87 Ram 50 Sport - Labor of Love - Restoring the first vehicle I owned 25 years later!

[lithonius]

First I want to start out by saying I've been lurking in these forums for months, getting the motivation I need and knowing there's a source of info for other MM/Ram 50 enthusiasts who have a love for these trucks as much as I do. I knew I would need both, at minimum, to tackle the project I have ahead. I'm undertaking the largest project I've ever done, with no time limit, and realistically no budget...because this truck means so much to me. This was my first car - something most people my age (40's) or older wish they could have again. Introducing my 1987 Dodge Ram 50 Sport - 2.6L G54B, 2wd manual, A/C, P/S, bucket seats, short bed, optional instrument cluster, sliding rear window, 4-speaker system, chrome wheels...did I miss anything? Probably. It’s all original except for the radio/CD changer and the auto zone air horn assembly…. both of which my dad installed at some point in the mid 2000’s. An accident free, 1-family owned, clear title example of frankly the coolest 80’s mini truck you have ever seen around.








Back story – this is a coastal Florida native truck, never having been out of the state until just a few weeks ago when I hauled it out of my dad’s yard where it’s been sitting since 2011 on the Space Coast of Florida back to Milwaukee WI where I currently live with my wife and children. This was purchased new in 1987 by my maternal grandfather (AKA papa) who was a manager at the (now closed) McDonnell Douglas Tomahawk missile plant in Titusville, FL from the local Titusville dealership. I do not know if he special ordered it this way, or if they had this highly optioned model sitting on the lot – he’s since passed and this truck that I spent countless times going to the lake with his bass boat in tow with has many memories.





I was gifted the truck on my 15^th birthday – the same day I took my learners permit license test in this truck, and my papa handed me the title and keys. I used this truck, usually illegally (no licensed driver in passenger seat, no insurance) to drive to/from Titusville High School starting as a freshman – something nobody else did in 9th grade because nobody I knew of at the school had a car or license, and the school didn’t issue permits to park for freshmen because of that. I would park across the street from the football field (which I played in HS) at the Perkin’s Restaurant (now closed) and walk across the field to class. Usually with a friend or three in tow! I barely remember ever riding the bus, because I had this truck….and when you’re a kid that drives a truck to school, and on the football team, legalities aside, you have no problem finding passengers lol.





I used the truck until I was 17, driving to/from menial teenager jobs, throwing a mower in the back to cut neighbors lawns, hauling my dirt bike around and the occasional utility trailer. I got into the lowrider scene and envisioned turning this into a lowrider. Like any broke kid of the day, I grabbed gold spray paint and hit the air intake, front calipers, and drums with gold Rust-O-Leum (you can still see this under the hood 25+ years later), lowering blocks in the rear, coil spring compressors in the front and low-profile tires on the original chrome wheels. In my junior year, I moved overseas with my mother to a military base in the Pacific (Marshall Islands – Kwajalein) and left my truck behind. Before leaving, I struck a deal with my dad to buy the (at the time) rust free truck with no issues – except he made me get rid of the lowrider junk and turn it back to stock…. sans the gold spray paint haha!







My dad has owned the truck since 1999 and I believe when I sold it to him, it had maybe hit the 100k mark – it’s now sitting at 148k some 25 years later and has been sitting basically untouched and not started since 2011 in his yard. Although tagged through 2015, this was just for insurance/registration purposes, but it just sat. Eventually he stopped tagging and insuring it, and as both my life and his went on in separate parts of the country, building my career and family, I’ve always wanted to be in a position where I could rescue the truck and restore it in a garage. Logistically this was not a reality until this year. It was my mission to somehow haul out what was becoming a rust bucket every year it stays down there on the frame in his yard, uncovered and exposed to the elements and salt air with the beach being only miles away. I knew the clock was ticking, on the truck, my dad’s health, and the ability for me to retrieve it and be able to house it in a safe place.



About 3 weeks ago, I rented a Ram 3500 mega cab and purchased an auto hauler trailer with winch from FB Marketplace, grabbed the kids and wife and made a vacation trip to Florida and grabbed my little 87 Ram 50. As the trip neared, having scoured old pictures of the truck and reading the forums here seeing that this truck is special with its factory options, the rareness of the vehicle and the promise that I could one day get it back on the road I wanted it more than ever. The truck was literally sitting on the frame, all 4 tires flattened, parking brake on, in 2^nd gear, windows up, doors locked and no keys to be found. Had to unfortunately break into the back sliding glass window to reach in with a pair of pliers to the driver’s door and lift the lock…it was so seized I couldn’t unlock it by hand. This was my first real indication of what I just got myself into, and I didn’t even know if it could get on the trailer. Winch issues, a couple of 30-minute-long hellish rainstorms passing through, and blood/sweat/tears later I got it dragged into my trailer, strapped down, and rear window Gorilla taped up (preventing wind from blowing out the doors/windows from the backwards tow). She was finally on the trailer and not coming off until back in my garage in Milwaukee some 1300 miles later.





Made the trip without much incident – except for the ratchet straps I had run across the cab/doors that indented the driver’s door…. the least of my concerns all things considered, she’s in a garage for the first time in her life and now the fun begins. It’s a time capsule full of memories and deserves to be brought back to life. I don’t know the overall plans for this truck except that it needs a lot of help, time and money. I am mechanically inclined, but as an IT professional my hands are used on a keyboard/mouse more than they are a wrench. I am optimistic that I can pay my way through a lot of this and the first step will be blowing the entire truck apart as much as I can, removing all the rust and cancer and doing as much of a frame-off as I can on this unibody cab. The truck is 100% accident free, with the exception of little dings you can see from it being a daily driver some 30+ years ago, the body is straight, gaps are even, frame is good (not rusted) and the truck is truly all original.





I wanted to introduce myself and my truck to the MM/Ram 50 community. Since picking this truck up, while it was still on the trailer in transit, I had no less than half a dozen people stop me at a gas station to talk about it. One guy followed me off an exit to the pumps when I was filling the 3500 Mega Cab just because he hadn’t seen a Ram 50 in a decade or more, certainly with this trim level, and told me I must bring it back from the dead. Even this morning, when I snapped these photos in my garage, a neighbor had a lawn care company at their house and when I opened the garage, one of the guys came over immediately and said he hasn’t seen one of these EVER in Milwaukee, he knew exactly what it was and instantly said “is it for sale”. I know I’ll piss off the MM community here, but you see A LOT more Mighty Max’s than you do Ram 50’s. The whole import/domestic collaborations that were commonplace in the 70’s/80’s/90’s really bought a lot of cool cars to the US market that otherwise were seen as a domestic car…except it wasn’t Those who know, know…and will follow you into every gas station you pull into even if it’s dead on a trailer lol!

I plan to document this long journey and will share my progress with the community here. It’s the least I can give back to those who’ve come before me on here with their projects, and the least I can do for the vehicle I’ve thought about, turns more heads and starts more conversations than the 20+ cars I’ve owned since! Wish me luck…I’m going to need it on this one! A true labor of love, and I can’t wait to see it again when it’s ready the party like it’s 1999!