1964 M43 B1 Dodge Power Wagon - All Original Civilian Mountain Rescue

Description for Dodge Power Wagon 1964

This is an extremely rare, ll original. civilian mountain rescue vehicle. The truck has a great history and figured prominently in paleontological field work in what it now Prehistoric Trackways National Monument. Check out: paleobiology.si.edu/trackwaysIt was originally sold stateside (it has never been overseas so it is not a battle truck) and used sparingly since its purchase and was eventually stored at a Summit County Colorado firehouse. I bought the truck for use as a four-wheel drive paleontological field vehicle, rimarily as a camper at our base camps in the mountains. I was looking for the best one available and this is what I settled on. I never used it for exploration purposes (I used my Jeep Cherokee Sport for that) but as a command center for my field work in Southern New Mexico. Consequently there has been virtually no extreme 4-wheel drive activity (In fact we hardly used the 4-wheel drive option at all). And we never used the winch and I'm not sure it was ever used. The winch itself is a beast -- an 8,000 pounder and rare on the M43. The truck never broke down and was an extremely reliable vehicle for us. I toyed with the idea of making it into a more extreme off-road vehicle, ut that would entail modifying the brakes, he steering, nd the suspension systems. But everybody that has seen it has told me that it is too rare and unique a truck to modify. I bought the truck in 2002 and it only had 10,000 miles on it. I and the team have put only 5,000 miles on it since then. The truck has everything! We added a 24 volt to 12 volt power converter that goes with the truck. We never needed the heaters. Never needed the defrosters which are brand new in the box. There is lots of new wiring that is in one of the bays. Surgical light works, nd there is an extra one in one of the bays. It has all four stretchers and they are in excellent condition. Also has a metal mountain rescue stretcher for use with a helicopter. It has all the original manuals, water rescue rafts (never opened), nd a massive surgical pack which is very complete. There is a working NATO slave receptical and the accompanying robo wrench that is stored under the drivers seat. We installed an electric fuel pump as a back up, hich has made it much easier to start. We also added an auxilliary fuel tank that we did use on occassion. There is no rust to the body or undercarriage. The only problem, hich was poorly addressed before I bought it, s the exfoliation of the outer metal skin of a small portion of the roof seam that gets the exhaust fumes. It is an easy fix, nd the interior metal is not rusted and it has not affected the interior. The passenger seat has a seam tear that was created by my Great Pyrennes (150 pounds) loving to sit there with his giant head stiking out the window. We spent a grand on an off-frame reconditioning of the gas tank and the fuel lines so that we wouldn't be stranded out in the middle of nowhere. It has been stored for the last 2 years and during this time she has fallen into a sleep. Brake pressure is gone and the batteries have drained but it can easilly be woken back up.The reason it has been inactive these last two years is because of my deteriorating health. A crippling neurological illness has finally led me to quit field work completely. And If I don't go out, either does the truck. I do not want to sell it but now I have to because of failing eye sight. It would make a perfect project vehicle either as a complete original restoration or as a conversion project into a supertruck.Although the radiator never gave us any problems, would consider rebuilding or replacing it.The engine ran perfect and all systems were good when it was stored. It has new military tires. The pictures should show everything that comes with this beast.It was in many parades, nd was the second vehicle in New Mexico's Bi-centennial celebration parade in 2012.It is the coolest truck on the road. Everybody loves this thing.It comes with many spare parts, nd lots of goodies too numerous to show in pictures.

On Oct-04-15 at 15:12:10 PDT, eller added the following information:

The numerous assets and extras:14,800 original miles5 extra mounted sparesRoboimpact power reversible wrench and NATO slave cord and recepticalProWatt 1500 24 Volt Power ConverterNew Denman Non-Directional TiresComplete Surgical pack with medical equipmentTwo water rescue rafts with survival kitsAll original manuals and maintenance guidesMetal Helicopter transport stretcher2 24 volt windshield defrostersEngine electrical tester kitTwo new Interstate batteriesBraden 8,000 pound winchAuxilliary generator and spare fender-mounted gas tank

On Oct-05-15 at 10:14:00 PDT, eller added the following information:

Parts are easy to find for this truck. The parts that are unique to this vehicle are already on the truck. But mechanical parts are easilly found at Vintage Power Wagons.Com. This is one reason we chose these American made Dodges instead of an old foreign truck like a toyota or a land rover. The only part you are gonna have to search for is a rear-widow curtain on the back of the truck (one of the two is missing), nd maybe some interior cab heater parts. We were going to pre-fab the snorkle pipe but I became too ill to have it done. All you have to think about is resorting what is already on the truck. Where are you going to find something like this? Yes, his truck was sold as a Mountain Rescue Truck. As I understand it, bout 800 of the M43-B1's were made, alf went to war and half stayed stateside as Mountain Rescue Service trucks for local fire departments. So you are right -- you are not looking at a modified military truck per se, ut one bought as a Mountain Rescue truck. Hence, he true restoration of this truck would be Mountain Rescue, OT as a military ambulance. However, ou can just as easily paint it military green, ut some stars on it, nd a flag, nd you would have a perfect fully restored military ambulance. But why would you want to do that? I have never seen an all original M43 B1 Mountain Rescue truck. I have seen a few restored M43 B1 Military Ambulances with a few missing HTF parts. Just my opinion. And an ambulance does not turn heads like this truck does.My favorite movie is Sorcerer, nbsp;with Roy Scheider. This truck is definitely in that category.

On Oct-06-15 at 11:07:39 PDT, eller added the following information:

Someone asked me about the reserve price. I had the truck appraised a few months ago by experts that know about Vintage PowerWagons. I can't tell you what my reserve is, ut I can say that my reserve is way below appraisal. The truck needs a home, nd my illness does not allow me to take care of it and I don't want the truck to languish due to inactivity. My hope it that someone buys it who can give it the TLC such a rare truck deserves. So --the truck must be sold even if it is below appraisal. Hence -- the lucky buyer gets a very low reserve.Concerning camping. Let me put it to you this way: My wife never camps with me out in the wild wilderness. She's scared about being in a tent on the ground. She WILL camp with me in the powerwagon. It sleeps two comfortably in a bullet-proof box that can be locked from the inside. It has right and left ventilation that runs off the truck's built in generator. The shipping dimensions can be seen in my answer to a bidder's question that can be found in the Questions part of this listing.