WTB- '81-'85 W250-W350 Crew Cab...

[Andyp]

slow\painful

Like a mangy coyote stuck in a snow drift, I feel like I'm dieing a slow and painful death,.....there is nothing like that up here, you did AWESOME, DUDE .congrats.
If you ever come to the northern States or Canada, BEWARE, it may go missing on you....hhhmm? Lol

[mattsoldmopars]

somewhere there must be a yard full of them 'cause i'm searching 2 countrys & can't find one either...

You probably don't want to here this? But there used to be a bunch of 1981-1985 W350 Crew-cabs at Nellis air force base in Las Vegas NV,,, but they had auction back in late 1990's and sold them all. I bought one and a friend of mine bought one also. Most of them sold for $500-800 They were all air force blue, with short beds.

I see the 1981-1985 Crew-cabs pop up on the GSA auction website every few months. Most of the ones I see are out west, but that's only where I look. Back in 2001 I took a friend of mine to Missouri and Oklahoma to look for a newer Dodge Ram, and we saw over 12 1981-1985 Crew-cabs most were either sitting out behind of or next to the local fire dept's. We stopped to see if any were for sale, and most of them were not in service anymore. But they told us they could not sell them until the government was ready to sell them, most went to GSA auctions we were told. They are out there you just have to look harder.

A few years ago on my way home from work I stumbled on to a good deal on a Crew-cab. I was going east bound on I-70, over in the west bound lanes on the shoulder was a older dodge pickup with a loaded trailer, on the trailer was 1977 Dodge Crew-cab, I thought the guy was broke down, so at the next exit I turned around to see if he needed help. I got there and he was almost ready to leave, he was pulling a 35 foot goose-neck trailer with a late 1970's Dodge 2x4 dually, on the trailer was the CC, and everything the guy owned, house hold stuff, shop tools, etc,, He said he was fine and was letting it cool down and was done adding antifreeze and was ready to hit the road again, he said he was pulling more weight then the 318 could handle.

I asked him if he wanted to lighten his load a little?? He said sure I would love to get rid of that Crew-cab,, I asked how much?? He said $300.00,, I told him follow me about 10 miles to my yard and we will unload it then. I had him follow me, at first I he was about 1/2 mile behind, I was only going 55 mph,, I slowed way down, and when I was doing almost 40 mph he finally caught up, then we did about 40-45 mph all the way to my yard. When we got there Finally ,,,,, I think he was more excited to get it off of his trailer then I was? He was moving from WY to AZ, and he told me he tried to get rid of the truck before he left home but know one wanted it. We got it off and I helped him for a few hours rearranging his other stuff on his trailer to even the load out more, we drank a few Millers and he hit the road.

Below is the truck, 1977 W200 ex-forest service (pee green) truck. A little rough around the edges, but the price was right,, and she was not rusty, and had a extra set of rear doors in the bed.



I have heard also that Dodge never built 4x4 long box Crew-cabs. I Never say Never though, I used to own one, a 1973 W200 Crew-cab with 8 foot long bed. The frame was factory, not some stretch that was done later. It had a Dana 70 front axle and a Dana 60 rear, the guy I bought it from said he bought it from the rail road at a auction in the mid 1980's, I wish I had a picture or two of that one to share, but it was before I had a digital camera.

There was a 1972 or 1973 Long bed Crew-cab on eBay a few weeks ago in western Nebraska, an ex-fire truck pretty much the same as my old 1973, Dana 70 front and Dana 60 rear. I also saw one more 1973 W200 long box Crew-cab truck, in a junkyard in Wisconsin years ago, it was super rusty. But the guy said it was a old railroad truck, I thought about buying it for axle parts but never did.

I kind of always figured that the long bed 4x4 Crew-cabs must have been a special ordered truck or something, since I've only seen a few. Maybe they were all fleet trucks,, fire trucks, rail road trucks, forest service, etc,,,??

P.S. Andy where in Alberta do you live? I was up there last summer, and have another trip planned this coming April. I don't have anymore Crew-cabs though, I sold the pee green one to a guy from BC Canada, and also sold my other ones, I needed to make room for some other projects. If you find something down this way I might be able to haul it up there for you.

Matt

[712edf]

Thanks for sharing that Matt. While we are on the subject I am in the market for a crew cab 4x4 myself, but I prefer the 72-79 variety. And yes I'd rather have a long bed. The 72 on Ebay is a converted D300.

I also saw the red longbed W200 crew firetruck from Nebraska, was tempted. Maybe when my little tax refund arrives (equals about a weeks & half paycheck) I'll be more likely to dive into another project.

Bucky

[mattsoldmopars]

I kind of wish I still had one of my Crew-cabs!!! I was going to put a Cummins in my 1985, just like "Everyone" else wants to do, I even had a good donor truck, 1992 W250 5 speed trans CTD with a cracked frame it had 110 thousand miles on it one owner truck, it cracked the frame by the steering box, guy welded it (not a very good farmer job) and it cracked again so he sold it to me, that truck Ran Great, just steered like Trash!!

I had the money set aside and the time to do the swap, but something came up, and I needed cash Fast, so sold the 1985 and parted the 1992 out, I also sold my 1977 at the same time, in fact the guy from BC that bought my 1977 also bought the CTD engine and other parts from the 1992. This was back in the winter of 2005, I wonder if he made the swap like he planned??

I doubt I will ever get another Crew-cab or another donor CTD truck again?? Or at least for what I had into the ones I had setup to do the swap, I had less cash into my 2 Crew-cabs, and CTD donor truck total, then most people are asking for whole Crew-cab trucks these days. I had less cash into all of mine then the guy wants for that truck below on Boise craiglist.

I will keep my eyes open and let you know if I find any, I see them from time to time in my travels, I have enough other projects right now so don't need one. Here is a decent looking one on Boise craigslist

http://boise.craigslist.org/cto/1590160091.html

Fly out and drive it home, would be Fun!! That's what I did on my last Dodge I bought.

Matt

[KRB64]

...I kind of always figured that the long bed 4x4 Crew-cabs must have been a special ordered truck or something, since I've only seen a few. Maybe they were all fleet trucks,, fire trucks, rail road trucks, forest service, etc,,,??...
Matt

It sounds like you may be right there. Fleet trucks or special order or something.

Man this is frustrating...

We need to start a crew cab alert group so we can share finds that are out of our reach.

[712edf]

Man this is frustrating...

We need to start a crew cab alert group so we can share finds that are out of our reach.

Sign me up!!!

Bucky

[Andyp]

alert group or intervention

It sounds like you may be right there. Fleet trucks or special order or something.

Man this is frustrating...

We need to start a crew cab alert group so we can share finds that are out of our reach.

I agree, but the wife says she's going to get me some Dodge Intervention counseling.
Lol

[The Other Ross]

I'd really like to find a solid '72-'79 cab.I've got everything else(doors,interior,dash,running gear).

[712edf]

the 72 crew 4x4 on epay sold today

The winning bid on the 72 crew (EBAY) in Indiana that I refered to in post #8 of this thread was $1250.........I'd paid that if it wasn't 800 miles away.

Long distance stuff scares me unless they have dozens of pictures & even then you may be just getting a parts truck instead of a driver. I don't mind a parts truck as long as I'm not expecting otherwise.

Bucky

[mattsoldmopars]

712edf/Bucky

I am not sure if this Crew-Cab is still around?? But today I was surfing the Web. and came across it, just thought I would share it with you,,

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/89...o-collect.html

The date on the photos look to be taken 10-17-2009 and the post was made 10-20-2009, so it is only about 3-1/2 months ago. She may still be around?? Look close at the 1st photo and can see a road sign that says Vernon/Wichita Falls it has got to be pretty close to you? It may be worth a phone call. I am not sure why the for sale sign has a Salt Lake City, UT phone #?? But the truck does have Texas plates.

Matt

[712edf]

Thanks Matt.....Phone number on windshield is readable & from the looks of the road signs this truck is on HWY 278 between Amarillo & Vernon.....
I just have to find a town with a methodist church on avenue J.....

Funny how the ford folks called this thing jeep, international harvestor, studebaker.

I'll be looking into this one.

Thanks,
Bucky

[mattsoldmopars]

Your Welcome, yes it is pretty funny most of them didn't know what it was!! Yes the phone # is plenty readable. I am sure that there is a good reason that the phone # is from UT. I know a few weeks ago I called about something on criagslist that was listed in my area but had a TX phone #, the parts were here in CO, but the guys phone was based out of TX where his company was at.

I am sure a call to the phone # would be fastest way to find anything out.

But I just did a Google search for "First United Methodist Church TX 301 Avenue J"

Chillicothe, TX looks to be the only town in TX's that has a First United Methodist Church on 301 Avenue J and Chillicothe is on Hwy 287. Chillicothe is what about 60 miles from Wichita Falls?? I was through there last year, and it was not but a hour if I remember right?

Let me know if anything turns out with this truck. Just Curious to know if you end up with it,, if it is still around??

Matt

[712edf]

Yes Chillicothe is 70 miles west of WF....I will be working just north of Vernon a couple of days this week.....I'll cruise through there. Haven't been there in 5-6 yrs....

This thing is dangerously close to me, if its still around.

Bucky

[74w300uteline]

look in the grill

is that a tranny cooler? or some special supplemental air conditioning used in desert crewcabs?

[74w300uteline]

special option cooler

only offered in Ford Internationals