We have a series here at the Autopian called “Phoning It In” where we like to highlight some delightfully half-assed solutions to automotive problems, usually the result of corporate penny-pinching or just impressive levels of notgiveashittery that were honed and perfected over many decades of automobile production. I was going to feature the Dodge L600 and L700 Tilt Cab Medium Duty Truck in that series, until I really started to think about it and realized it’s actually quite a brilliant solution to a problem. The motivations may be similar to what causes phoning it in – a lack of resources, a need to rapidly fill a hole in the market, and so on – but I think the result is just clever as opposed to the usual phoned-in crap. Let me explain.
The truck I want to talk about today is Dodge’s answer to medium duty trucks, built between 1966 and 1971. The medium duty truck market is one of those that I feel like is far bigger than most people realize, as it’s one of those parts of modern life that are so ubiquitous to almost be invisible. These are trucks that are significantly larger than pickup trucks, but smaller than big rig/18 wheelers. Think about garbage trucks and dump trucks and box trucks and school buses and delivery trucks and municipal utility trucks and so so so many more things. They’re the automotive equivalent of a pocketknife or multitool, and civilization as we know it would collapse without them.
One of the most popular trucks in this category is Ford’s once ubiquitous C-Series cabover truck, which I suspect will be familiar to you:
As you can see from that brochure, Ford’s grimace-faced truck was a tilt cab, where the entire cab tilted forward to provide excellent access to the engine. Chrysler wanted to get into this market, but at the time didn’t really have the resources needed to develop an entirely new cabover/tiltcab body like Ford did. So what did they do?
They used a van.
Well, more specially, the used the pickup truck variant of their A100 van, which was one of the compact cab-over vans introduced in the 1960s, like the Ford Econoline or the Corvair Greenbriar, that was designed to compete with Volkswagen’s Type 2 vans and pickup trucks.
These compact vans and trucks were pretty great at what they did, but “what they did” was never really intended to be the cab of a much larger truck. Still, Chrysler wasn’t really in a position to be picky, so they just sort of plopped the pickup truck cab variant (as that one already had a, you know, closed back) right onto the chassis of their medium-duty truck, creating the Dodge L600 and L700 Tilt Cab:
Look at that! They just dropped it between the wheels there, added some external front fenders, cut a pretty crude-looking access panel under the windshield (I believe for access to radiator, brake fluid, probably washer fluid) and called it a day. You could get these trucks in either gas or diesel versions, with gas engines starting with a 255 cubic inch Slant Six, then V8s in 318, 361, and 413 cube sizes. The one diesel was a Cummins V8.
I know there’s people out there who think the result looks awkward, and it’s true that these didn’t sell anywhere near the numbers of the Ford C-Series, but overall? I think Dodge did pretty damn well considering what they had to work with. The cab was reasonably roomy, and I don’t think it looks too out of place on the larger chassis; maybe it’s because the van always had kind of exaggerated features, like those huge trim rings around the headlamps.
So, sure, I guess this is still technically an example of phoning it in, but I think it’s also an example of being resourceful in the face of limitations, and I think it showed off Mopar’s ability to make something work, even when situations weren’t ideal.
I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen one of these in person, but I hope to one day. Until then, I suggest we all sit back and enjoy this somewhat unhinged Dodge dealer training filmstrip that makes far more use of guns than you’d think was likely:
Ah, America!
The pickup version of the A-series was never anywhere close to a mainstream pickup, they sold in dismal numbers compared to the other van based pickups which were a tiny niche compared to conventional trucks.
Ford didn’t spend a lot of money on the C-Series cab, they purchased it from the Budd company, if I remember right, as did Mack and I think a few Fire Truck manufactures too.
The use of the same basic cabs on MD trucks was quite common with the MD version often outlasting the LD truck it came from.
Seeing that Dodge van “face” without all the chrome makes me realize how similar it is to the much later Neon (especially the SRT4), as if it’s saying “Hi” via time travel.
Lindberg Models once did a 1/25 scale model kit of this, which has pretty good availability thanks to multiple reissues through the past decade. It’s most frequently seen pulling a 1/25 scale car carrier loaded with muscle-era Mopars.
Ford did the same thing, just bigger. They re-purposed the C-series cab into the “2-Story Falcon” class 8 semi-tractor’s cab.
“crude-looking access panel”
To me it looks like a riveted strengthening plate for a handle to tip the cab?
You say it’s phoning it in and I say it’s a smart way to save on tooling costs.
I said I respected it!
Ford did that as well with the European Transit Mk2 cab only slightly modified, on the A series trucks: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_A_series
And M.A.N used the classic VW LT cab for many years:
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/35895-from-lt-to-worker-volkswagen’s-versatile-long-lasting-“lt”-cab/
I guess Dodge was… not throwing away their shot?
Lin Manuel, your Mystery Machine is waiting!
I commented about these in one of Mercedes’ posts, so I’m surprised she didn’t write this one. These are pretty well documented at Curbside Classic.
Probably the post about the Mexican market Dodge medium duty trucks since they used the same cab and nose as Ram pickups too.
Yes, that. Thanks