Spring and Fall Flings in just about every Mopar magazine) I end up working security and dealing with grumpy irate folk. When not playing with old trucks I have a plain jane 1970 Coronet 4 door that I'm toying with the idea of making it a Police clone.

The rear bumper is rare?...huh, I wouldn't of even thought of that. I figured the front bumper with the uprights was rare because it's never been run into anything, no dents, no rust, good chrome, etc.

[cudajimmy]

The tire brand is Pro-Comp Mud Terrain, it may be an off brand as I've never heard of them.

I have a set of Pro-Comps.

Those are the best street/mud tire money can buy. They are VERY high quality, but VERY expensive. That may be the reason you haven't heard of them. Most people buy BF Goodrich mud tires because they are about $300 cheaper than a set of Pro-Comps. Pro-Comps are good for about 80k miles if you rotate them regularly.

[moparthug]

Yup, guilty as charged, I usually buy BFG's because Pep-Boys will run sales on them every now and then. Now I understand the previous owner saying he spent $1000 on tires and wheels. Thanks for the info!!!

[440SCOUT]

no wonder kids are so rude and expect everything for free, because they get it....
i had the oldest car at my school, (1964 barracuda). which i bought with no engine. my parents had no problem with me having nothing to drive, so i got .... ok brace yourself..... a JOB! and built that car myself.

i also had a 1973 1/2 ton 4wd that had a 440 swapped in it.. i was working at a used car lot and it was a repo( i know a financed 73 ?? and this was in 1996) so i bought it for $700 because the trans was done.. i put a new trans in it an ran it ... hard , (this thing got a severe beating,jumps, fast driving through the desert prerunner style, heavy towing,street racing,which surprizingly enough it was very succesful at,ant once it had approx 2tons of shingles in the back) for about 4 years until things started falling apart.. so i decided i was going to go through it so i did and when it was all done it just plain didnt work for my family so i parted it out.
i thought i was done with old trucks (besides the a-100 of course,that truck isnt going anywhere)until i got the crew cab

[69PowerWagon]

That was a good find. Thats a verry clean truck and it is even more rare because it has a 4speed trans. I have seen quite a few of these 72-80's and have only seen 2 that have 4speeds. My 76 D200 has a NP435 and 318 2bbl. It is going to hurt to drive your new toy though. My 78 W150 360/727 4bbl gets 5-8mpg

[HellBelly]

Good find on the truck and enjoyed reading the story behind it.

My kid would also be riding a bike to school after that behavior!

[tinbasher]

Hey, thats a nice truck

I've been breaking and fixing this one for about twenty years. too bad the guy who bought it new worked at a zinc smelter. as such the box was already long rotted off when I got the truck.

so far have wiped out both front and rear diff's, a whole bunch of stub shaft ujoints between the tranny and transfer case. the body has been modified by a number of trees and an encounter with a cat 966.

this truck was actually fairly fancy when new. it came with the 360, 4 speed, and locking hubs from the factory. I think it was called the "prospector" package. had a real nice interior in it too.

tks,
rjm

[fosh69]

I love those rounded 70's body styles! I've been eyeing a nice little 2wd black step-side over in Firestone that needs some TLC... and the fresh 360 I have sitting in my garage. I learned to drive in my dad's '74 Powerwagon step, too. That's the one I also learned how to do a shade-tree front end alignment on...

Funny what you remember...