I have been kicking this around for years to build myself a pickup truck from scratch. Using 1/8 inch plate for the cab and bed 4x6x1/4inch for the frame rails. A cummins deisel with eaton axles and transfer case and a standard transmission. Maybe 900x20 narrow tires so it would be a real off road truck with as much ground clearance as I can get. Tilt hood for easy access to the engine. Over hang on the front of the cab roof so the wipers are protected from freezing rain ect and won't freeze fast and will come from the top down. All standard bolts no frickin metric ! Not sure about brakes yet but not real sold on calippers for the darn drag. The least amount of wiring, no diods, no electronic stuff at all. Just a country boys truck crazy or not ?
Crazy? Not at all, I'm thinking something that would look like a Brockway or an Autocar cab, good basic cab shape to fabricate. Over the years I've noticed that most home made pickups never seem to have the scale proportions correct, usually looks like the cab and fenders are too big for the bed size. But if lookin pretty is not a priority - shouldn't matter much. My only suggestion would be a 2 cycle Detroit engine, best hot rod sound ever from a diesel, if you can tolerate it. Of course it would have to have a Jake brake to be complete.
Why not just buy a 60's vintage military surplus power wagon, and swap out the engine for a cummins? You would get most of what you are talking about.
I kicked the Army truck idea around also, I ran into a 1960/62 B120 Internatioal that I thought would make a good candidate. I use to have a B120 4X4 with a PTO driven winch ,it was hard on fuel but was built like a tank and would climb a tree if you wanted to.
only problem i see is insurance and whatnot best to start with a pre 63 truck of any description that has a good VIN buy it get all the documentation that you bought it take the vin off it and put it on your creation the its a xxxxx custom truck and fairly straight forward to deal with at the DMV
Yep I was wondering how the DMV would take to the idea, good idea Stuart !