There are two big trends in the current car hobby that weren’t seen a few decades ago.
The first one is the resto-mod and the second is the patina look.
This 1959 Dodge D-100 pickup features both those trends.
Jerry Sutherland
Doug MacDonald heard about a 1959 Dodge D-100 project truck, so he tracked it down and bought it. These trucks are hard to find, so Doug believed the Dodge was worth the time and effort to save it from long storage in a barn.
Doug is a veteran of many projects, so he wasn’t intimidated by the task, but he was also realistic. This truck was an old Park Ranger truck so you could see the outline of the decals in the paint. The Dodge was barebones government issue, so it came with a flathead six and manual transmission.
This old truck was far from mint—Doug learned that when he discovered the frame was broken. That detail wasn’t a deal-breaker because Doug had already mapped out a game plan for the truck that didn’t involve a stock frame.
Instead, Doug located a 2000 Dakota pickup and shortened the frame by 23 inches. Initially he wanted to use the Dakota’s power train, but he found out a crate fuel-injected, 330-horse 5.9 Magnum was a lot cheaper than rebuilding the stock Dak motor.
Doug also had a 460 R-H transmission built to handle the Magnum so he could get a combination of an extra gear and a stouter transmission. The truck runs a 3:91 rear gear, but the overdrive means the old Dodge runs a mere 2300 rpm at 70 miles per hour.
The truck body itself was a pleasant surprise because this old government workhorse ’59 Dodge had very solid sheet metal. There was one minor rust hole, but the rest of the truck was clean. Doug raised the rear bed about 5 inches to accommodate the old truck box on the new frame but there were very few fitment issues.
The seats came out of an early 2000s Chevy truck, and the steering column is pure 2000 Dodge Dakota. Doug is a big guy, and the Chevy seats are higher than he wanted, so he feels a little tight in the cab—that’s a future adjustment he’s going to make.
Doug is also working on the ride height because he wants it “as low as possible”. That adjustment is also a work in progress.
The only thing Doug isn’t going to refine is the paint. He cut the factory paint and brought it to the perfect level for a daily driver. It’s protected now, but the shade will never change on the original paint.
There’s a different story under the skin. Doug likes to restore and use old bolts so everything under the sheet metal has been studied, restored or replaced.
There’s a reason for Doug’s strategy on the paint. He uses this truck more than his daily driver, so he doesn’t worry about in the real-world nightmare of parking lots and careless people.
Bruce wanted to build something interesting and functional to drive, so his game plan was simple—focus on the mechanical details, not the cosmetics.
Basically, he built the most roadworthy, barn-find 1959 Dodge D-100 ever created.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
- CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER
- CLICK HERE to Like us on Facebook
- CLICK HERE to Follow us on Twitter
- CLICK HERE to Follow us on Pinterest
