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Wagonmaster?



I while back-just before Christmas, I wrote on here asking several
questions about the propane prospects of an old crew cab I had found. 
Having read all of the entries concerning this, and a few others having
to do with body style, I think it may be a modern conversion to propane,
and it may be a "Wagonmaster."  I just made it back in today to look at
the thing, and it is a 1974 short bed crew cab.  I could not see well
enough to tell the engine size, though according to my "notched frame"
theory (that seems to hold true with the 1969 and earlier trucks, it
would not be a 392-in which case it looked like a 345.  I've only seen a
few 304's and I don't know about size, but this engine took up a lot of
space in the engine compartment, and the last 304 I saw was in a '70
Scout with a smaller engine compartment, and there still seemed to be
some room.  Anyway, the dash looks great, the pedals don't show a lot of
wear, and I know the seats were redone not long before it was parked (a
little over a year ago).  It shows 78,000 miles on the odometer, and
from the appearances of the body and interior, I would think this was
original.  On the inside of the glove compartment I found a maintenance
slip of some kind showing a reading of 175,000 miles.  If that is true,
this was one pampered puppy!  Anyway, it is a '74, and is apparently
very straight and solid.  The guy that is really in charge of it is
supposed to come in Wednesday so I can talk to him.  
Mainly, what I want to know is this:  Is it a "Wagonmaster?"  It has a
very short bed, and I can't tell if it's just an optical illusion from
the extended cab, but it looks almost shorter than a shortbed pickup
bed.  Also, where did the spare tire go?  There is an interior bed panel
that is out of the wall right now, and I can see that that is where the
jack was stored.  Was this factory, or was there some modification by
the owner?  Did a spare somehow fit in here too?  It doesn't seem big
enough, but the quarters were very tight, and I couldn't get right up in
the bed to get a good look in there.
He claims he wants $1800, and as I said, the body is apparently very
good-although that panel from the bed where the jack was stored does not
appear to be in the bed, I don't know if they've got it somewhere else
or not.  It has almost brand new tires, which are big beefy things-I
didn't step back to check the brand, but felt the treads and looked at
them-they do have a lot of tread on them, and look great.  Some of the
papers in the glovebox list it as a 6500 I think (Damn Metrics!).  I
think that is a 392 though, isn't it?  I just remember that the souped
up Trans Am had a 400, which I thought was "6.6" liter stamped on the
side of the air scoop.
Also on these papers was a smog certificate showing that it was at one
time a Utah vehicle.  This also stated it was gasoline powered-this
would only mean plain old gasoline, right?  I know they list diesel
differently, and I would assume they do with propane too.  This is what
made me think that it had a newer propane conversion kit on it.  Then
when I asked the manager of the garage where it is if it was really set
for propane, he said he didn't know for sure.  Last time he swore it
was.  In looking at it, I didn't think to take the air cleaner off and
see if I could notice anything unusual.  I did notice that the air
cleaner sat on a black body of some sort-not looking like the carb or
anything I'd seen on my '68 T'all or '73 Scout.
Anyway, sorry for all this space, but after looking at it a little
closer, I'm kind of into it and am thinking very seriously about getting
it.  If it were only a 4x4 I would be in heaven!!!
Does it sound like a decent deal, or is it too disjumbled (that sounds
like a Yogi Berra word), I mean jumbled right now for anyone to have an
opinion?
Once again, sorry for the wasted space, and thanks for any input.

Michael




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