First Gen 4 Door

[SPoe]

I've seen a few of the First Generation 4 door pick ups and I know they didn't come from the factory like that. Where do I find one or how do i convert my club cab into a 4 door if possible?

 

[Dieselman359]

Sorry

I think that Dodge quit making crews in '85, however I may be corrected. What you have seen are conversions, there is a seperate forum here on the TDR for conversion trucks.

 

[Simplysmn]

NO Sad to say Dodge screwed up when they quit making crewcab's in 85 and even then they were missin the Boat back then they should of made the crewcab in a Longbed 4x4 instead of just a cheap shortbed . to answer your question govliq.com

they sell stuff all over the US be prepared to pay a MIM of 1500 for a good 4x4 crewcab . then just swap your gear over and your done.

 

[AVerHage]

That's actually untrue, although rare the crew cab didn't die until '89. It was possible to get a factory 250 or 350 crew cab Cummins in '89 only. Look in the book "Chrysler, The Chronicle" you'll see a picture of a red '89 4 door W350 SRW with those little red letters that say Cummins Turbo Diesel under the badge.

 

[MUDDY]

85 was the last year for the crewcab. gotta make your own like everyone else.



here is a pic of the work of art i got from tdr member hbowers who build it from an 85 crew and a 93 donor truck. i have enjoyed owning this rare beauty very much.



#ad




and also my 85 crew gasser waiting for a transplant.



#ad




as far as history on the cabs and when they stopped making them 85 was the last for the crew. if i remember correct 82 was the last clubcab till 90 and that was on some gassers. 92 they brought back the club for the cummins.



anyone who saw a cummins crew, it didnt come from the dodge factory in that combination.

 

[SPoe]

thank you all, i didnt know that the factory actually created these crew cabs, i've always liked the look of the old body style but the club cab just isn't enough room when you got 5 people your transporting. i thought the crew cab was like the mega cab long bed conversion but it seems a tad simpler than that. again thank you all

 

["Mad Max"]

As I understand the history, Ma Mopar was hurting pretty bad in the early 80s, and so in 1985 a deal was made with Ford and GM to help Chrysler from going under, and part of the deal was that Chrysler could not produce a crew cab truck for 20 years. Notice, the real Dodge 4-doors came back in 2005 - not the quad cabs, the real 4-doors. That's how I heard it.



Our next project is a 1st gen MegaCab 4xdually - crew cab with a club cab grafted on the back, 8 foot bed. Aught to be fun... and big...



- M2

 

[MUDDY]

lol, yeah, i heard that one too. and the one where ford wouldnt let dodge do a crewcab and if dodge insisted on making one, ford would NOT let dodge use the cummins anymore lol. there were several 'silly' rumors floating around. seems as if the loan to chrysler was what,,,, 1980????????



i remember when the club, and then the crew was dropped. [along with other models of chrysler vehicles] iacoacca was quoted as saying, 'well, we cant be everything to all people'. at that time they decided to trim down the model offering, which made no sense especially when a couple of the ones cut out made the most sense to keep.







make sure to post lots of pics max. sounds like a heck of a great project that will be the ultimate rig

 

[Simplysmn]

As I understand the history, Ma Mopar was hurting pretty bad in the early 80s, and so in 1985 a deal was made with Ford and GM to help Chrysler from going under, and part of the deal was that Chrysler could not produce a crew cab truck for 20 years. Notice, the real Dodge 4-doors came back in 2005 - not the quad cabs, the real 4-doors. That's how I heard it.



Our next project is a 1st gen MegaCab 4xdually - crew cab with a club cab grafted on the back, 8 foot bed. Aught to be fun... and big...



- M2

Hey Max I saw a second gen quadcab turned into a crewcab/extra cab other day with colorado plates it was lifted and a blue in color truck you ever seen it up your way ?looked pretty sweet

 

[AVerHage]

I was wrong, I looked it up in the book, that '89 crew cummins was built but never produced, so Chrysler probably has the only 1 hidden away somewhere.

 

[cerberusiam]

i remember when the club, and then the crew was dropped. [along with other models of chrysler vehicles] iacoacca was quoted as saying, 'well, we cant be everything to all people'. at that time they decided to trim down the model offering, which made no sense especially when a couple of the ones cut out made the most sense to keep.

It made sense at the time to Chrysler Corp when they looked at their sales numbers and units. Their largest market share was in the south central and south east metro areas, chiefly Texas and gulf states, and those units were straight cabs not club or crew.



It was purely a financial decision to try and survive the times and stand a chance of coming out of bankruptcy or they were gonna be liquidated. There was a lot of yelling and complaining from those of us that were buying those trucks but we were a minority. It was, and still is, all about the bottom line dollars.



That even carried over to the later 80's and the Cummins project. They were so cheap they wanted to drop the engine into a 1/2 ton frame and go with that. Cummins refused to provide the engines until they came up with frame and drive train design that met a minimum criteria. In the end the whole package was a compromise for Chrysler to get into the diesel market and Cummins to sell product as they were leveraged with borrowed money also.



One of the main reasons the early trucks were so detuned. :-laf

 

[dpuckett]

This is off-topic, but wasnt Ford offered the B-series in the early 80s, and they stuck with Navistar/ IH? I seem to remember reading that in a TDR article one time... .

 

[Paychk]

Cummins shopped the "B" around the all Three, Chrysler was the only one smart enough to jump!

 

[rumblefish]

This is off-topic, but wasnt Ford offered the B-series in the early 80s, and they stuck with Navistar/ IH? I seem to remember reading that in a TDR article one time... .

thats really odd they stuck with the IH motor, since ford owns cummins and all...



:-laf

 

[cerberusiam]

thats really odd they stuck with the IH motor, since ford owns cummins and all...



:-laf

Suffered from "not a V8" syndrome, nasty little ailment that takes YEARS to fully manifest. :-laf:-laf





Ford however did use a lot of the B's in their medium duty trucks, still offer it in fact. I think GM is the only one that didn't wise up in time.