UPDATE – Chris has decided to lower his asking price to $4,500! Be sure to give this Dodge truck another look.
It seems like Chevy’s late ’50s offerings get all the attention with the Tri-Five cars and the Cameo truck being some of the most popular classics out there, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other great vehicles from this era! Just take a look at this 1955 Dodge C3B. It has killer looks, at least in my book, and isn’t something you see very often. You can find this truck in Duncan, Canada with a $6,000 US asking price and you can make Chris an offer via his Barn Finds Classified!
Chris purchased this truck a few years back and imported it to Canada. He had plans for it, but life got in the way, so the time has come to find a new home for it. And while it needs work, it looks like it could be a great project to take on. You don’t find these Dodge C-Series trucks with the lowside short bed often!
According to Chris, this truck hasn’t been driven in at least 10 years. The original flathead inline-six was long gone when he got it, but there is an engine under the hood. It’s a Poly head 318 V8 out of a ’60s Mopar, which is a pretty serious upgrade over the 115 horsepower six-cylinder. Without knowing exactly what year it is and what it came out of, it’s hard to say how much power it had, but chances are it had around 200 horsepower when new. Chris isn’t sure what it will take to get it running, but hopefully, it just needs a tune-up and fresh fuel.
The interior is obviously going to need a complete makeover, but Chris made sure to send lots of photos of the floors and they look to be in good shape. That’s a huge plus, since finding replacement metal won’t be as easy for this truck as it would be for a Chevy. It looks like all the major components are present as well, which will definitely help with getting it back on the road.
There’s some rust that needs to be fixed, but overall, this truck looks like a great starting place for a project. Or, you could simply do the necessary work to get it back on the road, enjoy it while you track down parts and save up for body and paintwork. Whatever you end up doing with this truck, it will definitely be one cool rig and you certainly won’t see another one at the local show and shines! So, if you’d love to have this truck, be sure to make Chris an offer and leave any questions in the comments section below.
- Asking Price: $6,000
- Location: Duncan, Canada
- Title Status: Clean
List your car here on Barn Finds for only $50!
Pretty sure this model Dodge was the inspiration for “Mater”.
Pretty decent base for a resto project. Seems fair priced also. And on a side note actually the character of “Mater” was based off 56-57 International harvester truck with some styling cues of a 57 chevy 3800. Per Pixar fandom website.
Now that brings back some memories. I had a 55 back in the 70’s, it was a project I got from a friend that took it in trade for some work he had done for a person. It wasn’t running when I got it and took a fair amount of work to get it running, which I did. Unlike this one, that one had a (far as I could tell) 56 Desoto Hemi (probably a 331 from the looks of it) in place of the original 6 cylinder. It was also painted a ugly Robins Egg Blue, looking like it was done with a paint roller.
I was surprised at how lively it was with that engine under the hood. Wish I had kept it but I had to sell that along with a racing go-kart I had built so I could make a down payment on my first house.
Wish the seller best on this one, it’s one of those not so popular models with a lot of potential to it.
In the mid 80’s, the kids school bus driver had a farm and a collection of stuff Mike Wolfe would be proud of. In the barn, he had a truck like this, only pilot house cab, 6 cylinder, similar to this. They had a neat dash. I bought that and a 1951 Ford F5 dump truck for $200 bucks, and the dump truck ran. I sold the Dodge for $200 bucks not running. Hey, it was the 80’s, this stuff was all around the countryside. Fast forward 35 years, and these simply can’t be found, especially like this. The blue motor, I read, is not a Poly, they were red. The blue LA 318 came out in 1970. Doesn’t say the trans, but being a floor shift, I’d think it was a car 4 speed. Be a fun little hotrod truck, and could burn rubber for a block!
The stamped reveal and telltale scalloped lower edge of the valve cover in the picture tell the story – the engine is a poly that somebody painted blue along the way.
Nice truck for the money, with a lot of support for whatever the buyer wants to do with it to be found on the P15/D24-Pilothouse Forum
Not a LA engine, poly headed, look @ the bottom scalloped edges of valve cover, LA’s valve cover perimeter were straight,not scalloped. Also spray cans come in an endless supply of colors.If this engine were painted briter than street hemi orange,using your logic,would be a 413 or 426 max wedge! Right?
True, some 1954 and 55 models had hemi V8’s but they were the smaller Dodge/ Desoto version and completely smaller than Chryslers in all dimensions. I think the 1954’s were actually 241 cu in. and the 55 were 270. That motor got bigger in the next 3 years with stops at 315 and 325, but I don’t think they came in trucks. Perky little motor and quite a sight under the hood.
That may be true, but the one I had definitely was not an oem engine. It had Firedome on the valve covers which was Desoto from what I could tell and apparently was a common swap-out task. It actually had a fairly big engine bay so I image quite a few engines would fit if you could bolt it up to the tranny and had motor mounts.
Is this Duncan on Vancouver Island ?
One of my six brothers had a green one in 63-64. It was a flat head six with three speed floor shift with granny gear. We put a new clutch in it then he sold it. Nice pickup though. I would like to get an older pickup but it’ll have to be here in Texas.
God bless America
I picked up a ‘56 Dodge “Job Rated” pickup from a coworker in 1972 for $50 bucks. It was an all original 1/2 ton truck with a 7 foot bed and higher sides than this truck. Mine had the original 259 V8 and 3 on the tree. The 259 was not a Hemi but a poly engine, also with scalloped valve covers like the poly 318. I stripped it down to bare metal, painted it canary yellow lacquer, stuck some shiney Cragar Classics on it and drove it for 5 years before selling it. It was an awesome truck in every respect. Good riding and driving truck with good power, massive hauling and towing capacity and dependable to the max. I still have the original owners manual.
Our neighbor had one. His was green and white. Three speed on the column. Idon,t remeber which motor he had. I remember on Sundays. He would take his grandson and I up this holler and let us ride our bikes down hill. Sometime if it came a rain and we would have to ride back with hi, He would put the truck in neutral .Turn the key off and drift out. Said it saved gas and every time he would start down hill.He would do it. That was back in the early 60,s.
I had one in 1973 with a 392 Hemi with a push button automatic. The thing idled at 35 mph the day I drove it to school. It was purchased for the 392.
I think if you have the ambition and a reasonable budget, this could be a very neat project and also a very nice pick-up. It would turn allot of heads, as they have never been ,the most popular trucks on the block. I think the asking price is very fair and it has allot of things already done a`nd all the necessary peices are there.
Not a LA engine, this is a mopar “A” engine poly headed,maybe of various displacements, look @ the bottom scalloped edges of valve cover, as RNR stated. LA’s valve cover perimeter were straight,not scalloped. Also this engine is quite a bit wider, larger and heavier than the 273,318,340 and 360 “LA “series “wedge headed”engines.Also spray cans come in an endless supply of colors.If this engine were painted brighter than street hemi orange,using your logic,would be a 413 or 426 max wedge! Right? I own a 66 coronet 440, 440 series of coronets,not engine, which has the 318 poly engine,last year for the old heavy engines. It was painted red as you stated,so some years,some displacement “poly headed” engines were painted red. I also own a 66 Coronet 500,it had a turquoise colored 361 big block 2bbl. Also last year for 361 2bbl. It was replaced by the 383 2bbl. in 67. Hope you don’t take me wrong,not trying to be a jerk,just trying to help educate folks about the cars that I have owned and admired since I was a kid.Mopar or no car!