Junkyard Find: 1972 Dodge D200 Custom Sweptline
The Dodge D-series trucks were getting embarrassingly dated by the late 1960s, with their solid-axle front suspensions and archaic styling, so Chrysler created the third-generation D-series pickups for the 1972 model year.
Here’s a reasonably solid three-quarter-ton from the first year of that generation, spotted in a Denver self-service yard.
This one is pretty well-optioned for a pickup of its era, with V8 engine (probably a 318, but could be a 360), automatic transmission, air conditioning, and other features shunned by penny-pinching truck buyers who just wanted to haul a few tons of hog innards from place to place.
There’s some rust, nothing serious by Midwestern standards, but enough that few in Colorado would be interested in a restoration.
The ’72 Sweptline 3/4-ton version had a curb weight of a mere 3,705 pounds — light enough to float away (by 2016 full-sized pickup standards). Back then, though, pickups weren’t considered everyday commute vehicles for suburbanites looking for a vehicle with a leather interior, a menacing face, and brag-worthy towing capacity.
1972, when pickup ads featured mooing cows and phrases such as “built for haulin’ loads back here and pamperin’ people up here.”
[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars]
Comments
Join the conversation
Lemme tell you ~ These trucks used that same fuse box for a decade and we were always into it... -Nate
I think of the Rescue 51 unit from the TV series "Emergency" when I see one of these trucks.