Custom 1983 Dodge Pickup Packs Extreme Gear, Comes With a Warning

It’s almost the end of September, and next month is just around the corner with several high-profile auctions scheduled to take place across the United States. One of them is that held by Barrett-Jackson in Houston, Texas, on the weekend of October 20.

It is there where you’ll find this pickup, described as a custom 1983 Dodge D150. It’s a machine put together by an unnamed crew, now waiting to sell with just 174 miles (280 km) on the odometer since completion, and with no reserve, meaning it’ll go to the highest bidder, no matter the offer made.

The truck is simply a mutant. Wrapped in Indigo Blue with racing stripes and hand-painted pinstripes enhancing the bodywork, the Dodge presents to the world a custom grille, vented and smoothed hood, tucked bumpers, and added diffusers and splitters.

Once the doors are open, the scenery is flooded with the image of an upholstered navy and Cranberry interior with all the creature comforts one would dream of, including air conditioning, new carpet, leather-wrapped dashboard, and an Alpine head unit with a hidden subwoofer and amplifier.

But the most impressive bit of hardware added to the interior is the 12-point steel roll cage, complete with driver and passenger side door bars. Those are indications this is no show truck, but one meant to impress on the asphalt.

Those indications are proven right once we pop open the hood. It reveals, cradled in a clean engine bay, a Blouch Performance twin-turbocharged 318ci (5.2-liter) unit, packing all the gear needed to make it a true monster: FiTech fuel injection, TurboWorks intercooler, twin oil pumps, hand-fabricated steel intake.

The engine is cooled by a Griffin 4-core radiator and breathes out through a Flowmaster exhaust, while the undisclosed amount of horsepower is kept in check by a TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

Flaming River power rack & pinion steering takes care of handling, while 4-wheel disc brakes kick in when there’s need for stopping power. The entire truck rests on a color-matched stock frame, only modified with stiffeners placed every 18-inches (46 cm).

To handle the upgrades, the truck was also propped on tubular and adjustable control arms, with dual adjustable coilovers fitted on all four corners, and a 4-link suspension at the back. The wheels of choice come in at 20 inches and in chrome, and are fitted with Nitto 555 tires.

All of the above may look exciting to anyone planning to go to Houston for the auction, but the truck is listed with a warning: it may not be emission compliant in all American states.