My oldest son, thirteen, says he wants something like a '40 Plymouth coupe for his first car. I like the idea of doing a project with him to teach him and to make some memories. I can do all mechanical, welding and some body work. Tentative plan would be to put it on an early Dakota chassis for drivability, and a roll cage for added safety. Looking for advice from others that have a daily driver street rod. We live in North Eastern Indiana, so we do have a real winter.

Thanks

user "poorboy"[gene] has built a couple that i know of. the first one was an early 50's dodge pickup that i "think" was on a 4x4 dakota chassis. if i remember, that one got crashed. the other one is a 48 plymouth coupe built like an early dirt car. it is pretty neat ! and it started out as a really roached out junker, fresh from the bone yard. he did a really good job resurrecting it !

My 39 Plymouth truck is on a Dakota chassis. Truck to truck seems to work well. If you have a decent coupe save yourself some time and go mustang II. My truck had a hacked frame or else I would of gone this route. The Dakota frame is almost to wide for anything that you want to lower as the wheels get into the fenders.

Some inspiration

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It's only work!

Thanks guys! Good info moparpollack. I did some searching, and I like the welderseries.com stuff. I had been thinking about doing a '36 - 50's truck for myself, and that's where I originally came up with the idea of the Dakota chassis.

P.S. Love the truck!

those dakotas use a higher offset wheel---if you go to old school slotted mags they are somewhat wide----if you run the stock dakota wheel or an intrepid/concord wheel you are good to go.....

Roy, as of lately I have not had any daily driven street rods but in the past we have. My wife had her 34 ply sedan as her daily car for about 10 years, we lived in Rochester NY and she drove that car every day back and forth to work from April to about Dec or till they started putting salt on the roads, but as you can see by the picture below. we did get caught in a ice storm.

I drove my 36 humpback panel for over 12 years as my daily car except for the winter months

then I built a 41 willys on a dodge ramcharger 4x4 chassis so I could have a year round street rod.

my COE, the 34 dodge and the car hauler were also daily drivers and all were very reliable .

I would say you son could use one as a daily driver but you might want to get something for winter use(crazy drivers around these days)



all these street rods were daily drivers:

Yes, my 55 5.7 Hemi powered Dodge pick up. It has an 04 Dakota front clip and triangleated four link with coil overs in the back.

The Dakotas chassis old cars and trucks make great daily drivers, just like driving a Dakota from whatever vintage the chassis is from, with a cool old body on it.

That said, the biggest issues with 1930-1960 cars and trucks are keeping the inside dry and warm, and most important, keeping the windshield and side windows clear. The defroster system on the older stuff just is not up to par with the current stuff. In trucks, up to the mid 90s redesign, they simply were not concerned about keeping water out of the inside of the cab. Trucks that had functioning AC faired better, but standard non-AC cabs had issues with vent, defrost, and keeping the glass dry. Lets not forget the melting down the blower fuse because the defrost blower was on high all the time so we could see. Cars tended to see improvements in the mid 80s.

My 50 truck was mounted on an 80 Dodge W150 4x4 chassis. It was first built around 1996. As a truck it worked great, but any precipitation (rain or snow, or anything between) resulted in water running down the windshield posts, and fogged up windshield until it got warm (at least 10 minutes running around town fan on high). I carried a squidgy and added an extra fan pointed at the driver side windshield to keep the inside glass clear. The truck only had a single piece of metal overhead, condensation would drip on your head, until I added the Mylar bubble coated insulation, (then I suspect it merely ran off to the sides). The 50s cab simply wasn't designed to channel water out of the cab. Door and window seals were a constant battle. A trip out of town on a cold winter night was a cold drafty, hard to see proposition. In town, or during daylight wasn't a bad deal, but it was cold in the winter, and hot in the summer. The truck got killed when a lady decided to turn left in front of me. The cab was salvageable, the frame was toast. I wasn't wearing the lap seat belt. I believe if I would have had the lap belt on, my head would have hit the center of the windshield instead of the header above the windshield. I got 11 stitches in my forehead and a sprained thumb, the lady had airbags and was unhurt. Mounting that 50s cab works a lot better on a Dakota frame then it does on a full size truck frame.

My current 48 Plymouth business coupe is on a 90 Dakota frame. The long box standard cab frame was shortened 8" and the cab and drive train was moved back 7". I used the Dakota floor pan and firewall. The very rusty coupe body was trimmed to set over top of the trimmed to match Dakota floor & firewall, and the Dakota box floor completed the car's floor. I am using the Dakota heat/AC box (currently without the AC functioning) basically untouched (I had to trim the incoming air end to fit within the 6" narrower, at the firewall body.

The coupe had a fresh air vent on the cowl in front of the windshield, that has been removed, and a new cowl system was built and attached to the bottom 1/2 of the Dakota firewall. Except for a 3" x 4" hole up high in the cowl, the cowl is sealed off from the passenger compartment. I custom built the dash, and the defrost ducts, heat was not a primary concern, a clear windshield and dry feet were. The windshield is bonded to the car instead of being mounted on rubber gaskets. The windshield, dash, and cowl are dry, 3 years after construction. The defrost clears most of the windshield in a couple of minutes (about as fast as it did in the Dakota). There are compromises at the extreme edges of the windshield, by nature of the shape of the 48 body. The condition of the original body of my car is the issue currently with all year driving. The fit of the doors is not tight, and there currently is no weatherstripping around the doors. There is also not a sealed division between the trunk and the passenger compartment. Driving down the road in cold weather results in a cold breeze coming from behind the seat and across your neck. The car is a comfortable ride until the temp reaches about 40 degrees, then the cold breeze gets me. Probably with due diligence that can be resolved, but the car was not intended to be a winter driver. Even with a limited slip rear axle, the car is quite helpless in snow (which could be corrected as well, I suspect).

My conclusion, the old car and truck bodies can be great drivers for 3/4 of the year. In places that actually have winter, the winter driving can be done, but it will be challenging build with concentrated effort for those winter drives.

On more consideration you must make. Car insurance is difficult to obtain on a daily driver old car for anything more then liability insurance. Sometimes even just getting liability coverage is difficult. Just liability insurance means if you wreck your old car, its all yours to fix, the loss will be all yours. I can only get liability insurance on my coupe if I want to be able to drive it daily, or whenever I want. If I wreck it, I will have to fix or replace it out of my own pocket. Something to think about when you put the $5,000-$10,000 old car daily driver on the road. Gene

Some really great info guys, and some cool vehicles! Thanks!! This is the stuff I would not have thought about until we had issues.

My son has changed his mind and wants to do a '39-'47 Dodge truck now. He likes stock to a little lower ride height, doesn't like them real low, but this could change as he gets older and want an air ride system. Would you recommend using a chassis from, dare I say, an S10 or use stock frame and upgrade it? Regardless of what frame is under it, we are a die hard Mopar family and it will get a Mopar drive train. I'll rework the dash for better defrost and add sound deadner / insulation to the entire cab. Add door jamb vents to help ventilation?

Thanks for the info poorboy.

Dakota! Still the right answer.

R.

I recommend a Dakota chassis as well
the S10 is useable but it is a little narrow, you might need to use reversed wheels, and the steering box may limit how big of a radiator you can use.
dakota's are almost to wide but with the right wheels they work out great..
see the 2 below.
My Squattie truck, I used a mid 80's dodge D50/Mitsubishi truck chassis, it worked great....




this is on a dakota chassis




this is my son's truck on a dakota chassis




this was my Squattie truck on a dodge D 50 chassis

Thanks guys. My son really likes your son's truck, Ron. He said that's the ride height he wants too. What do you think about using the Dakota's drive-train, like the 4.7 or 318 if it's older? I have a 360 I can build for him too. He doesn't have a preference right now, although he did ask for 1000hp lol. Does it matter which Dakota length to start with, reg cab long bed, short bed, club cab? I know I'll need to shorten it some.

Thanks again

I agree, Dakota chassis all the way, I think I'd look for a 96 or older, the 96 was the last of the first gen. The 97s look like a shrunk down big Dodge truck and they got a bit heavy sometime in the early 2000s. The standard cab short box frames are a little short, I believe all the others are too long. Its easier to shorten the frame then it is to extend one. I'd look for one with a slightly longer wheel base then the original truck your using the body from.

I think any of the Dakota drive trains will work well, keep in mind, you may have to move the drive train back on the frame a little.

My 48 Plymouth coupe (on a 90 standard cab, long box Dakota chassis, shortened 8", drive train moved back 7" for the car body) has the 3.9, 5 speed. It pulls the car around pretty good (I can get a chirp in 3rd with a 3:55 limited slip & 235 x 75 x 15 radial tires), but its not a drag racing monster. It is quick enough to get a guy in trouble if he is not careful, the 5 speed makes it fun. The 3.9 is a littls short of the 1,000 hp though. Gene

I have (2) 40's projects going(not finished)
(1) 46 COE(cab over) on a 93 Dakota chassis with the 5.2efi and 518 trans
and a 47 dodge panel truck sitting on another 93 dakota chassis.
there is a great area on these frames to shorten them, on my coe I shortened it like 2 feet.
and Gene is right you will need to move the engine and trans back around 6"

also remember you will need to get a new wiring setup or have to use one and ECU from the dakota truck to make the efi and trans work.
I haven't got that far yet.
there is a guy here on moparts that will redo your stock harness for you for a fair price.

Good to know. This is just a different than I'm used to. Always had muscle cars and drag cars I've built. I'll rewire the Dakota harness myself. I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I have an associates degree in automotive tech and was working in one of the best dealerships in the area. I got an opportunity in hire in the factory where my dad worked at triple what I was making with benefits too, so I took it. That was almost 27 years ago so cobwebs have grown lol

The advice you guys are giving is greatly appreciated!!