Rumblon, www.KillBillet.com rat rod site has several International trucks built using Dakota chassis in the "50s rat rod truck" section. Most of those guys get after it and get them built, some are very nice trucks with original worn cab finish. One guy used a Hemi Durango under a 50s international, and kept all the computer functions of the Durango on the International.

If you can't transfer the info between a 50s International cab/box and a 50s Dodge cab/box, your in over your head.

Supercuda, In the last 4 months I've bought 3 91-96 Dakotas, 2 were V6 5 speed, for under $500 each. Rusted bodies with good frames, running and driveable. Not pretty, but I'm not using the body panels, messed up or broken doors or glass. I also don't care about the condition of the brakes (I'm going to replace them anyway) or the tires (I'm probably getting new tires as well). But then, I'm not in Texas either. I suspect if it wasn't for the rusty panels, the trucks I bought would likely have been more costly. Sometimes a cheap start costs a lot more in the long run. If a truck has everything your looking for and it functions, spending a bit more is not unreasonable. Any Dakota $1,000 or under is worth looking at. If its been on the market for a while, cash in hand, person to person, is a powerful buying tool.

If your buying a truck your taking apart, don't worry about the condition of the parts you are not going to use, the value is on the parts you want, if those are in good shape, the price of the truck only needs to be less then buying the parts separately,and the rest is scrap value. If the parts are worth more then the truck price, its a good deal. Gene