Major restoration of 1958 M37.

[m37jarhead]

I'm posting this on behalf of H B Baxter, Buckeye, AZ. He's in Iowa working on a customer's M37.
HB just started the tear down. The restoration is aimed to return the M37 to origninal factory
specs. I hope the owner has deep pockets.

The M37 is a July 1958 production. Frame horn number: L245-3222.
The first troubling question is that none of the bolts being removed
have the Dodge Brothers insignia stamped on the bolt heads. Many
of the bolts "look" like they've never been touched. Did Dodge abandon
DB bolts at some time during production?
Next question. Is this truck considered a "late" model? Could it be a B1?
Your thoughts please............
Jerry for HB.
Pic's of the progress on this restoration to follow.

[w30bob]

Hi Jerry,

When production restarted in mid-1958 they were producing B1s only. So if the truck was made in July '58 it is indeed a B1.

regards,
bob

[m37jarhead]

Thanks Bob. As HB and I suspected, we thought it would fall into the B1 production run but were not sure.

Any thoughts on the lack of DB bolts?
Jerry

[w30bob]

Sorry Jerry, both of my trucks are early M37s, so I haven't concentrated much on the later B1s. But I'm sure some on here know the answer to your question.

regards,
bob

[m37jarhead]

Yeah, maybe Carter or one of the other old timers on this forum will know.
Lifer would know, too bad he's gone.
JB

[Cal_Gary]

I'm not sure about the bolts either. You might check with John Bizal at Midwest Military-he'll probably know.

I miss Lifer too.
Gary

[gwalker]

Actually the marking on the bolt heads, if you look closely, is the letters d p c d which stood for Dodge Plymouth Chrysler Desoto. It may appear to be just DB because the stem of the p is lengthened down to work as the back of the d under it, which may lead in such a small space to be seen as a B. Another identification used is on the cylinder head on top in the rear. Each division cast a letter in the head to identify itself, a D for Dodge, C for Chrysler, P for Plymouth, DT for Dodge truck, and I think DE for Desoto.