As much as I talk about wanting to move to a warmer climate, at least for the winters, the Arizona sun can turn vehicles into crusty and faded heaps. Not to mention what it does to human skin. This 1979 Dodge Macho Power Wagon is an Arizona desert find, according to the seller, and they have it listed here on eBay in Gilbert, Arizona, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $3,850.
So, about that hot, unrelenting, blazing desert sun. Dodge made their W150 (4×4 half-ton) shortbed pickup into a special edition called the Macho Power Wagon from 1977 to 1981. They were part of Dodge’s “Adult Toys” line of trucks and vans, which included almost everything truck or van-related and they had big, bold graphics such as this one had before being sunburnt.
The seller says that this Macho’mobile was found in the Arizona desert and it looks like it, but that same hot, dry climate has to be better than if it had been driven in snow country or on road salt, despite the rubber and fabrics being pretty much shot. The seller has provided a lot of good photos and I hope this is a trend for 2023. They even show several underside photos, and a session with a dry-ice-blasting expert would work wonders on this truck.
The interior is as fried as you would be if you would have been sitting in the Arizona desert for years. Some of it is salvageable, of course, but just plan on spending some scary money inside, after spending a similar amount on the exterior. That’s not even talking about any potential rodent damage to wiring and anything else. The seats are basically gone, but hopefully enough of them are left that they can be used as patterns. Inside the short box looks solid and faded. As rough as this one looks, it would be a fun project. This truck has a four-speed manual transmission, which is pretty cool. It seems like most of them are automatics.
Here’s where the fun ends. The seller says that the engine turns over by hand, which is great news. This one will occupy a corner of your garage for months while you rebuild it and restore it back to looking like 1979 again. It’s a Dodge 360-cu.in. OHV V8, which would have had 180 horsepower. Would you bring this Macho Power Wagon back to bone-stock original-spec, or give it EFI, a Bluetooth and GPS-friendly touchscreen stereo system, and any other modern upgrades?
A no reserve truck you can drive hard,& not have to
park in the garage.My kind of truck.
I wonder if it comes with a Village People 8 track?
I’m sure they shoveled out the beer cans from the box before taking the pics, and the “ready Rifle” gun rack in the back window probably adorns their “new” truck. IDK, 4wheel spin always a plus, but all this is good for, is hanging a plow and park it behind that cabin up north. You couldn’t possibly think it would be safe to operate this on any street. That’s another thing, why would you need a 4×4 in “Gilbert” ( like Gilbertson?) Arizona? While the climate is attractive to someone that lives near the North Pole this time of year, I constantly remind him, summers are unbearable, like winter up north. Without A/C, that area never would have developed. I’ve found, there is no weather utopia, just about every place has its share of crappy weather. This a pretty poor example of this truck, BUT, in true Dodge( not RAM) fashion, probably still works. I’m sorry, I have my limits too, and couldn’t be seen in a truck like this. In MY area, in a sea of new Subarus, this is an instant low-life type vehicle.
Howard, there are 1000s of miles of trails and unimproved roads in Arizona. Just 2 hours from Gilbert you can be in the mountains, pine trees and cooler summer weather. You obviously aren’t familiar. Properly restored, this would be a fun and rare truck to go sightseeing around the state.
No, I’m not, and with the 14ers in my back yard, I have no reason to. 2 hours( and 2 hours back) in this bucket of bolts? I’d feel like kicking a dog,,,not that I would. I think it is you that are not familiar with what kind of truck this is. It’s why I try to let people know, it’s not a new RAM 1500. Besides, trucks like this back in the hills near me, and not 2 hours, more like 10 minutes, any 4×4 truck is horribly out of date, and all this would be good for is dragging 2 ATVs, the much preferred method of travel, on a trailer, back TO the trails, offload, and go from there. Restoration today with crappy Asian replacements is costly and down right foolhardy. And when done, you’ll have a 30 year old truck that gets 10 mpg. It’s why I dumped the squarebody of the same vintage, it wasn’t that much fun.
I’m with you Howard, ATV on the trails, or for someone my age, maybe a UTV. This truck is just an expensive headache waiting to happen. On the trails in the backcountry, you want reliability. What will this get in MPG on a trail, 4, maybe 5? A nice little Honda or Kawasaki UTV will get ten times that much.
It’s an awesome truck that would be rather easy to fix and a great project for a kid
A kid in high school had one of these in New York in 1987. He wasn’t the smartest of kids. During the winter in the high school parking lot he drove about 30 miles an hour into a ten foot high snow bank to blast through the snow. He must have not known that the snow was frozen hard as a rock, and the truck flew up in the air about 15 feet before crashing on the ground. The kid hit his head on the ceiling of the truck and landed in the passenger seat. It was funny to us spectators, but very embarassing for the kid in the power wagon.
Rick Simon, your truck is waiting. All
kidding aside, I’d opt for an EFI equipped 440 V-8. Then and only then would this truck be really fun to
drive. One of my BILs bought one new. His was the stepside version of this truck with a puny 318 in it. What
a POS! The truck had so many issues
that he traded it 6 months later for a
new Tornado diesel. Just how gullible was he? He did it again when
he bought an Olds Ferenza! First gen
front drive economy car and all the
headaches that went with it! THAT’S
why I like older cars in the first place.
This is a cool truck and right now the price isn’t insane
John Rambo left the scene …..