Of all the racing venues I visit during my travels as Chief Justice of the 24 Hours of LeMons Supreme Court, the ritzy clubs tend to be the weirdest. We went to the Monticello Motor Club in New York a few weeks back, and twice a year the LeMons Traveling Circus rolls into the Autobahn Country Club in Illinois. The reaction of the members, who must navigate the madness of the LeMons pit scene as they drive their GT3s and Facel-Vegas to the clubhouse, runs the gamut from loathing to delight. Most of the time I ignore these guys— I always feel like we’re caddies in the pool in that setting— but as the owner of an A100 I just had to talk to the owner of this truck that showed up at the 2012 Showroom-Schlock Shootout.
I didn’t get the guy’s name, but I recall that his passenger was a veteran of the 1949 Indianapolis 500.
He was on his way into the clubhouse, but told me to go ahead and open up whatever I wanted and shoot whatever photographs I felt like shooting. The bodywork was flawless, all the chrome was perfect, and the truck was full of custom touches like this aluminum instrument cluster.
Yes, that’s a modern 5.7 Hemi under the doghouse. There’s barely room for the LA-block 318 in my van, so I know some serious fabrication went into making this swap fit.
This setup isn’t quite as extreme as the one in the Little Red Wagon, but it would take a very brave man to stand on this pickup’s throttle.
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Endorphin overload. All my buttons mashed.
Now THAT is an aspirational vehicle.
Very well done. I love the body work and interior.
I’ve never wanted a pick-up in my life until now.
Fantastic. The New Yorker from yesterday piqued my gen 3 Hemi swapping interests, and today MM delivers.
I don’t think a day does by were I don’t think about Hemi swapping something.
Thanks Murilee for the Little Red Wagon reference and link. My elementary school library had a picture book about this truck (c1970) which I checked out many, many times. You might say the LRW contributed to my being an ‘enthusiast’ for all things automotive.
SWEET ! .
I love the entire A-100 series of Dodge trucks .
-Nate
Good looking truck. I’ve often wondered what caused the cab-over pickup to disappear. Safety? Aerodynamics? Too short of a wheelbase for towing?
Couple of reasons. First off, they were essentially light duty pickups, on the same level with the ElCamino and Ranchero. Not the worlds most comfortable pickups to ride in. Definitely limiting as to what kind of engines you can shove in between the seats. And, most importantly, they were more expensive to build than a traditional pickup.
About ten years later, the realization that your knees were your crash protection would have had the government wading in, if they had taken off as good as hoped.
_All_ of those things .
Nevertheless , A-100 pickups and vans sold by the boatload back in the day as they were cheap , reliable , simple , durable and easy to fix .
-Nate
I don’t know about country clubs, but that little truck would certainly impress the hell out of the folks at any kind of a Mopar fan gathering.
Totally cool…..but the traditional hot rodder in me would prefer an old HEMI, preferably blown.
Does a new hemi actually have hemisphereical combustion cambers? I have been told they dont cant anyone answer this question?
Well, if it had flat-topped pistons, it would be a hemi with a compression ratio of about 6.5 to one. Fine for the early 1950s.
To get to a modern CR of about 10.5 to one, the piston has a dome. The resulting combustion chamber shape has been likened to an orange rind. Not a particularly good shape, and in some versions needs two spark plugs to start decent combustion due to shrouding caused by the piston dome.
Times move on, but marketers cling to old ideas and in this case hamstrung the engineers with expensive valve gear and suboptimal combustion chamber shape. For two valve pushrod heads of decent design, see Chevrolet.
This is the first time I have visited this site in a couple of months, and I was just reminded why I stopped in the first place. All of the ignorant things typed by commenters, and often the writers.
Nice touch of Dynamat for sound deadening and Reflectix insulation to keep cabin temperatures sane.
Yeah….but where’s it breathing from?
Cool mod though!
Thanks MM! One of best things you’ve brought us, in or out of the junkyard. This vehicle defines “fun” in a way no other can.