Old race haulers are among the cooler rigs you can buy, but the desirability factor spikes even further if you find one that did race support for a major team like Sox & Martin. This 1971 Dodge D700 SM1 box truck is listed as being one of the original car haulers built for transporting Sox & Martin race cars, which was one of the more prolific and successful racing teams of the 1960s and 1970s, racking up victories with Hemi-powered muscle cars. Can you imagine what a tribute rig this would make? Find the Dodge car transporter here on craigslist with an asking price of $6,500.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Andria A. for sending this tip in. The above picture was taken from a Hemmings article in 2018, profiling this exact same rig as is sitting in front of us today. At the time, the seller claimed he had to sell the truck immediately, as he lost his storage arrangement. Evidently, there was either more flexibility on the part of his landlord or the truck has moved onto a new owner in the meantime. The Dodge was for sale then, too, with similar photographs and the same asking price.
While I’m sure plenty of Mopar enthusiasts would love to own this piece of history, a few issues arise right off the bat: first of all, you have to have enough space to store the transporter until you have the room in the workshop or the garage to begin working on it. Second, if you want to make it an appropriate tribute, you would ideally have a period race and/or drag car on the bed. Third, the whole truck needs to be painted. It’s a worthwhile project, without a doubt – but it’s going to take a good amount of time and money before it looks the way you’d want it to.
Of course, the good news is you can still haul around project cars from the comfort of an enclosed trailer while you tackle the restoration. It’s hard to say for sure, but it looks like it was built to accept at least two cars and certainly plenty of tool chests and tires. The seller notes that one of the last owners transported his Dixie Dart and Dixie Twister race cars, and that the tires are as old as the last cars it transported, ringing in at nearly 35 years old. More importantly, the truck’s engine, clutch, transmission, and rear end all function as intended, and hopefully, it will make an appearance at a vintage racing event someday soon.
Wow, here’s a piece of history for you. Sox and Martin were just one of the biggest. They drew record crowds where ever they went. These were some of the 1st factory backed transporters, I believe. Drivers then were still using car trailers. If we ever get back to drag racing ( 2 events slated for July) this would look great restored and in line with all the vintage dragsters, maybe even a S&M clone car. Looking at it’s sad condition, you’d never know, at one time when this truck rolled into the pits, the other drivers began to sweat. I think this truck pulled Herb McCandless’ 71 Cuda on trailer, and was more of a parts/workshop. What a neat find.
If you have the room this would be quite an addition to any collection. Nothing like unique, deluxe transportation for that vintage car. I used to see a lot of these trucks out west but they were always equipped with a grain box and hoist. When you opened the door of these trucks you were almost always greeted with the smell of grain dust and stale cigarette smoke. A 413 was actually quite rare; the versions I saw were usually powered by a 318 or possibly a 361 and backed by a NP 542 (Short-Fourth) transmission, and that old reliable Eaton 2 speed axle. The only exception to the grain box was the Co-op fuel agent who had one of these for a fuel delivery truck. One day while coming home along the freeway there was this huge patch of oil on the pavement, with a thinning stream of oil up and over a rise, terminating at the fuel truck, which managed to make it to the shoulder. The transmission literally had “young ones.” The following morning he was at the shop with the tanker truck in tow. To this day I can only guess at what happened. The countershaft blew right out the bottom of the transmission, streaming a shower of cast iron fragments and debris. Still spinning at high speed, it skittered across the lane, through the ditch and stopped up against a fence post. Not much salvageable there (the shift lever was OK). Just pulled the floorpan, rigged the barn door track between the dash and the seat back (worked like a damn getting those top-heavy transmissions out), and dropped what was left of the transmission out the bottom. Found a rebuilt 545 transmission in Great Falls and had him going again the following morning. It worked just fine but you had to get used to split-shifting. The guy ran that truck for at least another couple of rotations of the odometer before he had to retire it and get a tandem unit. The gravel roads pretty much shook the cab to pieces by then anyway. Good things never last…
I lived in Burlington North Carolina during the Sox & Martin days and dated his wife’s sister. Never met Ronnie but went into his man cave with his wife and sister. The room had framed magazine covers and the coffee table was an M&H slick with a Keystone wheel, crankshaft for a leg and a flywheel base. Pretty impressed I was.
If Mopar collectors thought the sellers claims were true they would have snapped it up when it hit the market two years ago. Several original Sox and Martin cars still exist, one of their owners would have jumped on this truck the second it hit the market.
When Don Prudhomme sold his funny car and transporter bidding reached 7 figures.
Steve R
Just curious, what makes you say it’s not a Sox & Martin transporter? Looking at images of vintage transporters, lots of teams used these, Chi-Town Hustler, but that was a 4 door. Not many were like this. The only difference I can see, is the Sox and Martin truck has air horns, this does not, but they could have gone missing. The parking brake valve on the dash means it has air brakes, and that roof mounted A/C was very unusual for a truck like this, I think it’s the real deal.
The seller doesn’t claim it was used by Sox and Martin only that it was designed and commissioned by them and used by another team. If the owner of one of the existing Sox and Martin cars believed it was a team transporter they would have the means to purchase and restore it, yet that hasn’t happened in 2+ years. That by itself speaks volumes. Collectors often think and act differently then typical enthusiasts, many are uber enthusiasts. Rolling into a show or nostalgia race with this truck and one of the old race cars would be the highlight of any event. I don’t see one of them letting a real transorter slip away at this trucks low price if it were real.
Steve R
Both cabs do have the roof mounted AC, but look at the body panel below the bed floor behind the rear wheels. The vintage truck shows triangular sections and the truck for sale has rounded rectangular panels. Not the same truck with different paint, looks like a totally different similar truck to me.
Thanks, I suppose. I just think it would be a neat vintage hauler at a “cacklefest”, just to show how it was done, S&M or not. Compared to how it’s done today, like comparing a new Mustang to a Model A. Could be a neat tribute, and be a heck of a lot easier than redoing a S&M car. Bet you’d get a tear in old Buddy’s eye.
Buddy Martin is still around, and a great guy. I visit with him every year at Stocks for Tots, first Tuesday each December in Mooresville NC.
As cool as this old rig is it would be a whole bunch more interesting to see a real Sox&Martin race car, any of them really. Heard Ronnie Sox was so fast at shifting a four speed transmission he could hit gears faster than an automatic,,,, that Chrysler used for racing not grandmas soft shifting Dart.
The nostalgia is still there, wonder how much longer it will last.
I would like to know what ever happened to the C 800 or C900 from Sox& Martin, I love those C model trucks
Geomechs you honestly have some of the best stories ever to go with stuff that crops up here! Thanks for the contribution.
Thanks, Karl. I love to share stories. I was a mechanic for a lot of years and there were a lot of interesting events that happened. A lot of them were quite humorous and I like nothing more than to share them with others. It takes a feature like this to open the memory banks. Glad you enjoyed it…
These trucks / chassis always looked like they were sagging right behind the cab. I could never understand that.
Maybe it’s just the pictures….but if you compare the metal behind the rear tires (part of the integral ramp) on these two boxes, they are different.
I have to side with Steve R. Mopar collectors are a cooky bunch meaning they are hardcore. If was legit would have never hit the market. All it would take is a few phone calls of “Hey, I think I have an old Sox team rig” Color it Gone!
I am surprised though that it hasn’t been sold. I am not in the market for vintage race car rigs but $6500 seems overly cheap. Has me thinking of how cool it would be to own. Would take a sizeable shop to restore it and or store it. But how neat.
If I am not mistaken the AMC racing team used Dodges in their early Trans Am effort I believe. What a hell of a billboard for someones business.
Hey Geomechs want to restore it? Hopefully it is already sold.
I wondered about this also. I live about 20 minutes from where they got started and wondered how the vehicles got from Burlington NC to the other coast as most stuff stayed local. But not really my area of expertise.
Rob Pitts has a good story on some history with sox&Martin.
https://youtu.be/dJ2WSg7lGjk
If it is or not a S&M truck, one should buy it for a nostalgia Pro Stock racing operation.
Wow! I could have used this truck to move my family in one trip! Had to rent a
truck from Lowe’s yesterday to move some furniture into our new place. Moved in with the kids and we got one of
those DE-LUXE apartments in the sky as
the Jefferson’s theme song says. Not a
bad place though, only wish they wouldn’t
charge that much extra rent to have one.
Boy, do I miss my carport!