1949 Dodge Route Van

SOLD

Asking Price: $12,000
Location: Boise, Idaho
Mileage: 999
Title Status: Clean

Seller’s Description: Dodge Route Van first appeared in 1948, Job Rated and advertised as the perfect working mans truck and delivery van for the fleet style companies in America. The Route Van was mostly purchased by Department stores, contractors and large companies like newspaper, retail distribution and other companies that needed to move their products around town. Milk trucks, bread companies and even small businesses. A majority of the Route Vans produced were used for years and then turned into scrap yards once they were used up by owners of businesses.
This particular Route Van was purchased by Yellow Stone Parks Dept. to be used as a utility van throughout the camping areas. The van has a Flat head six cylinder engine with a manual 4 speed transmission, granny low. The interior is wide open with a stand up height of 6’3″. The wheel base length is 117″ with an over all length of 17′ 6″. There are panels of the body that need replacement. Fortunately the panels are flat and should be easy to replace. The Van runs and drives very well, I have driven it outside 60 miles in one trip and had no issues. One upgrade that was done by the previous owner was disc brakes on all four corners. This was a great improvement over the drums brakes that were from the factory. One aspect of this van that is not common to find in vans of this era is that the rear suspension is a type of independent suspension. The rear end is held in place in a carrier with half axles going to the hubs attached to a floating I-Beam. I’ve included a picture of my previous route van rear suspension. Suspension on this van is leaf springs front and rear. Access to the engine is from the front and the doghouse inside on the right side of the driver position. Tires are in good running condition and are of the 16″ wheel size. Wheels are the split rim style and the tires are running on inner tubes. The picture of the chassis is from another Routevan that I restored and it is to show you what the rear suspension is like. Feel free to ask for more pics of the van if needed.