The Dodge Sweptline is one of the most well-known vintage trucks today, but the Dodge ‘Dude’ Sweptline package hasn’t made headlines in quite the same way.
The Dodge Dude was a special edition released in 1970 and was produced until 1971. It wasn’t a long production, but it was an important one. The late sixties and early seventies had a heavy focus on muscle cars, some of the most famous muscle cars today were released in this time and Dodge brought a new competitor into the ring.
The Dodge Dude. The little-known muscle truck of the early seventies featured racing stripes down the side and a small sticker on the bedsides featuring the word Dude with a cowboy hat. With engine options including a 225 slant 6, 318 small block V8, and a 383 V8, this truck is packed with muscle. And who was the spokesperson for this high-powered, sleek muscle truck? None other than Don Knotts, you may know him better as Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show. If that doesn’t sell you on this truck, what would?
A lot of factors led to the rarity of this truck, starting with the small production numbers. From 1970-1971 an estimated 1500-2000 of these trucks were made. These aren’t large production numbers, even in the early seventies. To further the rarity, there aren’t many ways to identify this package with one hundred percent accuracy. The main identifier is the sticker that runs down the bedsides, but these fade and flake over time and many people have begun to make clones of this vehicle. With numbers for this vehicle dwindling and no way to find exact production numbers, it may never be known how many were made, or how many still hang around.
Want to see one of these trucks in action? Check out the one owned by Cult Classic Auto by following our instagram page.
