Every time I go to a classic commercial show, there is something that catches my eye and I think ‘I must go and see that and find out more’ That was most definitely the case when I spied Mark Thomas’ Dodge 300 at the covid-delayed Gaydon show in August 2021.
As the world – slowly – got back to normal after the pandemic, we could, at last, start getting out and enjoying everything we had taken for granted before the world shut down. At that show, I first met Mark and his – then jet black – Dodge 300 MUY502T and it immediately excited me in the way only an old lorry can!
I’m of that age who just about remembers Dodge 300s on the road. That said, they were never especially common in the UK, as they didn’t sell as well as Volvo F86s (and then F7s) or ERFs and Fodens. They were something of an oddity.
But equally, they were not drop dead rare like, say, a Saurer or a Dennison…
The Dodge 300 was actually a Spanish-designed lorry built by Barrieros. That company was acquired by Chrysler in 1969 which had acquired the UK Dodge operation. So when Dodge was looking to introduce a more modern – and heavier - lorry to the UK market in the 1970s to run at 32 tons, the Barrieros cab designed in 1972 was the obvious fit. It was an interesting cab, sort of stylish, but equally sort of ugly, and the fact it tapered in towards the roof meant it didn’t necessarily make the best use of the envelope available
