Triborough has found a truck I’ve been keeping an eye out for way too long: A Dodge L700 tilt cab medium duty with the cab borrowed from the A100 van/pickup. Ford had their immensely popular C-Series, and Chevrolet had a very similar tilt-cab truck, but Dodge obviously couldn’t afford to compete with a cab designed specifically for the job, so they improvised. And the results looks just that.
It’s a nice enough looking truck, and rather European at that. Built between 1966-1971, sales of the L600 and L700 had to be very modest, because at the time I remember being aware of how uncommon they were. Engine choices started with the “Premium” 225 slant six, 318, 361 and 413 gasoline V8s, and a Cummins V8 diesel with 185 hp.
Uh oh; this one is still sitting on a Dodge dealer’s lot. Did it never sell?
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Lifetime power train warranty? No wonder it’s still in service!
Wow, a rare bird indeed .
The L.A.P.D. had one with a bobtail box and 413 V8, a clark 5 speed IIRC .
It ran very well indeed and was in the fleet until John Frowner, the driver retired, management could imagine any newer higher being able to drive it so it went to salvage .
Talk about stout trucks, these old Dodges were .
-Nate
I found a brochure for the 1969 model. The 225 \6 is listed at 140 (gross) HP, so maybe 110 net? The lowest available GVW was 17,000 lbs. Two-speed rear axle, but the brochure is a bit fuzzy to read the ratios clearly – looks like 8.XX:1 and 6.XX:1.
I can not begin to imagine what this would have been like to drive with six tons in the bed. Acceleration? Theoretical. Top speed? Maybe 55, with that poor slant six just screaming.
What vastly different times those were.
In truck use with a very short exhaust and big low-restriction muffler and no emission controls, the 225 /6 had a net rating of 127 hp.
Who would want to drive something like this faster than 55 back then? These were used mainly in local service. Lumber yard delivery and such. Quite a few medium duty trucks had sixes back then.
I worked for a coal and fuel oil dealer here in our little town many years ago In addition to the larger trucks, we had a 2000 gallon tank on a L700 (22,000 GVW, or thereabouts) with a 361, 4 speed transmission, and a two speed rear axle which was used exclusively for kerosene (#1 fuel oil) delivery. Our larger trucks were C800 and C8000 Ford tilt cabs with 2500 and 2850 gallon tanks on a longer wheelbase chassis. The Dodge was actually very well suited to its application for us. It certainly didn’t lack power to maintain road speed, and because it had a relatively short wheelbase and a very good (50 degrees, I think) wheel cut, the turning circle was the smallest of any truck I have ever driven. In low/low (because of tire scrub) a full lock turn was like watching a panorama move horizontally across your field of vision with minimal forward motion. It was perfectly suited to delivering kerosene to accounts where the oil tank or barrel was often in a place barely accessible to a passenger car, let alone an oil truck. The large step and protruding front fenders may not have been stylish, but the cab access was better than most straight trucks, and better than our Fords, too. As I recall, engine access was slightly better than the Fords, also, since it seemed that the cab tilted slightly further. It is unfortunate that they didn’t catch on truck buyers. The drivetrains were bulletproof, the running gear would take hard use without complaining, and for city pick up and delivery or farm use especially, I would have had L-series Dodges without reservation, even accepting that quality control on minor components wasn’t the best (ours rattled and creaked, and occasionally bits of trim fell off, etc.) Dodge trucks of that era may not have been pretty, but they certainly were tough as nails. PS – Although I drove that truck some, we also had a man who was the primary driver of our L-series, but unlike John Frowner’s situation, our Dodge was in service for some time after our John retired (but no one else made the old Dodge “do its thing” better than John, a really nice guy!)
I worked for the oil/coal dealer in our little town and we had an L800, 361, 4 speed, with a two speed rear axle as our kerosene delivery truck. It had a 2000 gallon tank on a very short wheelbase chassis. It was perfectly suited to its application, since kerosene tanks and barrels were often located in difficult to reach locations. This truck had the smallest turning radius of any truck I’ve ever driven. I think the wheel cut was around 50 degrees, and a full-lock turn in low/low (because of tire scrub) made the world pass horizontally across the windshield with minimum forward travel. It was amazing to do a U turn on a relatively narrow road in one pass! I drove the larger trucks primarily (Ford C 800 and C 8000 tankers with 2500 and 2850 gallon tanks) but the Dodge was the one for tight spaces. Far from being an unstylish compromise, the slightly narrower cab with protruding fenders and a large step made repeatedly entering and leaving the truck easier than most other trucks I drove, including our Fords. The cab tilted a bit further than the Fords, as I recall, so maintenance was slightly easier as well. For pick up and delivery, farm use, or general service I wouldn’t have hesitated to have a fleet of these. Despite quality control issues with Dodges (bits of trim loosening, screws falling out, etc.) these were incredibly tough trucks that would take abuse uncomplainingly. Ours, with the 361, was the equal of any comparable gasoline powered truck of its day, and probably more durable that many, and could keep up with traffic quite nicely. We had our own John Frowner who was the primary driver of the Dodge, but when he retired the old Dodge soldiered on for a while longer!
It actually might not have sold. The dealership where this truck was located – Jarrett Dodge in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, was one of those dealerships known for having a collection of old cars and trucks. I’m not sure if the cars were acquired at some point, were owned by the Jarrett family, or just collected from new stock.
This truck was parked outside of the dealership quite a bit. The photo below is of the owners with some of their old car collection in the showroom.
Nice 1969 Polara convertible in the background.
GOM! You wrote a fine essay about these trucks to complement Paul’s writeup. I have seen them, but I never knew that production was so low. The Cummins Diesel might have been the V8-185 which late on was bored out to higher displacements. Besides having a “European look,” it was also offering Diesel power of which we saw little in The U.S. at the time of its build. Great going, men! Old truck salesperson hiding in Valley Cottage, NY.
It looks like that dealership closed years ago. I hope that the L700 and the other older cars in the showroom found good homes
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/horsham/after-nearly-70-years-jarrett-dodge-to-close
The L’s were interesting, clever how Dodge was able to get into the medium duty tilt cab market with a truck that had a cab made out of some van parts! And, I am sure they saved a bunch of money doing it that way. The Dodge L’s never sold in any great numbers (neither did the comparable Ford’s and G.M.’s, they were just in production so long they accumulated all over the landscape). Most of the L’s I saw back in the day had 318 or 361 gas engines, but in addition to the HD Slant Six, 413, and ‘small’ Cummins V-8 a few were built with 354 Perkins diesels too. With the demise of the ‘A’ series van and pickup parts doner the L series was dropped. However, Dodge actually did have a plan for a replacement! When Chrysler bought out the Rootes Group in England, their Commer truck division was working on a medium duty tilt cab truck that eventually was marketed as the Dodge 100 Commando. This truck supplemented the earlier Dodge-designed 500 series heavy duty tilt cab, and was offered with Perkins and Mercedes diesels along with the 318 V-8. Chrysler seriously considered bringing the 100 Commando to the North American market but the cost of meeting U.S. regulations was judged to be too expensive. The 100 Commando proved to be a popular truck in Europe and survived until the late 80’s as the Renault Command (Renault bought Chrysler’s European truck operations from Peugeot after Chrysler left Europe)
Matchbox made a model of this truck with a stake body, I had one but don’t recall if it survived, unlike my Daf flatbed.
Dodge’s Spanish partner Barreiros actually built a similar looking cab, so Dodge could have done better by importing that cab