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Dodge M80, a Retro Pickup With Jeep Looks and V6 Engine

In my last few stories about Dodge, I complained about how one of the coolest American brands doesn't have fingers in enough pies. But I just remembered they tried really hard when the company still had money. For example, there's the Dodge M80.
Dodge M80 19 photos
Photo: Dodge
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"What the heck?! Stop showing stupid renderings," I hear you say. Except this is not some digital monstrosity. In fact, when this thing came out, the Internet was barely a thing. You're just looking at some nice Detroit muscle... and a lot of plastic.

As you probably know, the late '90s and early '00s were a lot of fun for car designers, and not just in America. We got modern classics from Japan, the modern Beetle, the Audi TT, and more. Meanwhile, American brands were browsing their history books to see what they could revive and carve new niches with.

We just talked about the epic Plymouth Prowler and the Chevy HHR, which tried to copy the PT Cruiser. Chevy also made the SSR, a mix between a small convertible and a pickup.

The Dodge M80 was like a mixture of all those things. It was a tiny little truck with the bright paint job of the SSR and super-rounded fenders. It also had a Wrangler-like face, though they were obviously hinting more toward the Power Wagons.

The M80 was officially unveiled at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show with the intent being put it into production. Aimed deliberately at the millennial buyer, it was expected to have a starting price of around $16,000, which is about $22,800 in today's money.

The M80 is named after a firecracker, was based on the durable Dodge Dakota, and had a 5-foot bed that was snow-to-surf-ready. It was supposed to be powered by the 3.7-liter V6 engine from the Jeep Liberty, sending 210 horsepower and 235 lb-ft of torque through a 5-speed manual transmission. Sounds cool, right?
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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