One of the more intriguing segments of collector vehicles are old-school pickup trucks with four full doors. Sure, these days we take it for granted that every full-size truck should have room for a small family inside, but that wasn’t always the case. In fact, rigs like this 1970 Dodge Power Wagon were few and far between. Not surprisingly, this one was used by PG&E back in the day, and I’m guessing most vintage trucks equipped like this were almost exclusively used by the likes of municipalities, freight transporters, and utility companies. Find this heavily patina’d Power Wagon here on eBay with bids to $5,600 and the reserve unmet.
What a cool old truck. The California black plate is perhaps the best indicator as to how long this Dodge has been off the road, and thankfully, its retirement from regular use happened on the West Coast and not in the rust belt. The patina is excellent, if you’re into that sort of thing, and the tailgate should be hung on a wall if it weren’t attached to a truck in reasonably good condition. The Power Wagon was an innovative offering when it first rolled out to consumers in the late 40s, taking the lessons learned on the battlefield and producing a civilian version of a heavy-duty truck. And here we thought the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon was the first model to make that transition!
The Power Wagon also represented one of the first instances of four-wheel drive being mass produced, another feature we tend to forget wasn’t always so common. This model went on to be used for all manners of heavy-duty applications, from tow trucks to fire fighting apparatuses, and proved itself daily to be capable of withstanding untold amounts of abuse. The truck shown here reminds me of so many of the pickups I’d see when I worked for a bridge authority in New York: four doors, bare-bones interior, vinyl bench seats. For any company or organization that regularly put a crew out into the field, this was the perfect set-up to get teams on site with fewer back-and-forth trips. The interior of this Power Wagon remains surprisingly intact, but that’s also pretty typical for a company car that didn’t see excessive use.
Now, in addition to four full doors, this Power Wagon has another trick up its sleeve: it’s equipped with a 383 big block and four-speed manual transmission. The seller is correct that many of these pickups were equipped with a Slant 6 or a 318 V8; this 383 is a monster of an engine (especially at the time it was introduced), generating a healthy 258 horsepower. Even in a truck this size, that should be enough to get out of your own way – and it reminds me of a supervisor I had who always spec’d his work truck with a radio, vinyl bench seat, and the biggest motor he could get. This Power Wagon is said to have no rust and a minty bed floor thanks to the boys from PG&E putting plate steel over the wood bed, which remains in excellent shape. A very cool truck and likely somewhat unrepeatable.
Well…. Lets see…. 3/4 Ton….. 4WD…… 4 door crew cab….. 383, (no slant six here folks) AND a 4 Speed manual…… This just checks all the boxs folks. Yes, its been used as a work truck, but its all there, and quite solid too rust wise considering the age. It has surface rust, but looks like the sheetmetal is all basically there. Love that rear bumper too. I’d live to have this in my driveway.
Sombodys going grab this. I just hope it gets restored to stock. And especially hope they Keep the 383. This must’ve been a real strong runner back in its day.
This is the same seller that has the red 1969 Bronco featured on this site the other day. Based on his completed sales, a few of which were also featured, he finds some interesting cars and trucks.
A friend recently picked up an early-60’s F250 crew cab, he said he’d been trying to buy it for quite some time. He mentioned how these have become highly sought after, he’s right, that makes a lot of sense based on how popular late model 4dr pickups have become. There is a good chance many will not stay stock and receive some sort of restomod treatment with newer drivetrains and creature comforts that have become the norm over the last several decades.
Steve R
Yes….he sure gets around – San Antone is down south of Texas.
Wonder what up with that LF hub???
Good catch, you’re sharper than I thought,,,just kidding, I always enjoy your posts. Looks like the 4×4 lockout “gone missing” years ago, and I wonder how long they drove it like that? For maybe couple hundred bucks, one could theoretically fix the mechanicals, and take the buddies back in the woods for a tree cutting,,,um, party, but to put this on a paved road, as a driver, be pretty foolish.
Interesting. The RF hub is incomplete plus the RR axle shaft is missing. Looks like the first thing that will be done is to get all four corners apart and get on with some major maintenance work. Sure would be a worthy truck after that battle…
FYI: A black license plate is NOT an indication of how long this truck has been out of use or unregistered.
In CA you can keep the original plate on the vehicle for its entire life, AND you can order brand new black license plates today, even for a brand new vehicle.
The new black plates have different numbering sequences. I was talking to a friend in the CHP and he told me you cannot get the new black plates with any sequence that was produced in the 1960’s. You can register an original set of black plates, if they are cleared by the DMV, so you are right, it’s no longer proof without corresponding documentation. In this case the seller says he has an old California pink slip which would show the license plate number, that’s about as strong as you can get in terms of evidence. Not that the length of time off the road adds much, if anything to its value.
Steve R
I’ve got a set of NOS (never been installed on a car) of
Black & Gold plates.I should probably sell them as I no longer
live in California.
There is a strong market for them on eBay, it might be worth a shot there.
Steve R
LOTS & LOTS of surface rust, but I don’t think I can see ANY rust-thru!!
That’s pretty amazing, as this series of Dodge trucks is known to be pretty rust-prone.
& MOST of the sheetmetal is pretty straight (minus one BIG dent in the passenger side rear fender, one pushed-in passenger side front door panel, a wrinkled driver side lower front fender, & miscellaneous other small dings & dents. ALL should be relatively easy fixes.)
Too BAD the front winch isn’t included, but I’m sure a suitable (& year/model appropriate) replacement could be acquired for not too many $$. (It was probably a Ramsey winch, as that is what I have on my ’78 Power Wagon.)
…
It is worth noting that NO INFORMATION is given about whether or not the engine runs or AT LEAST freely rotates. & similarly NO INFORMATION is given about the working condition of the tranny, xfercase, axles, brakes, electrical system, etc. etc..
So I guess the Seller either doesn’t want to take the time/effort to investigate these details, OR he has deliberately chosen to not reveal the condition of these items, OR he assumes that it will all need to be rebuilt/refurbished anyway. (He DOES include his phone number in the eBay listing, so a phone call to inquire about these items would probably be a very wise choice.)
This COULD result in the winning Buyer being able to snag this truck for a lower price than if the condition of all of these functional items was known. It all depends upon how much interest this ALMOST 55 YEAR OLD Power Wagon generates, whether or not the auction produces at least 2 enthusiastic bidders, & how deep their “eBay fund” pockets are.
…
Bidding is currently at $7500.00 with the reserve still unmet.
I wonder what the seller is expecting to get for this beast!
…
Anyone care to bet on whether or not this eBay listing gets pulled early because some clever Buyer manages to negotiate an off-eBay sale with the Seller directly??
Less than 18.5 hours is left on the listing, so any very motivated Buyers had better do their homework, check their bank account balance, and CALL the Seller ASAP!! :-)
Wow that’s some you don’t see every day,
I wonder which road it takes, total resto as is, or the big mod with 6.7 and six speed.
Could you get the 426 Hemi in this? It’s 1970! Make it plum crazy or pink. Tail stripe?
Do I still get a 90 day warranty?
Auction Ended at 5:05pm on Sunday 3/31 (as scheduled).
Bidding reached a respectable $14077.00, but the Reserve was NOT MET.
(…I wonder what the Seller’s Reserve was set at? $15K? $20K? or more??)
…
Candidly, I would have guessed that $14K would have bought this truck.
Especially given the complete lack of ANY INFO regarding the condition of the drivetrain.
But, then again, what do I know. I tend to buy non-Unicorn running/driving projects, so this is out of my comfort zone.
…
What do YOU think this truck should sell for??
(Correction: The auction ended at 5:07pm. …my brain must have been “off” by 2 minutes. :-P )
I agree – it seems that almost every seller thinks that
their vehicle should sell for big bucks.After the purchase
on this truck,there’d still be a lot more money to be spent
on it.
When I sold my Midget,I was told that I priced it too low,
but I wanted to sell it for a fair price,& not have it for sale
for a long time.
Hi Bear, well, I don’t actually believe this bucket of bolts sold for 5 figures, and if it did, we’re in worse shape than I thought. Like TV car auctions, sing along, you know the words,,,”My baloney has a 1st name, it’s Oscar”,,,
Five figures for me would’ve included the dollar sign and the decimal point. I sure can’t justify the selling price considering the work that is going to be needed in the drivetrain. But then, having had a front row seat to the insanity of the BJ Auction, nothing surprises me anymore…