Posted by Joe Cimoch on June 03, 1997 at 21:34:43:
In Reply to: RESTORATION QUESTIONS posted by Peter A. Jung on June 03, 1997 at 18:55:43:
: Hi.
: I've noticed two items of significant interest to
: restorers of other (non-Power Wagon) vehicles. I'd
: appreciate some insight from the Forum on these topics:
: 1. Restorers tend to make a big deal out of "matching
: numbers" on major components like engine and frame.
: Yet, I've never seen this issue mentioned on the Forum.
: Did the '45-'68 Power Wagons even have an engine number?
: Was it stamped on the frame, along with the serial
: number of the truck? I've seen guys get really
: anal on this subject (again, non-Power Wagon vehicles)
: to the point of searching out age-dated manifolds to
: match the build date on their vehicles. And the age
: date doesn't even show when the manifold's installed
: on the engine!
: 2. Two of the four vintage PW's I've looked at have had
: incorrect beds installed. A 40's vintage had a 3-stake
: pocket(post 1951 vintage) bed, while a 60's vintage had an
: early (pre-1951) 4-stake pocket bed. Is it pretty
: common practice to replace a rusted out or damaged
: bed with another, vice repairing the stock one? Does
: anybody care?
: Thanks for you comments, and thanks for this Forum. It's
: great to have a place to ask these kinds of questions!
: Pete
Hi Pete,
I'll give you my take on restorations. This is my first restoration of a vehicle. I never planned to make a show truck, but rather a truck that was mechanically sound, looked good, a truck I could still work with, and have fun in. It wasnn't important to me that the numbers match on the parts, as long as I had all the parts. Since there were only about 95,000 WDX-WM300 produced, chances are that over the years the trucks that were used for work had some parts replaced. In my case the original frame was severly rotted, and it made sense to replace it. I was happy to be able to get a good frame, more important than having the numbers match. I don't know how much a matching PW is worth, but these don't seem like the kind of vehicles that go for $100,000. Corvettes owners seem to want all numbers to match, have tank stickers, original paint color, and be certified - but that is what's important to tham I guess. I good friend of mine restores classics like Packards, Rolls-Royce, Dusenbergs etc. I've seen a Packard with a Waterhouse body sold out of his shop for $500,000, and it wasn't the original engine, or the original paint scheme. The PW engines do have serial numbers stamped in. I can tell from my number that it was made on December 18, 1967 (my truck is a '68). So my point is that matching isn't important to me but to some folks it is.
As for the beds, a good bed is better than no bed, if the rest of the truck was good. I'd probably look around for tha correct bed, and enjoy the truck in the meantime.
Just my two cents worth.
Joe