Advice on possible truck purchase

I am looking at a 1957 D100 with a 340, automatic transmission. The body is solid, very very minimal rust, interior is about 80% complete, starts and runs but needs a little work to make a DD. The asking price is 8500 and I am curious is this is reasonable. It seems fair to me but I am not all that familiar with this mode truck. The suspension and rear end are original and overall the truck is clean. Thanks in advance and Ill post pictures and introduce myself if I go forward.

I know a lot more about the '72-80 models but that sounds pretty reasonable asking price from what you've described. Be nice to know about the 340 in it. Year, original heads, intake, etc. That definitely ads some value, but maybe still a bit high. If it were a 318 I'd say definitely priced too high.

Mid and late 50s Dodge trucks are hard to find, that price is probably not real bad if the truck is in good shape and major changes are not planned. Make sure all the trim pieces are there (inside and out), and make sure there is no hidden rust. Sheet metal and trim pieces are hard to come by and carry a pretty stiff price tag. The front end sheet metal is 57 only, the cab was used through 60, and a step side bed (and rear fenders) was used through the early 80s. If the bed is a Sweptside bed (the bed with the wagon quarter panels attached to the step side bed), all bets are off, it was only used in 57, 58, and 59. in limited production. If the truck has the Sweptside bed, the $8500 price tag is pretty cheap if its not a doctored up rust bucket.

In my opinion, the original rear axle is a disadvantage and would have to be replaced. The original drum brakes on that beam front axle are on the weak end with having 340 power, I'd be swapping to disc brakes with a dual master cylinder. Those changes could add up pretty fast, and would be in addition to the 8500 asking price.

I'm a cheapskate, at $8500, that 57 better be a pretty nice truck I can get in and drive, because with a real 340, when I get it home, I'm swapping the rear axle and adding disc brakes and a master cylinder. Gene

I have only seen pictures so far and they all "look" pretty good but I'm going to see it in person this weekend. That's when I can check the panels for bondo, climb under it and get a good look, check the compression, pull the carpet back to look for hidden patches of rust. The truck is a stepside, not the swept side, and the truck has been repainted so he doesn't have the trim pieces for the exterior that I know of but I will ask to see and go from there. Overall, it looks like a solid truck and the rear end and brakes are the first things I was looking at too and have already been getting a few prices, it isn't going to be cheap. I don't know these trucks enough but I was thinking a bit less because there are a few things that I will have to do right away. Thanks for a good break down like that, I appreciate it.

If you haven’t priced out a front disc conversion, look at Scarebird. I used their kit on my ‘71 D100, and by ordering the rest of the parts through RockAuto, had less than $400 into it with all brand-new, name-brand parts...

Thank you! I will check them out for sure, most kits ive found are around 750.

All I can say is the '57 is probably the best looking of that era truck. Please take pics and post them, we would all love to see it.