Once in a while you run across a vehicle that you may not have looked at twice back in the day, but now it catches your eye and admiration. An example of an under-the-radar kind of vehicle is this 1976 Dodge D100 pickup auctioned here on eBay in Troutville, Virginia with a current bid of $3,400 with five days to go and the reserve is unmet.
This fine old hauler shows a little over 83,000 miles on the five digit odometer, but from the condition of the truck, one would tend to think it was still on its first trip around. The seller says that it was a two owner truck and that he purchased it from a 92 year old Dodge enthusiast and that it “was his Sunday truck.” I can only hope I still have my enthusiasm for old cars if I hit 92.
It was given a paint job prior to the last owner taking possession and the seller says that there are a couple of dents on the roof, but that it is overall “in great solid original condition.” The photos show a couple of areas at the front of the truck that could be the start of corrosion, and the seller mentions a floorboard and left rear wheel arch rust. The bed of the truck shows wear as would be expected but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker. The rear bumper may be from a time when they were optional and the selling dealer would add them on arrival, sometimes with the dealer name in tall red letters added to it.
The interior is beautiful in a 1976-kind of way. The striped fabric wasn’t intended to deal with tools in back pockets or greasy clothes no, sir. This was for the farm boss man or lady to reward themselves for working hard and earning their success. The floors are carpeted and there are carpeted mats in place, too. The interior plastics are spotless and not banged up as you would expect to see in an older truck such as this.
Power is supplied by a 318 cubic inch V8 driving through a three speed Load-Flite automatic transmission sending drive to the rear wheels in this two wheel drive model. Power steering and brakes add a little extra convenience for the driver, too but it does not appear to be air conditioned. The engine bay could use a thorough cleaning and there could be some extra wiring present, for what purpose we don’t know. We don’t know what the reserve is but I think it would be a fun truck to drive, maintain and enjoy for many years to come.
I had a ‘76, but nowhere near as nice as this one. Mine was the most stripped basic vehicle I’ve owned. Slant 6, “3 on the tree” manual steering, manual brakes, did not even have a cigarette lighter, nor a dome light. And yes, I had a rear steel step bumper with dealer engraved letters.
Back in the days when trucks were trucks and didn’t need no stinkin’ A/C.
They was ugly then, and they still ugly now!
Scotty, why aren’t you climbing all over Frodman for making this comment ie); “feel free not to comment.” My comment was in a humorous vein which was ill received. Humor is like that.
Can’t recall the brand (Frod?), but a cute lil’ old lady hawked, ” don’t you buy no ugly truck!”
I gave my ’78 D-200 to our middle grandson, and he stuck a built 440 in it. Ulgy but deadly. He twisted the frame of a Raptor while pulling it out of a ditch with the beast last month. DOH!
Boo hoo hoo, somebody said something I don’t agree with! Wah, I’m sad! Give me a break! It’s still ugly….
That’s ‘zactly what I mean about humor being ill received. We have a multi-make, multi-wheeled, multinational garage. And a multi engine in the hangar. Oh, I left out, a very high cylinder quotient.
The rattley rod is the ugliest, followed by the bull dog faced Frontier, the Riv looked like a catfish, Frodman. When we need to use something, we don’t think about what brand it is, but whether it is suitable for the job. Ugly or not.
By the way, the oil company I flew for had the F-250s in the fleet, and the twin I-Beam was an alignment issue on several new trucks. 300-6 and a four speed made these trucks indestructable. Ford reps were a pain to deal with.
By the by, Frodman, I was needling “Smokin’Two Strokin’ Scotty”, not you.
Oh yeah #2: Our grandson with my old D-200 has a Ford tramp stamp on his right shoulder… Which powers his right arm … which is attached to his right fist. Don’t bad mouth his Chevy, Dodge, and Frod pickup trucks. Jes’ sayin’.
I always liked this body style, pretty much ran from 1972 to 93. Didn’t really care for the next generation.
I believe that was the base interior, but I’ve always liked the look of it. My grandfather had a light blue ’76 D100 with that interior and the slant 6. That was a very slow truck, but it seemed like you couldn’t kill it. He sold it due to lack of a/c after her moved to Florida. It had decent ventilation when moving, but nothing when sitting at a stop light.
Got one from my Grandfather in the early 90’s, was his ‘Sunday truck.
Couple things I still remember: took forever to warm up the engine enough to get it to move without stalling, & it got the worst mileage of any vehicle i have ever owned; well, maybe our RV is similar, at 8 mpg. We did everything we could think of to ‘tune it up’; didn’t help with either issue.
You could literally see the gas guage move down when you were trying to warm it up and get it to move out.
Still, brings back memories and I like the color of this one. Good Luck to someone who takes it on.
That’s only about 15 miles from me,but,with bidding
now at $5644 (& reserve not met),I’m out.