It takes a real macho man to admit that he needs a truck befitting of his other-worldly machoness, and in the 1970s, Dodge was more than happy to market a truck directly to that man’s ego. This 1978 Dodge Power Wagon may have seemed like it was an intense machine all on its own, but Mopar upped the ante and added several features that made this tough truck not just a Power Wagon, but a Power Wagon Macho. You may think your TRX truck is tough as nails, but I doubt it holds a candle to this one in the macho department. Find the Dodge here on eBay with bids to $8,600 and the reserve unmet.
The seller has not only found a very original specimen but he’s also managed to find one of the few trucks left that came with a ton of very cool documentation. The listing even has a photo of the truck brought home for the first time, brand new, with the original owners standing very aggressively beside it. This photo, however, is way more interesting to me: first, that house! What is it? Does it still exist? And talk about the yin and yang of a Mopar family driveway, with a Macho truck on one side and the twin-stick Colt on the other. I’m surprised the Power Wagon didn’t eat it for breakfast one day.
The seller notes it is a very original example and that he bought it from the owners that drove it off the lot. The floors have been patched, but at least it doesn’t appear to be a license plate job. The seats are in very nice shape, and although the carpet is missing (assuming there ever was carpeting), the rest of the cabin looks similar to the seats, with the door panels and dash pad all presenting very well in matching black vinyl surfaces with no major discolorations noted. The seller refers to the truck as being rusty but it looks just like normal surface corrosion underneath to me; still, it bears further investigation, so do you see any other areas of rot to be concerned with?
The 440 powerplant is a matching numbers unit and is said to run well. The seller highlights how even the carburetor is still original to the truck, and that he retained the factory spark plugs as well! The bed retains the factory roll bar that was part of the Macho package, and the seller reports that he even has the paperwork from the selling dealer in Wisconsin showing that a Dodge Ramcharger was used as a trade-in for the Macho truck. While there may be some rust to sort out, the original details from the Macho package that is still present along with the numbers matching 440 more than make up for any bodywork the next owner will need to address. Thanks to Barn Finds reader T.J. for the find.
The person that bought last weeks Plymouth Champ Twin-stick could buy this & recreate that pic! Provided they know a Dome- home owner.
I remember watching the sitcom “Simon & Simon” where Gerald McRaney, “Rick Simon” , the tough guy character drove one of these. I loved it. I was 12 years old and knew I wanted a Dodge.
I now own an all original 2WD 78 Warlock with a 440.
Its been a long time since I saw Simon and Simon but didn’t that truck have the square headlights, It was pretty neat how it splashed thru that ditch or whatever it was. My brother had a truck exactly like this in the mid 80’s but in 80’s fashion it was lifted with 38.5 monster mudders. It met its end in spring of 87 when he ran off the road and hit a culvert at a high rate of speed. He walked/limped about 2 miles to get home with a broken ankle wrist and more cuts and scrapes than you could count. Cops came to the house to tell us they found his truck crashed but couldn’t find his body, they knew he had to be dead cause there was no way anyone could have survived that. The Tow company used 3 rollbacks to haul it home, thought that was a little overkill as one truck had the bed with small parts thrown in it and another had just the front axle and tires. I was kinda shocked when they said the bill was $100. The cab had one bolt left holding anything, the other 5 were ripped out, so glad i decided to stay home that night or I woulda been in the passenger seat
Hmm! Interesting. Great job on the memory. As I stated, I was 12 years old and mostly concerned with my chores and riding bicycle. Headlights, not so much.
I googled it, that truck also had the POWER WAGON decal which makes it even more different.
My Dad owned one of these in the late 70’s. It was a 360 with a 4 speed. Many is the time it was chained up on all 4 wheels, to plow through the snow. It was a tough truck, that would go anywhere.
The bidding is over 11 thousand and the guy has an unmet reserve ? This thing has more rust than a squarebody Chevy ! I know its a big block truck, but its going to need a complete replacement of all the sheet metal , and then all that paint work and then the tape stripes (if you can find them) . I like these Dodge trucks and have owned several, but I’ve never seem one this rusted .