10 Facts About the Dodge D100 Sweptside Truck
If you've never heard about the Dodge Sweptside, you're in for a treat. Here are some facts about the truck that was made to rival a certain Chevy.
1. Years Produced
The Dodge Sweptside truck was only produced from 1957 to 1959. Unfortunately, the unique truck never made a breakthrough in sales, as they were rather costly to build.
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2. The Special Equipment Group
The Dodge Sweptside never made the regular production line, instead, it was built by Dodge's Special Equipment Group. The Special Equipment Group was an in-house customizing shop, designed to modify and upgrade production trucks.
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3. Competiton
By the year 1957, the Dodge trucks were extremely unfashionable, especially when compared to the Ford and the Chevy trucks. In attempt to give the Dodge truck a makeover, Joe Berr, the manager of the Special Equipment Group, was assigned the task to make the Sweptside more appealing.
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4. Sweptside Quarter Panels
In an attempt to spice up the Dodge Sweptside, the Special Equipment Group had to make some changes to the body. The quarter panels on the Dodge Sweptside are taken from the 1957 two-door Dodge Station-Wagon.
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5. Rear Fenders
In order to further upgrade the exterior of the Dodge Sweptside, the group took the rear fenders off of a half-ton Dodge pick-up truck. When they replaced the quarter panels and the rear fenders, they had to upgrade the bumper and the tailgate to fit them.
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6. Production
The Dodge Sweptside was expensive to make, which meant it couldn't be mass-produced on the assembly line. From 1957 to 1959, less than 2,000 Sweptside trucks were produced. Now, it is believed there are only a total of 60 Sweptside trucks that still exist.
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7. Forward Look
Dodge took the look from their passenger cars to the Dodge Sweptside truck to spice things up further. The forward look consisted of two things: the fenders were pushed forward to imitate the headlamps, and the hood was all one piece with rear hinges.
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8. Engine
To put a stamp on the unique trucks, Dodge created the largest engine for any small truck on the market. The Dodge Sweptside had a 315 cubic inch V8 engine, which produced 204 horsepower.
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9. Post Sweptside
In 1959 Dodge decided to change things up and turned the Sweptside truck into the Sweptline. The term signified the change in styling for the truck meaning that now the rear fenders and bumpers were taken from a 2-door Suburban station wagon. The fancy tailfins of the Sweptside were now gone in favor of a large square bed that was the full length of the cab. The Sweptlines also got a new engine that packed a big block 318 ci V8 to give consumers another reason to think twice about the revised quirky truck.
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10. Value
With only a few thousand produced, and now around just 60 left in the world, the Dodge Sweptside truck is extremely rare. For a mildly restored Sweptside, expect to pay anything from $40,000 to $70,000, maybe, even more, depending on the condition.
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