Thinking of buying this and using my dakota extra can 318 magnum donor for it. I could do a lot with this.

anyone here build one?


RUMBLON

Anyone know if these rigs came in 1/2 3/4 and one ton and what these may be? Im trying to find the wheelbase but can only find 1/2 ton at 116 inches?

RUMBLON

My book lists a 1/2 ton as 116" wheel base. 3/4 ton as 120" wheel base, and a 1 ton as a 136" wheel base. There is also mention of a 1 1/2 ton panel, but does not give any specs. The book says the grill and grill surround were the primary differences between the 1936 through 1938 panels, and light duty trucks. Gene

Here's a link to someone who "restored" one.

http://1937dodge.blogspot.com/

According to his tag breakdown it's a 1/2 ton 116 wheelbase.

buy it ! those are not as rare as the 33-[halve year] 35 suicide door trucks, but still very rare. buy the one next to it too ! i love humpbacks ! just don't take as long as me to get it done.......

I read that as well and these look longer and heavier than a half ton. To me the the rear cab looks longer than the half ton pics I see on line. I am in email conversation with the guy. The rigs are many hours from me. Hes asking $5500 for the pair.

I am waiting for pics.and wheel base measurements. However, no titles.

any idea what the heavier ones weigh?

RUMBLON

Dunno what it is like in ID, but I run from no title vehicles. Too much can go wrong and the costs to do the paperwork too much, imo.

I didn't know there were any Dodge humpbacks left to be resurrected! They were so hot in the '70s.

Both states with which I am familiar have a bonded title program. It is necessary to get a bill of sale from the seller, I'd suggest getting it notarized. Get his name, address and driver's license number at minimum.

It really helps if you can find a VIN or serial number or whatever the manufacturer was using at the time.

Then you take all this plus a few hundred dollars to the MVD and be patient. Bonded title FAQs are all over the internet.

Generally I tend to agree with Supercuda about the titles, although the requirements (hassles) and costs can vary greatly from state to state. Here in Arizona it's not too bad and if it were here and I was interested in it it would not necessarily be a show stopper.


"....It really helps if you can find a VIN or serial number or whatever the manufacturer was using at the time....."


If it's still there there should be a tag on the firewall (drivers side) with the body number. The main VIN is hand stamped at the very front of outside the drivers side frame rail (forward of the front tire. As I recall those numbers should match. I personally would run the numbers thru DMV prior to parting with any money.

I would also get the engine serial number (stamped on boss on left side of block between 1 and 2 cylinders) assuming it still has an engine in it and run that thru DMV to. The reason for that is that many states titled the vehicles by the engine number instead of the body numbers.

As soon as the truck is in your possession I would get it and/or the paper work to DMV and get a good title in your name before spending another dime or putting a single new part on it.

Ok, so I have some more info now. Title aside, what do you guys think of the rigs. The issue is tat they are both one tons and that means 136 inch wheelbase. S o they are not the shorter 1/2 mods. I am guessing the 1/2 tons are more desirable? Next I would need a few parts and I am GUESSING that they would be hard to find in the one ton variety.

The seller says that the better one is the 37 which is the complete one. However it has no engine or trans, and I need an engine/trans in Idaho to get a title.

The 37 is missing the front bumper, comes with extra front fenders, extra hoods ect.

The 36 is missing the rear fenders and the rear bumper. I am guessing to complete it, I would need one ton rear fenders or are they the same as lighter trucks? ANY IDEAS?

In all honestly I may be better off buying the set and trying to put the second one together as a more complete rig to sell it and try and offset my buying price. That is if there is enough people out there looking for suck a rig. I would hope to buy both, get idaho titles on both and sell the lesser one. THATS A LOT OF HOPING however.

I honestly appreciate the opinions of the guys on here and appreciate any input. Also where is Ron on this issue. I need your advise.

RUMBLON

MORE PICS Shows some rust on the bottom edge. Guys says the floors are all wood, I didnt know that.

I ran thru the bonded title circus last summer. There are certain DMV offices that handle that out here, closest one was 1.5 hours away, no one knew what they were doing and I ended up paying for an appraisal that I didn't need, appraiser (used car lot) told me I didn't need it as the law had changed but the DMV said I did, returned paperwork from DMV said "not needed". I suppose I could have paid even more for one of those places that do this kind of stuff for you, but geez it was already too much just for the DMV fees, I essentially did a mail order bonded title, lots of fun. You couldn't pay me to do it again.

But if I ever was dumb enough to do it again I can guarantee the purchase price I'd be willing to pay for your "all it needs is a bonded title, it's easy" vehicle will be no more than half of what you want for it and likely much less than that. If it's so easy, you get it and sign it over to me when you do.

The process for a bonded title here in IL is not so bad, if you have a friend that is a licensed auto dealer registered to sell used cars here in IL, and a friend that can run the numbers through the police data base before parting with your money.

If the panel was ever sold with a lean against it, you will have to seek out that lean holder and have then sign off on it, and if it was ever reported as stolen, it goes back to the person it was stolen from, or their insurance company.

If there is no serial number or motor number, you can't get a bonded title, at least in IL.

Any of the above circumstances exist, they are reason enough to leave the panels stay where they are sitting.

The 1 ton trucks were pretty big, 9' long behind the driver seat, not nearly as desirable as a 1/2 ton, or a 3/4 ton. Definitely wood floors behind the driver seat, can't say about the rest of it. From the hump forward, they are standard pickup ware of the same year, from the hump rearward is humpback specific parts, including the rear fenders (but probably fit several years). The frames are the heavy duty commercial version, rather then the car or light duty pickup. Gene

Relatively speaking the Idaho title process doesn't sound overly expensive or horrible.

https://itd.idaho.gov/dmv/vehicleservices/documents/conditional_titles.pdf


That being said, you can always expect to run into an employee who is not familiar with the process and that gathering the required paperwork/inspections will take longer than expected.

The only thing that would concern me about the 37 is if you are correct about it having to have an engine to get a title for it. I personally would not put any additional labor or parts into it until I had a clear title in my name. Of course I would not be above throwing any old junk engine in the back of it and telling them it will be going in the truck when I build it if I could get away with it

I dunno, the conditional title requirements, which would seem to apply here, look to be tedious to say the least.

All it takes is for the titled owner to say "hey I want my vehicle back" and you are out your $5000, or for him to say "I want $5000, too" and you are out $5000, either another $5000 to pay off the owner or the original $5000 you spent to "buy" them to begin with.


Which is why I run from this problem.

It looks to me like if a serial number is present, the process is neither overwhelming nor expensive. There is a 3 year limit anyone can claim the panel belongs to them, and they will have to prove that it belongs to them. If no claims have been made within the 3 years, the new paper work is binding.
Id start out with having the serial number/vin search done. If that comes up clean, buy the truck ($5,000 is a lot of money for something without a title and has stuff missing), and start the process. once the paper work process has been started, start on the build, it will probably take almost 3 years to build the thing. Register the thing after it is road worthy, and as soon as the time limitation has been met, get the branding off the title. 3 years goes by quicker then you think. Gene

having to hunt down the titled owner, send certified letters for release and even then if the titled owner wanted to they could take it back, or demand money to release it, etc all make me nervous about plopping down any cash to begin with. Especially $5k worth of cash.

I suppose one could get the release before paying for it. Then you'd be ok, aside from the legwork.

What about a special construction or street rod title for a vehicle being built from parts? Which It will be when you are done,new engine,possibly frame and salvaging only the body. RT

Just do it the easy way and go to a rod show and buy a title.No hassles and most rod guys could care less.

That approach works OK until you get caught up in some small town speed trap and they start looking for a vin/serial number that matches the numbers on the license registration. They can throw you into their crow bar hotel and impound your ride until they think its OK to release your ride, which may never happen.

The deal is, most states only keep records back 7 - 10 years, except for stolen vehicles. The odds of finding the original owner are pretty slim. If there is a company name on the panel, you may want to start looking there. Its possible a company may still have the original title, and the whole deal might solved pretty easy. If you can get the original title, you can go to the seller and get your truck!

If the state can't identify the last registered owner, it will revert back to whoever signed the bill of sale receipt. That was probably the guy that happened to have been given the panel from his great uncle Ed that passed away back in ????. You would be required to send the registered letter to his uncle Ed, who is now dead, so the registered letter comes back as undelivered, which meets the state requirements. You have done so with good faith.

In the unlikely event, someone shows up at the DMV with an original state issued paper title that matches the serial number on the panel, in their name, within 3 years, there will probably be an issue, but the value of the panel will be whatever it was appraised at when you started the project. The reality is, if you buy something with a state issue title, and someone shows up with a title dated earlier then the one you have, you will also have some issues to deal with. You can buy a surety bond to protect yourself, and do a Bonded title, if you are really concerned. A bonded title has some degree of protection. Gene