WW2 Scout Car on Pawn Stars

[3dAngus]

It was only "all original" to when he purchased it. The "Resto-Mod" concept is a way to moderize vehicles and make them more roadworthy. Kinda like when people put a new Ford engine in a 1965 Jaguar XKE, and make it more roadworthy and reliable. I would never buy one.
Or, they might take a 1956 Corvette and put a 350 Chevy crate engine in it when restoring every nut and bolt in the entire chassis.
Some People just like reliability in what they drive, and that way, they can drive it further, and more often then if it were original.

No, I don't believe that guy thought it was original from when it was originally built. It's a shame to see it that way, but much better for the purish holding, as they get free publicity and the value of the original cars only go up as a result of this resto-mod.

Not for me though. I still think it looks way cool though. A real head turner.

 

[Autocar]

The story on the truck is this: A guy here in the San Francisco Bay Area bought a scout car. He decided to moderize it so he took a Dodge 4x4 pick-up and pulled the body off. He took the scout car body off and stuck it on the Dodge frame-hence the Cummins, auto trans, Dana 60 axles, tilt steering wheel, gauges, etc. The frames and wheelbases were different which is why he made the front fenders. Only the body is scout car-everything else is Dodge. If I remember correctly, he said he scrapped the rest of the scout car. I ran into his wife at a local car show about a year ago and she said he had sold the truck to the "movie industry" to be used in movies. I just assumed David Wong(the expert on pawn stars) bought it since he supplies most of the movie vehicles, but obviously it wasn't David who bought it. I'm guessing the first buyer was either a movie company or someone who thought he could rent it to the movies and somehow it ended up with the guy who brought it into pawn stars.

 

[ACBMWM#]

The story on the truck is this: A guy here in the San Francisco Bay Area bought a scout car. He decided to moderize it so he took a Dodge 4x4 pick-up and pulled the body off. He took the scout car body off and stuck it on the Dodge frame-hence the Cummins, auto trans, Dana 60 axles, tilt steering wheel, gauges, etc. The frames and wheelbases were different which is why he made the front fenders. Only the body is scout car-everything else is Dodge. If I remember correctly, he said he scrapped the rest of the scout car. I ran into his wife at a local car show about a year ago and she said he had sold the truck to the "movie industry" to be used in movies. I just assumed David Wong(the expert on pawn stars) bought it since he supplies most of the movie vehicles, but obviously it wasn't David who bought it. I'm guessing the first buyer was either a movie company or someone who thought he could rent it to the movies and somehow it ended up with the guy who brought it into pawn stars.

David W. does have a scout car, It is not an original either. So it could be that the wife is correct. I am sure more then one person has made a replica scout car.

 

[jimmy-90]

Lol I saw that show the other night. He might as well of just put 8" chrome stacks on it clamed that they were original too.

 

[halftrackkid]

What a pile of parts! Lol upsetting to see it and why would someone build such a THING! Haaa

 

[Autocar]

Did anyone notice that when the guy first showed up at the pawn shop there were gauges in the dash, but when D. Wong was looking it over, they had been removed? Must have fallen out on the drive over!!!

 

[Derrickl112]

They did alot of work to it. It doesnt look terrible, but they could have done more to make it look a little more authentic.

 

[SETOYOTA]

The vehicle to put it simply is a terd. You can polsih it all you want but its still a terd. It has been on ebay several times with no takers.

 

[pwrwagonfire]

I can't believe somebody would show up and ask that amount of $$$$ for a vehicle such as this without doing the research first

 

[Wayofftrack]

He took the scout car body off and stuck it on the Dodge frame

Not really, if he had done that it would look a lot better. Very little of that body is scout car, i honestly could not identify one piece except the front crossmember that looked correct. Can't be sure without an up close look but it is basically the equivalent of taking a pinto and cutting the top and doors off, making flat fenders for it and painting it od with white stars and calling it a jeep. I understand and appreciate the resto rod/mod thing but I don't believe this falls in that genre.
The owner did some fast backpedaling when his bluff was called about the originality. I can just imagine how many years that piece of junk is going to make the rounds now. Mark my words it will be on ebay again.

 

[Wayofftrack]

I just watched it again, it does have some original cab armor and possibly the lower doors, not sure. Not much there really, he claims the tow yard where he bought it told him it was "all original".
For the amount of work it would take to do a replica and make it look right you are better off just restoring one the proper way imo. Love to know what it looked like when the project started. If he really paid 25k for it he did get taken badly.

 

[Autocar]

It was a real scout car body.

 

[Wayofftrack]

The side profile of the rear side armor is not correct. Not saying there isn't some real armor there but the profile is not correct.

No skate rail either. That's kind of a big thing with a scout car.

 

[tankland]

http://www.armytrucks.com/Inventory_Images/Tanks_AV/tanks1-10/ww2_armoredcar-002.gif


it is on dave wang rental web page

 

[Autocar]

Side profile is different because he had to scab in a piece between the rear body section and the doors due to the longer wheelbase of the Dodge.

 

[Lahti35]

I just watched it again, it does have some original cab armor and possibly the lower doors, not sure. Not much there really, he claims the tow yard where he bought it told him it was "all original".
For the amount of work it would take to do a replica and make it look right you are better off just restoring one the proper way imo. Love to know what it looked like when the project started. If he really paid 25k for it he did get taken badly.

I can understand why some people would want to make a fake scout car, maintaning WWII era equipment is not for everybody, some folks just want to drive!

What I can't understand is how anyone could dump $25K on something without doing even the slightest amount of homework on the item. If I had a penny for every fake with the tag "its original" i'd be a rich, rich man!

Sometime though they screw up on that show. They brought a guy in to authenticate a Civil war sword the first season. The "expert" promptly identified artillery saber as a cavaly sword. There was another one where the guy brought in a flintlock pistol and the expert declared it as a fake worth like $75 citing the condition and markings as the proof. The owner went nuts! I have some serious doubts that it was a fake and even if it was you can't buy a nice repro flintlock for $75... just try!

Its a fun show to watch... but i'd die a slow death before i ever sold them anything!

 

[popacom]

Well to show you there is "ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE" a friend of mine
(who will remain nameless) built a tank out of a WW-2 high speed tractor
chassis and a bunch of scrap steel he had laying around. a year or so a guy
payed him $45,000.00 for it through a broker (Who advertises in MV & MVPA)
It was such a POS I would not have drug it home if he had given it to me.
But evidently it made someone very happy ,or they just needed to throw a pile
of cash down the toilet. All in what floats yer boat I guess.LOL
popacom / BILL in KY.

 

[firefirefire90]

kinda looks cool. I could see why they'd use it in a movie. Put skinnier tyres on it though

 

[Wayofftrack]

I like it a lot better now that I know the rear armor is original. I was too hard on it. It would have been better to use the proper wheelbase frame i think. Original frame wheelbase is about 131 inches so very close to many standard bed pickup trucks. If someone did a resto mod on a scout car using the original frame and body with modern motor and power steering and brakes it would be cool as long as they didn't use and automatic trans.

I had been tipped off in advance of the show and was very excited. I wish it had been a real one.

 

[Blythewoodjoe]

This vehicle is a joke. It's not a scout car. It's a dodge truck with a little scout car armor on it. I had a scout car a few years ago that I put an in line six gas engine into with a C-6 trans. I sold it before I finished it. I think it could have been considered a "real" scout car. But this thing is not. To each his own, but from a collectors stand point, this vehicle is almost worthless. As a dodge, it's worth less than the donor truck was worth. As a replica, it misses the mark. The fenders are hideous. It's at least a chance this is a half track from end too. I can't tell from the brief video. Pioneering tools are mis-located. The front roller is fake. At best you have most the armor from what appears to be a scout car. Flame me if you wish, but who ever did this wasted a lot of time and money.