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Posted by Eric B. on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 11:59:58 :
In Reply to: Re: Sweptline, Utiline... posted by MoparNorm on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 11:28:27 :
As you can see from the attached image, this 1961 Owners manual for the smaller trucks, D100-D300 called them "Dodge Power Giant Trucks".
Obviously they did not install the larger diesel motors in the D100s, so there would be no reason to use the Power Giant name if the big Diesel engine was what they called Power Giant. (I think you may be talking about another book from the 60s, I will put an image of it in the next post)
I know that Dodge is very unclear when using names, as they were doing this in real time, not thinking about the future. But when Don Bunn wrote his first book on Dodge Trucks I think he was looking to generalize because it makes things easier then explaining all the little tiny details.
He may have not been the one that started it, but his is the only book I know of that refers to the eras of Dodge Trucks in the manner we do today, 1961-71 is Sweptline, 1957-60 is Power Giant, etc. Looking over the Dodge literature you will find all sorts of names that bleed a little into the previous or next basic body style.
In any case, the bed used on the 1959-60 trucks was known as a Sweptline bed, and that just adds to the confusion when trying to break down eras.
It is just like lots of people have a hard time defining the 1961-66 Town Wagons, they look like 1958-60 trucks, but they are built on 1961-66 running gear and frames, plus there are other differences. I think their year of creation makes them a Sweptline era truck, but lots of people lump them into the PG era.
Most of these names are just for general reference, like FFPW (Flat Fender Power Wagon, Sorry Clint!), it is a quick way for those in the know to explain to others what style they are talking about. That does not change the fact that Dodge was not that consistent in naming when they built the trucks, or printing the literature.
Eric
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