Recently I contacted Dodge about a truck I own and got a response I thought was kinda neat.
A little background; almost 3 years ago I found a 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 dually with a bad motor for sale about 4 hours outside Dallas for $1500.
I've (for some reason) have always wanted a 3rd gen dually and was particularly fond of the 2003 - 2005 years. So, I asked for more detailed pictures. When I got a look at them I had noticed that there was a Hemi badge on the fender by the headlight, so I decided to go take a look.
When I got there and got to look at it, it wasn't too awful bad and needed some love, but it was something I could work with.
When I opened up the door, to my surprise I found a manual transmission and I went ahead and pop the hood because I wanted to see what was actually in the truck.
Again to my surprise, there sat a Hemi gas motor.
I started looking at how much work it was going to need and though I was willing to pay $1,500 for it, I took a shot in the dark and offered him $600 in hopes that we would land somewhere around $1,000.
He didn't even bat an eye when he accepted my $600 offer just because he wanted it out of his yard because apparently his kid bought it and let it sit there for 2 years and didn't even touch it, lol!
So I immediately bought it and had it towed back to Dallas the next day.
I ended up getting busy with work, life, Etc and wasn't able to really get to work on it until a few weeks ago after the "save your *** / catch up your bill / my credit card bill is how much?!?" mad scramble after the quarantine.
That was when I contacted Dodge and gave them the vin number so I could get a little information.
Here is what i recieved.





The question I have now:
Is it worth more with this information or is it just one of those neat bragging rights things?
Honestly, either is alright with me.

 

I think what they are saying is, it was custom ordered from the factory, by the original purchaser. It isn't anything special, aside from a truck with some VERY rare options....... You got it dirt cheap. My suggestion would be build it how YOU want it. After all, YOU are going to be the one driving it for the foreseeable future.

And: Congrats on an absolutely amazing score. We want pics.

 

That was my take on it also.
I will admit after getting that information my design idea drastically changed because originally, even though I had never even heard of a 3500 with a Hemi in it, I was planning on a level kit, sanding it down and having the entire thing sprayed with Black Rhino liner or Line-X, upgrading all of the valve springs, retainers and cam to the 6.1, swapping all the interior out from the taupe color to the charcoal, smoked LED headlights, taillights, side markers and roof lights, removing the Hemi badges to make room for fender flares, Etc among other things.

Now with this new information I'm finding myself more compelled to keep the original color, instead of doing the 315 / 70 / 17 tires I was originally thinking maybe just doing a mild 285 / 70 / 17, a deep clean detail on the interior and just replace what needs to be replaced.
of course I'm still going to upgrade the valve springs, retainers and cam because that's just a smart idea with the 2003 Hemi.
I don't think I'm going to touch the badging now and just leave it as is.
If it wouldn't affect the value much, I would consider getting a tintable bed liner (Raptor liner, Monster liner) to repaint it with. I go to the Ozarks in Arkansas and Missouri quite often and I don't want to worry about scratches from tree limbs which is the main reason I'm leaning towards the bed liner paint job.

Thoughts?

 

Of course, if you couldn't afford the Cummins tax in 2003, then your only options were the 488 V10 or the new for 2003 5.7 hemi. Starting in 2004 the only gas option until 2014 was a 5.7.
A Comp 260 would be much better in your situation than a 6.1 cam. 6.1's powerband is much higher since it's, ya know, a car cam. You want a torque cam for a dually. Best case scenario would be a stroker for that big *** heavy truck, you can do a 392 to 410 with a 5.7 block but you can't tune it properly with the 2003 PCM. Swapping the springs, etc is always a good idea; remember if you're using 6.1 springs you have to use 6.1 exhaust springs for all of them, plus don't forget pushrods if you use a 6.1 or aftermarket cam because they all use the 6.1 base circle (which is different than the pre-eagle 5.7).

 

Those are all really good points but I do wonder if I need something like a 260 when it comes to the cam. I don't hardly do any Towing with the exception of a small boat or trailer smokers up to about ten foot long. And I pulled those with my 97 360 right now. So I'm pretty sure the 03 3500 would probably just laugh at that, lol!

As for the original purchasers reasoning, you very well may be right or he may just have wanted something unique or have been a huge Hemi fan, all I know is that it seems to be a really rare build.

I actually don't think I want to go so far as a stroker, I'm good with a mild build to get a little more horse out of what's currently there.

 

It's your truck, do what makes ya happy with it. (though, I gotta admit, I AM partial to the de-badging, fender flares, and bigger tires. )

Maybe just start with bolt-ons for the engine, deal with the springs, and put a good exhaust on it. See how it feels then, and decide from there whether you want to do a cam or not.

We still want pics........