Video:Big Muscle Dives into Trucks with the Dodge Little Red Express

Owning a classic muscle car is one of those American past times nearly as traditional as playing baseball and eating apple pie, but what about owning a classic “muscle truck?” Well, on the latest episode of Big Muscle, Mike Musto teams up with owner Jay Hendrickson to showcase one of the very original powerful pickups as the two take a look at Hendrickson’s 1979 Dodge Little Red Express pickup. Check it out above.

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The Dodge Little Red Express pickups were made in 1978 and 1979 and produced more horsepower than even the most notable cars of the time, including the Special Edition Trans Am and the C3 Corvette. But it wasn’t just the power numbers that make these trucks notable. In fact, only 2,188 of these trucks were produced in 1978 and 5,118 produced in 1979, making the trucks one of the rarest models produced in the United States.

With a special high-performance 360ci engine built for the Dodge police cruisers of the day, a 727 transmission and 3.55 rearend gears, the Little Red Express boasted 220hp and 290 ft-lbs of torque. Now, this may not sound like much these days but it was enough to give the pickup a 15-second quarter mile time, a top speed of 128mph and the designation of being faster than even a Ferrari 308. Other notable characteristics of the Little Reds included chrome exhaust stacks, Little Red Express stickers and wood paneling down the length of the truck’s bed right from the factory. Not bad for a glorified work vehicle.

Beautiful and potent for the days of the gas crisis and smog regulations, the Little Red Express pickups are quite the gem in the industry with less than 10,000 made over two model years and many less that have survived the test of time. It may not be your typical muscle car, but this truck certainly deserves some credit for what it brought and continues to bring to the automotive hobby.