Government Surplus D50 AKA The SaltyM8

[Darklord]

Hey guys, Long time lurker here decided to finally post my D50's unique story. It was ordered as part of 5 D50s for the US Navy back in the day when Reagan was president. I have a copy of the original buy sheet with the 5 d50s vins and prices. Also have records going all the way back to 1985 as well. It was purchased in 2010 by a family friends brother from a govt liquidation website who then sold it to my family friend who then gave it to me as my first car after High School. Since then It's had its engine rebuilt, transmission replaced (junkyard replacement) and a roll bar added from a d50 who graciously donated many parts including the transmission to the project and allowed mine to live on. I found a funny paper in my records that was a request from one of the navy guys who was requesting A/c be installed his reasoning was "For the heath and well-being of the employee" needless to say they had A/c installed shortly after haha! It served 25 years at China Lake, in California as mostly an equipment mover, it also had a range radio on it and theres a plug on the back of the cab where the antenna was. It had a generator in the back which was removed before they sold it. They forgot to remove the Navy stickers so it still says "US Navy for Official use only" on the sides also theres a sticker on the dash showing a law that says anyone who uses it other than for a military use will be penalized. I tried to search for the other 4 d50s with no luck, mine might be the only one on the road still :( 3 of the 5 ordered have sequential vins. The keys have dog tags on them with the number of the vehicle which is also a sticker on the sides of the truck and the tailgate. No one has posted that ive seen about military used D50s. Thanks for reading!

[Darklord]

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Meant to put these pics in the post, Sorry for that one being sideways :p

[Giovanni89]

I believe Xboxrox's ram50 is a former Navy truck as well. Cool truck!

[85Ram50]

Nice and you know it had regular maintenance too! Good score.

[geezer101]

A cool truck with history - very nice. The roll bar in the tray looks like the entire truck would crumble around it before it got remotely scratched and it even has provisions for overhead driving lights. It's interesting that the military chose something that wasn't US made for general duties.

[tortron]

They probably wanted something reliable geezer haha.
Very cool bit of history, are there any mods listed in the paperwork?

[Darklord]

Seems to just be a stripper 4wd, they ordered it with no radio, and no a/c they ended up putting in a/c and then the po added a radio and speakers. Only mod on it would be when the engine was rebuilt we put on a non jet valve head, stock otherwise. It passes smog first try every time here in california. Reading through the paperwork they replaced the head in the early 2000s and also had the old transmission rebuilt around the same time, though that one ended up dieing on me thus now it has a junkyard tranny, so its on its 3rd cylinder head and 2nd and a half transmission lol. A lot of repairs were on the A/C seems like they maybe didnt install it correctly but eventually they had it fixed and dialed in. the truck now has ~200k miles, the rear end is original and never rebuilt. the rebuild on the short block I had done was only just honing the cylinders very lightly and replaceing bearings and rings, has original pistons and crank then my friend and I installed the new head and the rest, also has a remanufactered carb.

[pennyman1]

Yours is not the only Ram 50s owned by the military I have seen. Here in Pittsburgh the Army reserve base had a couple of 2nd Gen D50s in their fleet, painted mint green for some reason. Great to see you have most of its military history - maybe it qualifies for veteran benefits and pension?

[Darklord]

Yours is not the only Ram 50s owned but the military I have seen. Here is Pittsburgh the Army reserve base had a couple of 2nd Gen D50s in their fleet, painted mint green for some reason. Great to see you have most of its military history - maybe it qualifies for veteran benefits and pension?
well it did serve 25 years so maybe it does ������������

[Darklord]

:lmao: :lmao:

[xboxrox]

Darklord, my truck is one of those several Mitsubishi trucks in a shipment to China Lake NAWS from Nagoya, Japan via Portland, Oregon... I got your truck's brother, sister, niece, or nephew... November 2011 I bought it from Government Liquidation (now Go Dove) picked it up at Marine Logistics Base in Barstow, California... Gifted it to my brother, later had it painted for him at Beale AFB 'n he used it until he passed... It now lives in Kailua, Hawaii... No A/C no radio 'n still all original, 129,300 miles now...
Congrats to you for having a Mitsubishi truck...
:thumbup:

[charger_john]

I'm not going to say where I saw this, but I was fascinated to see a corporate fleet still using a ram 50 of this age. This truck is not street-licensed and has just 35,000 on the odometer.
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