Is this real? Well, I know the truck is factory-correct, or at least the cab. I mean, is this a factory-produced bed option to have half of a utility bed and half of a Sweptline bed? This rare split-bed 1964 Dodge D100 Short Bed can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Sylmar, California, and they’re asking $8,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to T.J. for the great find!
I have to assume this is either a custom setup or was an aftermarket feature that owners could add to their Sweptline bed. I can’t find anything on it at all, and I went back so far that it showed a photo of Al Gore on the day he invented the internet. Maybe one of you can find out some info on this small, three-door utility box feature. How about the look of that short-bed Sweptline truck, though? I really like Dodge’s Utiline (stepside) box/bed, but the Sweptline is pretty stylish.
Here’s a better view of the passenger side utility box. If there was ever a vintage truck that would draw a crowd, this is it. The first-generation Dodge D-series pickup was made from 1960 through 1965, and Dodge offered this Sweptline bed, as well as the Utiline and Stakebed. There was another option: the Tradesman, which was a full utility box. We don’t get to see inside the bed of this truck, which is unusual since the seller included so many other photos. You can see that the utility box piece appears to have been just slipped in, so I have to assume this is custom work. What do you think?
They say it’s a genuine Southern California truck; it has straight body panels and no major collision damage, but there is a small rust hole in the front floor. The seat looks perfect and has clearly been redone, and the white paint appears to have been redone as well, including painting over things that maybe shouldn’t be white, and just looking generally a little untidy. But I’m assuming this was a work truck rather than what would likely be a restored show truck for the next owner.
The engine is Dodge’s 225-cu.in. OHV slant-six, with 140 horsepower and 215 lb-ft of torque. Passing that power through a three-speed manual and column shifter to the rear wheels, the seller says it starts and runs, which isn’t a glowing report, but they show a video of it moving along, so that’s a good sign, and they drove it to the photo location, so it must work. Have any of you seen a split bed like this?
Unique find, T.J. Undoubtedly correct, Scotty-a work truck with the only splurge seen at 1st glance is the automatic transmission. If this storage box/built-in workbench arrangement has ever been seen before it’s a safe bet that someone here on BF will have done so and know why it was set up like this.
And kudos again to you Scotty for your persistence in research-our “Mr. Peabody” patiently sifting through the ‘Net to find details and answer questions about interesting machines we forgot or never knew existed!
I spy a clutch pedal there. Isn’t this more likely a 3 speed?
Somebody, we’ll call him S. Gilbertson,,,no wait, that’s too obvious, call him Scotty G., sure has a hankerin’ for these D series Dodges. To answer his question, these utility boxes were all aftermarket. The pickup was sold just a cab and bare frame, and an outfit, usually contracted by the dealer, put whatever back you wanted. In this case, mobile repair outfits would have these for work in the field, and were very popular. They generally led a rough life, but were usually cared for by the person driving it. Not sure what happened here, hood hinges are sprung, very common, and you don’t get much in the way of luxuries, and I guarantee, it looked just like the under hood shot, and some paint to make it what it ain’t. Still a great find and I read the mighty 426 wedgie was available, making it one of the 1st “muscle trucks”, but that term was a ways off.
I’ve seen one before. Our little town in Montana put in parking meters, and the installer had a truck looked exactly like this, toolbox and work area on the curb side., storage for meters and poles in the bed.
Available today on Ram pickups, it’s called the RamBox cargo management system. I thought it was a great idea, uses that wasted space between the bed and side walls and gets that crap out from behind the seat.
That was my first thought, this being a primordial RamBox.
Jim, thanks for mentioning that! I thought of it and should have mentioned it. I really like that feature.
Cool truck. Great write-up SG. I’m glad you checked with Al Gore to get your facts straight.
I owned a 65 I think it was. Slant 6 and automatic with the shifting lever on the dash. Nice truck.
I’ve seen many a utility bodies in my day. But never ever anything like this. Its really grafted very nicely into the factory sheetmetal. It certainly looks like something Dodge could have had from the factory. Another oddity is, typically utility bodies are installed on 3/4 or 1 ton chassis, but to have this on a short bed half ton is another first for me. I really like this, and this will draw a crowd at a Cars and Coffee or what-have-you. If it were mine, I’d probably go all out on a nice paint job, possibly in a different color to help highlight the body lines, and how they are worked into the box. Love the Slant 6 and 3 speed on the column too. T.J. wins the award for most unique truck of the day!!
And Mr. Gilbertson, really glad you wrote this up and did the research. I enjoyed it.
My favorite truck – thanks for showing this to us!
Great front-end 👍
sold! no surprised based on the price and the rarity of it. well bought.
Shoot! Thanks for the update, sir. Aftermarket or not, this is pretty unusual. I could not find another one like it on the internet.
It looks like it might be an old Southern California Gas Company truck. They used to modify the beds like that.
Southern California Gas company mod for their meter service trucks.