Hey all, first post here, I'm considering buying an older Dodge truck for general handyman use, maybe a little restore fun.

I'm looking at a 1979 Dodge D100 stepside, automatic with a 318. Haven't driven it yet, but have seen it run. No excessive smoke on start up from a cold engine, carb needs some work, didn't seem like the choke was working, and it wouldn't idle without giving it some gas to keep the revs up.

Body wise, it's got rust in the bottom of the doors, and in the rocker panels below them, also some rot in the bottom of each front fender. Floors look okay. Bed has had a diamond plate piece of steel welded in, so I assume there's rust under that. Underneath the truck doesn't look too bad with no obvious frame rust or repairs.

Not sure about the grill/headlights. Didn't they go to quad headlights in 79? This one has the older style headlights, I think.

Red paint is badly faded, practically gone, plus someone has sanded a little bit here and there like they were thinking about painting it.

Also looks like it has been lowered, or maybe they all rode this low. Almost seems like someone was going for "Lil Red Express" clone.

Anyway, I'll get a chance to drive it next week, it has a current state inspection sticker from VA, so that means it passed brakes, lights, etc. Assuming it drives okay, what's this thing worth?

He's asking $2000, but is VERY willing to deal. I'm thinking $1200 in cash laid in front of him might be convincing.

Thoughts?? Things to look for specific to this vintage of truck??

 

Check the frame were the power steering box attaches, sometimes the frame cracks in this area. Easiest thing to do is park it on asphalt start the truck and crank the wheels back and forth. Should not be any movement in the box and frame area.

Also check the innerfender and core support on the drivers side - the batteries have a tendancy to make this area rot out.

Wiring ! - you cannot really check every connection but look for obvious splicing and patching of wires - nothing suck more than sorting out someone elses patch work.

Rust like you have noted does not sound to bad - truck looks pretty decent in pictures.

Good Luck and I think 1,200-1,500 would be fair

 

Also the quad/square headlights were an option the truck you are looking at is the standard set up.

 

Okay, update on this, and still considering....

Finally had a chance to go up to VA to visit family and stop by to take another look at this truck. STILL for sale, so he's really ready to deal now.

Took along a tarp and a flashlight, and a screwdriver to poke around with, and here, unfortunately, is what I found.

Bad news first:

Rust in both floorboards, to the point of rust through in many spots, and paper-thin metal everywhere else.

Lot's of rigged up wiring around the fusebox, could be going to the mickey mouse stereo thats cut into the dash, or the equally mickey mouse tach cut intot the dash as well.

Hood latch is broke, took quite a bit of fiddling to get the hood open.

oil leak at front of intake manifold, there was oil right at the front of the intake manifold, at the top of what I assume is the timing chain cover. Make sense? What could be leaking up this high?

Bed floor is completely gone, as I mentioned earlier, a previous owner had welded in a sheet of diamond plate, and I assumed it was welded in over a rusty bed. Nope whatever was there is now gone, and the diamond plate in the new floor!! Did stepsides in 79 come with a metal floor, or was it the wood/metal straps like the LRE??

Power steering pump was a little noisy, but was also low on fluid, so that may fix it.

Tires are all crap

Okay, some good:

It runs really strong. No smoke on start up, once the engine warms up it idles nicely, has good power

Transmission shifts fine, didn't notice anything unusual about it, although the fluid was black!!

Doesn't seem to have any frame rot. The steering box was nice and solid, with no flex around it, battery box area was solid.

Brakes worked okay, although I'd redo them anyway, just for piece of mind.


So......given that I'm looking at welding in new floor sections, new tires, and a carb rebuild to take care of the cold start issue, just to make it roadworthy. Then, eventually, welding in new sheetmetal at the bottom of each door, and at the rear corner of each fender, and then doing something about the bed floor (would love the look of the wood LRE style), is this thing worth the effort?

He's asking 2K, I flat out said "This is not a $2000 truck, it's not even a $1000 truck, he thought for a second, and said.......Will you give a thousand?

At the time, just thinking about the effort of redoing the floors, I said no and walked away with no hard feelings.

Now I'm second guessing. Should i offer him $800? He's had the truck for sale for over a month by now, and he's obviously getting tired of fooling with it.

For $1000 (at the most) I could have a truck to tinker with and make the occasional trip to the Home Depot, or the dump, and restore later on. Or I could do the responsible thing, and keep my $1000, and just forget about this. I don't HAVE to have a truck, but I want one.

 

i'd start low with the offers

just a few months ago i paid $950 for my 84 4x4 with 96K miles and it's a 1 owner truck

 

I agree can not hurt to start lower 750.00 or so. I would give him 1,000 for easily from the way you described it. Lower doors and floor metal is all available for it so those patches should be pretty easy. The bed is supposed to be wood with strips like the lil Reds the metal beds did not come until later in sometimes in the early 80's

 

Yeah, I think I'll start off at $750 Cash, and go up from there. He's already agreed to $1000, so no higher than that.

Any concerns about the oil leak I described? Looks like it's puddling right on top of the timing chain of the 318.

Thanks for all the help guys, i appreciate it.

 

Black tranny fluid? Sounds like you should plan on putting a tranny in there. The only things that would turn tranny fluid black are dirt or a lot of friciton material. Neither one of those things are good in a tranny. Although it may shift fine now it will probably need replacement soon.

 

if you get it cheap enough you could just drive it until the wheels fall off and slowly but surely replace failed parts

 

Well, I just verbally committed to buying it, so I guess I'm in. I had checked out a few more things on it a few weeks ago, and made him an offer of $750, he said no. I walked away, and let him think about for a few weeks. He's not getting a lot of interest because, unfortunately, the local area where he is selling has some of the worst employment rates in the state.

I just called him and reiterated my $750 offer, he said let's do $800 and we have a deal. So I'll go up to VA this weekend, fork over the dough, and have it towed to my Dad's house, which is about 10 miles away.

With my work schedule, it'll be a few months before I can start working on it.

I think to get it running, I'm looking at new tires all around, probably new wheels at the same time. Go through the brakes, make sure they are up to the task, and have the carb rebuilt. A transmission flush, and also a change of all other fluids (rear end, brake fluid, PS fluid, oil of course), and clean up the wiring. It needs a few exhaust hangers replaced. Then of course new plugs and filters, and then just drive it for a while.

I'm thinking chrome Cragar Soft Eight wheels and BFG TA Radials would have a period correct look.