This 1974 Dodge D100 is a good conduit for a couple life lessons, about which most of us could use a reminder. Number 1: It’s OK to ask for help. Number 2: Education is a lifelong goal. I’ve been staring at this truck for a solid two days trying to figure out what to make of it, and here’s why: From what I can tell, Dodge didn’t offer the stepside bed (they called those trucks “Utiline” Pickups) with the Club Cab (Dodge beat the others in the Big Three to the punch on that one). I can’t even figure out what color this thing is supposed to be. Therefore, I’m asking for all Dodge truck experts to converge and help me out with this interesting D100. Barn Finds reader Sam61 sent us the link from Marketplace in Lisle, Illinois, where it’s being offered with an asking price of $7,500 (and no trades!).
Mysteries notwithstanding, there’s a lot to like about this Dodge, including the rugged 225 Slant Six. The Slant Six is one of those industrial legends where you start to wonder if the stories align with reality. I’ve been driving a ’65 Dart with a ’74 225 that I bought off the floor of a machine shop for over ten years, and I have found the engine to be reliable, but all kinds of engines were reliable back then. The net horsepower ratings were not well-publicized, but the 225 was producing around 95 horsepower by the time the ’74s rolled around, and by then, the engine had been around for almost 15 years. Keep oil in it and give it an occasional valve adjustment, and it should run forever.
Backing up the 225 in this truck is the standard “three-on-the-tree,” which is fun to drive as long as the linkage is in good shape. This D100 should have a synchronized first gear (if it has the A-230 three speed), which is a big help in slow traffic. The interior has the traditional parts store seat cover, but otherwise looks to be in good condition (aside from some hanging wires under the dash).
For being an Illinois truck, it looks fairly solid underneath in the pictures listed in the Marketplace ad.
But that brings us to the box. Did Dodge offer the “Utiline” in a Club Cab version, or did someone, back in a time when such parts were handy in junkyards, decide that they liked the look? The front fenders seem to be just a shade off from the doors, so how much work has been done? Does it really matter? I can’t even find this color chip in the 1974 charts, so did someone paint the truck a later color when they added the box? Did they use a generic beige? I just don’t know! If you have a better grasp on this thing than I do, please feel free to discuss it in the comments (I’ve tried in vain to find a brochure for the ’74 models, so that might be of some help). In the meantime, I hope we can all agree that regardless of its origins, this looks like a solid truck that anyone could be proud of owning.
Wow, that’s fantastic! Nice find, Sam61, and excellent write-up as always, Aaron. A slant-six, three-on-the-tree, and power steering?! I’m in!
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that configuration before with the Club Cab and Utiline bed. I can’t find another one, other than what appears to be the same one from a year ago on a Facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/Americona/posts/just-love-sharing-wonderful-oddities-like-this-example-1974-dodge-d100-club-cab-/881660850645024/
This ’74 Dodge data book doesn’t list a Club Cab Utiline so I’m assuming it’s a custom?
https://www.e-bodies.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/1974_Dodge_Data_Book_Trucks-16.jpg
Sir,
I do not know whether or not this truck was factory or not, but I believe it would have been built with no questions asked. They would have built it in pink with purple pokka dots. The price of oil tripled in 1973 and set off a major USA recession. Total sales of light vehicles fell 21% between 1973 and 1974. AND, people started buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, many foreign made. I was buying pickup trucks in 1974 and 1975 for work. I would call the local dealers, tell them what we required and give them a week to send the prices. We sometimes bought all three brands. We did not hassle as we just wanted fair prices. By 1977 and especially 1978 prices and demand were back up.
This looks like a fleet vehicle to me, and at the time, it was common for commercial buyers to be offered configurations and colors that weren’t available to the general public. In fact, Ram still offers a special color palate to commercial buyers.
I like this truck. I only remember seeing an extended cab on an 8 ft bed. I don’t know if its custom, or special order, or what but I like it. Under the hood and the door jams etc sute do look like they match the exterior color. I’d love to know the back story on this one!!! Slant 6 while not powerful if geared right were actually pretty respectable in the low RPM torque dept.
Nice find and great write up too Aaron
I think you’re on to it. No radio that I can see, 3 on the tree, slant six. I’d wager it’s a fleet order.
Thanks Aaron for the fun write-up and Scotty for the additional comments. I can’t really add to the mystery. I do like it for its quirky-ness. Only speculating, maybe it was a “special order” (from back when you could do that). Looks like something the local utility company would order; maybe they had certain equipment which only fit this bed. That might also explain the plain color. In any case, it would be fun for the right person– especially with the three-on-the-tree.
Three- on- the- tree, is the perfect anti theft device in today’s world!
I had a 76 slant six, 3 on the tree. Bought it used, for a song, as it constantly overheated, with a new rad, thermostat, rad hoses. It was 2 years old.
The exhaust manifold would constantly loosen off, had to tighten them up every 2-3 weeks.
Eventually, I decided it was a cylinder head issue, so I took the head off a 69 slant six, bought a new head gasket and went to work.
As I was getting ready to install the gasket, I noticed one of the coolant passages on the old gasket had never been cut out, I guess the die that cut the gasket had a problem, so, the front coolant passage had been blocked since new.
After installing the 69 head, high comp ratio, and 69 non emission carb, that truck pulled like a 318 up to 60 mph ( I know because I drag raced a 80’s truck, 318, 4 speed ).
looks like the R fender ,,and other parts is L4 called Parchment the R door looks like it was painted with Y4 called Golden fawn,,but inside of R door and sill I believe the truck was the Parchment color and some body painted the door and other parts the wrong color
That’s a ’72-73 grille. The first slant six appeared in 1960 with solid lifters, 1980 you had hydraulics. Nice truck…looks good!
I don’t know where this truck came from but it couldn’t have been in Ohio all it’s life and be this solid. It looks like something the Forestry Service may have had,by the looks of the solid body I might say California.
I’m an old pickup fan. Especially the two legged type.
Love to have this one. Nice lines. Nice front end.
Would repaint a nice deep metal flake cranberry.
Billyboy 2wd was all Uncle Jesse needed to outrun the fuzz in the hills of Hazard County
That is not a 1974 Dodge grille it is the Plymouth grill. I believe the truck is a 74 but for whatever reason it has the Plymouth grill. I have a 74 3/4 ton it has the Dodge grill. Mine also has that thin aluminum body trim. We used to refer to the D100 as a 1/4 ton truck they did drive nice but you could not put much weight in the bed. Its a nice looking truck. I agree that truck would be full of holes if it was an Ohio truck I know I grew up there.
Look up “squad 51”, the 1972 Dodge from Emergency, it has the same grille.
This looks like the typical military base maintenance vehicle, probably Army Combat Engineers or Navy Seabees for the desert tan color. Air Force would have been dark blue. Given it’s location, my guess would be that it spent a good part of it’s life at either Great Lakes Naval Training Center or Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. As to the odd assembly combination, the DoD was notorious for taking whatever was cheap and could be delivered on time.
Don’t recall any desert tan military vehicles from the ’70s. We were getting out of Viet Nam then. Navy trucks were usually battleship grey.