I just learned of Dodge Trucks I've never heard of before

This and the next are Macho Power Wagons

The below is the 1979 Palomino: Palominos were built from Feb 1st thru the end of the 1979 production year

Below is the 1980 Dodge Bighorn, Palomino spin-off truck.

Below are all Spirit of '76: Was a special package available in 1976 to celebrate America 's Bicenntenial. It came with a special decal that ran down the side of the truck and cloth or vinyl interior.

Spirit of '76- Available as Sweptline or Utiline http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/06/true-spirit-by-dodge.html

Top Hand was one I photographed and forgot: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/restored-1970s-dodge-trucks-were-at.html

Lil Red Express are the best known of any of the trucks: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/05/dodge-lil-red-express-truck.html

Southbounder

Snofiter- 6ft box, with plow package
SnoCommander- 8ft box with plow package
Macho Power Wagon- Available on Power Wagon's only and only sweptline beds
True Spirit- Built from '76-'78 and sold only in California, available on all pickups, but Power Wagons were most popular
Californian- California Dealer option
Big Horn- '80 only spin off of Palomino
Warlock-Available in red, blue, green, black, brown

The were mentioned on
http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42227

True Spirit: The True Spirit was first produced in 1976 with about 200-250 being produced that year. They were a "test the waters" type of vehicle, along with the Warlock (but didn't do as well as the much more popular Warlock), so therefore True Spirits were only sold in the Southern California and Arizona markets. The last year of production was 1978. According to Skip Gibbs book “Truckin thru the 70’s” less than 250 True Spirits were built in 1976 and those, along with the original batch of Warlocks were sent to dealers in San Francisco and LA to test market reaction to a factory custom truck. Contrasting pinstriping w/L'il Red Express-Warlock type design over each fender. "True Spirit by Dodge" logo on tailgate only. They were produced in both Utiline Shortbed and Sweptline Shortbed body styles and also in 2WD and 4WD.

1980 BigHorn: 1980 Big Horn was a spin off of the 79 Palomino truck, and had the same saddle blanket seat, with a similar indian motif.

'77 Warlock: colors (Bright Canyon Red, Green Sunfire Metallic, and Black sunfire metallic) Available with V8 or V6, Front Disk Brakes, Sky Lite Roof, A/C, LoadFlite Automatic transmission, sliding rear window. 2WD or 4WD (courtesy of 1977 Dodge Pickups Brochure)

'78 Warlock: colors (Bright Canyon Red, Medium Green Sunfire Metallic, Formal Black, Citreon Green Metallic, Sunrise Orange). (courtesy of 1978 Dodge Pickups Brochure)

'78 Macho Power Wagon: Full Time 4 wheel drive, 318 Cubic Inch V8, Factory bed roll bar, Special decal trim for: Body side, hood & tailgate, Special 2-tone paint, black painted bumpers and Spoked Road wheels (Factory Wagon Wheels), Bucket seats, Power Steering, Tinted glass, and 10-15LT-B tires. (courtesy of 1978 Dodge Pickups Brochure)

Text and photos are all due to Nick Winters who emailed it to me very kindly so we all could learn more about the rare Dodge truck options!

Amazing variety of unusual railcars from Steampunkvehicles tumblr

Why he's riding a big wheel / pennytfarthing on rails is anyone's guess... but I'm guessing he was a SOB to work for
There has to be a reason for the strange design angle of the steam engine, I'm going to guess it was for big uphill angles so the heat exchanger tubes would be level

Above is Ridgeway Railway Museum
Above is a Packard
1889 photo of a wharf steam crane in Gisborne New Zealand

Railcar with it's own portable turntable so it doesn't overheat from driving backwards long distance.... as the radiator needs the airflow to keep the engine cool. I just learned this from Johnny at Steampunk vehicles! It explains why so many inspection cars (real cars) riding the rails are double headed. This actually wasn't clear when I looked at a lot of double headed carsall of these are from http://http//steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com which has an incredible variety of all things old and steam powered

1949 Diamond T pickup, Cliff was able to persuade all of his family that he would give granddad's Diamond T truck a great home

I'm astonished... I have never heard of a Diamond T pickup til now... it's great to still discover new vehicles I've never heard of

Cool crank front windows, only one gauge replaced, and they all work. I've never seen Diamond T gauges before, the Diamond T semi's I've come across all had Stewart Warner gauges I think

Cliff's granddad owned a lumber mill, and had these running boards helped out, plus the wood on the bed of the truck

Nice black stripe across the doors, makes the truck look great

The spare matches the tires on the truck, and they may be originals, or they may be a 1960's replacement set... pure speculation... but notice the spare still has the inventory paint mark on the top

These hub caps, I've never seen them before... and they are so rare, that when traveling cross country a cousin of Cliffs spotted one on a wall decorating a roadside restaurant, and called the granddad who told him to buy it at all costs!

If anyone knows where Cliff can find a fule tank for this truck, please send me an email jbohjkl@yahoo.com and I'll pass the info along to Cliff

Justacargal found a most unusual prototype rim and tire replacement made of springs

from http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/

and reminded me of the next photo that I've never learned exactly what is was originally.. .but they look similar

Shelby Comet. Never heard of that, have you? Did you hear of the Shelby Europa? 14 made

Shelby Europa were just getting started by Claude Dubois, who raced a Ford of Antwerp Shelby Gt 350 in Spa in 1967. They came directly from Ford as semi-finished and completed by Dubois. Now it was not very many, 1971 and 72 made a total of just 14 pieces, including two convertibles.

There are eight survivors, three of were in Sweden, then Norway, then to Finland.

Well, so was there a special European-Shelby prototype, GT250, a 1971 Mercury Comet that Claude supplied with a GT40 289 block and heads, that gave the car more than 350 horsepower. It was a couple of years as Claude's own daily driver before being resold.

info from http://svammelsurium.blogg.se/2008/december/de-forgatna-del-36-shelby-europa.html

Claude was in Dearborn when Ford announced the cessation of the Shelby Fords, and so bought the last 34 or 36. He sold them in Belgium, Paris, Istanbul, Geneva and Germany

Read his 2002 interview here: http://www.ponysite.de/sheleur_dubois3.htm

After 1970 Claude proposed a licensing deal, and bought Mustangs from Bob Ford in Detroit, the first was completed in January 1971 and went to the Brussels Motor show. The Shelby parts came from Shelby American. Some had 351's and at least one was a drag pack 429 http://www.ponysite.de/sheleur.htm

Learn about the Mexico Shelby Mustangs here: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/shelby-de-mexico-i-finally-learned-of.html