Athletes in dungarees - 60 years of express deliveries at Dodge
It looks a bit boxy, even for a commercial vehicle. Dry tires and a narrow track contribute to the somewhat awkward appearance. Contrary to its name, the "Custom Sports Special" equipment package with individual seats, center console, carpeting, rally stripes and chrome grille does nothing to change this. Who would have guessed that seven liters of displacement and 365 HP were lurking under the hood?
While it was already considered daring for Pontiac to stuff a large Catalina engine into the small Tempest for the 1964 model year, they went one step further at Dodge and squeezed racing engines into the D-series flatbed trucks. If you ordered the "High Performance Package" for your D-100 or D-200, they installed the 426 "Street Wedge" behind the inconspicuous front end in Warren, Michigan.
This version of the "Max Wedge" racing engine, tamed down to the bare minimum, officially ran as an industrial engine for registration purposes. However, the commercial vehicle fitted with it clocked 15s in the quarter mile and took only half as long to sprint to 100 km/h. Of course, the fun came at a price: Dodge demanded 1235 dollars for the power pack - with a base price of just over 2000 dollars for the basic model with a six-cylinder engine.
However, the price not only included the monster engine, but also the "LoadFlite" three-speed automatic transmission, a reinforced chassis, rev counter, power steering, torque support on the rear axle - as well as the information that Dodge would not accept any guarantee for consequential damage in the event of abnormal use. After all, almost 640 Nm were applied to the drivetrain under full load.
At the beginning of 1966, the "High Performance Package" disappeared from the price lists after 50 trucks had been built - not because no more could have been sold, but because it had been specified as such from the outset.
However, the idea of the overpowered flatbed truck was revived twelve years later, when ever stricter emissions regulations had increasingly robbed passenger cars of performance and driving pleasure. At its debut, the Dodge Li'l Red Truck with its 225 HP 5.9-liter V8 was the fastest production vehicle made in the USA: it reached 100 mph (161 km/h) in 19.9 seconds.
In 2004, however, the Dodge Ram SRT-10 was the pinnacle of speed delivery madness: powered by the 8.3-liter V10 from the Viper, it broke the 100-mile mark in 12.9 seconds. With its air scoop, front spoiler, rear wing and wide tires, its 500 HP was obvious at first glance.
