Need a break from all the news of Milton and Helene? In the words of Monty Python, “And now for something completely different”. How about this crazy, brand new version of a 1948 Dodge Power Wagon I’ve been driving?
Back in 1948, if you needed a no-frills, tough-as-nails, 4×4 pick-up to work the farm or construction site, you bought yourself a Dodge Power Wagon.
Evolved from the original military versions that were the workhorses of World War II, this blunt instrument of a truck was a master at getting the job done.
Time, however, hasn’t been kind to those early trucks. Most were used and abused and left to rust away. Their sheer size, bulk and glacial performance also made them unappealing to collectors looking for a restoration project.
But all that changed when truck customizer Aaron Richardet took an interest. Two years ago he acquired Phoenix-based Desert Power Wagons, re-located it to his hometown of Castle Hayne, North Carolina.
Here he set about transforming the humble Dodge Power Wagon into a hand-crafted, new from the ground up restomod with a $385,000-and-up sticker.
Sitting high-up behind the wood-rimmed wheel of his latest creation, a midnight blue, four-door with a stump-pulling Cummins straight-six turbo diesel, it’s easy to see where the eye-watering pricetag comes from.
Think 2,400 team hours, a nine-to-12-month build process and a mountain of pricey bespoke parts to build each truck.
Despite the truck’s old-school look, each version is brand new. Richardet buys-in the bare-metal steel cab, bed and chassis from Indiana fabricator, Tisdale Coachworks.
The body is bolted to an I-beam-stiff, powder-coated box-frame chassis with four-link custom suspension featuring Eibach Race off-road coil-over springs and front and rear King adjustable shocks.
Feeding the power to all four wheels is a heavy-duty Borg Warner shift-on-the-fly transfer case and massive Dana solid axles. There’s no mountain this 4×4 won’t climb, no tidal surge it won’t wade through.
Giving the Power Wagon its monster-truck stance is a set of 20-inch rims with super-knobbly, 37-inch-tall Maxxis Razr off-road tires. Huge Wilwood brakes, with 16-inch rotors and six-piston calipers up front, take care of stopping.
Powering the beast is a 6.7-liter Cummins straight-six turbo diesel, typically sourced from a crashed Dodge Ram 2500, and completely re-built, along with its six-speed automatic. The Cummins is good for 385 horsepower along with a mighty 930 pound-feet or torque. Peterbilt 18-wheelers have less.
Not a diesel fan? Richardet has other options from the Dodge stable, including a 717-hp supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8.
We grab the keys to the test truck at Desert Power Wagon’s quirky headquarters 20 minutes outside Wilmington, N.C. for a day of fun.
Power-deploying side steps make climbing into the Power Wagon a breeze. Inside, you sit in hip-hugging front seats with a custom, three-across bench in the rear. The roomy cabin is upholstered in baseball-glove-like tan leather, though as with everything in the truck, you pick your colors and materials.
A twist of the key fires-up the big Cummins. And fire-up it does in an explosion of diesel clatter and breathy induction roar that sends shimmying vibrations through the cab. Pull down the column shifter into “drive”, step on the throttle and the Power Wagon powers off the line like Mad Max heading to the desert.
It’s what happens when 930 pound-feet of torque is unleashed. And you’ll love the loud whistle from the Cummins’ big turbocharger – you can literally play Dixie with the throttle.
For a truck taking up this much real estate on the road, it carves curves with surprising precision. The Ram-sourced power steering is nicely-weighted with decent feel, though it’s hindered by a strange dead spot in the straight ahead position that requires constant over-correcting. It’s like steering a boat. Or in this case, a freighter.
So who’s in the market for a $385,000 resto-modded 1948 Dodge? Likely wealthy truck lovers looking for something ultra cool, ultra rare, and a little quirky to add to their collections.
As for our midnight blue tester, it sold to a truck-lover from Austin, Texas just days after we returned the keys.
