Between Lee Iacocca showing up on television backing up his confidence on their products, reminding congress that they had given bailout money to any number of businesses before the auto industry with nothing to show for it but more outstanding debt, and delivering punch after punch with the K-Car, the S-Chassis minivans, and the later E- and AA-bodies, it’s not a stretch to call him one of the most positively-influential and successful businessmen of the decade when greed was good. A sort of anti-Carl Icahn, if you will.
Still, even for him, not all projects can be winners.
If my last article I highlighted the US’s complicated relationship with the wagon, in these one we can once again reacquaint ourselves with the wonderful world of the small pickup truck. This one is actually a lot easier, the US has perfected the full-size pickup truck. You can literally go out and buy one at any price level or equipped with anything to suit your needs. Whatever the full-size sedan was for America until 1973, the full-size now fills that duty. And like Nash Metropolitans and Studebaker Larks, small pickup trucks tend to be less popular overall, although its fans are more prone to extol their virtues than the owners of full-sizers.
Now, I know that it’s tempting to go “But Gerardo, what about the recent crop of small trucks from GM? Ford is also bringing the Ranger back! What do you mean that small trucks are generally unwelcome!?” Well, it is perhaps at this point that I should point out that all of those small pickups are within a couple of inches in all dimensions of a 1977 Chevrolet Caprice, and the only reason that we consider them compact is that the Full-size ones make the 1959 Electra 225 feel somewhat awkward and uncomfortable about its size. Perhaps a better way to describe them is as small-er pickup trucks. The A-Bodies to compliment the (very)big-boys, if you will.
No, when I think of small pickup trucks I’m thinking more the 80s Universal Japanese pickup trucks and chicken-tax skirting compacts. Great if you lived in a big city and didn’t buy vehicles like you do fast food (I can get how much more for a dollar?). And, for the purposes of this article, things like the jumpseat-saddled Subaru Brat, the VW Caddy pickup and, to a lesser extent, the El Camino/Ranchero local offerings. That’s because it’s among those last two that Lido decided to add yet another vehicle to the rapidly growing ChryCo portfolio with the Rampage.
Now, one of the many elements which made the Chrysler revival a success was their seemingly endless ability to take what few platforms they had and make as much from them as they could manage. If auto makers were people, Chrysler would’ve been that guy in college who only had a rotisserie chicken and some dried ramen noodles to survive until payday. Granted, after a couple of years the regime of chicken and noodles would become somewhat stale, but it was still exactly the strategy that they needed to resurrect the company (not to mention the only one they could afford with a budget of about a day’s wages for all employees).
The specific recipe for the Rampage was: take the front half of an Omni/O24/Charger, design a new greenhouse, and then mate it to a whole new rear half, with a longer 109″ wheelbase, a number of additional structural supports, and a new rear suspension consisting of a solid beam axle and leaf springs to manage its 1500lbs payload. In other words, pretty much exactly what VW had done with their Rabbit-based pickup, except Chrysler had to create new frameless window glass too. Not quite as easy as it might look at first glance (no, it’s not just a Charger with a Swzalled off rear upper body).
The result was quite adorable, surprisingly practical with a 1,500lb payload (about enough to carry all but the heaviest of motorcycles or a cow) and had an unsurprisingly small footprint. Sure, the 84 horsepower that you would then use to haul those 1,500lbs would not give you that much confidence when doing a hill start or merging on the freeway, but apart from that it was everything that a discerning customer looking for a small pickup truck wanted. Problem is, of course, the market could only come up with about 15,000 of those every year.
The reason I’m labeling these as 1984 models is because they have the four headlight front end used that year. 1982 was the year when the bulk of them (17,636) were sold. Presumably when the news that only 8,000 or so had been sold in 1983 hit Lido’s desk, he decided that he didn’t have the time or resources to pour into something that wasn’t pulling its own and the rest of the company against it. The Rampage (and its one-year sister the Plymouth Scamp) were quietly discontinued in 1984, presumably making more space for Caravans and Voyagers on showrooms. Having read his books, I’m guessing Lido also did readily admit it was a bad idea.
With that said, he tried and failed with an usual pickup one more time. Maybe trucks are his blind spot. Strange when you remember that’s where he started at Ford.
Special thanks to William Rubano for uploading these Rampages to the Cohort, and congratulations on finding two of them on such good nick.
Those are ’84s 😉 (the only year for the quad headlights)
At the time, the S10 and Ranger had just come out and the Japanese small trucks already had a strong foothold on the market so these didn’t have much of a chance. They were rare even when new but they have their little cult following now.
Yes, the only time this kind of truck did decently well was before the S-10 and Ranger came out in the 80s.
I’ve fixed the year, thanks!
I always really liked these. But then I was always a big fan of the original L coupes (Horizon TC3 and Omni 024). Actually, my memory says that those coupes always had frameless glass side windows from the beginning.
I was surprised that these never sold in greater numbers. I had figured that the El Camino had been reasonably popular (if never a breakout hit) and that these would find their niche too. But alas, a niche in the land of Chevrolet could provide decent volume while a niche in the land of Chrysler was subsistence living (if that). However, I think that the breakout success of the minivans sort of re-oriented Chrysler as to what success really looked like. It did not look like these.
I love the ramen and rotisserie chicken analogy.
When I read the article, I thought the same thing. My 1985 Plymouth Turismo had frameless windows. The 4-doors (Omni/Horizon) had framed windows.
But, the windows are different between the Charger/Turismo and the Rampage/Scamp. (The doors are the same). The trailing edge of the window on the Charger/Turismo is almost vertical, while on the Rampage it is angled forward to allow for the sloping rear window.
That’s the point the article was making. Chrysler had to re-engineer the details of the window glass and sealing. Not a big deal, but it was not a straight carry-over from the coupes.
I say this because I actually wrote that, having had to make some major changes on this post at the last minute last night. 🙂
Wow, I had never noticed that the windows were different between the two. I guess every time I saw one of them I remembered the other as having window glass just like the one I was looking at. Then when I saw one of the other, same thing. Just wow.
Wrong product at the wrong time. True compact pickups were everywhere at the time. Chrysler was importing Mitsubishi pickups themselves as the Dodge Ram 50 and Plymouth Arrow. Same wheelbase and payload, bigger bed and more horsepower available.
At the same time over at Ford and GM, new compact trucks, Ranger and S10 were true US replacements for their captive imports.
Datsun and Toyota trucks were selling briskly, the VW and Subaru not so much. That should have told them what the market wanted.
Had been launched earlier like 1979-80, I wonder if things could had been different?
They received good reviews upon their launch, crediting Chrysler for taking the risk exploring this segment. Certainly no one at the time openly said they were a mistake. But after the first positive reviews, you heard very little about these.
The two Rampages that I saw regularly at the time were driven by retirees. Obviously, not the market Chrysler intended.
I think having the 1984 nose from the beginning would have helped their looks. I feel quite a number of early 80s domestic cars would have benefited greatly in appearance from quad headlights. Including, off the top of my head, the Omni 024/Horizon TC3, the Mirada/Cordoba, and the Ford EXP/LN7.
Buy a full sized pickup for four figures? I think you must be stuck in a time worp or something as you can’t even get a “compact” pickup truck in 2018 for under $20,000. And the last time I checked, that’s a FIVE figure number.
I really like these small trucks and even came close to buying a new one, twice. Unfortunately, in the first attempt I couldn’t find one with a manual transmission. The second time I found a great truck but could never seem to get to the small Texas dealership that had my dream truck when it was open.
I was about to say. I can buy a leftover 2017 or even a 2016 for $9,999? Where do I sign up?? V-6, 5 speed, A/C, am-fm radio only, and crank up windows?
That’s right; he’s a digit off.
In the early fall of 1993 I bought a new ’93 F-150 SWB stripper – six, manual, crank windows, no radio, vinyl mats – for barely under $10K in Elgin, Illinois. That was 25 years ago.
When I was in high school there were two Dodge dealerships in my area that got into a bit of a price war. I remember their radio ads. Dealership 1 advertised new Dakotas for $9,999. Dealership 2 points out that those trucks don’t even have A/C, and this was North Carolina in the summer, and advertises Dakotas with A/C for I think around $14K. Then Dealership 1 responds with ads pointing out that that’s more than their price plus the MSRP for A/C, and they offer trucks with A/C for less than that, maybe $12.5K or something like that. This would have been circa 1996-97. The point being that it was theoretically possible to get a stripper Dakota for 4 figures at that time, albeit a dealer promotion that was I’m sure designed to get people onto the lot so they could upsell them to a more expensive truck. Come to think of it I think that’s the last time I can recall a new vehicle being advertised for four figures.
Not exactly apples to apples, but Nissan was selling new Versa sedans in around 2008 for under $10. You didn’t get a radio or A/C though. And maybe not MSRP, but Chevy dealers were countering that offer in a widespread push with Aveos at the same time.
I had to make a few corrections to this post, but that one slipped by me. It’s gone now.
Living in northern Illinois at the time, I remember the start of Rampage production at Chrysler’s Belvidere plant. The event was a local news segment on Rockford TV stations; Governor Jim Thompson was there to celebrate and cut the ribbon. He may have been the last Illinois Governor not to go to jail.
You’d think so, but our last governor, Pat Quinn, hasn’t even been charged with a crime yet. Progress!
Aside from the outside competition, Dodge was also in competition with *itself* in the small pickup market.
The 1984 Rampage had a base MSRP of $6786. Sharing the showroom floor was the Mitsubishi-made, built-like-an-actual-truck, Dodge Ram 50, with an MSRP of… $5684!
You had to really, really WANT a Rampage to buy one.
$6800 is less than $17,000 in today’s money. There has to be a market for a $17,000 truck in today’s market. No?
Not after you add all the required/wanted safety equipment, make it strong enough to pass crash testing, then add in the cost for what used to be options but now are pretty much expected on every vehicle – power brakes/steering, AC, power windows/locks, AM/FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity…your $17K truck now starts in the mid $20K range. Even the old as dirt Nissan Frontier has a base MSRP in the upper $18K range, which is pretty close to your $17K target.
No, there isn’t. As a rule, someone who actually aspires to buy a new $17K truck today doesn’t have $17K and can’t borrow it, which makes their interest moot.
Someone who can spend $17K will spend it on a used truck with air conditioning, a nice radio, and power windows, or borrow more to buy a new truck with those features, regardless of what you think they should want.
I think the Rampage was caught between a rock and a hard place. To those who liked the car-like front end, it unfortunately was not a car. To those who wanted truck-like capability in a smaller size, it didn’t look serious enough to be called a truck. The Ranchero and El Camino survived as long as they did because they were true hybrids—half car and half truck. The Rampage was more of a “what if?” concept, in my opinion. When the Ranchero and El Camino got larger as the years wore on, and wore “GT” and “SS” badging, respectively, they added performance to their repertoires, and gave owners something that was truly unique. The Rampage, unfortunately, was more “boutique” than “unique.” That said, I thought it was nicer looking than the Japanese small trucks, but then I’ve never bought a truck, and didn’t buy a Rampage. To paraphrase movie director Billy Wilder: “If you build a compact truck based on a car, and no one wants to buy it, you can’t stop them!”
We could wonder what if there was a Shelby version of the Rampage or a Rampage with the 2.2 turbo of the Shelby Charger and Omni GLH? They seem to have a Shelby version but only cosmetic stuff.
https://www.allpar.com/omni/rampage/index.html
These were cute little mini-trucks. For some reason, my memory associates these with a load of pool-cleaning supplies.
Ya, these were cute as a button. I did prefer the ’84s.
I remember looking at them on the showroom floor, the sales guy thought they were a joke.
I always thought that these were cool looking little trucks, My Dad had an old ’59 El Camino for awhile. When I worked at G.M. Fremont we built the El Camino and GMC Sprint during the mid to late 70s. A compact Japanese p/u usually made more sense. I think these models (car/truck hybrid) appealed to a very specific buyer, someone who wanted more style and comfort along with some limited carrying ability. Remember, that trucks in general were pretty Spartan until the late 70s, and full size trucks not very fuel efficient. The Rampage, VW and Brat were much more economical.
I saw a picture of this Plymouth “Back Pack” concept in Motor Trend magazine in the late 90s. Not that practical, but I would love to own one. Kind of like an American ”
Mighty Boy!”
Never seen one but our market was drowning in utes from Australia and Japan so this probably would have sold here either though being the only FWD ute may have helped or not the only other one was the Austin 1800 from Australia and those were rare too even new.
The Rampage showed that Iacocca wasn’t perfect. Still, although a failure, it wasn’t his biggest at Chrysler (TC, anyone?) and, frankly, can easily see how his gut told him to go ahead with the project. As stated, Chrysler had been left out of the Ranchero/El Camino game and the Rampage sure looked like it would be a great way to join the party. Then, too, gas prices in the early eighties were high and a smaller pickup-type vehicle with a reduced payload capacity (but a much higher mpg rating) held potential. I give Lido a pass on this one.
1500 is a stonkin’ payload for that size vehicle. I think my F-150 was about that.
Yea, but. I overloaded my F-150 from time to time with no ill effects. On the full-sized ones, GVWR, and therefore payload, were sometimes paperwork for a particular tax or emissions class, not purely engineering limits.
When I ordered my C1500 in ’93, I had a choice of 5600lb or 6100lb GVWR at no difference in price, as I recall. “Under 6000” gets you cheaper registration in some states.
Try putting an extra 500 lb in a car-based pickup. You might get Ford Exploder style tire overloading.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see anyone comment that this type of small, car-based “truck” is still very popular in many parts of the world; Fiat (badged as many brands, including, I believe Ram), VW, Chevy, and others. Perhaps Lido was ahead of his time. I currently own a VW Golf and a 4wd Tacoma, but I could easily seeing owning a modern Golf or Gol based pickup, if available in the US, and a 4wd SUV instead.
I remember as a youngster looking at those new with my Dad. He didn’t fit comfortably so he bought a putrid Toyota diesel pickup instead. The Rampage has about twice the horsepower of that penalty box.
Huh?!? Swings and misses?!? Not in MY book!
My ’83 Omni is one of the best cars I’ve ever owned.
I’d drive a Rampage (or even BETTER, a Plymouth Scamp!) NOW if I could find a decent one.
I always found it curious that these were based off the Omni/Horizon coupes rather than the sedans, whereas the VW pickup was based off the 4 door Rabbit. I recall insufficient legroom for tall people being a common complaint about the VW so maybe this is why Chrysler (and Subaru) decided to use the coupe’s longer doors. But somehow the boxier Omni 4 door seems better suited for a truck, and maybe using the narrower doors would have allowed for a longer bed in the same overall length (note that the sedans also had a considerably higher roof than the coupes, allowing for higher seats, thus causing legs not to splay out as far, allowing for less front seat area length without shortchanging legroom).
Anyway, these things made even an El Camino look tough.
Had an Army issue Rampage during a deployment for crowd control duty during protests at Seneca Army Depot back in the early 80s. I never saw one converted to cop use, but during deployments where we didn’t bring our own vehicles, we took whatever the local base had available. I think the Army bought a lot of these for use as light trucks. I remember this as being a very nice driver – for an Army vehicle.
There was a storage facility off of US-322 between Phillipsburg and Clearfield, PA that had two of them sitting in their lot as of maybe 3 years ago. I regret not taking pictures of them, they were really interesting. Personally think they’re sharp looking. It’s a shame they didn’t have any real power behind them.