Mark Nixon

The 1st pic was after Andrew "drifted" my trailer in the parking lot, trying to be a showoff.
Last pic was the best part of the day, GRUB!

Mark.

bill-d-c

That another parts truck, or a fix-er-upper?
Bill

Mark Nixon

It's pretty rough bodywise (cab and bed), so it's getting chopped.
Need the engine fenders and doors for another project that probably won't ever happen.

Mark.

bill-d-c

Mark,
It's none of my business so you're certainly under no obligation to answer, but how many 1st gen trucks you got laying around? How ever many you have, they have to be a good investment. I know of only one salvage remotely close to me that still has them (they have 2) but it's a 5 hour round trip.
Bill

Mark Nixon

Bill,
As you know, on the internet, NOTHING is "private" no matter how much people like to think it may be.

I have a 3 or so parts trucks, but I also have a couple of RamChargers and a bunch of stuff squirreled away in both of those.

I've been very close to scrapping all of what I have, but I hesitate to do so, because I'd like to put one more decent 1st gen together, so in order to do that, it's nice to have a few options on spare parts trucks.

Just as much as folks can't even FIND these trucks, sometimes I have problems finding QUALITY parts.
I'm no bodyman, so I go to great extremes to find straight sheetmetal for my projects.
Many has been the time I was in a yard and found primo sheetmetal and snagged it, because it's easy to get rid of if I end up not needing it.
Same way with nice interior pieces, I grab it when I can.

I have the space, I could bring 30 trucks in here, but they are getting to be hard to find, quality is lower and prices are higher for even gasser parts trucks.

The writing is on the wall.
As had happened with the older Mopar Musclecars, the 1stgens are now considered "collectible", it's only a matter of time before they get astronomically priced, but the worst part is that there is very little (and diminishing) reproduction suppport.

Right on cue, since these trucks are 20-odd years old, I'm seeing the Mopar Hobby-Turned Investment scenario again.

Worse, I'm already hearing "Hard to find" as a catch phrase in reference to 2nd gen 12 valve stuff, too.

Mark.

bill-d-c

I agree completly with what you are saying. I look for straight, rust free trucks with preferably the original paint still on them (new paint jobs scare me a little, don't know for sure what they're hiding). Alot of times those are low mile garage kept trucks in prinsine condition in which the owner wants a kings ransom for them. When you finally find one, you're nervous everytime you leave the driveway with it because you never know if some 16 year old is going to sideswipe you while texting on his phone. So, you end up not driving it because parts are so hard to find.
I hope you find the time to resurrect one more 1st gen truck.You seem to have all the parts, but if you're like me, very little time. At any rate, the parts will wait for you and they are never going to be worth less money.
Bill

PapeCAT

Judging by the amount of nice straight rust free original early 70's pickups I've scared up in the past 5 years, I don't imagine the nice trucks from the early 90's will stop showing up for at least another 20+ or so years. (On the west coast anyway)

Mark Nixon

Bill, that's the whole problem with the 1stgen stuff, like the older cars, if you put money into them to make them nice, then you're scared to drive them.
Pulltilbroke, among others, has the right idea, a decent truck with a rattle can paint job, it runs good, looks decent and if it gets into a fender bender with a mobile home, slap straight parts back on it, re-rattle can it and move on.

My problem has always been a nice indoor place to put things together.
Yeah, I've done body, suspension and engine swaps outside, under trees, in the dirt, but that's getting old.

Rebuilding a turbo or an injection pump isn't something you'd normally do out in the dirt and it's just not the thing to do in the house on a regular basis, so I have a bunch of both just sitting, hoping that eventually the situation changes.

Mark.

NE frmhnd

I have to laugh at all those investor buyers on the old MOPAR stuff. They got a car they paid a couple hundred thousand for, and no one with the money to buy it off of 'em.

pulltilbroke

Went on another little road trip last week



Anywho we got back from our trip Sunday about 9pm. We left friday morning at 1am and headed south to KC then made a stop in St Louis to drop a few parts Then it was off to Terra Haute to meet up with Bill Gilbert and drop off 3 205 t cases. After that we got fuel and a bite in Brazil IN. We were then set on gettin to Fostoria OH to drop some 4bt conversion parts. We made it there got the parts dropped off and then we went back to Findlay OH to get a room. The next morning we set out for Stryker OH to drop off 6.7 Cummins blocks and whatnot and to pilfer some parts off of some 1stgens that donated there motors for swaps. After BSing for a few hours we set out for Muskegan Michigan To drop a bell off and to grab a few parts. I ended up snagging a clean door panel for the 90 and a nice fan shroud for the dually. We then set out for the long ride to Russell MN to meetup with Deere country from here. We skirted the Lake on the way down Michigan and I wish we could've made this part of the trip during the day, I really wanted to see one of the great lakes. Any who we stopped and fueled in Gary Indiana and the took off for the fun ride through Chicago. We made it through there and The interstate around Joliet had been redone since I was through there last. about 20 mile later I noticed I had no running lights in the rear so we pulled off and started diagnosing the problem after some cussng and frozen fingers we found a broken wire, we fixed it and were off again. We peeled off of 80 and took 39 towards Rockford ILL and then into Wisconsin. While I was rollin through WI at mile post 100 on I90 the dually hit a big milestone, We finally hit 400,000. Anyway after a miserable fuel stop in ST Charles MN we were on the road again to Russell. We got to Russel MN around 10am and I started pulling the seats out of a parts cab, yep I finally found a set of Spice buckets and console in decent shape for the dually, I also snagged the fuse box cover too. After bsing about trucks and parts we decided to head for home by way of Sioux Falls.

Ended up driving through 10 states and put 2400 miles on the truck.

NJTman

Great pic, Man

mhuppertz

That's nuts dude! I would need two hip replacements after sitting that long! My truck just rolled over 390,000.
You mentioned 4BT conversion parts. What are they for?
-Mark

Mark Nixon

I don't appreciate that my PRIVATE BUSINESS has been posted here!
Who I go see and the deals I do should be between me and the person I deal with.

Mark.

mhuppertz

I hear you man. I actually have a garage but even if it wasn't full of Mopar engines and trannys, and {gulp} Subaru junk my truck doesn't fit. I have permafrost from November to April or May, so I have to lay on the ice and snow to do anything on my truck (or my longsuffering wife's Grand Cherokee). I am real tired of it. Thinking about starting a foundation for a shop that I can't afford yet!

mhuppertz

There are a lot of first gen's in the southwest still, and their prices have fallen. I am amazed at what you can buy for the price in New Mexico and Arizona.