Hagerty Inc.
09/17/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/17/2024 07:13
Final Parking Space: 1984 Dodge Rampage 2.2
The first Dodge Brothers pickup was built in 1918, but Dodge truck shoppers had to wait another 64 years to get a genuine American-built Dodge minitruck. That pickup was the Rampage, and I've found a nicely preserved example in a Denver self-service car graveyard.
Murilee MartinThe Chrysler Corporation imported Mitsubishi Fortes with Dodge D50/Ram 50 and Plymouth Arrow Truck badging starting in 1979, following in the footsteps of Ford with the Mazda-built Courier and General Motors with the Isuzu-built LUV. Both Ford and GM had the deep pockets needed to develop their own Detroit-style small pickups from scratch for the 1980s (the Ranger and the S-10), but Chrysler's wallet was quite a bit thinner. What to do?
Murilee MartinChrysler had a subcompact platform available during the late 1970s: the Omnirizon, which had been developed by Chrysler Europe via Simca and began production at Belvidere Assembly as a 1978 model. The Omnirizon family tree became respectably large; besides the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, there were such cars as the Dodge 024, 1983-1987 Dodge Charger, Plymouth TC3, and Plymouth Turismo.
Murilee MartinIt was easy enough to take the unibody Dodge 024 and give it a truck bed, just as Subaru had done by creating a truck version of the Leone. Volkswagen of America did the same with the Rabbit Pickup soon after, proving that Americans were willing to buy tiny trucks that were not only based on unibody chassis but ran with front-wheel-drive.
Murilee MartinThus was the Rampage born, first hitting the street as a 1982 model. The Plymouth Division got its own version for 1983… which turned out to be the only model year for the Scamp (not to be confused with the earlier Valiant-based Scamp).
Murilee MartinThe Rampage was built for just the 1982-1984 model years, so this is one of the final examples. Just over 40,000 Rampages and Scamps were sold; they must have been fairly popular in Colorado, because I'd found four Rampages and two Scamps in the Centennial State prior to today's machine.
Murilee MartinThis truck (or cartruck, if you prefer) started its driving career on the streets of California, as you can see from the emissions sticker under the hood.
Murilee MartinThe production Rampage was available with just one engine choice: a carbureted Chrysler 2.2-liter SOHC straight-four, rated at 84 horsepower.
Murilee MartinThree transmissions were available: a four-speed manual, a five-speed manual, and a three-speed automatic. This Rampage has one of the manuals.
Murilee MartinThe interior is in very nice condition for age 40.
Murilee MartinCamper shells were available for the Rampage/Scamp, and here's the proof.
Murilee MartinThe Rampage was microscopic by modern "small" truck standards, scaling in at a flyweight 2,367 pounds. This one is a higher-grade Rampage 2.2 (which is a confusing trim level name, given that all Rampages had 2.2 engines), so its MSRP was $7315. That's about $22,598 in 2024 dollars.
Murilee MartinThe Mitsubishi-made 1984 Dodge Ram 50 was built with more powerful engines and was available with four-wheel-drive; the cheapest version listed at just $5684 ($17,559 after inflation). Meanwhile, GM was still building Chevrolet El Caminos and GMC Caballeros with V-8 power, though they cost at least $1000 more than the Rampage.
Murilee MartinThe story behind these signs must be an interesting one.
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