1973 Dodge D-100 Adventurer Pickup

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

Dodge’s D-Series trucks of the 1970s are still on the roads in large numbers, since there’s always someone who needs a simple work truck and doesn’t care if that truck is 10 or 40 years old. Still, you can always find another sturdy (if thirsty) Detroit pickup if something expensive breaks, so this Adventurer is now Crusher-bound.

The Adventurer trim package got you some comfort and appearance upgrades, though shoppers for 2012 trucks would find this machine intolerably primitive.

Here’s the one-speaker sound system.

This vinyl bench seat was impervious to spills from any component of a typical fast-food meal, tall cans of Schlitz, and other substances likely to be found in a Dodge pickup cab.

Chances are that this 318 or 360 still has some miles left in it. Most do.










Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Jim Sutherland Jim Sutherland on Jul 29, 2012

    I always liked this era of Dodge pickups and owned a few over the years, including a Little Red Express version.

  • SuperACG SuperACG on Jul 31, 2012

    I would just LOVE to have one of these pre-1976 trucks. I'd drop a Cummins 4BT right in. No SMOG, decent MPG, and lots of torque! Doesn't need to be fast, the suspension couldn't handle it anyway!

    • And003 And003 on Aug 12, 2012

      Speaking for myself, I think I would put a 3G Hemi into this truck and convert it to 4WD with the equipment of today. :-)

  • Dave M. IMO this was the last of the solidly built MBs. Yes, they had the environmentally friendly disintegrating wiring harness, but besides that the mechanicals are pretty solid. I just bought my "forever" car (last new daily driver that'll ease me into retirement), but a 2015-16 E Class sedan is on my bucket list for future purchase. Beautiful design....
  • Rochester After years of self-driving being in the news, I still don't understand the psychology behind it. Not only don't I want this, but I find the idea absurd.
  • Douglas This timeframe of Mercedes has the self-disintegrating engine wiring harness. Not just the W124, but all of them from the early 90's. Only way to properly fix it is to replace it, which I understand to be difficult to find a new one/do it/pay for. Maybe others have actual experience with doing so and can give better hope. On top of that, it's a NH car with "a little bit of rust", which means to about anyone else in the USA it is probably the rustiest W124 they have ever seen. This is probably a $3000 car on a good day.
  • Formula m How many Hyundai and Kia’s do not have the original engine block it left the factory with 10yrs prior?
  • 1995 SC I will say that year 29 has been a little spendy on my car (Motor Mounts, Injectors and a Supercharger Service since it had to come off for the injectors, ABS Pump and the tool to cycle the valves to bleed the system, Front Calipers, rear pinion seal, transmission service with a new pan that has a drain, a gaggle of capacitors to fix the ride control module and a replacement amplifier for the stereo. Still needs an exhaust manifold gasket. The front end got serviced in year 28. On the plus side blank cassettes are increasingly easy to find so I have a solid collection of 90 minute playlists.
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