Since many Dodge D-series pickup parts fit my ’66 A100 van I’m always on the lookout for members of the species while visiting the junkyard. Today’s D100, which I found in a Denver self-service wrecking yard a couple of weeks back, is a little too new to offer many bits for my Dodge, but it’s still interesting enough for this series.
Growing up in a Navy town, ex-Navy D100s of this vintage were common sights on the street. Most of them were still in their government-issue gray paint with the Navy serial numbers still visible, but some got rattle-can paint jobs like this one.
The sensible Slant-6-and-4-speed drivetrain was about right for a truck like this— you weren’t going to go fast, but you’d always get there.
I didn’t grab any parts, but I did get this magnet for my toolbox.
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Love the camo, great for hunting out in The Great Graffiti Plains
I miss my slant 6 but I don’t miss the two bolt exhaust flange. (Two bolts weren’t really enough to keep a good seal between the manifold and the downpipe.)
I remember changing those on my dad’s Dart and Valiant. There was an asbestos or some sort of heat resistant fiber donut that was used as a seal. It always seemed to work as long as you snugged the bolts.
I have a Chevy 6 with the same issue. Since asbestos has been banished, connections like this are much harder to seal. :-(
I choose to blame the (presumably) asbestos-free gaskets rather than a failure of my own mechanical ability! :)
(This would have been in the early-mid 1990s.)
Those two bolt flanges were a terrible design. I had a ’74 3/4 ton Chevy with a 292 six. A Clifford Performance header fixed the problem.
I’m sure this truck could tell some stories. Capers gone bad, ghetto heroics, bribing Mexican Federales, etc, etc.
… or just some stupid redneck kids with a can of spray paint, but I like your version better ;-)
Eeewww… look at the engine photos.
That big artery still has blood in it. *gakk*
I haven’t seen one this old round here…granted, the ones from the 80s up to 1993 are basically the same truck.
Haven’t found a slant six one on Craigslist, though. Always a D150 2WD with a 318.
I was thinking, yeah it looks exactly the same as the 90s one.
This is so sad. There were miles left on that truck, and I’m fully aware that odometer turned over a couple times. The wheel well rust adds character, as long as the frame is straight.
I’m surprised that it’s still on its wheels–around here, they always take those off, and they always put the donor vehicles on three discarded-rim pseudo-jackstands.
You’re right, must be a recent arrival
Around here, the alloys disappear quickly, but the steelies stay on cars until they need to make more “jackstands”.
I always thought they took the wheels off–among other reasons–to give buyers access to brake parts, suspension and steering parts, and the like.
Around here, you would be hard pressed to find one of these, evan in a junk yard. The crusher ate, the rust monsters leftovers. The frames, and drive trains, would last forever. Back around 84 my buddy and I looked everywhere for a decent Dodge truck box. We could find one, even good enough to repair.
The good old days…you could climb into the engine bay….and stand on the ground. Think of a slant 6 with simple tbi injection and basic electronic ignition…man what a low maintenance deal that would be.
… and more durable ballast resistor, right?
Ah the infamous chrysler ballast resistors
And hydraulic lifters, please?
I always hear about these ballast resistors. I’ve owned multiple Mopar products in the 70s, Duster, Satellite, Fury and Volare. Probably about over 300k miles amongst them. Never once left stranded, never once needed a ballast resistor. I understand anecdote is not data and all that, but how big was this bullet that I managed to dodge in all that time?
I had an “Emergency Kit” in my ’77 Power Wagon at all times. I had several items:
1. Electronic ignition box. I usually had 2 of them, one mounted under the hood, near enough to the “real” one to just swap the plug over, and another one in the storage box between the front seats. The Vegas heat would kill them regularly.
2. The Ballast Resistor. Only had one die, and of course, I was out in the desert. I bypassed it and just made it to town before the coil went. By the time I got rid of the POS, I had a coil set up that ran on a full 12 volts, and the resistor was left there doing nothing.
3. A crimping tool, with a bunch of butt connectors, to fix the never ending electrical issues the truck had.
4. Lots of fuses, because the electrical problems popped a lot of them.
5. A hunk of spark plug wire, and terminals. Just because I was paranoid after my coil wire smoked itself once and I drove home on 3 hunks of wire twisted together and jammed into the coil and distributor cap.
As totally gutless as my friend’s ’76 D100 with a slant six and 4 speed was, I don’t know how anyone tolerated one. He traded his in on a 360 D150 about a year after he bought it. My ’77 360 4×4 was too slow to tolerate in stock 2 barrel form, and it was much quicker than his truck was.
My dad used to carry in the trunk a kit with the Ballast Resistor, Points and a Condenser. Thankfully they were rarely needed.
Some great slant 6 history here:
http://www.allpar.com/slant6.html
Having grown up busting my knuckles in the tight engine compartments of the 80s and 90s (and they are even worse today) it always amazes me how much room there is in the engine compartments of old trucks.
I didn’t grow up in the slant-six era to have direct experience with it, but my grandfather was (and still is) a believer in that engine. He has a late ’70s Fury that he’s restored with the Slant Six engine. It’s very much like the patrol car he used when he started as a trooper with the Missouri State Police.
From what I’ve learned from him, that engine was good for over 250k with no major showstoppers. This truck shouldn’t be there at 88,000 miles. It’s just a sad case of a lack of care and upkeep from its last owner(s).
Fortunately, I have no need to visit a junkyard. If I did, it would be a major downer seeing the Mopar section.
Its possible that it only has 88k, but with only a 5 digit odometer, its more likely that it has 188k on it.
Wasn’t that a line in the movie “Christine”?
Kinda sad someone gave up on this fine old truck .
As soon as you see the B.S. ‘ camo ‘ paint you know it’ll never get another oil change or tune up and it’s days are numbered .
This one has what , the Muncie SM420 trnny ? or the SM465 ? .
This would have been an easy fixer no matter what ailed it and rust free beds litter the South West .
-Nate
The equipment list (9th picture above) says “NP435” as in “New Process”.
There’s actually a surprising number of these (mostly W200) around in Europe, virtually all are ex-US Army vehicles.
My dad had a Dark Brown ’74 Plymouth Scamp with the Slant 6 that was the first car I ever changed plugs in, at around age 9. Doesn’t get much more malaise-y but always wanted to own my own Slant 6.