From Troy W – Hey BF, I stopped off to fill up on gas a station I hadn’t been by in a while and was pleasantly reminded of the old trucks they had which had been branded with the station’s name and thought of you guys. I believe they include a Jeep Gladiator, a Chevy C10, and a Plymouth Trailduster(?) which was a new one for me, though I am unsure if that is indeed what it was. They have definitely been out in the elements for at least the past decade that I can remember and time has taken its toll. All are quite rusty but none the less cool.
Like Troy says, they are rusty but none the less cool! I still remember when sights like this could be found nearly anywhere you went, but they are becoming quite rare these days (at least where we live). While I’m not sure if these trucks are worth restoring, they definitely have a cool look to them. If I knew the gas station’s owner, I would definitely encourage them to put something on them to protect them from rusting out further, that way this sight is still around in another 30 years!
Special thanks to Troy for sharing his sighting with us! If you know where there are any cool looking classic cars or trucks just sitting around, grab your camera, snap a few pics and send them our way so we can share preserve these sightings before they are all gone!
Plymouth Trailduster is just a rebadged early Ramcharger I believe?
Very cool shots, sad to see these workhorses rotting away :(
The plow kit for these molar suvs was call snow fiter. Cool
I had A 1985 Ramcharger SnoCommander. Plowed 24 inches of snow with it. Only had a 318, but had posi front and rear. A true beast in 4 wheel lo
I had a 1974 Plymouth Trailduster in 1989. We used to jump the tracks with that thing. I beat the snot out of it for years before the 318 finally let go. We had it rolled over in a ditch outside Detroit, we righted it and drove it home! It was crumpled on every corner, mud and grass hanging off everything underneath- and I sure would like to have another one.
I love the early Ramchargers. And if i could find one again I would install a Cummins this time…although the 440 I had was fun way back then I can’t imagine filling that tank today.
I’ve seen only one Trailduster. It was at Carlisle. Very rare and only for the early years (pre-1981).
Those Jeep Gladiator pickups were nearly indestructible if you could keep the tin worm away from them (which was a very difficult project). I’ve been seeing a number of the later Grand Wagoneers sporting the early Gladiator front fascia as Kaiser/AMC/Chrysler never actually changed the front sheetmetal on these; behind the grille they still had all the cut-outs to make them look just as they did in 1963.
Thanks for the photo Mike. I like the look!
so cool!
Living in Wisconsin, every 4 wheel drive vehicle that came down the pike was used in the winter here, so I’ve seen them all. The “Trailduster” was just, as mentioned, a rebadged Dodge Ramcharger. I don’t remember a lot of them, but they were around, for a while. They were good trucks, but awful mileage, single digits in most cases and whole body panels would disappear. Most of these trucks were relegated to plow duty and stored behind the shed, where eventually, the plow was worth more than the truck itself.
On my screen it looks like the 67-68? Chevy has an earlier bed n rear fenders grafted onto it. It’s in the background…… Can’t see but might have a wrecker rig on it
Trucks have been parked there for a while as Google street view has a date of 9/2013. Jeep definitely set up as a wrecker.
Love old work horses.