This is a 1957 Dodge W100 I restored. It was owned by a rail road in Washington and was very abused along the way. It has 230 CI 6 cylinder flat head with a 4 speed transmission. After over 400 man hours of work it is ready for the road again.
Date(s): January 16, 2014. Album by Ron Reichhart. Photos by Ron Reichhart. 1 - 24 of 26 Total. 3225 Visits.
1 1957 Dodge W100 Power Wagon as it was when I picked it up in Iowa in 2012. A former rail road truck it lead a hard life being worked like a 1 ton truck. It was a solid truck overall but as with most it has issues.
2 Tailgate and rear of bed where the worst of the sheet metal issues. This is a short bed version which means the tailgate is narrower than the other beds. I had to save this tail gate since they are hard to come by. It was one of the more difficult gates I've saved
3 Right rear fender was beaten up pretty badly having been hit then a poor attempt to pound it out again. This is salvageable as you will see.
4 The bed floor with a piece of diamond plate over the wood floor. It was welded to the rear sill but easy enough to cut loose
5 Roof mounted spot light handle. I hate holes in the roof so it went right away so I could weld a patch in it's place.
6 This is all there was to the interior. Seat frame and springs are all that's left. You can see this truck was orange from the factory.
7 Left side of the rear axle was forward 3 inches and the U bolts were cut then welded back together. It's a wonder this truck didn't try to pass itself going down the road. For those who may not know you NEVER cut or even reuse the U bolts holding an axle in place. This chassis was really abused
8 Rear of cab here with the bed removed. The cab was in really decent shape considering how beat up the chassis and bed were. A few dents and the holes in the roof were no problem
9 This is the rear lower corner of the bed at the valance or sill. The bed was obviously overloaded to the point of forcing the corners of the bed floor down 1/2" or better on both ends. They cut notches across the valance vertically and welded them and a piece of bar stock in the corners. I had to replace this sill with one from another bed.
10 Top of the rear bed pocket I had to rebuild
11 I mount the cabs on this rotisserie to make my life easier. Work smarter not harder. I can fully rotate the cab to any position to work on it. It works great for painting the cab too. I made this from scrap I had at the shop and a couple pair of old door hinges from these trucks.
12 The hood is in the middle of being blasted with my Dustless Blaster. It took two layers of paint off like washing mud off a truck in no time flat. It left the surface spotless and ready to prime
13 Running boards, wheels, bumpers and kick panels after blasting. The wheels were in really bad shape having had tubes in tubeless rims. The problem was water got between the rim and the tubes causing rust. With blasting I was able to save them with a good self etching primer. And this is the only way to clean running boards because the dimpled top.
14 Here is one door mounted on my door tree. I can mount both doors at the same time which makes it easy to prime and paint off the trucks. It to is on casters so it can be moved where ever I want it.
15 Here it is painted but not completely finished. Door glass and vent windows aren't installed yet nor are the rear view mirrors. The colors are Omaha orange and a custom mixed white.
16 57's were a one year only body style and the first year Dodge offered an "alligator hood". Prior to this year they were the butter fly type. The hood will open a full 90 degrees allowing the engine to be pulled without removing the hood.
17 Here is the same tail gate after many hours of work in straightening and sanding. I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out. The bumper is a stock factory unit I picked up from the owner.
18 The bed is the one area that is not exactly stock. The wood is white oak as used originally but instead of black paint it has Martin Senour clear coat like the body. The bed angles and bed strips were replaced using parts from Mar-K Products. The spare tire is an STA mud and snow bias 8 x 17.5 like the rest of the truck has mounted.
19 Shot of the dash and steering wheel. We added a new turn signal switch since turn signals were an option on trucks in 1957. Not many people would know hand signals in today's driving world.
20 The truck has just the right stance and attitude with those STA 8x17.5 tubeless bias ply tires. With 4:88 gears it'll pull stumps but top out at a screaming 50 mph.
21 Interior with new seat and door panels
22 The headliner is made up of six individual pieces. I was fortunate to be able to copy an original 57 headliner to make this one. This is the second 57 headliner actually and takes considerable effort to install. I had the color matched and painted it with single stage enamel with a flatting agent mixed in.
23 This is outside of my shop.You can't really appreciate the orange unless you see it in person
