King of the Ranch: 1948 Dodge PowerWagon
The Dodge PowerWagon was introduced just after the end of World War II as an alternative to the military Ford 4×4 trucks, and was the first military style 4×4 to be sold directly to the public. A nicely restored PowerWagon is a cool piece of machinery, but power and suspension technology was primitive in the 1940s, so the driving experience won’t be particularly noteworthy, unless someone drops the classic PowerWagon body on a modern chassis. Find this 1948 Dodge Powerwagon here on eBay
bidding for $37,800 reserve-not-met with 4 days to go, located in Meridian, OH.
This is all the money and then some, for a classic pickup truck, even something as cool as the PowerWagon, but it is a good assumption that bidding is only a fraction of the amount the builder put into this beast. The seller says this thing cost at least $80k to build, so why not spend some of the other guy’s money.
The entire PowerWagon body is sitting on a 1998 Dodge 2500 4X4 frame, so expect ride comfort similar to something with a decent chassis and suspension. Powering it is a fuel injected 5.9 Liter Magnum V8 engine (yeah, I was fooled by the air cleaner too, woulda sworn this was carburetted) that won’t pull as hard as a diesel, but is a huge upgrade over the original boat anchor engine.
The car is extremely well presented on the outside — looks great with blacked out chrome & trim– and the interior looks to have had similar levels of attention. I hate to second guess another guy’s build, but I would have avoided the cliché hot-rod gauge setup and the big monitor (stereo/back-up camera) looks way out of place..but is likely very handy. However, these are small things that a new owner could easily fix with some time and cash.
See a cooler way to drive a big pickup and look cool at the same time? tips@dailyturismo.com
Funny, the owners manual is a nice touch, but probably useless! A very nice build. Wish he hid the battery underneath instead of in the box.
Probably the first time the words "1998 Dodge 2500 4X4" and "decent chassis and suspension" have ever been used in the same sentence.
I always thought they rode OK, considering they were the truck you could abuse and it wouldn't break easily, and you still wouldn't feel bad about it.
Have to give the builder props for the effort….OPM! The best!
They wrecked this thing… I would have started with the same chassis but with diesel power but I can forgive the spark advanced knocking of the 360 but what the did to the inside of this thing is just wrong. It should be simple and easy to use in an analog kind of way. There's a seat for every but I guess.
They wrecked this thing… I would have started with the same chassis but with diesel power but I can forgive the spark advanced knocking of the 360 but what the did to the inside of this thing is just wrong. It should be simple and easy to use in an analog kind of way. There's a seat for every but I guess.