So, I have insomnia, and have troubles getting to sleep because thoughts of many different ideas of projects and that sorts keep floating through my head, and was kinda anxious to float it through this forum for possibility and probability of successful outcome of said project.

So, I kinda got this idea from watching Leno's Garage where he had one of the head designers from ICON bring in an old 40s DeSoto that was made into a "derelict" style vehicle. So after perusing the forum and all that, I had the idea of possibly buying a '47 Ford 1 ton flatbed truck or something along those lines and taking like a 97 F350 drivetrain and seeing if I can't just put that into the '47. I mean frame, rear-end, driveshaft, 7.3L turbo diesel, the whole shebang and make my own derelict. Old, beat up body but updated, more powerful drivetrain.

Just wanted to tell some people about this idea I had, not looking for hate or anything. I'm extremely interested in these old trucks and just think the old is way cooler than the new.

 

That's a pretty good idea. I've seen some folks do these and they come out pretty good. Probably the most important things are to make sure your fabrication skills are up to it, and to measure, measure, measure. If you go thru with it please start a build thread here. Good luck and great idea.

 

The primary hurdle in my mind is track width. The other big one is engine placement to axle placement which ties in with radiator placement..... I have a '79 toyota landcruiser station wagon with ps, pb, front discs, good straight six and rotted out body. This will make a good swap under an old truck when I find the time. A guy near me recently put an old dodge powerwagon on an '85 suburban chassis. The axles stick way beyond the fenders, and is a dead giveaway imho. I'm currently running something like you mentioned, but it's still a long way from a '97 style truck. '59 F350, '88 cummins 6at, gm 4 speed, '92 f350 sterling 10 1/4 rear axle, '77 f250 radiator. It does go down the road real nice and was way easier than a frame swap. If you have the $, there are 4wd places that narrow the one ton axles for jeeps, landcruisers etc. I like the 'original patina' look.

 

Yeah I like that "patina" look as well, and actually saw a video on youtube of a guy who built a ratrod with an older 40's Ford dump truck with a '97 F-350 frame, dual rear tire rearend from the same truck, I think it's also a five speed manual and all of that, however I don't want to make a ratrod, I want a regular, old truck with a newer, heavier duty guts, all rebuild and restore the dash and find a way to use the original speedo and gauge cluster and make the old shift lever go onto the newer trans so everything looks original. And yeah, it will take modification of some sorts but eh. Just seems like a fun project to have as a daily driver.

Edit:

Here's the video of that ratrod I got inspiration from.

 

Hey, it says not to call it a rat rod. Not sure what else to call that thing...... My shifter after the cummins/gm tranny swap came out exactly in the old floor hole.