Dodge A100 Works Hard, And With A 440 Plays Hard, Too

The ’60s saw auto manufacturers bring out all sorts of unusual vehicles. Chevrolet had the air-cooled, rear-engine Corvair to compete with the VW Beetle, there were car/pickup truck hybrids like the Falcon-based Ranchero and Chevelle El Camino. Then there was the Dodge A100, a compact van or pickup truck designed to compete with other oddballs, like the Corvair Greenbriar van and truck or VW Type 2. Popular with tradesmen at first and surfers and hot rudders later, the A100 you see here offers a lot more hauling capacity, thanks to its 440 cubic inches between the front seats.

Tom Tilley owns this 1965 example of the breed, a Bermuda Turquoise example that sold new for $1,927 in Nevada, then spent a number of years in California before Tom found it in sunny Largo, Florida. As you might imagine, finding a Dodge A100 pickup was no easy task, as they were never big sellers and many succumbed to the demon rust. 

“I was dealing with a guy on Long Island that had one and he wound up being not very nice about the whole thing — changing the price and all that kind of stuff,” Tom remembered. “He said in our discussion, ‘You just try and find another.’ And that one was a Slant Six, which 90 percent of them were. I found this one locally.”

Tom’s A100 was born with a 273 V8, but it was long gone by the time he bought it. Someone had swapped in a 440 out of an RV.

I kind of like the California vibe of the whole thing. — Owner Tom Tilley

“It probably only has about 265 or 270 horsepower, but the torque is out of control,” says Tom. “It’s probably 450 lb-ft or something like that.” That is more than plenty for this lightweight vehicle.

All Tom had to do to get the RB engine running perfectly was put a starter in it, then clean it up a little bit. The intake remains stock and is topped with an Edelbrock four-barrel carb and bugeye air cleaner. It is backed by a 727 TorqueFlite. The driveshaft is less than two-feet long and sends all that Torque to a Dana 60 rear with 3.55 cogs.

An Unusual Design

Thanks to its compact size, weight is roughly 3,200 lbs with the big-block V8. The cabover design means the driver and passenger sit over the front tires. Or as Tom says, you are first on the scene in a front-end collision.

“It’s got everything going against it as far as handling and steering and driving and stuff,” he states. “It’s got wider tires in front, a big motor, no power steering, but smiles per mile … ”

Because it lived most of its life in dry climates, the body was 100 percent rust free when he purchased it. He had to do some paint work, but mostly the basecoat/clearcoat was in good shape. This is the correct ’65 color.

Tom added a trailer hitch to it so he can put his bicycle rack on it, but make no mistake it still functions as a truck. He’s a very handy guy, so he’s had plenty of mulch, sheetrock and plywood in the bed.

The interior is not perfect, but he doesn’t need it to be. The seats didn’t flip forward like they were supposed to, so he addressed that issue (the battery is behind there, so it is a fairly essential repair). 

Tom chose the Ridler wheels, 18x8s in front and 20×10 in the rear. Tires are 235/40ZR18s and 275/35ZR20s by Delinte.

The owner gets quite a kick out of driving it, and he’s driven it from the West Coast of Florida to the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona, not to mention having it on display at the show at the Don Garlits Museum of drag racing.

“I have several different cars, so it depends on what type of show it is for what I bring, but this one, it turns a lot of heads,” reports Tom, who was attracted to the “California vibe” of the A100.

Whether he’s hauling sheetrock or bikes, this A100 is guaranteed to get your attention, not to mention put a smile on your face at the same time.