Diesel Dodge guys are a weird bunch. They are so focused on the mighty Cummins six cylinder and what it can do…even if all they actually do with it is blast small cars in traffic with sooty exhaust. For a lot of these young guys, the world started in 1989 when the first oil-burning D/W series trucks appeared. They don’t need to know about the Mitsubishi diesel-powered trucks of 1978…that’s more of a trivia question than anything else anymore. But what they do need to be reminded of is that Dodge was out of the big-boy truck department years before a lot of them were even born. 
In 1975 Dodge pulled out of the medium and heavy truck market, abandoning the LCF lineup of trucks that had been in production since 1960. Often we immediately think of the CNT-950 Big Horn line of semi tractors, but more often than not what you will find will be a C-series truck with the swing-out front fenders that provided operators with easy access to the engine. The cab was from a late-1950s Dodge and the rest of the sheetmetal was unique to the LCF.
This example is running a Cummins 555 and a ten-speed and is a single-rear axle setup. We can see a neat heavy-duty hauler build with this rig. We aren’t too sure about the ratty look, but for $4,000 for a truck that’s complete, it’s not a bad place to start. Can you say “compound turbocharging”? I knew you could.
If that thing were on a long chassis, I’d get a second mortgage on the house ot have it!
For 4K buy-in, there’s a place in Houston called Sam and Sons that has been lengthening chassis for our company for 20 years. You could probably be all in for under 10K! LOVE those fenders!
For well under four k and a little welding but a scraped long wheel base schoolie. Frame plenty stout for a car hauler or evening tow rig, and depending on year get you updated air brakes, quite possibly discs even.
Can you say “tow rig” for your 40′ 6-slide out toy-hauling Fifth Wheel RV?
fifth wheel tipper /tub for me.