01Motorsport
Dodge Dakota
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1/24/2005
11:05:16
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 Subject: 1st "Muscle"?: '70 "The Dude" 383
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I saw an cable episode of "Trucks" yesterday featuring muscle trucks. The SVT Lightning, a blown Joe Gibbs Silverado, and the SRT/10 were the rides. But one surprise was what they showed as the "first muscle truck", a 1970 Dodge "The Dude" 383 C.I. v-8 pickup. The truck was red with a black "c-shape" stripe that was narrow in the front and curved at the rear of the bed with a cowboy hat logo and small "The Dude" lettering. Some 1000 copies were made. Don Knotts (Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show") was shown in a magazine ad for the truck; perhaps the "muscle" image was not the advertisers intent! However, the "Little Red Express" in the 70's, and the 1992 5.2 Magnum Dakota both anchored Dodge's ancestry for "Muscle Trucks". Actually, the factory sales brochure for the 1992 Dakota probably coined the title "Muscle Truck" for the first time. The media picked it up for good when the Lightning joined the Dak in 1993 to solidify the "category".
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