Posted by W300Joe on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 at 9:20AM :
In Reply to: Re: WM300 Road Dog posted by David, Maui on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 at 2:08AM :
Well said Maui David! I'd personally planned to take off cross country on a year or two long trip from the East Coast to British Columbia and ultimately Alaska, 30/35 years ago and at that time was asking myself the same question.
Previous to any Power Wagons I'd owned only '30-47 Fords, from passenger cars through 1-1/2 tons. Similarities were: intimate (read close, extremely close!) cab interior is neat, along with cowl vent and opening windshield. Flathead screaming under the hood w/poorly insulated cab, earlier style brakes and non-synchro or wide ratio truck type trans, no power steering, marginal windshield wipers and windshield defrosting, etc., etc. - all charming, but can get quite old on even a nearly flawlessly restored daily driver, much less on a long haul with camper or other load.
Hotrod a flatfender - V-8 or diesel, driveline upgade (read minimum of tranny and overdrive) add disc brakes and powersteering - getting better, but still need to address other issues!
After only owning it for a little over a year, in 1974 I sold my B-2 flatfender ex-fire truck with plow and winch, combat wheels, remanufactured engine and transfer case, rebuilt early spur gear trans, re-arced springs, rewired - great work truck and occaisional longer trip - went to a young farmer who needed a bulletproof snowplow and muddy access truck w/firefighting capabilities! Do I regret it and miss it? Yes!
Since then I've owned and used as daily drivers: a '47 Ford 1-1/2 ton dump, a '35 Ford 1-1/2 ton dumping rack, a W-500 w/Holmes twin boom wrecker, 3 W-300s (pickup, rack body, utility body) - each were my (outside of my wife's car) primary vehicle at the time, all were also used for long haul and daily use, but were MARGINAL!
I briefly owned a C-1300 4X4 International which came closer to an all around vehicle, but 6.16 gears and rust issues prompted a trade to a fairly new at the time, plain Jane '68 W-200 - first truck my young wife would drive!
I never made my John Steinbeck "Travels with Charley" cross-country odessey, but if I were planning one, and had the time and money to rebuild a truck, I'd either convert my '68 P-300 stepvan to W-300 driveline with power strg. and convert it to an "expedition-style" self contained camper, or rebuild one of my W-300s to carry a 10-12' slide in type camper on a custom flatbed or utility body. Necessary mods: min of 318LA w/RV cam and small quad, close ratio 4-speed, power steering, add some cab insulation and comfortable bucket seats.
I'll be able to listen to music or "Books on Tape" if I run my conventional treads up front (2 M&S spares carried), cab will be warm and dry with new weatherstripping, offroad capabilities won't be as good as a FF, but surprisingly close. Gas mileage will probably stink ... only way around that seems diesel, and maybe o'drive... oh well.
If you really want a FF, buy or build a real nice one, look at an Alaskan (telescoping type) slide in camper, drive it till the wanderlust dies and then retire your truck to it's intended use, and enjoy the memories! If the wanderlust doesn't die ... trust me (and so many other readers/posters on this site), a later model W350 w/Cummins will be a welcome change!
W300Joe (hobbyguymaine) ((old windbag))
PS - I never made my trip/trips - marriage and kids, etc. prevented same - DO IT!