Was this the world’s first performance pickup?

Hard to believe, but the Li’l Red Express was a full factory model from Dodge

American pickup trucks that are larger-than-life and designed more for play than work: these days we just shrug and smile (a big smile, mind) at the concept, but it had to start somewhere. And you could argue it was with the grandfather of the Ram performance ute, the Dodge Li’l Red Express.

The what? While the US was in the grip of the 1970s oil crisis, Dodge decided to give the whole thing two fingers and create some big, grunty factory pickup trucks. You could argue Dodge’s descendant, Ram, is doing the same thing right now.

Anyway, Dodge dabbled with the dressed-up Warlock in 1977, but in 1978 it went all the way with the Li’l Red Express. Based on the D150 Adventurer, it looked outrageous: Canyon Red with gold detailing, lots of chrome, side steps, big wheels (well, big for the time) and “big rig” style vertical exhaust pipes. Oh yes.

It wasn’t just about show. It also had a heavily modified version of Dodge’s 5.9- litre policespecification V8 engine, with a strengthened three-speed automatic and “Sure Grip” limited-slip differential.

Contemporary reviews put the 0-96km/h (60mph) time at 6.7 seconds, so it was not just fast for a truck; it was fast, full stop. A true muscle machine. It was actually the quickest American-made production vehicle to 161km/h (100mph) at the time: 19.9 seconds. Dodge made 2188 of them in 1978, but customer demand brought it back in a slightly modified form for another 5118 examples through 1979.