Photo: Mecum Auctions
We love restomod trucks around here, as should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody. But that doesn't mean we can cover every single custom truck worth reporting on in one calendar year. We do miss one or two on occasion. But just because it's 2024 now instead of 2023 doesn't mean we can't admire a 1965 Dodge D200 that went across the auction block late last year. At least on the surface, there doesn't appear to be much outrageously different about this rig than how it would've looked from the factory.
At least, that's the case when looking at it from the exterior. Opening the cab of this classic pickup reveals the telltale signs of an early 2010s Ram 2500 Laramie 4WD. That's right, this classic Dodge is playing a game of deception. With timeless looks outside and modern hardware under the hood and inside, the team this truck's owner used to convert this classic rig to something modern did nothing short of a breathtaking job. If you can believe it, the backstory for this old truck is even more interesting than the hardware underneath its metal skin.
Directly from the factory nearly 60 years ago, this Dodge D200 was delivered to the United States Air Force for a career servicing one of the dozens of air bases and logistics operations in their domestic network. Little information exists on what kind of work the truck got up to or where it might have been stationed. But these classic Dodge trucks clean up nicely when treated to a proper frame-off rotisserie restoration. Once the entire vehicle was stripped down to metal and painted a tasteful Oxford Gray, it was ready to accept a host of upgrades that melded classic and modern senses in ways few restomods can.
Of course, it's almost a shortcut just retconning an early 2010 Ram truck interior into a '60s rolling chassis. But with a 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel engine under the hood and a rebuilt 68RFE right behind it, this is the kind of truck that looks pretty while towing considerable loads behind it. With a three-inch suspension lift running on Rancho shock absorbers with chunky BF Goodrich KM3 tires, there are competent modern 4x4 SUVs and pickups that aren't as proficient off the beaten trail as this restomod. One thing's for sure, you're not liable to time warp between the recent past and the not-so-recent past the way this truck can in roughly 99.99 percent of what's on the road these days.
For our money, this Cummins-swapped classic Dodge was one of the low-key greatest trucks to pass the Mecum Auction block at Kissimmee, Florida, last year. It's a shame we missed it, but hey, better late than never.
Directly from the factory nearly 60 years ago, this Dodge D200 was delivered to the United States Air Force for a career servicing one of the dozens of air bases and logistics operations in their domestic network. Little information exists on what kind of work the truck got up to or where it might have been stationed. But these classic Dodge trucks clean up nicely when treated to a proper frame-off rotisserie restoration. Once the entire vehicle was stripped down to metal and painted a tasteful Oxford Gray, it was ready to accept a host of upgrades that melded classic and modern senses in ways few restomods can.
Of course, it's almost a shortcut just retconning an early 2010 Ram truck interior into a '60s rolling chassis. But with a 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel engine under the hood and a rebuilt 68RFE right behind it, this is the kind of truck that looks pretty while towing considerable loads behind it. With a three-inch suspension lift running on Rancho shock absorbers with chunky BF Goodrich KM3 tires, there are competent modern 4x4 SUVs and pickups that aren't as proficient off the beaten trail as this restomod. One thing's for sure, you're not liable to time warp between the recent past and the not-so-recent past the way this truck can in roughly 99.99 percent of what's on the road these days.
For our money, this Cummins-swapped classic Dodge was one of the low-key greatest trucks to pass the Mecum Auction block at Kissimmee, Florida, last year. It's a shame we missed it, but hey, better late than never.
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