This isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile. Or Dodge. SUVs are more than all the rage now; they’re the quintessential commuter vehicle, and this one is meant for folks who are a bit on the rugged side. This 1964 Dodge D100 Town Wagon can be found posted here on craigslist just southeast of downtown Portland, Oregon, and the seller is asking $10,500 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the top Town Wagon tip!
And by rugged, I don’t mean harsh or crass, of course, I mean those folks who prefer an analog driving experience, and this truck is shown under the word analog if you look it up in the dictionary, or it should be. Don’t even think about heated and cooled latte holders or power-massaging calf-hide seats; this truck doesn’t have power steering or power brakes. Not to mention, there are no back seats for phone-staring teenage passengers to be coddled, while not looking out through the side windows at the world, thinking about the future, dreaming of what they may do with their lives after school is over. There is not only no Bluetooth or onboard wifi, but there is also no radio at all, but really, does anyone listen to a radio anymore? (other than me?)
Forget the air-conditioning; this truck doesn’t even have heat at the moment. The seller disconnected the heater core because it was leaking. Oh yeah, there’s also no warranty, so if something goes out, you either fix it yourself or disconnect it. Yet at the same time, this ’64 Town Wagon is incredibly desirable, at least in the dream world that most of us live in. We dream about a vehicle like this, back from “the good ol’ days,” at least until it comes right down to driving one every single day. I still dream about it, and at the same time, I’m as spoiled as almost everyone else is by modern vehicles and all their tech-heavy and often glitchy systems.
Fishing or camping duties are what I’d use this rig for. I would hate to haul tree limbs and other messy stuff back here; it’s too nice. I love the tone of the wood paneling on the doors; that’s the stuff I grew up with, that honey-colored wood. Another dream world that I’m living in, as much as I dream about owning and driving a vehicle like this Dodge. The Town Wagon was the one buyers bought if they wanted side windows and the ability to haul passengers with either two or three bench seats behind the two front seats, otherwise they bought a Town Panel. Dodge offered them from 1954 through 1966, and they’re decidedly 1950s-looking to me, another trait that I like. We saw a similar ’64 Town Wagon here on Barn Finds almost five years ago, and I think I like them even more now.
The floor shifter is mostly hidden in the interior photos, but I zoomed in on the photo of the rear cargo area here, and it shows the floor-mounted shift lever. Another feature that a lot of modern drivers don’t care about or want, even on their fun weekend vehicles. I use the term “driver” loosely, because when you’re piloting a vehicle like this Town Wagon, you’re driving, not just using one finger to steer, or no fingers in some vehicles. You almost need to evolve a third arm to drive this Town Wagon, which is part of its charm. The seats aren’t original, of course, but they look nice, and I’m sure they were a nice comfort upgrade.
The engine looks clean, but I’d clean it up even more by losing the red hose and repainting the valve colors to a factory color. Otherwise, this 318-cu.in. OHV V8 looks super nice. It would have had 200 horsepower and 286 lb-ft of torque when new, and was backed by an NP-435 4-speed manual sending power to the rear wheels only on this D-series. The seller says there is a patch on the passenger floor from a few years ago, but not much in the way of serious rust otherwise. It runs and drives well, and they just took it on a 450-mile weekend trip with no issues. Oh yeah, the tires are fairly new as well. I really like this Town Wagon. Are any of you into analog vehicles, or do you like all of the modern conveniences? I like both, but 20 years from now, I’ll still dream more about this analog era than I’ll dream about my phone connecting to the media player in my new car.
I don’t know…… No warranty??? I’m not sure about this. I completely agree about the “analog” driving experience. Manual brakes manual steering, manual transmission. Just feeling the gears as you shift, feeling the road as you steer. Standing on the brake pedal with all your might when a latte drinking phone fumbling Knucklehead does the “Jersey Slide” cutting across 4 lanes with no turn signal on. ( Trivia question, why do NY and NJ drivers NOT use their turn signals??? Because it will give away their next move 😆 ***insert rimshot here***). Overall this looks like a rather rare ( not many left) solid old workhorse. I’d be tempted to paint it, fix it up, but then again, how it sits right now is just fine. A tip of the hat to Curvette for finding this old workhorse and to Scotty for the write up too. I enjoyed it.
Analog in the best definition as in Armstrong steering and Saucer brakes-the driver’s eyes were big as Saucers when he hit the brakes and it kept sliiiiding along….
Price is a bit much IMHO but a great find-nice going, Curvette.
Welcome back, Scotty G.
LMAO! I think some of those drivers migrated out west. I’ve seen bumper stickers saying: “Horn busted; watch for finger.”
Growing up in and around NYC, I can confirm that a turn signal is more a sign of accomplishment rather than intention.
I like this truck. I haven’t the foggiest idea what I’d do with it, other than drive it around and have some fun with it but I sure wouldn’t kick it off my driveway, or out of my garage.
Obviously an engine swap as the one that would’ve come out would have to be a Poly head. Considerably heavier than the one that’s in the bay now. These newer versions are okay but they had a tendency to eat up the rockers and shafts. At least I always replaced them when I had one in the shop. Get the rockers off a 340 Six Pack and they were much better.
The NP 435 will work for a long time and never complain. We had four trucks on the ranch with them plus I had a couple of my own. Very few problems.
The paint is too far gone to just polish out and keep driving. A trip to the hardware store to buy some single stage urethane; prep and spray it on, and continue driving. Oh yes, I’d have to paint it a different color as my Better-Half would object. She hates green and frowned at me when I told her I was painting my ’47 Ford pickup the same ugly green it was when it left the factory…
“It runs and drives well, and they just took it on a 450-mile weekend trip with no issues.”
I’m sure the truck had no issues, but I for one would have major issues. Driving 10 hours in one weekend would beat me to death.
These wind so far around the ugly meter that they are attractive. The marketing team probably had to stick to radio ads, to sell them.
Buy it, drive it, ‘nough said!
On YouTube, Jay Leno has an episode featuring one of these – even a test drive. Search for:
“Jay Leno 66 Dodge Town Wagon”
Thanks!
Yes, not everything needs to restored.
Steve R
I think I grew a beard just looking at it!
This is AWESOME! I had a similar panel van in NC back in the early 90’s with no hear OR air conditioning! It got so hot in the summer you could bake bread in it!
All kidding aside if this was on the East Coast I would give serious consideration to making an offer; put in after market heat/AC; some suspension work and keep it the way it is! This is a rare and beautiful truck that deserves to be driven!
As for that 400+ mile trip he just took – I’d need an extra 20 miles to the chiropractor because these trucks do NOT drive well in their current configuration henceforth my comment about modifying the suspension!
Excellent find!
Gotta give it to Dodge for making a 1954 vehicle up until 1966. Only change I can see is along the way they switched to overhead pedals. With the debut of the A100 in ’64 these were on borrowed time. I think the Forestry Service used these in 4WD form. When I worked in the gas station in ’74-’76, there was a regular customer that had one of these, and that was one of the very few I ever saw. It would be neat if we could buy something like this now.