Believe it or not, this 1985 Dodge W250 Crew Cab still runs and drives despite looking like it just left the barn. It’s got plenty of needs, from rust issues to a busted ignition, but this is the sort of rig that you’re going to have to work really hard to kill. The seller notes it’s equipped with the venerable 318 mill and that it was originally ordered new by the Air Force. The listing describes a combination of options not necessarily available to civilians, from a quad cab, short bed configuration to the manual transmission / 318 V8 combination. There’s a lot of work ahead of the next owner, but at least it runs. Find it here on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $7,000 and the option to submit a best offer.
To me, rare spec or not, that is an ambitious asking price for a truck in this sort of condition. Of course, the seller could be thinking more about getting a serious offer in rather than selling for this price, given the number of tire kickers out there. Still, you’re looking at lots of cosmetic and mechanical work if you want to bring this one back to life, as even the taillight lenses are described as cracked and likely not worth using. The tailgate looks salvageable, but it’s still loaded with dents and paint damage. The bumper has taken a few whacks in its day, which is not surprising if it spent years languishing on an Air Force base as the beater workhorse.
The shame of it is despite the desirable equipment, the floors will need replacing due to a vinyl mat sitting on top of it and moisture getting into the truck unabated for years. The seller is officially asking slightly too much for this truck (in my opinion) in light of the revelation about the floors needing replacement. The question is does the rare assortment of equipment make it worthy of rescuing, or is it simply a parts truck that should loan its desirable bits to a better chassis? It’s hard to say, especially if you’re searching for a four door cab with a short bed – that’s likely not an easy combination to track down. The seller reports the inner and outer rockers are solid, as are the frame rails.
The bed looks to be pretty good, but there could be a hole or two hiding in the corner pockets. The seller reports that mechanically, the 318 V8 will fire up and run but you’ll need a screwdriver to do so. The truck is also running off an external fuel source as the tank needs to be cleaned out and they will not be attempting that prior to the sale. Other features of note include Dana 60 front and rear axles, and an NP205 transfer case which the seller says works as designed, going through the low and high ranges without issue. A lot of tasty equipment and a truck that is likely near impossible to kill, save for the tin worm that never sleeps.
(M)ostly (O)ld (P)arts (A)nd (R)ust. Might not even be good for parts.
We said, “Mostly Oddball Parts And Rejects”. They were just the best trucks, regardless of where the parts came from. Military used them for a reason, well, that and probably the best deal. My best offer would be $500 bucks. Hang a plow on it, and park ‘er ’round back.
That seems like a lot for what you would be getting maybe $800-900 at the most
most of these were ordered by Airforce for flight line duty to get pilot that were scrambling out to their planes. I suspect floor pans will not be easily found.
Most Dodge p/u tricks from this area had rusted out floors, The rubber mats had what appeared to be horsehair padding that kept the water. No a/c and probably no power steering
Standard issue SAC alert truck. The horn goes off and the B52 bomber and KC135 crews used them to get to their alert aircraft. At northern bases we had oil dipstick heaters, cab heaters, block heaters, radiator heaters, battery heaters and were always plugged in. No matter as they still would not start.
We had 318 with auto Dodge trucks for a time in the Army. The 318 was so weak… I once tried to drive over a curb in a parking lot to get closer to a building to unload something and the truck literally would not climb over the curb from a dead stop. I had to backup and get a rolling start to climb over the curb.
then something was drastically wrong with it, 318s are great engines.
Maybe “reliable” in a light weight car. But 318 never was much of a performer, especially when putting it in a 5000 pound truck and expecting it to haul military equipment off road. All our Dodge trucks were real dogs.
Item location:
Ogden, Utah
If you look at the picture of the visor you see how much rust there is in the windshield area of the roof. Basically not worth fixing
It is actually an ’81 model. These are great trucks, and this is even one of the rarer ones having factory A/C. Truck has rust because it’s from rust land, not because of the manufacturer. In the southwest these don’t even have a pinhole of rust anywhere. That being said, many of the military trucks don’t have A/C, thus the front door windows are left wide open for nine months of the year, causing the floors to become a lake every time it rains. Sadly, this one will need a replacement cab and bed for it to be right again. Asking price is astronomical for the condition it is in, though the seller does leave the option to make an offer.
Most of these 4dr dodges, if they’re in any way salvageable, get snatched up by ppl that want to use them for conversions to Cummins diesel power. I know of several builders that try to snatch up every 1 they can for just that purpose. Problem is the horrible tendency for rust along the drip rail area.