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Rudy's description of his truck: I picked up the STANDARD CATALOG of 4X4's a couple years back as I am a long-time IH Scout fanatic and basically just love old 4X4 vehicles in general. I always liked the IH Travelall and owned a rare '64 4-door panel unit at one time but the old style GM Carryalls caught my eye and so did the Power Wagon Town Wagons
I am not a big fan of the bow tie and have always liked Mopars to some degree so I told myself if I ever find a decent Dodge Power Wagon Town Wagon I am gonna git it!! About two months later the September 1998 Hemmings shows up in my mailbox and right before my eyes there is an "all original" unit for sale in California.
I called Ed Kish in Alta, California who deals in vintage 4X4's out of his dad's used car lot and he informed me that he just purchased the rig from the original owner's daughter. He informed me that her dad recently passed away and she had it up for sale in a Sacremento newspaper. He checked it out and bought it obviously to turn it around and make a profit. No shame in that. I sent for pics and they arrived right before my girlfriend (now my wife) were heading out to IH Scout Nationals in Ohio. Ed said he had other people interested in it (what a salesman!!) so we haggled a bit and I bought it. Had it shipped back home to Pittsburgh, PA and it looked pretty good. Basically as he described...front floor rust under the factory mats, rust under each front door but other than that it was super solid, ran and drove and I liked it.
The only missing piece was the air cleaner which I picked up at Vintage Power Wagons in Iowa. After checking it out my mechanic friend Jim Gibbons (Gibby) decided we should do a complete brake job, rebuild the 225 slant six including the carb and check/replace the bearings, etc. In the meantime I got the seats recovered and purchased some bias ply skinny ass mud treads that look totally retro on the original lock-ring rims. Also, had the gas tank boiled out and coated. The body checked out real well with it being repainted one time in it's original Indian Turquoise color long ago. The front floors were a little shaky so my friend Steve Johns who is a certified Mopar master technician offered to weld in new metal. We were lucky the body mounts were not rusted. It seems the "horse hair" backing/insulation on the back of the mat got wet over the years and rot started. Steve did a great job on the floor and they look "factory". He also rebuilt my clutch slave cylinder and installed a new clutch master cylinder to be on the safe side. Word to the wise: use Castrol DOT4 LMA or DOT 5 brake fluid because they do not absorb moisture and ruin your hydraulics over the years. Everyone keeps asking me when I am going to restore it. No plans for now. I just love driving it as is!! The paint is faded and "chalky" but I think it looks great! The four-speed shifts nice. It has 4:10 gears so the slant six will get it close to max highway speeds. Steve wants to build me an old style HEMI for it but I like it just the way it is. My wife and I use it on the weekends for going to the hardware store and to antique shows and swap meets where it always draws a crowd. I hope you like it as much as I do.
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