(first posted 11/26/2012) The Great American Diesel Epoch (1975 – 1986) included an astonishing array of cars and trucks that have mostly disappeared from the streets as well as our memories. One of the rarer ones was Dodge’s second (more on the first below) foray into diesels in their light trucks, a dozen years before the big Cummins 6BT finally found a long-term home in them. In 1978, Dodge’s partnership with Mitsubishi resulted in the 6DR5 diesel being available in the 1978 (and possibly 1979) D100, D200, and (technically) the B-series van. There’s still a few of those pickups clattering away, but good luck finding one of those vans.
At the time, the idea of a diesel Dodge van was rather intriguing to me. I should have ordered one, because it might be the only one on the planet. Although some 2,835 diesel pickups were known to be built, I can’t find any record of anyone actually owning one of the vans. Even finding good info and pics of one of the diesel pickups is hard; these very nice ones are courtesy of Marc Lerner, posted at nissandiesel.dyndns.org.
Why didn’t it sell better? How about the fact that it made all of 105 hp (and 163 ft. lbs of torque, less than the slant six)? This was a naturally-aspirated unit, like so many in the first half of the Great Diesel Epoch. There is talk of folks retrofitting them with turbos, but who knows if any are still intact. Anyway, owners of them say they will trundle along at sixty or so, and get a solid 20 mpg doing it. Needless to say, acceleration is very leisurely. Transmission was a choice of a four-speed stick or A727 Loadflite.
I may have found some nice shots of the Dodgubishi, but I can’t find anything on the diesel van; no brochure, no forum threads, nothing. Except that it was announced, and allpar makes mention of it too.
Just to make the pre-Cummins Dodge diesel history lesson complete, here’s a shot of a Perkins six cylinder that was available as an option on the 1962 D-Series pickup. Perkins had been available on export-only Dodges for some years, including some sedans, but in 1962, it was listed as an option for US buyers too. Since only some 1,000 were sold, it quickly dropped off the radar again. It took three tries for Dodge to score with a diesel truck, but that one was a home run.
I Have One Two Its A 8 Foot Box With About A 100000 Miles Runs Great In Good Shape . What Is This Worth Only around 2000 Of Them Made !
“A one two! A one two three four….!” 😛
Here is some pictures for who are interested in these old diesel trucks.. I picked this truck up a short time ago down in Fillmore Utah and let me tell you it was a slow 3 hour drive on backroads home but motor ran strong! This truck is 100% original.
YES! ‘Clattering’ away is right! Diesels are NOISY and SMELLY, not a good combination!
We had a 1978 Dodge 3/4 ton 2wd shop truck at a place I worked many years ago, that started life as a Diesel with a 4 speed. It was supposedly purchased at a wrecking yard circa 1983 with a seized engine… a quicklube mishap that rendered it a write-off. It was converted to a flatbed and had a 360 2bbl and an automatic swapped in when I worked there… the former clutch pedal still dangled lifelessly from its bracket and swung back and forth when you accelerated or braked hard.
What was the displacement of the 1978 diesel engine? I had a 1980 D100 with the 225 slant 6 and 4 speed manual. That was a decent powertrain, adequate IMO and decent fuel economy for a full size (RWD) truck.
A neighbor had a Dodge Aries with the same engine and transmission. At least I assume a 4 speed, it was a floor mounted shift. Maybe not the same exact transmission in the car.
243 cubic inches was the displacement of that diesel engine. Here is a comparison test of Dodge, Chev, and International diesel pickup trucks from the May 1978 issue of Popular Science.
(Your neighbour might’ve had a Dodge Aspen with the 225 Slant-6 and overdrive 4-speed, but the Aries was a front-drive car with only 4-cylinder engines available.)
“Your neighbour might’ve had a Dodge Aspen…” Duhh, yes I meant Dodge Aspen! I had a Plymouth Volare wagon as a company vehicle 40+ years ago. That had the 3 speed automatic.
Thanks for the catch and the link! I love reading old vehicle reviews. This will be a very interesting one.
Maybe it’s been mentioned elsewhere in the comments, one of the “agents” at Cold War Motors has a nearly pristine example of one of these trucks that he located in the US, and imported into Canada. Somewhere in their videos over the last year, maybe two, they feature it.
I finally went to the magazine link. Very interesting to look at a magazine of this vintage, including ads like the one for the telephone answering system with remote access. The ‘remote access’ being a separate tone generator to emit a tone placed near the calling phone’s transmitter.
The diesel pickup truck reviews would indicate sales for those were on the few side. Acceleration of the Dodge was especially slow, 0 – 60 in 34.3 seconds. By today’s standards, the economy of those diesel trucks wasn’t great, but considerably better than the gas engine trucks at 10 – 12 mpg city. Thanks again for the link.
I still have the issue of DIESEL DIGEST magazine that talks about Dodge’s upcoming plans to offer a Mitsubishi 6-55 diesel engine in their line of pickups and vans.
Look in a fb page called underapreciated survivors. There you will find one very lucky owner of a ’78 D150 with the mighty Mitsubishi 4.0ltr Diesel.
Was there a V8 diesel option? The first 2 photos appear to be that.
That’s an inline six if ever there was one.
What you see is an intake manifold in one and a sheet metal cover over the exhaust manifold in the other.
(Roger) “Didn’t GM use the Honda V6’s in their SUV’s.” The Saturn (GM) could have an optional Honda 3.5 V6.
Now I see! I was looking at the second photo, kind of looked like a valve cover on the side.
My neighbor has a newer Ram 2500 with the 3.0L diesel 6. Seems small for the size the truck is but I guess those new turbo diesels generate ample power, especially torque.
Yeah, no kidding.
3 litres is only like 183 cu.in.
Never even heard of one…..interesting….
Yes, seems wicked small for the truck! Sounds just like a typical diesel, but quieter than the old inline Cummins 5.9L (360 cu in, like the V8). Looks like it’s available in the 1500 as well.
Thanks for the explanation re: the intake manifold and sheet metal cover on engine in the 1978 Dodge.
You’re welcome.
A ‘typical’ diesel was a SMELLY, and NOISY contraption to me as I grew older and wiser!
I bought a 70s Ford van on PROPANE circa 1993. Fuel was HALF the price of gas back then! 20-25 cents per liter.
Yeah, but who buys gas by the litre?
20-25 cents a litre is about a buck a gallon and the price of gas didn’t exceed that until the 70’s was almost over.
…and speaking of smelly! I was a forklift mechanic for a short time at a lumber mill. That stuff smells to high heaven, too.
Plus the mods you had to make to the carburetor made them finicky as well.
There’s a reason LPG didn’t catch on as a gasoline alternative.
When I worked at Tysinger Motor Company in Hampton VA, we had two customers with Dodge Diesel trucks, one was a comercial fishing boat owner and they came from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to Tysinger in Hampton, a good 2 hour drive each way. The complaint they had was lack of power. I found that the injection pump linkage was way out of adjustment, gas pedal on the floor, Torqueflite throttle lever was all the way to kickdown, injection pump still had a good 1/4 of it’s travel left. I should probably mention that we owned one of the other 1978 Diesels, an Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale. It didn’t run real well at first either, pump was installed retarded at the factory. Since I had been trained on Diesel engines in the USMC. I had a pretty good idea how one should run. I adjusted the injection pump linkage to reach full at the same time as the transmission reached it’s internal stop. After the owners picked the truck they called back to let me know how much better it ran.
Amazing how powerful a car seems, once you get it running correctly. =)
Good catch, Bill. -b
First time you drive it you go through the windshield, hydroboost brakes, I had one years ago, got 27mpg and would hit 75, problem was it was in a 25 year old Dodge from Maine, more rust then steel and parts are harder to find then hens teeth
I just recently bought one of these rare survivors from a guy in Minnesota so she has some rust but I’m getting her ready to see the road once again