Junked ’72 Dodge D100 Drives Great After Sitting for 13 Years
We wish all projects were this easy.
For those of us with a project that hasn’t moved under its own power in a while, this is the dream. YouTuber Dylan McCool’s latest project, a 1972 Dodge D100 stepside, hasn’t moved since it was junked in 2005. It has a 318 cubic inch V8 and a three-speed manual transmission, but again, it hasn’t moved since the Bush Administration. Under the hood, both motor mounts are long gone, so a chain is holding the engine down, and the air cleaner is long gone. The wooden bed rotted away years ago, the paint is shot, and who knows what happened to the headlights.
But, the engine isn’t seized, so Dylan decides to drop a battery in it and see what happens.
Almost unbelievably, the engine cranks, but doesn’t turn over. As Dylan says: “That’s promising.” While he checks the ignition points, he mentions that this orange truck was built in September 1971, making it an extremely early third-generation D-Series pickup. This one is definitely worth saving.
Next, he sprays some starter fluid down the ancient carb and cranks the ignition again. Believe it or not, it turns over and briefly idles. “This is the honest truth,” he says. “That was completely real. I didn’t do a thing. I’m kind of in shock that this thing ran so well… we’re just gonna have to drive this thing out of here I guess.”
Back from the dead
He checks the tires to make sure they hold air. Then, he brings a jug of gas and a fuel pump and sees if he can get it idling for a while. It does. No smoke, no backfires, it just runs. He shows us all the tools he brought to the yard to get the old Dodge running, but he won’t need many of them.
After filing up the old tires with air, he tries to get the truck out of its resting place. “It wants to, it really wants to,” he says after trying to get the big Dodge unstuck. So he goes home, grabs extra wheels and a jack, and tries again. Of course, with air in all four tires, this D100 rolls away like it was parked last night. What’s more, that 318 sounds great driving away.
Dylan takes the truck on a victory lap around the junkyard. The clutch is shot and the four-wheel drum brakes seem to be gone, but hey, this old Dodge is moving under its own power. Out of the weeds, he takes a better look at his new project. There’s rot in the cab corners and on the driver’s side floor. the right rear fender is badly dinged up, and there’s some wheel hop in the rear. Still, there’s a lot of potential here.
This is just the beginning for this truck. Already, Dylan has posted a follow-up video after getting the truck home and taking a better look at it. He named it “Rusty Pumpkin,” or “Rump” for brevity. We’ve got a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of this early D100. We can’t wait to see how it progresses in its life after death.
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