{"id":30132,"date":"2019-10-30T09:06:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T13:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=30132"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:56","slug":"keep-on-truckin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/heritage\/2019\/10\/keep-on-truckin.html","title":{"rendered":"Keep on Truckin\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Dodge Lowliner Concept to\nDebut at SEMA <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each year around this time,our friends at Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> invite us to the Design Dome located in the\nFCA North America complex outside Detroit to show us their latest creations.\nHere, the FCA designers take us through some very cool concepts that include\ncurrent production vehicles and even some iconic vintage Mopar iron that has\nbeen resurrected. In the dome, we see cool custom vehicles the team has built that\nwill soon be on display in Mopar\u2019s 15,000-square-foot SEMA Show exhibit during\nthe week-long event in Las Vegas. For Mopar, it\u2019s like show \u2018n tell just before the\naftermarket industry\u2019s premiere trade show. Held in the massive Las Vegas\nConvention Center, it’s hard to describe if you haven’t attended SEMA. It\u2019s\nlike a candy store for gearheads like us with over-the-top custom cars, trucks,\nJeep\u00ae<\/sub> Brand vehicles and other things that motivate this billion-dollar industry. With over 162,000\nattendees and 2,400 exhibiting companies, the SEMA Show should be on your\nbucket list if you claim to be a car junkie who has high-octane fuel pumping\nthough your veins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mopar\u00ae<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While everything Mopar touches is cool, one vehicle they showed made us stop dead in our tracks and say \u201cwoah!\u201d It was a stunning vintage Dodge D200 pickup truck lowered to the ground and painted in \u201cCandied Delmonico Red\u201d with a touch of \u201cDairy Cream.\u201d It grabbed our eyeballs, and if the paint and mean stance weren’t cool enough, the custom-designed \u201csmoothie\u201d wheels looked like stamped steel wheel units from another era and had us spinning in our tracks. Even though we dig all things Mopar, including vintage trucks, the air suspension had the D200 practically slammed on the ground when it was parked in the styling dome and had us gawking all over this beast. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When\nJoe Dehner, head of Ram Truck and Mopar Design, and his cohort, Jeremy Rolfs,\nLead Creative Product Designer \u2013 Mopar Brand, opened the custom power-tilt\nfront end that had been crafted on the D200, our head exploded. Instead of using\nthe truck\u2019s original 383 big block and 727 automatic transmission, Dehner and\nRolfs had their team procure a 5.9-liter Cummins 24-valve Turbo-Diesel engine\nand six-speed manual transmission to install between the truck\u2019s frame rails. Now, the Mopar Lowliner Concept has the low end grunt\nto match its awesome good looks and stunning paint job. \u201cWhen it came time to\npower this thing, we wanted to do something different. We\u2019ve seen [SRT\u00ae<\/sup>] Hellcat and\n392 HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> crate engines in many builds to date, but we wanted to come up with a\ncool story. So we grabbed a service engine from Cummins, reinforced the frame\nand boxed it in, made a custom K-Member, and added independent front\nsuspension,\u201d said Jeremy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being\ndifferent is an understatement when it comes to the Mopar Lowliner Concept truck. The\nfact it\u2019s two-wheel drive and not some Monster Truck that requires a step\nladder to get into is quite a change from the usual assortment of massive\nrigs one sees at the SEMA Show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\nwanted to do something that would really represent the Dodge truck history.\nWe\u2019ve seen numerous 1940s and \u201950s era\nPower Wagons customized and done up on quite a few occasions. So we thought\nabout what other cool trucks did we have in the lineup throughout the decades,\u201d\nsaid Jeremy. \u201cWe decided to pay some love to the Dodge Sweptline trucks that\nwere made from 1961 to 1971. We in the design studio felt the 1968 model looked\nbest, so we went out and found one. It had the cleanest grille and we felt the\nexecution of doing a slammed truck would be great.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The search was on for a donor for the Mopar Lowliner Concept and\nsoon a 1968 Dodge D200 Camper Special was\nlocated. It may have started life as a humble three-quarter-ton work truck whose\norigins were traced to Washington state, but that quickly changed when Joe and\nJeremy got their hands on it. The old D200 was a clean truck when the FCA\ndesign team began its transformation. With no rust and just a little patina to\nshow its age, this D200 was the perfect canvas to start from. The design team went\nthrough the truck to see what they could preserve, which was most of the items\nexcept for the bed floor, which had been changed at one time. The FCA\nfabricators installed the bed floor out of a current Ram 1500 in the D200 and\nit looks right at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ram<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe inside of the Mopar Lowliner Concept, the\noriginal bench seat got covered in an orange-amber Blazing Saddle (love the\nmovie reference!) tan leather with a distressed look. They even addressed the\nD200\u2019s utilitarian steel door interior panels and added the same tan leather\ntreatment that includes a padded armrest. The FCA designers also created a\nleather headliner with the Mopar Omega M logo stitched into it. The guys also went\non eBay and found a NOS (New Old Stock) 1968 steering wheel with the original\nDodge fratzog emblem on the horn ring cap. Because of the modern engine\ntransplant, the instrumentation had to be reworked to include seven custom\nMopar gauges mounted to an \u201cengine turned\u201d aluminum panel. Even the floor-mounted\nshifter is topped by a cool translucent metal-flake retro shift ball with the\nCummins logo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"interior<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the outside, the FCA designers held nothing back and took\nsome liberties by widening\nthe wheel wells to accommodate the massive 285\/35-22 front tires and 325\/35-22 rear\ntires. The designers also cleaned up the exterior by streamlining or\neliminating certain items such as door handles, badging, fuel-filler cap and\nradio antenna. Sitting where the original\nheadlamps were once housed are seven-inch LED headlamps that really enhance the\nlooks when illuminated. Out back, the Mopar Lowliner Concept features custom\ntail lights with integrated backup lights, reinforcing the modern take on a\nclassic truck. The Mopar Omega M logo has been ghosted onto the front\nfenders and a vintage Dodge graphic is ghosted onto the truck\u2019s tailgate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cummins<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To\ngive the Mopar Lowliner that \u201cin-your-face\u201d look, the team went ahead and moved\nthe front axle three inches forward\non the frame, pushing the front wheels closer to the front corners of the truck\nto achieve better proportions. And if you\u2019re going to \u201cslam\u201d a truck, a custom three-mode\nair suspension was installed in the front and rear axles. Speaking of axles,\nthe Mopar Lowliner has a bulletproof Dana axle that turns the rear wheels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mopar\u00ae<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Joe\nand Jeremy, the Mopar Lowliner Concept will always stand out and it\u2019s just one\nof many reasons the guys and gals in the FCA Design Studios enjoy coming into\nwork every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Check out more pics of the Mopar Lowliner Concept truck!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n