Forward Look Fargo (and Sweptside Dodge): Trucks With Fins
By 1957, not only had Ford and Chevy brought modern styling to their traditional pickup truck lines but Ford had also introduced the Ranchero car based pickup and Chevy featured the Cameo Carrier, a conventional pickup that sported many automobile styling trends. Dodge’s trucks, in comparison, were starting to look a bit dowdy. The solution was to create the Sweptside pickup, with tailfins that emulated Chrysler design chief Virgil Exner Sr’s “Forward Look”, which fully flowered in the ’57 model year. One could be forgiven for assuming that the Sweptside Dodge and the nearly identical Fargo trucks sold in Canada were the product of Exner’s design studio. That wasn’t the case. Supposedly “Ex” wasn’t even interested in restyling the trucks. In fact the Sweptside pickups had nothing to do with Chrysler’s design team. They were the result of a parts-bin project of Joe Berr, the head of Dodge’s Special Equipment Group.
The Special Equipment Group was something akin to General Motor’s Central Office Production Order, or COPO system that resulted in some legendary limited production muscle cars. Dodge’s group was tasked with modifying production trucks for fleet customers or even individual customers, and the SEG had the power to make whatever changes in a vehicle it wanted to, even going over the heads of factory engineers. The only condition was that operator or passenger safety could not be compromised.
When Chrysler brass wanted Dodge, then ranked #5 in pickup sales with just 7% of the market, to sell a more stylish truck, Berr came up with a clever plan. He procured the finned quarter panels from a 1957 Dodge two door station wagon and had them welded to the fenders of a cargo bed for the recently designed long wheelbase half ton pickup. The wagon’s rear bumper was also used, and they modified the truck tailgate so it wouldn’t interfere with the new fenders. Unique chrome trim was added to tie it all together and the result was spiffed up with a contemporary two tone paint job and whitewall tires.
When the prototypes were shown to Dodge dealers they demanded the Sweptside go into production but it never sold well. The conversions were essentially done by hand, not on an assembly line. For 1958, the feature was made available in Fargo trim. About 2,000 D100 Sweptside Dodges and Fargos were made during the 1957, 1958 and 1959 model years, though the number of Canadian models produced was miniscule, reportedly only 11 trucks. The Sweptsides were not particularly practical work trucks since the beds were narrower than on non Sweptside models. Production ended in January of 1959
The fins weren’t the only way the Forward Look was applied to pickups. The front fenders were reshaped to duplicate the hooded headlamps on the Forward Look cars and chrome trim was added to accentuate that look. The old fashioned two piece center hinged hood was replaced with a contemporary one piece hood. To go with the more modern look, Dodge trucks also offered an automatic transmission for the first time in 1957.
While conventional 1950s Dodge pickups are a relative bargain when compared to the escalating prices on ’50s Ford and Chevy trucks, that’s not true of the Sweptside models. Also, with only a couple thousand that were made, there are few survivors today. Sweptside enthusiasts estimate that about 165 still exist, about half of them 1957 models. Their rarity and visual distinction has made them very collectible so if you want a truck with fins, be prepared to peel off quite a few “ fins” from your bankroll.
If you love the Sweptside look but can’t afford a full size example, Danbury Mint made a model of the 1957 Dodge. They’re usually red and white, the most popular color combination on the 1957-59 Sweptline, but Danbury also issued them in green and white as well. You might also be able to find the Christmas tree ornament that Hallmark released a few years ago that features a Dodge Sweptline with a tree in the bed. The Hallmark truck is small enough that if you want to, you could display it in the bed of the Danbury edition. Then you’d have something really meta to put on the air cleaner at auto shows should you buy a real Sweptside.
These two trucks, both of them from the 1958 model year, were photographed at the Concours of America at St. John’s, as part of that show’s Jet Age Pickup Trucks class.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.
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I caught a red and white 1957 Sweptside next to a same colored 1957 Coronet convertible at the Ironstone Vineyard Concours in September, really a dramatic pairing. There was also a 1956 LaFemme. The upholstery on that rarity had been redone by the same master upholsterer who replaced the top and seats on my Miata in San Jose. I had seen pictures of the Dodge years before on his table, but I never figured I'd see the result in person.
The flat head engines were part of the problem, the bodies and hardware were a big problem with late 50's and early 60's Mopars. I remember my granddad's 53 Dodge pickup and his 53 Dodge flatbed were much better than the 58 D-100. Body hardware was not good and paint would fade bad and scale. Chrysler took a real hit in quality with the 57 models which were rushed to market and shortcuts in quality. My parents had a 51 Dodge with a straight 6 that was not bad but the 57 Chrysler Windsor and the 59 Plymouth Sport Suburban 9 passenger wagon had some quality issues with rust and paint had a propensity to fade after a couple of years. After the Plymouth my parents bought Chevrolets and after the Dodge truck my granddad bought IHs and an Oldsmobile. The styling for the 57 Chrysler products was ground breaking and Chryslers were an instant success but the poor quality caught up with them. My parents were sold on the 57 Chrysler Windsor and my mother loved the push button drive (both the Chrysler and Plymouth had small block V-8s) and two tone color of dark metallic blue with a white top and white trim. After a year the blue paint faded badly and started the flake. My father traded the Chrysler in after 2 years and the new owner of our Chrysler had it painted all white. In retrospect my father wished he would have bought a 57 Chevy even though at the time they were not as popular--57 Ford was more popular but the 57 Chevy became the classic and was noted for being one of the best Chevies ever made. Years later in 1984 my mother bought a new 5th Avenue (first Chrysler since the 59 Plymouth) which was a nice car but the body hardware would fall off and the electrics were full of glitches. The 318 V-8 motor was the best thing on the car (car went over 200k miles). The newer Chryslers are better but the competition is also better.