History. When I was 13 years old my dad tried to buy a beautiful baby blue and white 4wd 3/4 ton single cab long bed '71 that I absolutely loved. Needless to say they couldn't get to an agreed price on it, so it never came home with us. That set the hook, then about 15 years ago I spotted the first bumpside crew that I had ever seen and I knew I had to have one someday.
So now I have acquired my very own '67 crew, problem is that it's a motorhome with the rear of the cab cut out. This ended up being a good thing though, because it gives me a reason to do what I thought they needed all along. Instead of just replacing the missing portion, I'm going to replace the entire rear of the cab and floor from another cab and move it rearward far enough to use front doors for rear doors, adding 9¾" to the cab length and dropping the floor in the rear seat area like the front floorboards. Then I'll replace the front upper corner of the new rear doors with that section from the original rear doors. This will give it modern crew cab interior space. Then I'll mount a longbed behind it.
I've already got almost everything to build it including a 2000 Dodge 3500 eclb frame that will be the base for the build, but I'll have to add about 20" under the cab area and then drop the rear section about four inches to keep the frame tucked up for a factory look. I've got another ecsb Dodge frame for the donor sections. I've got a '95 12 valve Cummins with 140k, a 2000 model Dodge NV4500 and a 241DHD transfer case along with a 2002 disc brake Dana 80 rear axle from a cab and chassis Dodge for the rear. I'll use the stock Dodge front Dana 60 and Dodge suspension for the first phase of the build, but it will be replaced with a custom 4 link setup front and rear using medium duty airbags similar to my S10, and I'll swap in the '79 F350 SRW king pin Dana 60 front axle I've got for it then also. After driving the my little S10 for so many years with the air ride it has spoiled me... I've also got a Jacobs exhaust brake that'll go on it and 4" exhaust. Oh and a set of the old turbine 16.5 aluminum wheels like on the General Lee that'll let me run the ultra cheap military 37's on it.
I'm hoping to be able to get started on the frame around the first of the year. I'll get it lengthened and lower the rear section 4 inches, all of the body mounts removed and ready for the swap, but I won't be able to start on the cab mods until I get finished with paint and body on my father in law's '55 Chevy wagon. Hopefully around February on wrapping it up.
Anyway, sorry for the novel. Here are a few pics.
As I found it.
The donor cab/doors/floor/bed.
Here's a one off aluminum camper I got for it that was made by a man that worked at American Airlines back in the day.
The donor frame.
And my wheels!
This is what happened to the bus I got the 12 valve from and my poor little S10....I know... But we had to relocate it 500 miles away after I yanked the engine so I had to improvise.
. Hopefully that makes it a little clearer on why I want to go that route.
FE390PC
