Ran into quite the foursome down at the railroad tracks the other day on our walk. Old trucks, all of them, but some a bit more so than the others. And one is particularly gnarly. Let’s save that one for last.
I’m in a bit of a rush, so I’ll let one of you pin down the year of this early (1961-1964) D series Dodge. It was the only pickup styled from scratch under Virgil Exner’s watch, and all things considered, given what else was coming out of Chrysler in 1961, it wasn’t too bad. A bit different for sure, but not over the top. I always sort of rather liked them, actually.
As I’m writing this, I just realized I shot and posted this truck before here, some years back, when its red paint was not so far gone yet. Good to know it’s still around.
The red paint in its interior has held up a lot better.
There’s little doubt that the bed is a carry-over from earlier times.
That font of the DODGE back here is just one giveaway.
We’re not going to spend much time with this Chevy van, although they are starting to become old timers too.
This one has the 6.5 L diesel, an evolution of the 6.2. From some comments I’ve seen here, it’s not exactly a paragon of reliability.
The Datsun 720 is starting to get a bit thin on the ground too, although there’s still a few that look like they’re in the hands of long-term owners. This one probably is too.
Oops; my bad; it’s obviously a NISSAN, although the Datsun badge is still down there cowering in the corner.
That brings us to the main attraction, a ’64 F250 4×4. This is no pampered suburban grocery getter/poseur either. This is the real deal, back when 4x4s were bought by folks who really truly needed one. And a great big winch in front when even the four wheel drive wasn’t up to the job. I bet this truck has seen some hard work deep in the woods of Oregon.
Its one nod to sissydom is the Custom Cab option, which was an upgrade in interior materials and amenities, such as they were. And these very fine door handle scratch guards, or whatever you call these things. I want some for my truck…on second thought.
Wood grain on the doors! OMG; this is a bit much. And a horn ring too! Just no power steering.
Plenty of spare tires.
And a tank of some sort on both sides under the bed just ahead of the rear wheels. Auxiliary fuel tanks?
Here’s the one on the other side. Hmm. That’s the only thing that makes sense, given the rather modest sized tank sandwiched behind the rear seat in the cab. And are those helper springs, to make it ride even harder?
It’s carrying an odd assortment of household detritus. Off to the dump? Moving? Or a junk collector?
Whatever it is, nothing’s going to stop it from getting there.
It is almost disorienting to see one of those Datsun/Nissan pickups without the line of severe rust in that seam that runs along the base of the box. Those were First To Rust in our neighborhood.
A fine gathering indeed. All three platforms are still running around here too, though I certainly don’t notice many diesel GM vans of that vintage, at least with visible badges or audible (or visible) diesel-ness when running. Quite a few of the 720’s are still earning a living with landscapers. The big Nissan/small Datsun branding on the tailgate places it near the end of 720 production; my ‘81 was the other way around.
There would be one more handful of changes to the 720’s bed & tailgate before being replaced by the D21 “Hardbody” in 1986: the external rope ties disappeared, the NISSAN emblem became significantly smaller, the amber turn signals were removed form the tail lights (though they came right back on the D21), the reverse lights were relocated to the bottom of the tail lights & extra reflectors were put in their previous location. My Nissan Trailer was built from one of these final edition versions.
Comparison shot:
I still like that Dodge.
You’re right about nothing stopping that Ford from getting to the dump, it could probably forget about the roads and go straight as the crow flies. What a beast!
That there Ford is some SERIOUS machinery! I’ll bet there are many who’d turn over some coin for that, even with junk included!
Sport Van 6.5 Diesel. Folks, I believe we have found our Oxymoron Of The Day. I’ll take the Ford for $500, Alex.
I spent much of my childhood and tweenhood in a 64 Dodge like that, except a Sweepside (or whatever Dodge called it).
All I remember on the inside was plenty of painted dark green metal like the outside, and everything else was so unbreakable, from the thick black plastic switchgear and knobs (“L” and “W”, no extras to confuse us) and the grey vinyl–if not rubber (thick, kidproof, no Morrokide fancyness) seatcovers.
The white gauges on the Dodge peg it at ’62. The winch on the Ford looks to be PTO driven. Talk about a powerhouse.
Exner also had a hand in styling this model’s predecessor. Customers could order their 1957 D100s with optional tailfins.
Headlamp pods vaguely reminiscent of early-’60s Imperials
I imagine that diesel Chevy Van is a noisy and smelly afair, wonder who would want a diesel for a passenger van?
The Nissan 720 is the only one with current registration and looks in pretty good shape!
What a gnarly vehicle that 64 F250 4×4 and I like the slight touches of flair inside the cab. Is it just me or do the wheels not look centered in any of the wheel arches?
Diesels weren’t very common in the G-vans, The cutaways tended to get them more often than the vans. That said, while the 6.5L diesel was not a good engine, the vans got the naturally aspirated engines which while weak, were probably more reliable than the Turbo versions the pickups got. The one good thing about the 6.5L diesels is there were actually pretty quiet and civilized in comparison to the 7.3L Navistar and the 5.9 Cummins of the same era. But they were no where near as reliable as these two competitors.
This van is a later model one. It looks like a ’94-95 due to the newer taillights and the CHMSL, one of the last of the run
Thank you VinceC for the additional information. According to Carfax that van is a 1996 Chevy G30 though I thought 1995 was their last year.
There was some overlap where the old style Sportvans were sold along side the new style Express Van’s. These were sold as 1996 MY vehicles. So I guess this really is the end of the line for the old G-vans.
The Chevy Van would in fact be a ’94 at the oldest b/c of the CHMSL. Judging from the front end it’s also a lower-trim model as the higher-end ones starting in ’92 used the quad-headlight setup first used in the ’88 C/K pickups and then the Blazer/Jimmy & Suburban. It looked like this:
I’m liking the Nissan. That color was quite popular in that generation, I had two girl friends in college that both drove the 4WD version in that same color, same generation but with huge 4×4 stickers on them (as was done in those days!). Not the fastest things but durable and kept going.
I like the Dodge if I had the choice from that bunch or the Ford both look like they could still work hard even the Datsun has a charm to it a friend had a four door twincab version he used to overload quite severely and always got home though very slowly, I retimed the engine for him and tuned it up so it ran properly, someone in its previous life had done the engine up and installed the distributor drive 180 degrees out and managed to make it run very badly some major grinding and slotting of the distributor mount got the timing back where it should be and it went really well,Not keen on the Chevy I like diesels but I dont like GMs efforts much 6,2 6.5 etc dont go very well or for very long it seems.
I like that Dodge, but that Ford is a REAL truck. No place for posers. Fixed up a bit that Dodge could be useful as dirty, dump load, kind of occasional truck.These old trucks are nothing like a new Dodge Ram, you only drive those old beasts when you need to. My ’66 F250 Camper Special was good looking truck but got relegated to occasional use status once I got my new F150. Old trucks are a great entry into the collector vehicle field. Everyone loves them and you’ll always find a buyer that will take your collectible and put it to work. My ’66 cleaned up nice.
I would be very surprised if the van is still running a diesel. You never know.
Love that Dodge, it reminds me a lot of the 63 F-100 I had, right down to the wheels and that big 4 speed stick shift (though the park bench green paint on mine was in better shape).
That Nissan looks like one of those tweener models as they were moving from Datsun to Nissan.
Sport Van?
Everyone knows you need the squiggly/EKG looking graphics to be truly sporty.
Or at least a big wingy-thingy.
“NO-TEC, yo!”
That sport van was from the era when the sport model consisted of a black or body-color grille and the word “SPORT” appearing somewhere on the trim.
What’s with the Ford bed? It looks like previous generation styling. More obvious than on the Dodge.
Era of the Ford Unibody, deemed unsuitable for 4wd use. Ford used previous bed on these. Also used on 2wd models until new bed introduced.