Dodge Project Trucks

Ok. So I knew the cab was full of crap when I bought it. But it

was gross ! I put a tarp over the truck so that I could leave the doors

open (and still keep the rain out) and let it air out. I put a mouse trap in

the cab and, to my surprise, only caught one mouse. I let it air out for a

few days, before doing any work at all on it. At first, I could smell the

truck when I was within about 20 feet of it. But we finally got a break in

the rain and I was able to remove the tarp and leave the doors open and

let the sun do its magic. When it got to where I could only smell the truck

when I was close enough to touch it, I decided it was ok to begin.

I started by cleaning out all of the “spare parts” in the cab and

bed of the truck. There was a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with the

truck. There were some old, rusty tools, children’s toys, parts from other

old cars, and the mouse condominium of the decade. I can’t believe there

was only one mouse in it. Either he lived there alone, or the rest of them

bailed out somewhere between where we bought it and home. There was

mouse nest in the glove box. There was mouse nest under the seat. The

whole storage area beneath the seat was one big mouse nest. There was

mouse nest behind the seat. I guess the area beneath the seat became

too small. And I later learned that there was mouse nest in the overhead

console. It was packed from side to side and top to bottom, with the only

vacant space being the tunnels running thru it.

As I got the cab cleaned out, I was quickly coming to the

realization that the overall condition of the cab was “better than

expected”. It cleaned up fairly well. After removing the seat and getting

all of the crap out of it, I decided to use the pressure washer to blow all

the loose stuff out. The dirt, dust, flakes of surface rust, etc. Of course, I

would be careful to not spray the gauges, but there was nothing else in

the truck that mattered if it got wet. As it turned out, this was a stupid

idea. The gauges were fine. But even with both doors wide open and the

windshield open, I don’t think even a single bit of crud actually left the

cab. All I accomplished was to very quickly create a whirlwind of crud in

there and, with a little moisture, it was now stuck everywhere (except

the floor). So I left the doors open and let it dry out for a couple of days

and then went back to wipe it all down. But it no longer smells!!

I found some parts for the truck that I didn’t know I had, but for

the most part, I found nothing exciting or of any real value. I learned that

the truck has been several colors over its life. My belief is that it started

out green with black fenders and has been blue, black and very light blue

or white over the years. The engine is designated as a Plymouth engine,

based on the engine serial number. The VIN number on the title matches

that of the engine, which is the way many of these were titled “back in

the day”. I don’t know if this truck would have come from the plant with a

Plymouth engine but the title, when I got it, was thirty years old. So it has

had this engine since at least 1984.