A 1952 Dodge pickup truck was never built for the pampered luxury vehicle market.
In fact, they were advertised as Job-Rated vehicles for customers who worked hard for a living and needed a truck that could handle the rough stuff on a worksite or farm.
Shane Thompson is an electrician by trade and is the proud co-builder (along with his brother Clint) of a 1952 Dodge pickup truck that has undergone a major upgrade from its factory roots.
Jim Sutherland
The ’52 Dodge resto mod follows a typical car guy game plan because the pickup is the net result of three vintage Dodge trucks, a practical solution for parts availability challenges because these old workhorses are not common 71 years after the last one left the factory.
As a result, car guys who choose to resurrect a now-rare old Dodge pickup cannot simply open a catalog and buy the needed parts for the rebuild. The story behind Shane’s pickup started when his buddy bought a rural property and found the truck was left behind by the former owner.
The old pickup was retired to a convenient pasture after it was used up by hard work and became a forgotten piece of the former owner’s history. Shane told MyStarCollectorCar the one of the donor trucks was found in a field, while the other truck was found in a Quonset building, and he was able to mine both pickups for their parts.
Shane said the project took “four winters” in his words, a long season in his part of the world, and enough time to build a street rod with surprising small block under its hood. The surprise engine is a 318 donated by a 1991 Dodge Dakota pickup.
The Mopar 318 is not a typical choice for a major power upgrade, but Shane felt the engine had enough potential to run with the big dogs, so he bored it out to 392 cubic inches of pure Mopar mayhem. Suddenly the famous Chrysler 318 small block became an unlikely monster engine for the 1952 Dodge truck project.
Shane steered directly toward the Mopar-in-Mopar game plan because he felt there were “too many Chevy small blocks used in resto mod projects” and he wanted to stay in the Chrysler family with his engine choice.
Fortunately, his 1991 Dakota donor truck also provided a suitable frame (after he chopped 23 inches) with modern components like rack-and-pinion steering, a front disc/rear drum setup, along with power steering and power brakes. Shane also used the Dakota’s automatic transmission because of its “big overdrive”, in his words. It was a necessary choice because the truck has 4:10 posi rear gears that would substantially drive up the RPMs at higher speeds.
The net result is a 71-year-old truck that now performs like a much newer truck and retains its ultra-cool retro style.
Shane also paid attention to the ‘52 Dodge’s ride height and tinkered with it after he mated it to the ’91 Dakota’s frame to get the ideal stance for his resto mod.
The net result is a 1952 Dodge pickup with a striking Viper Red paint job that blend old style with new components and is now the best of both worlds.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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