The Dodge Warlock was one of several “adult toy” pickups that Chrysler built in the late 1970s, which also included the red hot Li’l Red Express, Macho Power Wagon, and the Adventurer. It was a limited production offering in 1976, with things ramping up on a broader scale from 1977-79. This beauty is finished in black, the Warlock’s most popular color, and may be largely original with 36,000 miles on the odometer. Located in Los Angeles, California, trucks like this were built more for show than go. It’s available here on craigslist for $25,000. Our hat’s off to Pat L. for this cool Mopar tip!
In the 1970s, pickup trucks were considered just utilitarian workhorses, so Dodge decided to mix things up with its D/W series of adult pickups. The Li’l Red Express is the best remembered of the bunch because it ended up being the fastest American production vehicle on the market in 1978. During their limited run in 1976, the Warlock came only in black and was all about looking cool. In its final two years, the color palette was expanded to include red, green, and blue, although other colors could be specially ordered. Its main draw was being a factory-customized truck, also known as a “trick truck”, and was designed to appeal to young 4×4 buyers.
Visual cues of the Warlock consisted of custom gold wheels, wide tires, bucket seats, and a Utiline bed with oak racks. All Warlocks had black interiors, with gold accents on the dash and the doors, and a “tuff” steering wheel. The exterior was accented by gold pin striping around the wheel wells and the body lines. The pin striping continued inside onto the doors, dashboard, and instrument panel. The seller’s ’78 Warlock looks to have stayed somewhat stock, but the wheels look to be different, and the engine wears more bling than I thought came with the package. And the side exhaust looks to be custom.
The seller doesn’t elaborate on the history of this cool truck, rather he/she focuses on its attributes. Such as its original 360 cubic inch V8, 727 automatic transmission, and power disc brakes and steering. Vintage air conditioning has been added in recent years, so you could tool around in comfort in this baby. The paint and interior look great and the wooden inlays in the bed present like new. The only ding may be with the rear bumper which looks to have been pulled outward from the bottom. Restored or not, this comes across as a turnkey truck that you could show with pride.
Oh, this was cool. Before the whole RAM( it up your touchas) trucks, sorry, I’m still mighty intimidated by the word RAM, in big block letters filling the entire rear view mirror on my struggling little Jeep, and before trucks got much attention, due to their utlitarian nature, all of a sudden, these had their day. To be clear, yeah, it may have been the fastest vehicle for the time, but that’s misleading, as it was a pixx poor time for passenger car performance, and these “slipped through the cracks”. Also, a new target for fancy
pickups,,,women. TV shows depicting women in trucks started a whole movement, and this was the coolest truck a gal could buy. The Little Red Express Truck, basically the same thing, I think, was the glitzy MANS version. This said you weren’t some ordinary, apple pie, tree lover gal. While Chrysler could never call a truck a “Witch”, witches and warlocks went together. Cool find.
Looks like the exhaust won’t last long.
Too low!, these had cool names but also came with slant 6 or 318. .
you could get evrything in a Warlock from the Slant Six to the 440.
This one looks to been well taken care of. I love the look and the stance along with the bed. The interior looks very sharp as well. Would like to see a nice walk around video with the motor running.
Hope that exhaust by the right-rear wheel has just dropped a bracket, because it looks like it’s one speed bump away from exiting the car.
Bring some baling wire.
I remember one of these from back in the day, It was a sharp looking truck with the wood side racks and I think it was a 4×4. We used to go to the old rock quarry just to the north of st. joe to drink and have fun and thats where I saw that truck, it was stuck in a washout on the big base pile that was there and I watched it get pulled backwards and the rear bumper dug in and bent it in under the bed. The next time I saw that truck it was in Bill Turners junkyard where they had just pulled it in, it was in a high speed roll over and was smashed all to hell. I showed them where the bumper was bent in and told them of the quarry, they said they wandered how that was bent in when everything else was bent the other direction, No idea what happened to the driver or who he even was but things did not look good for whoever was in it.
I like this one; the Craigslist pix even show the underside (sort of). If it has a true 36K mileage on it then the price seems almost reasonable, especially with A/C and a SoCal history.
I have a ’77 Utiline so I’m a bit prejudiced – in a positive way.
The seller sent me a link to a walk around video while the truck engine was running and it sounds and looks very good.
I again yell, don’t buy anything on Craigslist. You have no clue what you’re buying. Call the dude and tell the person to meet at his house. If they say no, run away. Check the title and the sellers ID. Craigslist is so full of scams, its remarkable they exist. Never send a down payment check or any wire transfer to anyone listing on Craigslist. Never use a gift card and if somebody demands a credit card number, run away. Old Boomers like myself get conned every day on Craigslist. Its just simply not a legit marketplace for vintage and classic car sales. See if the listing has been duplicated on multiple websites. That’s a red flag blowin in the wind! jv – smash palace
There are scams on every venue, not just craigslist. You just have to do your due diligence and be careful. Don’t send money without having the car inspected by a third party or at least getting real proof that they own it.
That appears to be a Magnum engine which wasn’t available until 1993, definitely not original to the truck. As for colors I had a green 76 Warlock and seen a handful of orange and brown ones along with the colors mentioned above from various years but I have yet to see one in blue. If this were mine it’d be returned to it’s original stance, correct taillights and replace that hideous exhaust then enjoy it as a fair weather daily.
from what i can see here and on the cl listing its dealer air conditioning and the magnum valve covers are prolly just bolted on because they are cast covers. the magnum motor would not accept an fe block intake so if the intake is stock its an fe if the intake is aftermarket it might be a magnum
It’s an aftermarket magnum intake manifold, the bolts that attach the the intake to the heads are straight up and down instead of angled like the LA engines. I’m not sure what your reference to FE is, I thought that FE was a Ford engine.
As for the AC look at the line connections, thats modern stuff.
sorry mike i meant le engine. and good catch on the intake bolts. yup its a magnum. as for the ac while the compressor stuff is new tech, the vents inside are the dealer hangon style. i have a truck in this vintage with factory air and all the vents are cut into the lower metal part of the dash
grr my mind is like a steel trap rusted shut.
small block designation was LA NOT LE
No need to apologize, we all error on occasion. Problem here is no edit option.