The Dacia Pick Up, derived from the humble Renault 12-based Dacia 1300 that was Romania’s main domestic automobile for over three decades, has inspired a remarkable amount of interest here.
The Dacia 1307 double cab pickup with rear wheel drive was the subject of an Outtake by Paul in March of this year, and the conversion of the front wheel drive Dacia to rear wheel drive was part of a lengthy special by Tatra87 on FWD cars converted to RWD. This Renault/Dacia-based El Camino (to Americans)/Ute (to Australians) is an ordinary work vehicle in its own country, though, as shown by this scene by the side of the road in Romania. This Pick Up is hard at work as a roadside watermelon stand, its rear springs and oversized rear tires compressed by the weight of the heavy stack of fruit in its bed. It appears to be a heavy duty version with five lug hubs instead of the three lug hubs of the original 1300 sedan and RWD/4×4 pickups, making it a hard working vehicle indeed.
Dacias were offered in Uruguay in the early ’90s. First the sedan, which was sold exclusively on the assumption that it was a Renault 12 at a time when the last Argentinian 12s were still being sold here and had a fantastic reputation. It wasn’t a 12. It rotted at a rate of mm/hour…I don’t know if it was due to inherent bad quality, or terrible freight and storage procedures, as some had details when brand new. Anyway, spares were not totally interchangeable, as dealers would have you believe.
Later on crew cabs were offered. Even though they most likely were built on the same platform, their wheelbase was extended (seems even longer than the 12 break). They looked about the same as the sedan up to the rear door, and the bed seemd tucked in. You could almost see a breaking line (I don’t know how it was designed or assembled…it’s just how it looked). You can see in the pickup pictured above how the middle line of the car goes upwards, as well as the rocker panel. I’ve seen several with much rest at that point; either water accumulation, or just bad welding? Or both? I don’t have a clue.
After Renault took complete control of Dacia they disappeared for awhile, and now Renault’s low cost, sold as Dacia in some parts of Europe and as a Renault in others as well as Latin America, is to me reasonably assembled and durable. I own a Brazilian Renault Sandero Stepway, which so far has served me well as a “point A to point B” vehicle.
If that watermelon farmers last name is Majestyk, I wouldnt mess with him.
I thought the same thing when I saw that picture, Mr. Hardboiled. 😀
MR. MAJESTYK of Romania!
The Ram ad that’s showing up in the sidebar touts “more leather and wood than Ford and Chevy combined”. I know plenty of Ram pickups work hard here in the US, but it still makes an interesting contrast with this no-frills Romanian distant relative (Renault/AMC/Jeep/Ram).
I find it interesting how this Romanian-market Dacia is known as the “Pick-up” (as written on the B-Pillar) — and in taking a quick look at Dacia information on the web, it appears that they were known as Pick-ups worldwide.
I’ve never thought about this before, but if I were to have guessed, I’d assume that they were known by a more regional name, particularly in a country such as Romania, where English probably wasn’t widely known when this truck was built.
I remember, for example, that VW’s (Rabbit-based) truck was known as the Pickup in the US, but as the Caddy in most other markets.
Or Toyotas were simply “Toyota Truck” in the US, and Hilux in the rest of the world.
Ah, forbidden fruit (and no, not the watermelon!).
It seems we CC’ers are taken with the Dacia Pickup like many are enamored by the mythical brown manual diesel wagon, or the old Skylines, or anything denied to our market. We long for what we can’t have.
Looks to be a tough little ute, not something sold here though a couple exist, just a good honest no frills working vehicle.
Dacias were imported into Canada in very small numbers in the mid-’80s. Sales were focused on the notoriously frugal Quebec market, although there was a dealer in the Ontario city where I attended college. I remember seeing one pickup about 1986. Contemporary reviews suggest that “PU” was an appropriate name.
Nice! I should go to Romania sometime while these are still about.
On closer examination, those wheels appear to be from a Chrysler K-car or one of its many derivatives