Tag Archives: A100

Little Haulers

After a few car-less days we have a trio of vehicular creations to showcase today. None are cars mind…

Still, they are excellent, hence their appearance here, and each proves you don’t need a million pieces or to know The Brothers Brick secret handshake to see your creation blogged.

First up is a vehicle from way back at the very beginning of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, Brian’s Ford F-150 Lightning, complete with ‘The Racers Edge’ decals and a bed full of rather easily stolen car parts. Previous bloggee IBrickItUp is the builder and you can drive to Toretto’s to order a ‘tuna on white with no crust‘ via the link above.

Today’s second small-scale vehicle comes from Justus M., whose classic RV is quite magnificently beige. It also features some simply ingenious suspension, deploying your Mom’s recently blogged ‘golden handcuff’ pieces to brilliant effect. You can see how Justus has done it via the link to his photostream above, where you can also find a video of the springy ‘cuffs in action.

Today’s third and final creation is two really, with Thomas Gion‘s ace 1969 Dodge A100 van and BBQ smoker trailer in tow. As Thomas also goes by the moniker ‘HotDogSandwiches’ it’s a rather appropriate pairing, and you can grab a bun and tuck in to a perfectly smoked sausage via the link in the text above.

Dodgy Restomod

Despite the title this is not a badly-restored classic, ‘repaired’ in Billy-Bob’s garage in the hope of making a quick buck. No, restomods, when done well, are rather excellent, bringing modern tech (cooling systems, brakes, suspension etc.) to cars from a very different era of performance. Flickr’s Brick Flag has turned his very capable hand to restomoding his own ’60s Dodge A100 model, in the final of his five ‘forward-control’ classic vans. There’s more to see of Brick’s excellent creation on Flickr via the link above, and you can see all five brilliant classic vans side-by-side by clicking here.

Little Red Wagon | Picture Special

It’s 1965, and drag-racers Jim Schaeffer and John Collier have got their hands on a Dodge A100 ‘forward-control’ truck. The pair decided to install a 426 Hemi in the bed, and any non-essential items were removed. The resulting ‘Little Red Wagon’ was the world’s fastest 1/4 mile truck, setting an eleven second time at the first attempt. However, the modifications also tilted the weight bias rearward a bit…

The unintended consequences of this rear-biased weight distribution were a vehicle that proffered to drive only on its back wheels, and in fact the ‘Little Red Wagon’ could complete an entire 1/4 mile race without the front wheels ever touching the ground.

Such crowd-pleasing shenanigans caught the attention of Dodge, who not only used the ‘Little Red Wagon’ in commercials, they all arranged for its purchase by Super Stock Champion Bill Golden to use as the first ‘competition wheelstander’, a class it created single handedly.

Of course having your front wheels in the air limited steering somewhat, and the ‘Little Red Wagon’ crashed in 1969. And 1971. And 1975. That last wreck took the truck out of service, and Golden converted a new truck to continue his wheel standing antics, setting the Guinness World Record for the longest (at nearly 3/4 of a mile!) in 1977 and racing it until his retirement in 2003.

Today a recreation of the ‘Little Red Wagon’ tours alongside the wrecked original, whilst Golden’s own replacement wheel standing truck sold for over $500,000 in 2009.

Flickr’s Brick Flag, who is fast becoming one of our favourite builders here at TLCB, has converted his own Dodge A100 model into a ‘Little Red Wagon’ wheelstander, with his spectacular Model Team version amalgamating the different versions of the real truck that were built over the years.

Superb design, detailing, and decals are evident in abundance and there’s heaps more to see at Brick’s ’60s Dodge Little Red Wagon’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to head down the drag strip on just your back wheels, and here to see the real ‘Little Red Wagon’ in action courtesy of a glorious period video!

Pink Bits

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If you’re new to this site and were expecting to see something else based on the title, sorry; here’s a Lego van instead. But it is built from pink bits.

Two shades of pink in fact, which recent previous bloggee Brick Flag has used in the creation of this rather excellent 1960s Dodge A100 van.

The Dodge A100’s story is a similar one to the Ford Econoline that appeared here earlier in the week, being designed to combat the influx of imported Volkswagen Type 2s. Like the Ford, the Dodge was available in pick-up and van body styles, featured a three speed gearbox (three!), and an inline 6-cylinder engine. A V8 was also available, although we have no idea why.

Brick Flag has taken the hot rod route with his superb A100 van, fitting his creation with lowrider suspension and a custom pink paint job, and there are further images available to view on Flickr. Click this link to see more pink bits.

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