Ram Supports the Troops With a Truck Built to Serve

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

The amount of limited editions that Ram puts out seems limitless. Yet the brand doesn’t stop.

Here’s one that’s intended to honor the people who serve in our military. Without getting political, I think whether you’re liberal, conservative, libertarian, or somewhere else on the political spectrum, saluting the troops for their service is a good thing. Even pacifists likely acknowledge the sacrifices troops are asked to make.

Ram sure does.

This is actually the third time Ram has built limited-production “Built to Serve Edition” trucks. This time, the theme for the Michigan-built Ram 1500s will be aeronautical. Buyers will be able to choose between Anvil or Billet Silver exterior paint. Inside, the primary color will be black, but there will be gray accent stitching. Production will be limited to 1,000 units of each one.

“Ram continues to honor all of those who serve or have served in the United States armed forces with distinction through our latest ‘Built to Serve’ offering,” said Mike Koval Jr., Head of Ram Brand, FCA – North America, in a statement. “The ‘Built to Serve’ adage is something Ram Truck owners, whether civilian or military, are very familiar with as it’s something we strive to build into every truck and van we produce.”

The truck is being announced now because the Air Force celebrates its 73rd birthday on Friday. The launch pace for these “Built to Serve” trucks is approximately every three months, and Ram plans on honoring each of the five branches of services. Yes, five – I don’t know why the new Space Force isn’t listed, as it apparently is considered an independent branch. Perhaps Ram still considers it to be part of the Air Force.

The other color choices were Gator and Diamond Black; Ceramic Gray and Patriot Blue; Tank and Flame Red; Spitfire and Bright White. All but Spitfire and Bright White are/were built in numbers of 1,000. Those other two were/will be available in 500 units apiece.

Other details specific to these trucks include an American flag and “Built to Serve” badging, 20-inch aluminum wheels with a gray finish that is only available on these models, body-color wheel flares, black grille and surround, black bumpers, black lighting bezels, black badging, black side steps, and black exhaust tips.

The interior stitching is meant to correspond to the branch of the military that the truck is representing. Embroidered Velcro panels allow the owner to customize their truck with military patches.

There’s also webbing on the back of the front seats for extra storage, an instrument panel badge, available locking center console, “Built to Serve” instrument panel badge, bolstered cloth and vinyl Sport seats, Black Onyx chrome interior trim, and all-weather rubber floor mats.

All of these special-edition trucks get the 4×4 Off-Road Group package, which includes: All-terrain tires, electronic-locking rear axle, hill-descent control, front-suspension skid plate, steering-gear skid plate, fuel-tank skid plate, transfer-case skid plate, tow hooks, and heavy-duty off-road-calibrated front and rear shock absorbers.

This truck should be available to order in the fourth quarter of this year.

[Images: FCA/Ram]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Inside Looking Out Inside Looking Out on Sep 17, 2020

    Patriotism is not in fashion today. They better start making all black exterior/interior with tinted windows Land Management edition until it's not too late.

  • Akear Akear on Sep 18, 2020

    Can a French company be a patriotic American company? The answer is no!

  • Jrhurren Worked in Detroit 18 years, live 20 minutes away. Ren Cen is a gem, but a very terrible design inside. I’m surprised GM stuck it out as long as they did there.
  • Carson D I thought that this was going to be a comparison of BFGoodrich's different truck tires.
  • Tassos Jong-iL North Korea is saving pokemon cards and amibos to buy GM in 10 years, we hope.
  • Formula m Same as Ford, withholding billions in development because they want to rearrange the furniture.
  • EV-Guy I would care more about the Detroit downtown core. Who else would possibly be able to occupy this space? GM bought this complex - correct? If they can't fill it, how do they find tenants that can? Is the plan to just tear it down and sell to developers?
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