bigragu

Just ran into a dude at my local Orileys. Met him by accident, actually. Parts guy yells out to me " what's the part number for your oil filter?" I ask why, and he says this guy in front of me has a 1993. I ask the guy how many miles on it, and he said 135,000. He just got it. Mint condition. All tow miles. That makes two in his collection.
I mentioned DTR, and he'd never heard of it. Explained how to sign up. Hopefully he gets on, so with me and MKnittle, that'll make 3 from our neck of the woods.
So, these trucks are out there. In mint shape still I truly believe

mknittle

There seems to be more around lately.

twichit

220 + miles one way to the top of NY next to Canada for my current truck ,total mileage 880+ miles one trip to look at it the other to hand over money and drive it back..i am debating on going to Texas for a new frame for it...so Maine to Texas and back is not out of the question

freight train

Taking into consideration how many 1st gens my dad and I have purchased I know the furthest I have gone to buy is Mt. Morris ILL. 28.5hrs and 1,497 miles round trip from my WV home. Sadly the pics I received were some 10yrs old and the truck wasn't as nice as represented. I didn't even buy it! I was so made I swore to never go that far again. Just to buy my red W350 a year later from Detroit MI, that was only 18hrs round trip though. LOL.
I did drive to upstate VT for a mint condition 1984 8ft stepside bed. Way rarer than a clean 1st gen. That was an 18.5hr round trip for a bed. I know, I have serious issues!

Philip

No you don't. We have to go where the parts or vehicles are located. We don't get lucky and find them down the street very often.

2mtrucks

I bought every 1st gen and 2nd gen I own (and a few others that I wasn't smart enough to keep) sight unseen from California, Colorado, Oregon or Washington. Rust free trucks in the Midwest are non-existent...even the trucks with good sheet metal have corrosion on the frames, axles and other underbody components. Shipped them here for 800-1000. I can't go get one for that. Have been fortunate to have had mostly honest Dodge diesel sellers...have encountered many crooks along the way selling other stuff. But I would rather take the risk than rehabilitate a local truck which I have learned the hard way a few times. I always do a Carfax or an Autocheck...tells you where it spent its life.

bannerd

Most guys on the east coast store their good vehicles and bring them out in the summer when the salt is gone. I wouldn't say everything on the east coast is crap. When I was at my old house, I drove the W250 around for a really long time on NY salt roads. Lots of paint and fluid film each year. One year I didn't have time to paint and FF.. I literally washed it off everyday. Garage was heated with a hot water hookup.. water always poured out into the neighbours lawn and into his driveway making it ice. Wash the engine bay, frame and under chassis and make dinner. Took less then ten minutes.

james1

Several years ago I dragged a trailer 400+ miles to the Mississippi coast to retrieve a mint 1993 bed I had acquired on e-Bay for $220. I didn't think much about it. I needed a bed and even though we are not beset with rust here in the deep South, clean First Gens are somewhat uncommon.

bigragu

My second 1st Gen, that I fought tooth and nail with the boss, but ending up losing and sold it, I got so lucky in finding. 1993 D250 auto straight cab with bed top, U.S. Gear E brake, inverter, and brake control. Only had 125,000 miles on it. Entire cab inside was mint, only body flaw was a crease in the sheet metal around both wheel wells. It's as if someone tried to squeeze in too tight a space at one time. Bumpers were untouched, no paint flake whatsoever. I totaled my 1991 single cab, single wheel, manual D350 a week before. I was totally bummed. Was at the local grocery and saw the D250 with a for sale sign, asking $8500. Waited for the guy to come out of the grocery, took it for a spin, talked him down to $7500. When I took him home, ended up this guy lived 3 miles from me, and I'd never seen the truck before. His dream was to cruise the state with his wife towing their camper, but she passed. We ended up being friends, and shortly after he passed, also. Great guy.
Never know what lurks in your own neck of the woods. Long time ago, when I first joined on DTR, there was this guy who boasted that finding clean 1stGens was not hard. His target areas- old folks retirement mobile home parks, the gated community kind.
2 years later I see the truck I have now, the W250, across the street from the same grocery store, at a park and ride. Always wanted 4x4, for hunting reasons, so I picked that one up. Wanted to save the D250 for my son when he got older, but sending him to private school costs bucks, so the D250 paid for a year of that. Oh well, it was all good. That D250 was sold to a family friend, who ended up,selling it to my sons school bus driver, who lives a mile from me! So it's back in my neighborhood again! It's in good hands, as he is a diesel mechanic, also.

1320Fastback

I didn't have to as I a found a 12V/Club Cab/working AC and a Manual transmission locally but I was considering buying a one way airplane ticket to Ohio and driving a truck back to San Diego, Ca.