On our urban hike to the river and Skinner Butte the other day, I noticed this older Dodge pickup in the parking lot, with a gentleman sitting in the cab reading. What also caught my attention were those wheels, with the tiny center section for the little hubcaps, and the large area between that and the rim. Those don’t look like typical stock wheels of the period. They look too big, like the 16′ wheels that used to come on pickups back in the day.
The owner didn’t want to roll down the window and talk, but he gestured that it was ok for me to take some shots. Yup, that’s no 15 incher.
Which was confirmed by a closer look at the tire sidewall, as if it was necessary. Well, given that this is a very basic stripper stepside truck, undoubtedly with the slant six under its hood, I assume it was ordered with 16″ tires by a government fleet buyer. And of course, now that I look at this picture, there’s the distinctive Air Force blue on the rim; the rest of truck was obviously resprayed, and not very carefully.
I know the Air Force had a fleet of Dodge crew cab pickups in the 60s, to use as B-52 crew shuttles, among other things. We covered that here. So it certainly wouldn’t surprise me that they also bought some regular cab versions too.
Of course all of this is speculation, and I may well be wrong.
This truck and its owner hail from The Land of Enchantment (New Mexico), so it looks like it’s finally getting off the base and seeing the world. It’s never too late. And it undoubtedly makes for a pretty reliable road tripper.
The bed topper doesn’t quite fit, but it’s close enough for government work.
And by accident of chance he probably has an easier time finding a decent selection of tires than some owners of these trucks with 15 inch wheels.
This version of the grille began this truck’s long descent into odd styling touches that continued for years. After that great 1972-73 grille, the front ends of these were not really attractive again until around 1985-86, after which they just kept getting better (with the possible exception of that last version).
Kind of odd, as an Armed Forces fleet truck was USUALLY, but not always, a sweptside truck….or whatever the non-stepside truck was called.
When these Dodges first hit the fleet of my Navy squadron’s duty vehicles, I so wanted to take one out for a test drive. I thought the instrument panel of these trucks was so much better than that of the competition. Unfortunately, the power steering was about as light/overboosted as a typical car’s power steering.
New Mexico is the “Land of Enchantment” although I always preferred what the old Spanish Explorers said: “The land of poco tiempo.” because time seemed to move so slowly here.
Doh! Of course. And I do find it rather enchanting, at least many parts of it. I hope to get down there in the new camper van this winter. Maybe I was projecting; looking forward to some winter sun?
If you keep going another couple of thousand miles, you WILL hit the Sunshine State, Florida…
Having lived in Florida off and on for 45 years, I sometimes think that the sunshine in “The Sunshine State” is a bit too liquid.
Hmmmm….its got me stumped. No 1/2 ton truck that I know of would have had 16″ wheels in the ’70s. 16.5″ was the de-facto on 3/4 and 1 ton trucks but obviously that wouldn’t work on a 5 lug wheel.
I have a theory though: since it was an ex military rig, there may have been some other piece of equipment like an aircraft tug, service cart or something that DID use a 16″ wheel and compatible wheel bolt circle…commonality of parts and such. I do know that early Willys military Jeeps could have had 16″ wheels, so maybe its a common tire size used by government fleets.
If it was an ex-gov’t vehicle then it would have been a special order, at least because of the paint code. If it is a special order then the gov’t certainly could have specified the 16″ wheels, for their parts commonality, even if it was not something on the standard order sheet, hence the term special order.
Chrysler wouldn’t let a large order, like the gov’t would place, slip through their hands because 16″ wheels were not a standard option. No, they would have called up Firestone and placed an order for 16″ x 6″ wheels with a 5 x 5.5″ pattern.
The other possibility of course is that they came from a different vehicle that had that very common bolt pattern. Maybe this truck was due for tires and another older vehicle that had been wrecked had new or near new tires that they swapped over.
FWIW, these look like Mopar spec wheels, inasmuch as Mopar wheels back then seemed to have the smallest diameter of the rim/bumps where the dog dish mounted.
I think it’s fairly safe to assume that the govt. agency simply wanted 16″ inchers, which BTW used to be not uncommon options on 1/2 ton trucks not that many years earlier. I’m pretty certain they were an option on my ’66 F100, as per the owner’s manual, although not exactly a common sight. Among other things, 16″ inch wheels and the old-style tall tires increased clearance.
I’ve seen what looks like those same rims on the back of a 1960’s International Harvester pickup, also 16″ rims. I’ve never seen them on a Dodge, but I’d guess they were either ordered by the USAF or the owner of this truck pulled them off another truck
I know IH had 16″ on their 1/2 tons option list in the mid 60’s too. So yeah this would not be that far removed from when they were a standard option item. Knowing the rate of change of the gov’t I certainly can see them holding on to that longer than they remained a standard option.
Theres a couple of these Dodge utes in my local area I must take more notice next time I see them, most ex US utes wear wider aftermarket rims but theres a blue dodge that has resisted any mods still getting about.
Paul, I know the term “close enough for government work” has devolved into a statement of shoddy government work. However, this phrase had its genesis during World War II when the U.S. Government created the Military Standard. During full mobilization numerous companies were doing manufacturing work for numerous end users to produce products for the war effort. The MIL-STD ensured that every interchangeable part, from bolts to aircraft engines were made to the same exacting standards. Therefore, back in the day the term meant that the product met the highest standard.
The goal of wheel and/or tire commonality with other fleet vehicles such as Jeeps is an interesting comment; I know that when the first Chevy Tahoe police rigs were introduced, they “downsized” to 15” rims and tires to be common with the then common Caprice patrol cars, even though the wheel/tire combo seemed tiny under the big Tahoe wheelwells.
Oof, those are small. It appears to use the same 15″ “sport” wheels commonly seen on the 454SS pickup, just painted black.
Ford specifically equips their Interceptor Utility and Sedan with the same size tire and wheel so fleets can stock 1 size fits all and has even touted that as a benefit.
Those first generation Tahoes all came with 15” rims, as did the same generation Suburban 1500 and C/K 1500 trucks. Chevy/GMC did not upgrade to 16” rims on their 1/2 ton until 1999. Ford went to 16” on their 1/2 ton in 1997. As far as Dodge is concerned, I don’t know, but I’d surmise in 1994.