Choosing an International for your slammed ’50s pickup immediately sets you apart from the crowd, but this 1955 International Harvester pickup goes much further with a complete chassis swap from a 1996 Dodge Dakota. Check out more pictures and details on this interesting blend of old and new here on Craigslist, where $14,500 inks the title. Thanks to reader Curvette for spotting this Longview, Washington custom.
The airbag wheel looks clean and sporty while being, well, completely wrong here, but if those cruise control buttons work, I might forgive it. Dig that motorcycle gas tank turned center console! Modern analog gauges could blend in fine with a custom bezel. At first glance, we might wonder if that’s the Dakota cab floor, but other shots suggest it’s a giant sheet of white vinyl.
While not everyone appreciates a body swap, a lively digital community of modern Dr. Frankensteins offers a rich library of ideas and techniques. From the typical starting point of two throwaway vehicles, the builder creates something unique and useful, often safer and more capable than many classics. This trend isn’t going away, folks, so before you deride it, consider how closely it resembles early hot-rodding.
Fish-eyed rattle can paint adds “character,” and if that arm rest isn’t already fashioned from a 2×4, it could easily be replaced by one. Those comfy seats might be a little close to the modern collapsible column steering wheel. High-dollar custom ’50s pickups sometimes get a stretched cab to accommodate owners with longer legs or sizable girth.
Here’s the money shot on a body swap. How well do the wheels line up with the wheel openings? I’d call the rear a solid A and the front a B+ grade. We don’t get any engine or undercarriage shots, which seems suspicious. The seller appears to be a dealer and they might be one step removed from the build, granting them plausible deniability, a flipper core value. Also interesting is the seller-described 5.9L (360 cid) V8, which never powered a factory ’95 or any first-gen Dakota. The 5.9 Dakota came in the second-generation 1998+, and only in the special R/T package, according to Wikipedia. Double-check everything and finish the details and you might score an interesting daily driver here for a modest price. The Magnum V8 descended from the 318 and 360s of the muscle car lore, regularly delivering service lives of 200,000 or more. Will you roll the dice on this one-of-a-kind chassis-swapped International?
I like it but if I bought I’d finish it way past this level. Could be a neat truck rather than a piece of work in progress.
Nice write-up on a very interesting Frankenfurter build! I’d also push the envelope to finish this – home center carpet, prolly a respray, but a cool blend of a Bitsa.
Weeeeeell, I always say this is the most logical route for any old truck, however, this is almost borderline rat rod, and could have been done much better. I say the cell phone holder looks more out of place, and I think it is really a cool truck. I always wonder how these “one offs” usually drive. I bet they used it for quite some time as a DD. I had a ’53 R110, and can say those front grills with parking lights intact are incredibly hard to find. Cool truck, but paint the darn thing, will ya’?
Want fresh paint? Buy it and paint it then, LOL! It’s as if a guy cant sell a car that’s not “finished”. What I’m not ok with is the gage panel and the steering column though. You can get ididit type steering columns for a few hundred along with a more appropriate steering wheel. Same with vintage looking gages, and I don’t get the sheet of vinyl on the floor at all. I want the interior to be sorted out and clean. I built a chassis swapped ’58 GMC and it drives just like the ’86 I swapped it onto. I have come to realize that people have many different definitions of a “paint job”. If you just want to scratch and shoot, enjoy your lumpy wavy finish. There’s a lot of time and effort involved in a real “paint job”, so the seller would just pass this cost on to the buyer.
I really don’t like the shiny clear coat over “patina”, would much rather see a natural protective coat, either matt or satin finish. There is also what Derek of Vice Grip Garage uses with boiled linseed oil mixture. Also, no bumpers, especially the front bumper. Why? Just for appearance is dangerous, both for saving the truck and for safety. I have had accidents, and they could have been worse without the bumper.
Agreed, But I do appreciate genuine patina.
Although I have to admire the builders skills, BUT BUT What a way to RUIN a good truck!!!!!!! Yes I am a fan of restorations and drive able rebuilds, and NO fan of restomods!!! Especially with a sloppy job like what was done on this truck..
I’ve got a lot of customers who do this. While I wouldn’t do it, I’m not in a position to dictate what others do.
You’re definitely going to be the one standing out from the rest at the show-n-shine, although the ranks of International trucks are on the rise. I see more of them all the time. I sure won’t kick a decent binder off my driveway…
Geo, Very Nice!!!!! That is the way an IH should look!!!! Is it all original??? The wheels look newer???
Newer engine. I think it’s a Ford 300. Flattened the springs. Wasn’t able to find out a lot; the guy with it wasn’t the owner.
Sorry to be a bummer,but the modern steering wheel and seats it an old vehicle has always looked like garbage to me. Just an old crank’s opinion. And stay off my lawn
I can understand why these get chassis swapped. I just put a clutch in my friend’s 52 L120. We had to have our clutch rebuilt because parts are not available. I had to put the sketchy driveshaft back in because you can’t buy the u-joints reasonably. They just don’t make parts for them.
Really? We stock complete clutch kits for them, plus U-joints, plus a whole shipload of other chassis/driveline/brake components; cab seals and electrical components; even a new windshield…
Please tell me where, we’ve been looking.
NICE!!
NICE wip!!
Very nice! I’d take it as is and finish it the way I’d want it (steering wheel and column and a bench seat).