I’ve been waiting for this pairing for quite some time now: a Dodge A Series van and an L Series COE truck. And here they are, thanks to Jon O’Grady.
Yup; Dodge took the cab from their little van and pickup; well, the pickup, more specifically.
And dropped it on a medium duty truck chassis, gave it a front tilt mechanism, and called it the L Series (L600 and L700). No, they didn’t sell well, but the pretty much no Dodge trucks sold well in the ’60s and ’70s, except the gen2 van, which became the best selling van in the ’70s.
I’m going to guess this is a L600, but I could be wrong. The L700 just had a higher weight rating. They came with the usual complement of engines, from a HD slant six, four V8s, and a Perkins diesel. I’m pretty sure later ones also offered a Cummins diesel, one of the more compact V8s.
And here’s another A100! Someone here loves these.
The L series was offered from 1966 through 1971. They were always a rare sight. Now there’s probably just a few left in the hands of folks like whoever owns this one and the two A100s.
I am not sure I ever knew about these!
The “faces” of these Dodges always looked like they were either overcaffeinated or surprised with their wide-open eyes. 🙂
Agree on the eyes. Exner again, I assume?
Since they were first used on the 1964 A100, and Exner would presumably have been gone by the time these were styled; possibly not. But there’s a continuity with the 1963 Dart and the Turbine car. The Dart was done under Exner’s tenure and the Turbine under Engel’s. But given the Dart’s front similarity to the Turbine car as well as the 1963 Typhoon show car (by Engel), it’s hard to believe this is a coincidence. I’m going to have to look further into the ’63 Dart’s origins.
Most likely one of the Dodge stylists who worked under both. It’s a common mistake to credit styling, especially stylistic details to the Director of Styling. He just mainly approved what he liked, and rejected what he didn’t.
The Turbine Car from 1964 is attributed to Engel. It was clearly influenced by the 1958 Ford la Galaxia. Engel worked at Ford at the time.
Short2084@gmail.com Looking for a Dodge 1963 to 66 or even a 67 L600 truck to build a farm truck out of perferd short wheel base with or without 5th wheel
Always liked the A-100! Pictured is my 1969 Sportsman; complete w/ a transplanted 340 c.i. V-8, 727 Torqueflite, headers, transmission cooler, and other assorted customizations!. I really need to get it back onto the road! 🙂
Don’t know why the picture didn’t come through?!?
Does it still have a solid front axle with kingpins and leaf springs?
Yes, it does.
Cool scene, well seen!
Even as a kid, I figured this out, and I still think it’s brilliant. Why develop and build a medium-duty cab when you can modify the existing light-duty cab?
And I think this medium-duty L600 style truck carried on for a long while in some Asian or Middle Eastern countries under either the Fargo or DeSoto nameplates.
We just recently had a motorhome post where Chevrolet continued the idea for a while, putting a modified van cab on the P-series box truck frame.
Wouldn’t it be a bit tight inside though, if you were used to anybody else’s medium-duty cab?
Depends on the cab. Ford has made massive gains in the medium duty market with the latest generation of F-650/750, which use an updated version of the cab that first appeared on the 1999 Super Duty pickups. Chevy is getting back into the medium duty market with a similar play, using the previous generation pickup’s cab on a medium duty chassis.
These trucks’ cabs are wider than the cabs on a competing Peterbilt 337 or Kenworth T370, which are no wider than those of a midsize pickup, although they do have more floor-to-ceiling height. Personally, I’d be comfier in the pickup-derived cabs; I’ve ridden in a Peterbilt, and it’s like sitting in a church pew compared to the comfy lounge chairs in a modern pickup cab.
There are advantages to both, pickup truck style cabs are typically shorter, reducing overall height and leaving more room for booms and overhead equipment on trucks so equipped. The purpose built big truck cabs are more roomy, typically have much better visibility, and have the interior height for an effective air-ride seat.
Dodge was the master of remixing. The biggest trucks reused the ’55 cab with a front end designed in ’60. At the same time, Dodge was still building Power Wagons with a ’39 cab plus a ’42 military front end.
I noticed something on these pictures that I hadn’t paid attention to before. The vent intake is a smart design. Facing downward, it can’t possibly gather leaves and rain; and it would pick up cooler air than the usual cowl-top vent.
After seeing this on the Cohort, I had to explore further. Looking on YouTube revealed this tandem axle version. Looks to be powered by the gas 361.
Might these be the first Dodge trucks that had optional power by a Cummins?
Might these be the first Dodge trucks that had optional power by a Cummins?
The Dodge HD NC-1000 trucks offered the big Cummins diesel at least as early as 1961, and possibly earlier
I think 1960 or 1961 was the first year for the NC-1000. I would like to see an L-700 with the small Cummins V-8, Dodge couldn’t have built more than a handful of those.
Love the red L600’s face – almost like a cartoon truck
(This is a compliment.)
I love both of these. The L series’ wide fenders always reminded me of the box flares popular in the seventies on modified production race cars. Quite a find to get pictures of this pairing.
I remember as a kid here in Ontario the big Dodge’s were pop delivery trucks.
I want to say for Coke as the only picture that comes to my minds eye is them in red.
According to the book “Ford Trucks Since 1905”, Ford built in 1964, on the C-600 chassis, a medium duty using the Econoline cab. They feared losing market share to the White Compact, International CO Loadstar and Mack MB, but for whatever reason the project was abandoned.
The book raises the question, did Dodge learn of the Ford project or come up with this model on their own?
I had never seen an Ford Econoline version of the L-600 until I came across this photo. I saw a few of the Dodges growing up, but never a ford. So there was at least one produced. I could never find any info on it.
I love this post. One of my first auto memories was when my dad got his new to him 1968 Dodge A-100 pick up truck. Red with a white Little colt bed cap on it. and black vinyl interior. it was probably 1977 or so. It has slant 6 and an automatic. Good truck but if you hit a bump just right it would death wobble and it was quite frightening.
My parents fashioned a seat for me on the engine out of some carpet remnants.
I remember the L-600 and L-700’s would come to town for our traveling fireman’s carnival and i would marvel at how they were the same but different than dads A-100.
He held on to it for 3 or 4 years and sold it to a person who drove it well into the mid 80’s. Dad moved into a 78 Scout Terra with a 196 4cyl and 3 speed stick.
Dad always seemed to have an affinity for oddball vehicles and the A-100 and the Terra were no exceptions.
I drove an L600 with a 1200 gallon oil tank delivering kerosene years ago. It had a 361 engine with 4+2 and vacuum booster brakes. It was pretty spunky, but was the short wheelbase version and so wasn’t especially directionally stable on the road. With its 89″ wheelbase and the 50 degree wheel cut both ways it turned sharper than any truck I ever saw. A full lock turn (in low gear due to tire scrub) made it seem like the truck wasn’t moving ahead but just pivoting sideways, a weird sensation made more so by sitting ahead of the front axle with no nose. You had to be aware of tailswing in tight spaces (sharp left turn causes the rear right corner of the body to clobber something, for example) because the tank had considerable rear overhang . The L600 was great for our application, since kerosene tanks were often located in relatively inaccessible places and you could get that truck into unbelieveably tight spaces. It was a real workhorse. It would have made a wonderful semi-tractor for city pick up and delivery users, especially with a short trailer. It also proved unbreakable, even when it was elderly. We had several C series Fords which couldn’t compare with the Dodge for this application. Good memories!