Bought a truck...1972 C600

[Magnumcharger]

I'm quite happy with my latest purchase, a one-owner, original paint, 49,000 mile, just off the farm 1972 Dodge C600 grain hauler.
Its a 318, four speed. I'll likely be swapping out that drivetrain for something with a bit more grunt, possibly a big block or maybe even a Cummins diesel.
Right now the issue will be getting it back home, as it's currently half a continent away.
I plan on building a ramp truck out of it.
Not a bad deal for $1500.

[moparstuart]

would make a cool ramp truck or rollback 

[FJMG]

Nice truck!
Ever since I seen Gene's truck I been eyeballing a neighbors version, it was a gravel dump, beat to heck and WAY too much rust. gave up on that one.
There is a local farmer that has a 60's grain truck, same grain box as yours but is a ford COE. Man that thing will u-turn on a two-lane black top.

[68X426]

Awesome in every way.   

Please keep posting as it develops.

[tan top]

would make a cool ramp truck or rollback 

  just what I was thinking 

[Daytona R/T SE]

Cool

HemiGeno is the man to see about this project.

[Magnumcharger]

Hemi Geno does have a very nice truck! I'm wondering if there was a thread here on DC.com about the restoration of that rig? Might be a good reference?

[hemigeno]

Great-looking score you have there, Robin!    

Mine started out as a grain truck too, so those photos bring back a ton of memories - including the dashboard shot.  Yours looks to be in considerably better shape than what I started with (unless there's a ton of rust not shown in your photos), so maybe you'll have an easier time.

If you have to scrounge parts for it, hardly anyone will know what kind of truck you're talking about, and very few yards have LCF-specific stuff.  There are fewer and fewer places that have medium-duty stuff period... but if your truck is as solid as it appears, maybe you won't have to find too much.  I was my own worst enemy (as usual) with some of my plans for "improvements".  

There are a few threads on DC.com that mention my old truck with some details & problems I encountered, although I never did one that chronicled its restoration.  However... this thread ain't about my old truck, but the beginnings of Robin's project.  

I will say that a Cummins swap would work good in theory, but you may find the I6 is too long to cram into the engine compartment without cutting up the firewall/doghouse (only 18" between the firewall and the shroud, see photos below).  







Now a V8 Caterpillar...?     A local fire department had a '75 or '76 C800 (I think) pumper truck with an 8-cyl Cat & straight exhaust that sounded absolutely wicked.  They gave that thing to another fire department after requesting sealed bids but receiving none.  Pretty much anything other than a stock drivetrain will require compromise of sorts.  For example - you may have to use an electric radiator fan, because unless you pull the water pump housing off of a 361 or 413 used in a LCF rig for your big-block swap, the fan location will be too low for the radiator (the engine blocks sit low in relation to the radiator centerline).


Let the fun begin!



P.S.  Although I sold my '60 C500 earlier this summer to a great new Mopar home in NJ, I'll happily answer what questions I can.

[UFO]

Let the fun begin is right!
His plan is to build a replica of this.

[Homerr]

Wow, cool hinged fenders!   

[Aero426]

Will the wheelbase of the donor truck need to be extended to convert to a race transporter? 

[Charger_Fan]

Congrats on your cool new toy!

[hemigeno]

Will the wheelbase of the donor truck need to be extended to convert to a race transporter? 

Almost certainly.  I had to stretch mine 36" to get the 120" Cab-To-Axle dimension that I needed for the Jerr-Dan rollback bed.  I'd say the Petrie ramp truck has at least that much (probably more??).  Having too much weight hanging off the back end will make the front end steering axle very light.  Hit a bump just wrong, and you're along for the ride. 

Robin will need to have a couple of spare race hemi's stowed away in the box part of the rig, for ballast and to complete the effect.   

[Todd Wilson]

A friend of mine just got done restoring this old C.   Its a 318 4 speed also. The 318 will move what ever you want to put on that truck. You must get out of the muscle car thought of mind when you start getting into old vintage trucks. Everyone wants more power more power put a Cummins in it more power more power big block go fast.............old trucks have gears and are set up to pull the weight they were designed to pull. These trucks were designed to go a certain speed. Their suspensions, brakes and wheels and tires.   Enjoy the truck for what it is.............Its a very cool truck!!!!!!






Todd

[Charger_Fan]

That's a good looking truck Todd, thanks for showing it off!

[Alaskan_TA]

Awesome score Robin. 

Is a Deora cab part of the plan? 

[Magnumcharger]

Barry, the Deora will be carried on this truck's ramp at some point I'm sure.

I'm seeing a lot of these trucks on the web lately, and I'm getting the impression that both ramp trucks and old Dodge trucks are going through a bit of a renaissance together. Perhaps the restoration of the Mongoose and Snake ramp trucks has started a trend? I do know the Dick Landy truck is being restored right now, and at least one of the Sox and Martin trucks has been done too.

Being Canadian, and a Mopar enthusiast, my racing hero from days past was/is John Petrie, who represented both Dodge and Plymouth camps for the Supercar clinics, and was one of the premier Hemi drag racers of his time.
A couple of his former Hemi Superstock and Pro Stock cars have been discovered and restored as of late and displayed, most recently at Carlisle 2016. As enthusiastic as the response has been to see his cars again, almost everybody asks "where is the old ramp truck?" It was, as I've determined, was sold to another racer in 1971, and then sold again to a speed shop which used it to transport it's sponsored racers to various events. One of these races was in New York state, where the truck was stolen and never recovered.
This means there's no chance of finding and restoring that rig, and so, I'm taking the initiative to build a replica of this truck. I've been looking for at least five years now and during that time, have located several potential candidates. Most were crust buckets, or were C800's or 900's, which were unsuitable for my plans.
Anyhow, I found this one last month on Kijiji.ca after looking up "grain trucks". I immediately phoned on it, talked to the owner and made an offer of $1000, since he had no idea what he wanted for it.
Long story short....it ended up costing me $1500...after a lot of problems with the seller.
Lots of problems.
Crazy old Coot problems.
The original Petrie truck was a 1969 model, and used for three years. I plan on building the last version of it.

[68X426]

This thread just keeps getting better and better. 

[dyslexic teddybear]

Awesome deal!!

Trucks are cool.....old trucks are even cooler.

I have looked at a few such as this......in far worse shape for more $$$. This looks pretty good.