This is a interesting email I got from: Mark Van Scoter, Austin, Texas.
The subject: Dodge trucks. I thought I'd pass on a few excerpts from his email.
The 2 trucks on the left are called Sicard and are made in Great Britian, from the collection of Mark Van
Scoter. Thanks for sharing, Mark!
Dodge made the "Bighorns" for a few years and you
still see them sometimes in CA and in the midwest. If
I remember correctly, the Bighorn was designation
CNT-1000. This refered to the "C" cab (old PU cab),
N=diesel, and T=tandem. I am pretty sure Dodge made NO
gas powered Bighorms, but they may have made some SA
versions.
Dodge also planned and showed pictures of a
"Shorthorn". This was designed to replace the 90" BBC (bumper to back of cab)
C-900 family with all its variants (CT-900, CN-900,
CNT-900). My memory says that it was designated the
C-950 series and was showed on the heavy truck
literature issed in 1975. It was, quite simply, a
Bighorn grille, Bighorn type nose, but only a 90-92"
BBC truck.
Unfortuneately, Dodge's limited market share and the
Federal requirement to have anti-lock brakes on the
new trucks caused Dodge to drop all heavy-duty trucks
so the "Shorthorn" was never put into production.
Some more trivia about these trucks...
For years, Dodge made the "C" series cabs. Besides
using them themselves, they sold them to FWD and
Oshkosh in Wisconsin and also some west-coast
companies. For the final years, the construction of
these cabs was subcontracted to the Checker company,
builder of the Checker cab. I think they were/are
located in Kalamazoo, MI. While the cab had been
trouble-free when it was made by Chysler, it seemed to
have problems when it was built by Checker. A Dodge
engineer at the Chicago Auto show was telling me about
the problem back then (I was the truck sales manager
at a Chicago suburb Dodge dealer then).
Here are some images from my collection. I can't be
sure of where they originally came from, I have been
collecting and trading pix for over 5 years.
Although Oshkosh is in Wisconsin, the ads are from
their Canadian branch. The Canadian truck is one that
I know nothing about, except it uses the Dodge cab.
Here is more and pix of the Dodge (Great Britian, aka
D-GB) trucks that use the sheetmetal of the Dodge "B"
cab. These trucks were available from about the
mid-70's to the mid 90's. When Chysler GB was sold,
they were sold as Renault-Dodge trucks.
They were availabe from about 7500lb GVW to about
16,000 # GVW. As they evolved, they become more and
more unique, retaining only the bottom of the door
stampings and the cowl design. I WANT ONE!
Mark Van Scoter in Austin, TX
Here is another email I just got (2005) from Kyle Youngblood:
Hello,
Ran across your website tonight and found it very interesting. Great
picture
on the main page, those are some beautiful looking trucks in the
picture. I
want to make a comment on the Sicard, FWD, Oshkosh, Bighorn and
Shortnose
section. I wanted to let you know that the guy sent you some
incorrect
information about the Bighorn and shortnose. The Bighorn was
designated
orignally as a DN950 or DNT950, now more commonly referred to as the
CN950
or CNT950. The Shortnose Bighorn, CN900 or CNT900, was schedule to
come out
in '75, but never was put into production due to Chrysler quitting
the big
trucks. 18 prototypes were produced and I know of 4 that still exist.
All in
collector's hands. It was going to replace the swing out fender
Dodge's as
the guy said. Basically, it was a hi-cab c-cab with half of a Bighorn
hood
on the front. If your interested in checking out more information on
the
Bighorn, you can check out my website below.
BTW, The picture of the dark blue Bighorn under your odds and ends
section
belongs to my father.
Kyle
