Junkyard Find: 1975 Dodge D100 Pickup

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

Since many Dodge D-series pickup parts fit my ’66 A100 van I’m always on the lookout for members of the species while visiting the junkyard. Today’s D100, which I found in a Denver self-service wrecking yard a couple of weeks back, is a little too new to offer many bits for my Dodge, but it’s still interesting enough for this series.

Growing up in a Navy town, ex-Navy D100s of this vintage were common sights on the street. Most of them were still in their government-issue gray paint with the Navy serial numbers still visible, but some got rattle-can paint jobs like this one.

The sensible Slant-6-and-4-speed drivetrain was about right for a truck like this— you weren’t going to go fast, but you’d always get there.

I didn’t grab any parts, but I did get this magnet for my toolbox.








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.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 33 comments
  • Kkop Kkop on Nov 23, 2014

    There's actually a surprising number of these (mostly W200) around in Europe, virtually all are ex-US Army vehicles.

  • Gadsden Gadsden on Dec 01, 2014

    My dad had a Dark Brown '74 Plymouth Scamp with the Slant 6 that was the first car I ever changed plugs in, at around age 9. Doesn't get much more malaise-y but always wanted to own my own Slant 6.

  • Dave M. After an 19-month wait, I finally got my Lariat hybrid in January. It's everything I expected and more for my $35k. The interior is more than adequate for my needs, and I greatly enjoy all the safety features present, which I didn't have on my "old" car (2013 Outback). It's solidly built, and I'm averaging 45-50 mpgs on my 30 mile daily commute (35-75 mph); I took my first road trip last weekend and averaged 35 mpgs at 75-80 mph. Wishes? Memory seats, ventilated seats, and Homelink. Overall I'm very pleased and impressed. It's my first American branded car in my 45 years of buying new cars. Usually I'm a J-VIN kind of guy....
  • Shipwright off topic.I wonder if the truck in the picture has a skid plate to protect the battery because, judging by the scuff mark in the rock immediately behind the truck, it may dented.
  • EBFlex This doesn’t bode well for the real Mustang. When you start slapping meaningless sticker packages it usually means it’s not going to be around long.
  • Rochester I recently test drove the Maverick and can confirm your pros & cons list. Spot on.
  • ToolGuy TG likes price reductions.
Next