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The wife and I had been here about 6 months, Sent to Ellsworth AFB in 1993. The first real snow of the year. We decided to see some of the Black Hills on forst service roads. Had an awesum ride in the Dodge Raider (mitsubishi) came out of the forest into a housing developement and there she sat by the road, covered in a foot of snow.
I saw the out line and made an oooh sound. The wife just groaned and said don't stop.
It was too late. Love at first sight. A 1963 W200 Power Wagon. Holy cow, I hadn't seen one in years. A 3/4 ton with additional helper springs on a short box and a slant-6. Painted the ugliest color brown you had ever seen.
The price seemed high but I had to have it, so $900, 2 new tires, a tune up and replaced seals in the transfercase and that truck has hauled between 6 to 10 cords of firewood for us each year.
Around 1996 I bought a 6' snow plow for it, $200. A bit small, the tires are in the snow when angled but to clear our drive and my neighbor's it has been perfect. I had to weld in some steel to replace the rusted out body mounts about 2 years ago. Otherwise, that truck don't owe me a dime.
Rumor has it it was once a fire truck for the forest service with a big water tank in the back. No reason to doubt it as the green is sneaking through the brown and the rear springs sag quite a bit.
In the mean time I've built a CJ-5 for 4-wheeling and am currently building a Jeepster Commando for my daily driver. Also picked up a 53 CJ-3b and 2 Forward Control Willys Jeeps for future restores (I like Jeeps quite a bit)
My current excitement with the Power Wagon is my latest purchase. (just what I needed, another vehicle) Sitting beside the road during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (earlier this week) was a 1968 W200 Power Wagon. Long box, 318, with a 7' power angle plow (no more manual angling) a hydraulic wood splitter mounted to the rear bumper that runs off the PTO, and a PTO driven winch on front, faded Forest Service green.
How much you ask? OOOOH, $1000.00. Again, the wife wasn't impressed but she does have some appreciation for what the 63 has done over the years (even if she won't admit it) I didn't even drive it or try to talk the owner down in price. He showed me how everything worked (except the winch doesn't, YET) and I was back the next morning with cash in hand.
I got her all tuned up now except I still need to rebuild the carb. Should get that done tomorrow. Then another road test to see if it makes any better power than it did on the trip home. (it was a dog on the hills and seemed to run hot) And I'll also need to check the brakes. Something ain't right there, might just need to get used some.
We just bought a new house, the 63 might go with our old house when we sell it since the drive will still need to get plowed there and I won't be needing it anylonger. It will depend on the buyer. Some people just can't make that 63 run. My wife has a real hard time with it when I'm deployed. She gets in it cursing that she has to drive it to plow the drive. If she would just talk nice to the old truck I think they could work out their differences.
The new one seems to start much easier. The v-8 runs a lot smoother. We'll see how she and the wife get along when I deploy this fall. Hope for an early, heavy snow.
I'll try to get some pictures here soon.
Al
I saw the out line and made an oooh sound. The wife just groaned and said don't stop.
It was too late. Love at first sight. A 1963 W200 Power Wagon. Holy cow, I hadn't seen one in years. A 3/4 ton with additional helper springs on a short box and a slant-6. Painted the ugliest color brown you had ever seen.
The price seemed high but I had to have it, so $900, 2 new tires, a tune up and replaced seals in the transfercase and that truck has hauled between 6 to 10 cords of firewood for us each year.
Around 1996 I bought a 6' snow plow for it, $200. A bit small, the tires are in the snow when angled but to clear our drive and my neighbor's it has been perfect. I had to weld in some steel to replace the rusted out body mounts about 2 years ago. Otherwise, that truck don't owe me a dime.
Rumor has it it was once a fire truck for the forest service with a big water tank in the back. No reason to doubt it as the green is sneaking through the brown and the rear springs sag quite a bit.
In the mean time I've built a CJ-5 for 4-wheeling and am currently building a Jeepster Commando for my daily driver. Also picked up a 53 CJ-3b and 2 Forward Control Willys Jeeps for future restores (I like Jeeps quite a bit)
My current excitement with the Power Wagon is my latest purchase. (just what I needed, another vehicle) Sitting beside the road during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (earlier this week) was a 1968 W200 Power Wagon. Long box, 318, with a 7' power angle plow (no more manual angling) a hydraulic wood splitter mounted to the rear bumper that runs off the PTO, and a PTO driven winch on front, faded Forest Service green.
How much you ask? OOOOH, $1000.00. Again, the wife wasn't impressed but she does have some appreciation for what the 63 has done over the years (even if she won't admit it) I didn't even drive it or try to talk the owner down in price. He showed me how everything worked (except the winch doesn't, YET) and I was back the next morning with cash in hand.
I got her all tuned up now except I still need to rebuild the carb. Should get that done tomorrow. Then another road test to see if it makes any better power than it did on the trip home. (it was a dog on the hills and seemed to run hot) And I'll also need to check the brakes. Something ain't right there, might just need to get used some.
We just bought a new house, the 63 might go with our old house when we sell it since the drive will still need to get plowed there and I won't be needing it anylonger. It will depend on the buyer. Some people just can't make that 63 run. My wife has a real hard time with it when I'm deployed. She gets in it cursing that she has to drive it to plow the drive. If she would just talk nice to the old truck I think they could work out their differences.
The new one seems to start much easier. The v-8 runs a lot smoother. We'll see how she and the wife get along when I deploy this fall. Hope for an early, heavy snow.
I'll try to get some pictures here soon.
Al
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