Classic pickup trucks 25 or even 50 years old that are still not only on the road but also working for a living are not unusual, but one that is a Dodge rather than a Ford or Chevy is quite unusual. The Dodge D-Series of 1972-93 was an also-ran dwarfed in sales by the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet C-Series when new, and survivors from the 1970s are relatively rare several decades later. Spotting this eye-catching red and white 1972 D200 during a trip to the local auto parts store (of course it happened there) was therefore a surprise worth stopping to shoot.
Red trucks everywhere – another unusual sight
The redesigned 1972 D-Series was a major step forward for Dodge’s pickup line, introducing independent front suspension that caught up with Ford’s and Chevrolet’s adaptations of the 1960s, the first extended cab with the Club Cab, and new less boxy styling with a two tone line mimicking the late-fuselage era Plymouth Satellite coupe of the same year. During the 1970s, it would provide the basis for numerous variants, from the off-road oriented Power Wagon to flamboyant lifestyle trucks such as the Warlock and Lil’ Red Truck.
This ordinary D-Series truck appeared to be a well preserved and unrestored example, used but not abused for four decades–an ideal characterful classic pickup for occasional work use. Externally, the four matching wheel covers looked almost too new and perfect, but otherwise the entire truck exuded originality. With faded two tone red and white paint that exactly matched the truck in a 1972 advertisement, minimal dents except for normal wear to the cargo bed floor, and only slight rust around the edges, it looked ready for another four decades of light duty hauling.
from a similar truck shot by Paul N.
Inside, the basic black interior appeared to be restored, with what looked like new vinyl upholstery, but one cannot criticize wanting to sit in a clean and fresh-looking passenger compartment in a truck driven regularly.
At the pickup’s business end, the new-looking trailer hitch and standard license plate were further signs that this truck remained an honest work vehicle. Although eligible for registration as an antique for more than a decade and a half, it continues as a normally registered, unlimited use vehicle, probably hauling cargo and towing trailers all over the place. Unlike in the Pacific Northwest, we do not often see these unrestored classic pickups in everyday use in the mid-Atlantic states, so it is a moment to be enjoyed when one appears.
Related reading:
The Case of the Very Rare 1978 Dodge Diesel Pickup
Sweet. My grandpa had a ’72 D100 Power Wagon, orange over white. I rode in the bed a lot, and once he and Grandma took my brother and I on a week-long vacation in it. The four of us rode abreast. It was snug.
Grandpa had a Power Wagon, grandma had a Blazer. What a pair!
I remember being really smitten with these when they were new. I built a model kit of one, same red over white color scheme. The early grille (used only in 1972-73?) was really the only good looking one ever to grace this truck, at least in its original sheetmetal. The squared up version in the later 80s was attractive too.
These were major-league rusters and it is rare to see one of the early D series trucks on the road around here. A really cool find. I can just hear that Hamtramck Hummingbird starter grinding away.
Too bad you didn’t snap the dash ~ it too favored the then current Satellite shape .
Sadly they sun warped and died by the millions , the same plastic dash and poorly designed matching glove box doors were used into the 1980’s model runs so I could buy them at Peter Ellis Dodge until I stopped buying , refurbishing and re selling these fine old trucks in the mid 1990’s .
Cab mounts tend to rust out before anything else on these , the fuse boxes were poorly made and badly positioned right where that hot cuppa joe often spilled and soaked them .
-Nate
I just added a shot of the interior of a similar truck.
Whew, I’m glad that interior shot was from a different truck. I can’t imagine even Chrysler selling a D100 from the factory with a red over white exterior and green metal interior. It’s also rather cool that it sports the ubiquitous (for the day) three-on-the-tree manual.
And nothing exemplifies Chrysler’s abysmal quality control than the way Dodge truck bodies rust away far sooner than their drivetrains give up. That’s why there are plenty of old Ford and Chevy pickups still on the road, but few Dodges.
“Sadly they sun warped and died by the millions , the same plastic dash and poorly designed matching glove box doors were used into the 1980′s model runs so I could buy them at Peter Ellis Dodge until I stopped buying , refurbishing and re selling these fine old trucks in the mid 1990′s.”
The frustration with the attitude of U.S. manufacturers in this era: A problem becomes obvious, but we’ll ignore it anyway. In the case of Chrysler, third place and threats from foreign competition apparently weren’t worth worrying about, everything was going so well for them through the ’70s.
Thanks for nothing, Nate. Now I have the Pete Ellis jingle stuck in my head!
30+ years later that jingle is still used by Westside Chevrolet in Houston……
Century III Chevrolet in Pittsburgh uses the same jingle.
Southtown Ford in Fort Worth used the same jingle… Southtown Ford, South on 35, Alsbury exit, Fort Worth!
Pete Ellis Dodge? You must be from California. I remember the TV jingle…there was one in Sunnyvale, and another one in Long Beach.
RE : mindless jingles
You’re welcome ! =8-) .
I have nothing better to do than share the 30 year old earworms stuck on my old fat head all day .
Be happy I’m not sharing ” Andrew Carpet Cleaning ” radio jungle from 1962 ! .
-Nate
One of the most famous 1972 era Dodge pickup bodies is Squad 51 on TV show “Emergency”.
Another is “Simon & Simon” PI show Rick Simon’s 1978-ish Dodge Power Wagon, made to look older with primer paint.
‘Emergency’ was probably my favorite show as a kid…
We’ve been watching this on Netflix; it’s like a Time Capsule of early-’70s L.A., near where I grew up. Love that Ward LaFrance pumper, too. Watching the show daily instead of weekly makes it more obvious which scenes are stock shots. Also notice the backlot at Universal, which is not a typical L.A. neighborhood!
BTW, sometimes I see the Dodge with blacked-out wipers & inner grille, instead of what’s pictured. And sometimes I see an earlier D-series squad truck being used. Continuity, anyone?
Jack Webb didn’t like to waste film – or anything else – so all his shows tended to reuse b-roll or 2nd unit footage throughout their runs – mainly driving scenes. The Sweptline D-Series was used in the pilot show – IIRC, they got the new truck by end of the pilot. But it’s b-roll footage lived on.
It was even worse on Adam-12, where Reed and Malloy’s late 60s B-body Belvedere would pop up frequently during the show’s fuselage era. At least Friday and Gannon kept the same Fairlane for the life of the show. (And the same clothes!)
Not sure about the different grill and wiper treatments you mention, but black -painting different parts of the same stamping was a common way to refresh the front end for a new model year. And it wasn’t uncommon for the auto companies to update TV cars the same way – Mannix’s Challenger convertible is a well-known example, as it got a ’72 grille, even though the ragtop was dropped after ’71.
Stock footage of the D series truck only appears occasionally in the earliest Emergency episodes. For the era, they were pretty good about not doing that. The black grill was substituted on Squad 51 later in the series to keep the truck looking modern. It was furnished by Chrysler, so perhaps they insisted. There are plenty of continuity errors with that vs. stock footage in the later seasons. The D series does return in the Emergency TV movie “Survival on Charter 220” to sub as the demolished Squad 51.
I actually just watched most of Adam 12 on Netflix and was impressed with how careful they were about continuity in stock footage substitution. I don’t recall ever seeing them sub the Belvederes for the Satellite other than the episode where Malloy rolls the car — there’s an obvious cut to an older Belvedere stunt car in that case. They did play fast and loose with the ’68 and ’69 Belvederes substitutions, but the difference between the two is so modest that I doubt anyone notices.
If you are interested in seeing the truck (called Squad 51) it has been living in the LA County Fire Museum.
http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/Squad51.html
This appears to have “Custom” badging, missing from the driver side, and a black vinyl door card on the inside, making this a deluxe truck of its day.
Can you imagine bringing home the brand new modern equivalent today and drilling those mirror bracket holes on day one?
Cool old truck.
When I was young, my great uncle had a Dodge pickup about the same age as this as his DD, except his was a Club Cab. On the other side of the family, my cousin drove one too. I think it was a 2-tone gold and beige. For some reason he swapped a newer front clip onto it, and that was navy blue. He had an old-school aluminum cap on the box. Before that, the same cousin drove a Ramcharger.
This really IS the Fuselage pickup. Reading about it, I couldn’t help think of my preference for this (apparently behind-the-times) styling–also popular at AMC–over the neoclassicism which everyone else seems to love.
The 73 Chevy pickups looked great, too, but the Dodges looked better from the back as well. Despite not being as popular as Ford and Chevy, I remember tons of these from my childhood. And it seemed like every church and summer camp had some Dodge truck or van around. Maybe it was a New York thing?
Unfortunately, these had all the body integrity of fuselage and B body Mopars of their era. If only Chrysler had re-done these trucks in, say, 1967 or 68, its long run would have been a blessing to the Mopar faithful. Instead, the bodies were the weak spots on these – rusty and not all that structurally solid. The best and worst of Ma Mopar co-existed in these pickups.
Moreso than Fords or Chevs, I recall seeing a lot of 70s era Dodge trucks with their beds replaced with homemade wooden stake beds. I am guessing partially due to the tendency for the beds to rust prematurely.
Where I live, truck beds seem to outlast the cabs, since I see a lot of bed/trailer conversions in use. But this is in the Sunbelt.
And everyone knows that the Chevy/GMC pick up trucks of the 1970’s and 1980’s were paragons of rust free longevity? #RollEyes
Municipalities really seemed to like these, I’m guessing the fleet deal combo for these and some Mopar police cars were to good to pass up.
Also, 1972 was the final year then Fargo trucks was available for Plymouth-Chrysler dealers in the Great White North. I saw this vintage advertisement of the Dodge and Fargo pick-up truck.
http://oldcaradvertising.com/Chrysler%20Canada%20Ads/1972/1972%20Fargo%20Truck%20Ad-01.html
Back in around the fall of 1988, one of my college buddies brought his dad’s pristine 72 D200 up to school – Univ. of Toledo – to move into the dorm. Bright red with the shiny black interior, 360 with a torqueflite. Needless to say, once unloaded, it was quite the stunner at burning up the back tires in the dorm parking lot. One of our more wildman friends – the kind of guy that could tear up a brick as my grandad used to say – got behind the wheel for his turn, revved her up and dropped it in drive and ka-blam. The motor mount broke and that big old 360 rolled over like a dog wanting it’s belly scratched. Luckily, I worked in a gas station – the good old days when they still fixed cars and we had to pool our money and get it towed in. Wildman’s folks picked up the tab for the new motor mounts, but my buddy’s dad was still pretty PO’d that his beautiful old truck had gotten thrashed on.
My buddy’s Dad had a 74, and by 1986 it had rusted so bad, it wouldn’t pass a safety check. His Dad was going to scrap it. We made found a home made cedar flat bed. Then we patched the cab with fibreglass.
As I recall it was still on the road in1989-90..???.
Sweet looking truck. It’s fun to see these old trucks still being driven today. With regular service and maintenance and service, old cars and trucks will last indefinitely. 🙂
*Drool*
Slant 6 with a three on the tree? A pick-up doesn’t get much more utilitarian than that.
My dad had a ’74 D100 Custom in the late 80’s, when my parents were living in Calgary Alberta. White on white, slant 6 with a three on the tree, and I loved that truck. Being an Alberta fleet truck it had seen it’s share of abuse and neglect, but it had no rust, and was still in very serviceable condition.
He sold it on the sly to avoid an ugly family situation because both my brother and I wanted it desperately. Oh, I was pissed off. The 225 CID with either the standard or Torqueflite transmission is virtually a bulletproof drivetrain, and combined with no rust at all, I’m sure I would still be driving it today.
My all time favourite vehicle – a D100 from ’63 – ’93, preferably in it’s most basic trim.
That’s what I drove ca. 1980, summer-temping for the So. Cal. Gas Co.; most were ’68ish Ds. Bulletproof they were, fun they weren’t; the lone ’69 Chevy C/10 with a 250 was preferable by far. I imagine the ’72 Dodge redressed the handling disparity.
Being dual-fuel conversions, they were all complete dogs on CNG, & had poor range as well; gasoline was a vital fallback for long routes. Last thing one did on a shift was set up the overnight refill. Still, I don’t fault the concept.
You just made our day! Me and my co-workers are fleet mechanics for So. Ca. Gas., and we remember all about those D-100’s and their Dual Fuel conversions! The funniest thing ws trying to change from one fuel to another. If you were running out of CNG, you had to get your speed up (not easy) and hope the fuel pump could refill the bowl of that Carter 2bbl. fast enough so the engine wouldn’t stall. Memories…….
Exactly.
The Civic GX works better I’m told, having a CNG-only engine with higher compression. Does SCGC use any of these? The range isn’t great, but might be sufficient to cover most meter routes.
Yes, we have a number of Civic GX’s. We also have large numbers of both Chevy and Ford CNG trucks. Some are OEM dual-fuel models, some are aftermarket conversions. Much improved over the old days, range is still somewhat less than gasoline but driveability is worlds better.
I actually do not like the way Mopar chose to make this a two tone and prefer the Chevy/Ford way. Overall this is a nice truck to look at 40 years later, but I would not buy one.
If I too owned a classic I really doubt I would register it as a historical vehicle. That nice Jeep Grand Cherokee is getting closer to antique status every month.
I didn’t register mine (well recent classic anyway) as antique/historical because I didn’t want any restrictions on how I used it. However, due to the age my insurance company won’t give me anything more than basic liability *unless* I register it as an antique in which case I could get comprehensive for a good price. So I’m considering it.
(Yes, I briefly looked into Hagerty, and they won’t cover you at all unless the vehicle is parked in a locked or access-controlled garage overnight. So much for that one.)
And I really *do* like the two-tone. One of the things that makes this truck different, and special.
my 77 Chevelle is registered as a ‘Classic’ in Texas, which just is really vanity plates that say ‘Classic Auto’. It still has to meet all the same safety inspections that the rest of the newer cars have to meet, just no emissions testing is done on it since its over 25 years old.
I wanted to be able to drive it anywhere, and since Hagerty doesn’t value it enough to get in their programs, its insured as a regular car through my insurance company.
I didn’t want to register it as an Antique car because the state puts limits on what you can do with it.
in Maryland the 1993 and 1994 Grand Cherokee can be tagged as “Historic”
Buy one, get one free – 1974 style……
Wow, where did you find that ad? Dodge was a player in heavy duty trucks from around 1961 to 1975, and made some very decent products in that field. Unfortunately, due to a weak dealer network, sales were never very good. By 1973, rumors were flying that Dodge would soon abandon heavy trucks, which further depressed sales of an already slow selling line. The ‘free pickup’ promotion and some very heavy discounts were tried in ’74 and ’75 to move the iron, but to no avail. The expense of adding the newly mandated anti-lock air brakes in 1975 did them in. Too bad, in retrospect maybe Chrysler should have given up on the car lines and become an exclusive truck manufacturer.
Were there “Heavy Duty” only Dodge Truck dealers? Or were they just sold through select regular Dodge dealers that happened to sell big trucks? I know that Ford and GM commercial trucks and semis were almost always sold through dealers that just specialized in those.
As far as I know, Dodge never had dedicated heavy truck dealers. Our local Dodge dealer sold them, and I can remember a few being on the lot when we picked up our new ’72 Coronet Crestwood. He also had a late 20’s Graham Brothers Dodge truck under a broad awning across the street.
I don’t ever remember seeing a cabover, much less a Bighorn, but I’m sure there were some in the Pittsburgh area. The LCFs were more popular, and the suburb we moved to in ’76 used them well into the 80s as municipal dump trucks and snowplows.
I wonder, could they have been the last American vehicles in production with a wraparound windshield?
They had a few dedicated heavy duty truck dealers. And that was their problem, Dodge needed a network of specialized open-all-night commercial truck dealers to be successful. There was one in Los Angeles near Downey on Telegraph road. The facility is still there, but now it’s an L.A.M.T.A. maintenance yard.
There’s a guy in Pittsburgh who brings a ’75 Dodge Heavy Duty Dump Truck to several local car cruises. It’s a Bronze color in really nice shape. The cab looks like it dates from the late ’50s with a wrap around windshield. The most interesting feature is that both front fenders are hinged at the grille and swing open to service the engine.
I think Mack still manufactures, or did until recently, a truck cab with a wrap on the edges.
Wasn’t the cab on these the same one as the pickups used in the early 60’s? Or is that just an urban legend? Sure looks similar.
We covered the bigger Dodge trucks and the Bighorn here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-capsule-dodge-lcf-truck-motorhome-a-dodge-lover-lives-inhere/
Dodge was also hurting since they didn’t have any decent gas engines for these. The 413 didn’t fix all the problems of the 383/440. They did end up canning it in the MD trucks and started offering the International MV404 and MV446 but it was too late.
As I remember the heavy duty 361-3 and 413-3 stayed in production until Dodge gave up on medium duty trucks (D-500 to D-800) at the end of 1977. Dodge did offer the International V-478 and V-549 in the heavy duty C series (wrap-around windshield cab) in the early 70’s. A very few class A Dodge motorhome chassis were build with MV-446’s around 1980 when the supply of 440’s was finally used up (440’s were last manufactured in late 1978). I don’t recall hearing about or ever saw an International MV in a Dodge medium duty truck
The strange think is they kept the D-500/600/700/800 in Mexico to the 1990s. Here a vintage D-600 ad from Mexico.
Around this time International did a promotion where you got a free Scout II with the purchase of certain Combines. Not sure when it was but I think it was a couple of years after this.
Those side mirrors got to be after market, right?
In about 1970 I bought a 69 chev. Almost bought a 68-69 Dodge from the same guy. Don’t remember the exact year but it was 68-69 iirc and had this style. It lost out because the front end was all over the place and the chevy tracked very well.
Somehow I think the 318/auto would have gotten better economy than the 307/3 spd MT. Just didn’t need the grief of front end work. 10-11 mpg got the chevy sold for my second vw. A 61/40hp that I kept about 4 years and sold in Panama.
I always liked the looks of these Dodges and wanted to buy one but wound up with chev or ford instead.
As a kid at the time, I remember seeing as many of the later Club Cab versions of these, as the regular cab. I thought the Club Cab was one of the most attractive domestic pickups at the time.
Chuck Connors made a great spokesperson. It looks like him doing his own stunt driving, going up the hill at 0:15.
Growing up, I thought Dodge had the best looking trucks, I really liked the ’74-’76 grille and dashboard better than the ’72-’73. However after reading all the comments, I can’t believe no one has called this truck out as a D200, not a D100. The emblems are missing from the front fenders. In fact, there’s no evidence at all of their existence, unlike the one missing “Custom” on the rear; leading me to believe this truck wears an old re-paint. Those are the factory original hubcaps for a 3/4 ton; if one were popped off I’d bet (not a gamble here, I know I’m right) you’d find 8 lugs all around,, and oil bath hubs on the rear. Those are also factory original mirrors also; they can be turned in and flipped over so as to not protrude out so far when not towing an 8 foot wide trailer. That truck has practically the perfect level of “character” to it.; I love the light scrape on the lower passenger side. I’d drive it with pride. The owner probably wouldn’t part with it for the world.
You’re quite right; those are the hubcaps for the 3/4 ton D200. The D100 sported regular little dog dishes. Good catch.
Fond memories, I owned a few of these, culminating with an ’89 D-250 with the new EFI 360 V-8. They were always solid trucks, and many are still around Southern California where the rust issues didn’t come into play. Dodge was first in the early 70’s with a new generation pickup, beating Ford and GM by a year. The ’72 D/W series replaced the funky straight axle/leaf spring ’61 design Dodge trucks. In the 70’s, Dodge was the only company that would let you have a big block V-8 in a 4X4. These trucks got a major restyle in 1981, and that era introduced the Cummins B5.9 diesel as an option, a move which put Dodge back into the light truck game. Speaking of diesels, a 6 cylinder Mitsubishi was briefy an option ’78-’79. Good luck finding one of those!
Here’s an early Power Wagon I saw at a storage facility a few years ago
About 1 year ago I got a phone call from a tenant at the same assisted living home my late father was living in. He informed me that he just sold Dad his 93 extended cab one ton automatic 2 wheel drive dually Cummins diesel truck to him, as his own driving days were over. He made sure to tell me he had already cashed the check, but he was afraid to give him the keys for fear he may drive it. Dad told him the truck was ‘for me’. Turned out to be the case, it would have been ugly had he decided to go for a drive. Ask me how I know! I thought I had all his checkbooks, he had one more in hiding. It was a nice truck, he only paid $2500. It had been sitting awhile, and only needed a battery. It had been a one owner truck, and all the paperwork from purchase to repairs was present. I told him it was a good investment, and repaid him his $2500.00 and drove home the truck. I also took home his checkbook. If looks could kill! It was fully loaded and really in good condition, needing only paint. Had about 220k miles on it. It was on it’s second transmission and 3rd overdrive unit, but the engine was original. I sold it to my neighbor across the street who was the father of my rental tenants, and they were good ones. I let him buy it for what I paid, it was probably worth quite a bit more. He sold it to a co-worker, and in 6 month’s it had broken the transmission drive plate twice. I was glad I sold it for a good price since it turned out to be troublesome. But it was fun to drive and was a nice truck.
Transmission drive plate? You’re referring to the “flexplate”, which connects the crankshaft to the torque converter?
On the same day I test drove my ’94 Cummins, I also spotted a ’93 D350 with duallies for sale. I think I made the better choice buying the ’94.
Correct. The flexplate. I had all the paperwork, and after the transmission was replaced one had been replaced under warranty, and also twice the torque converter ears had broken off and were also replaced under warranty. There were no problems before the transmission replacement. One of the things that worried me about keeping it. Faulty parts? some kind of engine/transmission alignment issue? The internet websites seemed to think the torqueflite transmission is not strong enough for the Cummins, and the overdrive which gave 4th gear could also be a weak point. On this truck, the overdrive unit was repaired twice. And they were very expensive repairs. If it had a manual transmission I may have kept it. They seem to be more reliable according to the blogs I read. I really liked the old body style, it had cold AC power everything that worked perfectly, and a really nice interior with a really comfortable aftermarket bench seat. The body was perfect, only the roof and hood paint was faded.
Sweet looking old truck! I got my license and started driving my dad’s ’84 Dodge power ram….COAL submitted last nite.
I always liked the ’70s iteration of this bodystyle. The earthtone colors and the general execution of these rigs just really suits the lines of this body. I definitely don’t agree that the bodies are badly designed. Besides extensive seat time in the ’84, Ive been in other 1st gen Rams. Theyre not ‘quiet’ by any means, nowhere near the sound deadening as now. But the trim is nowhere near as cheap as on GM trucks ’88-up. Those always felt like Fisher Price built the interiors.
Bob B. mentions a Mitsubishi 6 cylinder diesel was available (briefly) in ’78-’79? I would like to find one! Having grown up, I’ve outgrown any fondness for Dodge trucks (re-named “Ram” several years back, I suppose to differentiate from the car line-up in case Chrysler had to be sold piecemeal before Fiat happened to step up. The trucks and Jeep have a loyal following), due to their POS reputation. I would possibly consider a new Dodge, I mean Ram, 1/2 ton with the new 6 cylinder diesel. Gotta go demo one; but how would it look parking in the employee lot at the Chevy dealership I sell for? LOL!
We did an article on the very rare 1978 Dodge Mitsubishi diesel: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-case-of-the-very-rare-1978-dodge-diesel-pickup-and-the-non-existent-diesel-van/
Have to look that one up!
I want to test drive one of those RAM1500s with the VM Motori 3.0L turbodiesel too.
I have always loved Dodge trucks from the 70’s
The coolest Power Wagons were the 40’s and 50’s military styles.
Here is a photo of my ’78 D100 I still own. All orig. with 55,000 orig miles.
318 three on the tree. Really fun truck
Very nice! 55,000 miles? Wow. How long have you had it?
Like the yellow and black combo too.
Slick truck!
What a terrific pickup! It does indeed appear to be a 3/4 ton unit, an ’87 model of which worked so wonderfully for me until the cab mounts started getting a little crusty. I sure miss that pickup!
I was very surprised to see a 15-year-newer half-ton Dodge in similar condition here in town last week. Not many 20+ year-old non-Cummins Dodges left here in Iowa that aren’t mostly rusted away.
Those are some massive camper mirrors, you don’t only see your trailer, you can see into the previous century….
Great find. I love the first generation of these trucks, with the original grille design and the two-tone paint jobs that quickly fell out of favor – white was a very curious choice for the bottom of a truck!
My crazy Uncle Theodore got one of these – a first-year Club Cab – in that orange over white scheme that was very popular back then. Until GM came out with their ’73s, these really were the most advanced pickups on the market.
Ya the truck caught my eye when I noticed how clean and rust free.And that’s very uncommon here in ohio. I also added a rare after market option called a passing eye. It is mounted at the top of the driver door and is of two mirror’s facing each other. Used to see around the vehicle in front so you can know it;s safe to pass. Really cool.Wonder if anybody remembers these? It’s kind of hard to see in the pic
How the heck does that thing work? Do you see the image in the driver side mirror, or do you have to look up at the rear facing mirror?
You look into the mirror facing you and it reflects back into the one facing forward,witch is angled out so you can see out around the truck or what ever is to big to see around. These were good for two lane roads.
That sounds like a neat idea. Would give you the same view as sticking your head out the window. In practice however, if you’re close enough to the vehicle in front that you really need to use that to see around it, you’re probably tailgating.
What a great article and even better sharing of memories and info. on the ‘third place’ truck!
I’ll agree with the few that favor the club cab model! Love it’s longer flanks, especially in two-tone which accentuate it’s fuselage themed origins.
I’m sure many here know about the ‘Lil Red Express and Warlock, but what about this OEM trim level ‘The Jean Machine’ from 1978.
Well that’s…interesting. 70’s for you, I suppose.
Wasn’t there also a Levi’s edition Gremlin with denim upholstery? Or am I making that up?
No ;
They made numerous ” LEVI ” interiors all had the small red LEVIES ” tag in them .
I goofball I know who’s in his 60’s ,. bought a cherry Gremlin LEVI Special Edition specifically to chase the Ladies in , put some flower stickers on the doors and soon landed himself a seriously rich babe who was nice and married him , he now lives the Life Of Riley , in her mansion , the back yard cluttered up with various old cars he buys , takes apart and then abandons .
-Nate
Theres a one of those Dodge pickups around here in blue a clean tidy original survivor unmolested which is rare for US pickups that age in NZ usually they have had or still have a hotrodder on the owners list.
A family member had a ’72 D100 in Sunoco blue, with 318 and 3 speed manual. No extras. It was a great driving truck and a lot of fun to own.
Have you noticed that that valance panel under the front grille is painted red, even though it’s on the same level and directly abuts the white side trim? Never really noticed that before, and it’s kind of like the strange color band on the roof of the ’56 Mercury posted a couple of days ago.
I actually have a 1972 dodge d200. It has 60000 original miles. It runs good