Thread: True Spirit

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Looks like a good start!!!

“……Do you happen to have pictures of the decal "True Spirit " on the front fenders?.......”


It just so happens I do.



Mine was an early one so it had this type of decal on the tailgate.




Unlike the later ones that had a True Spirit decal (sorry I don’t know when the changeover was).






If you’ve done some research you probably have already come across this information, but just in case you haven’t here’s a bit of history on the trucks.


In 1976 Dodge began the release of factory custom vehicles advertised as their Adult Toy Series. Initially the series consisted of custom vans but was soon expanded to include factory customized pickup trucks culminating with the Li’l Red Express Truck in 1978-9.

In early 1976 Dodge shipped a limited number of the first custom trucks called Warlock and True Spirit to dealers in Los Angeles and San Francisco to test market reaction. All were Custom D100 Short-Bed Step-Sides, pin-striped and with various options. Warlocks were more popular and in June 1976 were added to the toy series and released for nation wide sales. True Spirits continued as a California only package thru 1979.

During that time frame there were a bunch of regional/dealer installed appearance packages besides the True Spirit; Palomino, Viking, North Eastern, Midnight Special, Orange Blossom Special, Westerner, Californian, Texan….just to name a few. The down side is, as these were generally dealer installed appearance packages it is almost impossible to verify the truck originally had the package installed unless you happen to have the original sales invoice.

Just a word of caution…… any of the dealer installed packages are neat and generally do generate interest when you take them out. Being neat, and even arguably rare, however does not mean you will be able to retire or put the kids thru college when you sell it . It is VERY easy to bury yourself building one of these old Dodges. With the exception of the Lil Red Express trucks, they just do not command a very high price when you decide to unload them.

Just my own opinion….. even though it was not originally part of the True Spirit package, those bird bath hoods like you have just scream to have the indents painted and engine call out numbers applied.


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