Mopar Muscle Association UK

Hi all
It's been suggested that I start a workshop thread so here goes.
I have always loved Dodge tin grille trucks probably through growing up near to American military bases, I'd hear a v8 rumble then see a Dodge tailgate disappearing
Had a '72 Short bed ages ago as my daily (sold to fund 1st house) and W350 (fire truck) that I never got going on
So last Xmas my wifes present to me was a truck fund that she'd been saving
So the hunt was on, there were a few over here but I was being picky about what I wanted had to be '74 - '79 swb, v8, auto 2wd, there were some nice ones but not as above and soon realised that I'd have to import one

Contacted a few dealers and joined some FB sites dedicated to tin grille trucks, many available but few willing to sell abroad
Eventually found one in California that looked good after many messages photos/videos etc I bit the bullet in February and it arrived in July

So to the truck as the topic states it's a "Californian" which is essentially a dealer special difference from a standard utiline are the paint job which is much faded but was originally medium poly blue with thin pinstripes around all the body lines and the non Dodge rear fenders
Which are fibreglass. Rumour has it as these are GM style (not but close) that GM sued and the stopped using them, not much out on the Internet on the "specials" apart from some photos. Bound to get Chevy fenders comments from people but I'll educate them one at a time

I've already started working on it and hopefully get it on the road this year and will get photos of progress soon

That is a good looking truck - just the right amount of genuine patina. And the rear wings do look very C10!

I do like a short bed truck I had a ‘69 D100 years ago that I used daily, probably the only thing I’ve ever regretted having to sell. To add insult to injury someone left it sitting in a garden to rot for years and it eventually got scrapped.

Good to see the thread, good luck with the build, will be watching progress.

I agree, I like a swb truck. Excellent potential.

your truck looks very good and a nice California patina that tell the history of the truck.

Look forward to see what work is gone be done

Nice truck

Starting sorting the lights straight away, I wanted to keep the original tail lights rather than put modern ones on so have fitted indicators where the original reversing lights were just by making an adaptor plate and sorting wiring of course. Don't know it's just age related or coming from a hot state but all bulbs I found has concave indents on the bulb contacts

Oh and the tailight lenses are available on amazon from the original manufacturer!

Going through electrical tidy up at the moment, both battery cables were toast so made new ones. Instrument cluster pins were either broken or wobbly so had some leccy experts solder those back on. The ammeter is a known fire hazard on trucks (I assume cars too?) Someone had already bypassed it and added an aftermarket one as it had got a bit warm but wiring had been connected with things that I believe are called "wire nuts" and + wire went through bulkhead with no grommet!

Our esteemed chairman has a brilliant term for this stage of getting into a build and fixing other peoples fixes, which I shan’t repeat on a family show.

Keep the updates coming.

might find ammeter as and instrument is fine and its just the insulation betwen the 2 Studs the current flows through and what they bolt through
i.e the plastic top hat insulation washers sold by electronic stores for insulating the tabs on massive high power transistors can be put to good use to restore it to normal operation.

the insulation in there orginally will have become brittle and fallen out, or have melted and allowd the guage to droop shorting 1 or both studs to something or other.

ammeter is a feature of all of these vehicles and provided you keep battery sensible, alternator of 30-50 amps and the total drain you pull through the bulkhead connector in he 1-25 amp range all should be ok if the connectors are all nice and clean.
if they are not and are covered in green virdigris. all of it gets hot enough to melt stuff

design was sound enough.... as with most things age is the problem, mainly in the last 6 inches of every wire and its connector ... it was all designed to last about 5 years not 50... wire in the wrapped loom will most likely look much the same as it did day 1 bright colours and flexible. shiny copper.... as i say its the bits that stick out that ware degrade and the insulation splits

Dave

Stu wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 22 12:22 am Our esteemed chairman has a brilliant term for this stage of getting into a build and fixing other peoples fixes, which I shan’t repeat on a family show.

Keep the updates coming.

just follow the board guidelines stu....

un bananaramaring what has been bananaramerd by a previous banana

Dave

Yep, un Bananarama! stuff is the one.

Got some new tyres on today, found some marks on the back of the slot mags saying size (15 × 8.5) "wheel dist inc" and "Ontario Cal" so nothing special I'd imagine there were loads of people making wheels back then
Rather than stainless strips in the bed I've used the original repaired one section and am painting them hammerite blue in a nod to the original finish as Dodge would have painted everything inc wood body colour

By the shape of the slots I’d say those are Shelby Cal 500 wheels, probably my favourite slot mag style.