Gallery Page 63
Tim Sheldon's 78 Power Wagon
Tim has been a Mopar fan since the late 60's. His 2nd car was a 68 Belvedere and he has had about 20 different Mopars ever since, ranging from sport coups to pickups. This is his latest...a 78 Power Wagon 4x4. He found it at at wrecking yard, realized it had potential, so saved it from being smashed. He paid only $175. Three of the tires were flat and it had some minor dents on the drivers side, a little rust around the rear fender wells and some of the trim was missing. The rear bumper and tailgate were banged up pretty bad, and the motor didn't run but the tranny and transfer case turned out to be good. Tim stripped it down and cut the rust out and after many hours of body work it got it's primer. He pulled the heads and all looked good. It even had fresh antifreeze in it. So he bought a new set of gaskets, plugs, wires etc and put it back together. He removed the fuel line going to the carb and spun it over. It looked like chocolate milk then he pulled the carb. It was rusted inside the bowl so off came the tank and he replaced them both. He also added an electrical fuel pump. Tim put it all back together, fueled it up, turned it over and it fired right up...It's been running good ever since. One day Tim plans on putting a big block in it. Right now it has a 318. It's now painted and ready to drive. One added note...the original bench seat did not have a tear in it! If you would like to contact Tim about his Mopars please email him at: tshelton99@aol.com Also, here's the 71 Dart Tim saved from the wrecking yard.
UPDATE: Tim Acquires Another 78 Power Wagon!
Tim's 78 Power Wagon has a 440 in it and is actually in better shape then the first one he purchased. He had looked at it about 7 years ago when it was sitting in a field where it had stopped running and the owner just left it. It hasn't been tagged for the highway since 1984. It was being used on a farm until it broke down over 10 years ago. A few months ago the farm was sold to a developer and the truck had to be moved. A friend of Tim's purchased it for $250 and got it running. The gas tank had a hole in it and the lines had rusted shut. The truck was going to take more time and $ than Tim's friend wanted to invest, so he sold it to Tim for what he paid for it...$250. Nice deal! It has 81K original miles on it. Thanks for saving the Power Wagons, Tim!
UPDATE #2: Tim has been busy! He found a nice pair of bucket seats for his white 78 and has them installed already. He also rebuilt the 318 in his white 78.
Are you proud of your Dodge truck or car? Want to show it off? Please email me a pic along with a description of your vehicle and I will add it to the Gallery.
Joe Leonard 2007-02-08