I’d almost forgotten these D-Series medium duty trucks existed; they were always a quite rare sight even in their day. The fact that they were built for only four years is part of the reason; Dodge didn’t switch their medium duty trucks to the new D-Series cab until 1974, two years after it first appeared on pickups and light duty trucks.
Dodge exited the HD truck market after the 1975 MY, but kept the mediums going for two more years, through 1977. But they continued to be built in Mexico for a number of years yet, well into the 1990’s.
Here’s a small sampling:
Seems that these were perhaps more common as farm trucks/grain haulers than in any other use, as there’s a few still out there, including this immaculate survivor from Canada, a 1975 D600.
The original build sheet is still with it, and that says that it was powered by the 318-3 V8 (“3” being a heavy duty version), backed by a NP435 4-speed. That’s a pretty modest power train, but grain haulers didn’t really need more, in order to fulfill their mission to getting the grain to the nearest elevator. It does appear to have a two speed rear axle.
Here’s another farm truck survivor. Farm trucks do tend to have a high survival rate and long useful life, given how infrequently they get used. There’s a farm nearby here that still has a row of four International trucks dating to the late ’40s or early ’50s sitting in the shed, used annually for their mint crop.
A fair number also were used by school bus manufacturers.
Engine choices for all four years were a mix of V8s: the 318-3 was std. in the D500, D600 and W600 (4×4). The 360-3 was optional on these and std in the W400 and D700. The older 361 V8 was std in the D800, and the venerable 413 V8 was optional on the D700 and D800.
Dodge seemed to be a minor player in the medium truck field back then.
Ford, Chevy/GMC, and International seemed to be much more prevalent in the medium duty truck market, especially in school busses.
Thanks for presenting this!
Not a common vehicle. Living in the Midwest now, it seems to be Dodge country. I’ll be looking a lot harder for any more of these farm vehicles out here.
Speaking of school bus, here a mid-1970s PSA about school bus rules safety featuring a Blue Bird Dodge with a character named Bobino who was the counterpart of Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dressup in Quebec, Canada.
I grew up in a Dodge dealership as my dad was the service manager. I started working full time there in 1975 doing new vehicle prep. I serviced a 75 or 76 W-800 new with the 413. It was special orded by Mobile Drilling to be built as a drill rig and when done was exported to Australia. I did alot of them
Thanks for the memories. My first year at school in the mid-80s in Eastern Québec was spent riding an old Dodge medium just like this one. After that it was in an old Inter- and then tons of GMC’s. Even at six or seven y/o I knew all car and truck models. Dodge trucks were striking with their white front ends and white wheels.
Combined, Ford and GM trucks sold about ten times the volume of Dodge. Dodge trucks in this era were kinda like Imperials: products that mostly sold to diehard Chrysler loyalists.
These Dodge mediums always turn my head when I see them…which isn’t too often! IINM, ’74s have circular lollipop turn signals with a separate side marker on the fender, while ’75-’77s have square lollipops with the side marker built in.
I like how the light duty cab often “hides” amongst the rest of the heavier duty truck. This iteration is very well done and well proportioned, if one ignores the big flat panel under the doors.
Great trucks, wonderful engine accessibility as the hood opened 90 degrees. Inner fender were flat too and made handy shelves for tools, ect.. They drove very well, didn’t have the tight turning radius the GM mediums had but steered easy even without power steering. Dodge just didn’t have a strong commercial dealer network to push these trucks. Not having a diesel option would have been a problem if U.S. production had continued into the early 80’s, but I was told a few were tested with Caterpillar V-8’s in 1977. There was also a story that Dodge came close to bringing the Mexican built D-600 back to the U.S. in 1989 with a Cummins 5.9L diesel. Not sure if it didn’t happen due to lack of engine supply or little dealer interest.
When I was a kid in the 70’s in Texas I always had my eyes open for the unusual and one day on 290 outside of Jersey Village riding with my dad around 1976 out pulled a shiny new oddball.
An all white dump truck
What the hell was that?
As we passed it I saw it was a DODGE..
Wow
The only one I’d ever seen,, 90% of big trucks were Fords back then..
It looked like a UFO to me.. lol
I actually don’t remember ever seeing another one either…….
I took a trip in one of these as a kid in the late 70s with my dad. His job was in technical support/sales for agricultural equipment like pumps and sprayers, but nothing to do with vehicles.
For some reason he had to drive it from Iowa pretty far up into South Dakota, and I went with him. Maybe his employer sold it to a customer. In those days he was licensed to drive anything but a tractor-trailer, so maybe that’s why?
It was the ag/stake bed version. I remember it being a rather faded red, and it seemed pretty worn even though it wouldn’t have been more than a few years old at that point. It had a two-speed rear, as I remember the push-pull on the stickshift.
Nice, up untill Chrys;er began rebadging Commers we didnt get any Dodge trucks then suddenly we did Dodge 2500 vans and rebadged trucks they were good trucks though.
Nice rigs ! .
I remember some of these in fleet service with the 413C.I. V8 , *very* stout .
-Nate
There used to be tons of these in Israel – they were assembled by Automotive Industries in Upper Nazareth of all places and anyone serving with the IDF in the late 70s and 80s would have spent time at the back of one (or, if one was lucky, in the bus version – see pic below (by D. J. Naor)). As is typical for such vehicles they were driven to the ground and are nowadays practically extinct.
It’s fascinating that their top-of-the-line heavy duty engines are the 361 and the 413, two engines that were cancelled in the mid 1960s in passenger cars. I guess if you have the tooling and marketing is not a factor……..
The 413 was available in industrial applications until the late 70s. I know in my 65 Imperial it puts out 350 horse and 450 lb feet or torque and low RPMs. Plenty of grunt for running pumps and other items.
These were HD truck engines, with many differences from the light duty ones. So it was logical to keep them in production. The 413 developed quite a rep, as the toughest of the big-block gas engines. It powered lots of big motor homes too.
Indeed so Paul
They were heavy duty gas truck engines
It’s like the 330 aka the U-Haul motor
And the great 366 GM motor
Handsome beasts of burden , the 413 would have made a great sound when worked hard.
The design, though plain, exudes a sense of purpose. In some ways it looks better than the regular Dodge pickups from the 1970’s. GM should have hired the designer responsible for these instead of whomever “styled” the atrocious 1st generation and equally atrocious 3rd generation TopKicks/Kodiaks.
Agree! Always thought these were attractive in a down yo work kind of way.
These show up on truckpaper.com from time to time. In fact, I just took a look today and here’s another one for sale. Always did like the white grille.
They were popular with public utilities as well. New Jersey’s PSE&G still had a number of them and their predecessors in service well into the 1980s. But otherwise rare on the ground both in the NYC metro area and Pittsburgh.
I own several of the 74-77’s I was an engineer for Chrysler . They were my favorite’s. . Here are a few pic’s of my 74 D600. I use it the most. It has a Hiab knuckle boom on it. It folds up between the cab and the bed when not in use. It reaches out 30 ft and is rated at 6800 lbs. It has out riggers to keep the truck from tipping over ..
another pic
I thought you would like to see a couple of pictures of my “Big Dodge” (as I always called it) . When I bought it for $800 it had a tall grain body on it and no brakes, but I still drove it home about a mile in creeper gear and worked on it for years to get it in the shape you see. The frame of the bed is still the grain body, but cut way down. It had the 318 engine in it with a four speed (creeper low) transmission. It actually didn’t drive too bad, but it was not something you wanted to take to the ice cream parlor on Friday nights. I really enjoyed taking it to cruises because it was the only thing like it out there, and with those long exhaust pipes and thrush mufflers, it really sounded great. I eventually sold it to make room for other projects, but I miss it and think about it often. If you go to Youtube and look up “1974 Dodge D500” you can see a 10 minute video I made when I was selling it. (The video is a little long and somewhat involved because it was made as a selling tool).
must not have sent the right pics….oops
not sure why I can’t send any of my pictures. (They are jpg)
Hi Randy, I usually have no trouble if the JPEGs I upload are less than 1800 pixels in width and height. I typically post images 1500 pixels or less in size, with no issues.
I tried resizing my Pictures and will try again
i must say i love this truck. i thought i saw that it was listed for sale, i am in the process of getting a 75 D500 it has around 40K on the truck and the body is in great shape, i know some of the pure lovers will hate me , but my plan is to make it in a crew cab and use a truck bed off a dually .
Henry ;
I say : GO FOR IT ! .
I’m one of those cranky old men who loves stock vehicles but the facts are : no one wants an old truck so you’re doing it a favor by saving and Hot Rodding it .
Better saved than scrapped .
-Nate
74 dodge from the rear
This is the truck from the first picture. We have now repurposed it as a fuel truck. Those are original gas tanks from a 1950s commercial fuel truck.
Need help finding a number for the rear brake cylinders on a 1976 dodge D500 it has 2 on each side
Where are you located Clint ? .
I know a place in So. Cal. that will prolly have them in stock but they’ll need a sample .
You can always send the old cylinders to White Post Restorations or Apply Hydraulics to be re sleeved in brass…..
-Nate