Dodge A100 Pickup Has Profile Straight Out Of The 1960s

COLEBROOK, CT – It was common when perusing car magazines back in the mid-1960s to see outrageous action photos of a wheelie-popping 1964 Dodge A100 pickup known as the “Little Red Wagon.” Crowds at drag strip exhibitions loved the wheelstander that was driven by Bill “Maverick” Golden and powered by a 426-cubic-inch Hemi engine. Hemmings even posited that it was possibly “the most famous pickup of all time.”

John Auclair of Norfolk, CT recalled the Little Red Wagon and the A100’s unusual looks when he spotted a 1967 edition for sale at a car show in Great Barrington, Mass. some 10 years ago. “They were just kinda cool and when I saw this one I said, ‘Wow, that would make a really nice project,’” said Auclair back in late October.

The A100’s profile and cab-over design is what made it stand out. “It’s a van converted into a pickup truck. These were a cheap vehicle to buy back in the ‘60s, and they were made to compete with the Ford Econoline van and the Corvair Rampside,” said Auclair of the model that was built from 1964 through 1970.

“You don’t see a lot of ’em around because they were a cheap work truck that somebody could buy for a couple thousand dollars brand new back then.”

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See the 1967 Dodge A100 pickup on the road in this YouTube video…

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Auclair bought the A100 and began restoring it. While it’s often the case that restoration of an old vehicle can take much longer than planned, Auclair needed roughly eight years to revive the Desert Turquoise and white pickup. That’s because “a brewery got in the way through 2018, 2019, and it sat in pieces at my house right next door,” he explained.

Auclair owns Norbrook Farm Brewery in Colebrook, a scenic venue set on a hilltop. As much he wanted to get the Dodge back on the road, launching the business took priority. Not unlike someone who stops at Norbrook Farm Brewery in Colebrook to imbibe a frothy pint of craft beer, Auclair was himself confronted with a decision of whether to drink or to drive. 

Or, more accurately, whether to brew or to bring the A100 back to life. Work won out. “I could not dedicate any time to putting it back together,” he said when My Ride visited him at the brewery.  

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Auclair knows a bit about his A100’s history. “This particular one came from eastern Oregon where it’s high desert. They only get like four inches of rain a year and it was used by an appliance repair man out there,” he said.

“A fellow in Hillsdale, New York, Tom McClurg, got wind of it. He brought it in to Hillsdale. He put it for sale. I saw it. Bought it in 2015 and that began like a seven- or eight-year restoration project.”

Auclair’s assessment of the A100 as purchased? “It was solid as far as rust goes but it had all kinds of dents and bends because it had been used as a work truck all of its life. There was good bones because it’s a unibody construction,” he said. “There’s no frame underneath it but everything that had been tossed in the pickup bed over the years created a dent and all that had to be taken out during the body work process but it came out nice.”

Auclair began the job himself but then sought help elsewhere. “I got to work right away taking it all apart. I created a stand on big caster wheels so it could be moved around. I sandblasted it and then I brought it to Jack’s Auto Body in Winsted. He used it as a wintertime fill-in project. Whenever he didn’t have anything else to work on, he hammered out dents and he welded in replacement panels were needed even though there wasn’t a lot of that, and he got under the pickup bed and he banged out all of the dents. And he did a nice job with the paint and finish work.”

 The A100 came with a 273-cubic-inch V8 engine, but Auclair  preferred a 360-cubic-inch V8 replacement that got rebuilt by Leifert Automotive Machine Co. in Torrington. Ace Automatic Transmission, also in Torrington, took care of the transmission. The pickup also got disc brakes.

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With part-time help from a friend, the A100 eventually was reassembled and got on the road in spring 2023. Auclair said it rattles a bit “but we took a lot of care to insulate the doghouse. The engine is right in-between the driver and the passenger. The doghouse, as they call the cowl over the engine, is very well insulated for both heat and noise, but you wouldn’t want to be driving it in the middle of July cross country,” he said.

The A100 does have one unusual, hidden feature not found on other vehicles. 

“When I got to disassembling it, there is a cast iron counter weight behind the rear axel and ahead of the bumper that Dodge chose to put in there to compensate” for the sheet metal that the van has. “They put that big cast iron counterweight to give it some stability and replace that missing weight for stability and handling purposes, I assume,” Auclair said.

Unlike many other classic vehicle owners who hear comments from folks who say a family member or friend used to own their model, Auclair said many people who spot his A100 say they’ve never seen one before or had forgotten about the model. That is, unless or until the Little Red Wagon pops to mind.

(Photos by Bud Wilkinson)