Fin transplant: ’58 Dodge D100 Sweptside
The 50’s were a transitional period for the trusty American pickup truck. The Big 3 started offering much more stylish and luxury-laden models to the standard line-up of working trucks. Chevy had their Cameo line and Ford created the Ranchero. Dodge was caught without and had to scramble to come up with something. If you recall, Virgil Exner was the chief stylist at Chrysler and his work is legend. His style was flamboyant but then again, so were the cars from GM and Ford. But Exner’s cars were recognizable. With that said, the Sweptside was not designed by Virgil Exner. The fins were but not the truck. If you take a look at the Sweptside, you’ll see that it was created by attaching the tail fin-laden rear fenders from a Dodge station wagon to the side of the pickup bed. Clever. They were made in a separate section of the truck plant and in limited numbers. So these somewhat awkward looking trucks are quite collectible. This one is a restored, low mileage truck in the original colors. The seller states and we confirm that around 950 Sweptsides were built during 1958. Who knows how many survived. Check this one out on eBay by clicking here.