This 1949 Dodge B1-B-108 is a barn find recently brought back to life from a horse farm in California. This 68 year old truck is mostly original with 67,000 miles on the L-head flat head six-cylinder engine rated at 95 horsepower and 175 lb-ft of torque. It also has been given a name, The Yellow Rose. Find it in Northridge, California here on eBay for $12,499.99 or make an offer!
The Dodge B-series trucks were the first post-war truck designs from Dodge. They were available in 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton versions as well as a “Pilot House” 5-window cab. These trucks had either a 3 or 4 speed manual transmission and were comfortable at 35 mph in 3rd gear. This particular model doesn’t have the more desirable Pilot House cab but it has had lots of maintenance performed including conversion to a 12v electrical system and the body looks fairly solid although a closer inspection is suggested.
The interior is a humble place to be but there is a heater box and a radio installed in the dash. The seat seems to have been recovered and the insulation is falling off the firewall but from what we can see of the floors they look solid.
I don’t know if these trucks came with a metal bed or a wood bed, but this metal bed looks to be in decent shape for a farm truck. The seller didn’t give us any shots of the frame but it is probably in decent shape given the rest of the body and its California farm home. This would be a great restoration candidate but it could just as easily keep doing farm duty for its next owner! What would you do with it?
Love it, would be cool to restore to original.
The stock running boards were designed to be adjustable. Strictly unholy and move either in for smaller or out for larger. Cool truck.
My 1948 , (was my Uncle Bob’s) rescued from California where it was destined to be sold by my Brothers wife . I drove to California (where it had never left) with my trailer and brought it back to New Hampshire where it will be cherished . A great decision and a close call !
2 fuel tanks?
My Uncle used this old Dodge to haul lumber and supplies from Poway to June Lake in Southern California an 800 mile round trip . It had large racks for hauling the lumber and double springs and double tanks . He was an engineer and had rebuilt the engine years ago . It runs flawlessly .
Well worth the trip, if for the memories only.
But, a really nice solid truck. Good on you!
Very nice! I wouldn’t kick this truck off my driveway either. The bed floor was most likely wood planks; the diamond plate was definitely a replacement. It’s likely not going anywhere unless it’s removed. I can’t figure out why so many people want to convert a 6V system over to 12 unless they want to run a bunch of modern accessories. These worked very well on 6V and I see no reason to change them. Some might complain about hard starting hot, which there were some problems but nothing that running a starter with (4) poles instead of the usual (2). We had a ’49 Dodge 1-ton flatbead and it worked just fine with 6V.
Hi Geomechs, With my car I intend to stay with 6 volt, but I will be adding a 12 volt RV battery in the trunk to run a stereo and my power seats. I may add an alternator on to the pulley drive to keep that battery up to snuff. Besides you never know when you might have to boost yourself. Also still kicking the idea of putting fuel injection on the flatty. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
My grandfathwr gave me one of these when i was 15…my older cousin sold it for scrap witbout telling me….so if i bought it i would park it on my cousins right foot for breaking my junior high heart.
I bought a 1950 B2B 5 window out of a barn in Vermont a few years back , it had 23000 miles on it was gonna hot rod it , but found it in such nice original condition tha t I just cleaned it up and drove it on and off for several years storing it in the winter months , one day a Husband and wife showed up at my house and made me an offer I could not refuse , they had one just like mine when they first started out and really missed it . now they own that one hope they enjoy it as much as I did . I learned to drive on one of these that my Dad had and always had a soft spot for one !
the bed floors were wood with metal strips originally, but the steel floor was a very common fix when the boards rotted.
we had a ’50 when I was young, with very little rust for an Ohio truck.
Grandpa traded it for a new ’66 Chevy, ostensibly because the charging system was out of whack (ammeter reading diischarge instead of charge). this would have been easy to fix- new regulator and/or generator at worst. I suspect he just wanted a new truck and used this as an excuse.
would love to have either one today…….
Hey Joe! Truck Looks Good!
My brother had a 53 for years. It only had 3x,xxx miles and original paint. He got it from an old school chum who purchased it from the original owner. Used on the farm it had the usual dents and scrapes associated with working for it’s keep but was very solid with a great original interior and original wooden bed. He kept it in his garage while his new car sat outside. A man who knew what was valuable.