What can I make out of '53 Dodge dump truck?

Since it's a '53 and has a gold "vee" on the hood, i would expect it to be a v8. What kind of power in it? 241? 331? I have an engine out of a '56 dump truck and it is a 331 short bell.

 

Keep it and use it! Heck get some girls and make a poster of the thing as in RAM TOUGH or something like that. Way tooooo much of a gem to destroy.

 

Take the dump bed off and buy this to haul old cars.Yes a shameless plug to make a buck i know,but in all honesty i would keep the truck as is..................YG

 

It would make a great dump truck, but for practicality I'd make it a tow truck (hooker), or mess with the driveline, make it faster, and put a flat car hauler bed on it.
Like everyone else is sayin, flip it to a large truck collector.

 

Yes it's not a 53,and a few hundred bucks for what looks like a very straight undamaged truck? Sounds a little fishy,ya think? Does it run and drive,even the tires look ok,being that a set of 6 new tires like that are around 1200-1500 bucks.
Sell it to someone who can use it.Then find something non road worthy to modify. I see old bigger trucks on a modern frame with auto tranny and all the stuff.Most of them never haul anything and just are "hey look at me I'm cool" Just my opinion.

 

If it has a 331 hemi pull the motor and put anything else in there to make it a running and driving dump truck....sell the truck to someone who needs it and use the engine in a fun hotrod project.....can't get a hemi that easily, normally... (my 354 came out of a 56 Dodge dump truck)

 

That is a beautiful 1957 Dodge D500 or D600. I recently bought a 1958 Dodge D400 with a 129 inch wheel base which is the same as the 1 ton Dodge of the time. I took off the utility box and found a very nice stock 9 foot stepside box for it. To fit the tires, I removed the duals and cut out centers of two wheels and had them welded into 11 inch wide rims and mounted Nitto Grapplers (the largest they had) that were the same diameter as the stock tires at 37 inches.

I get a lot of compliments on that truck where ever I go. It has a 315 poly and 4 spd. Soon I will be installing a 1958 Dodge truck 354 hemi. I'll post a couple of before & after pics this evening.

Steve
Tracy, CA

Edit: I stand corrected on the model. It must be a D700 or up from the looks of the front fenders.

 

I was out there to look at it only a few hours after I learned of it and it was sold out from under me. Some other schumck got it first and I drove 75 miles round trip to hear the news.

It's not all that big of a deal since farm trucks like this come off the farms all the time. Most have 20,000 miles or so (lots of idling and cold starts, however) and never got much road use. Still, all the rubber, seals, tires and brakes are gone from sitting. Most often sell at auction in the $400- $600 range. Last summer my neighbor sold a mid '60's F600/F6 with a real nice modern flatbed dump and all new tires for $1,200. It was perfect.
These aren't special deals, it's just what another day in the midwest has to offer.
This is what the market says they are worth.

 

Tell me where these auctions are. I'd love to come across that for under $1000. I only use old classics for my landscaping business and would jump on that thing.

 

Too nice to cut up, sell it to someone that needs a dump. If you are looking for a project I have a few I can trade you for it.


I posted this before reading page 2, I could use something like this though if you come across another one.