Why a 1st Gen?

[SChandler]

I was looking to buy a pickup about 9 years ago. My first car. I was working for a place that had two trucks for sale: an extremely beat 89 Chevy and the 90 Dodge w/Cummins that I bought. I had no intention of buying a diesel or a Dodge (was looking at 69-72 Chevy's at the time), but the price was right: $1200. It also had 397,000 miles on it. I bought the 92 because I loved the 90 but really wanted 4wd.

[meby]

I don't own a cummins at present (have 75' 1/2 ton w/repower in mind), but will have one again as soon as I can afford it. I had a 2nd gen with a first gen motor. I agree with Pete, any 12er is good. I grew up around the 1st gen, so I like them for that reason as well. Providing you don't go nuts with power, the first gen is one of the cheapest and most reliable trucks with a diesel. The dodge body isn't my favorite, but there isn't any other diesel that comes even close to the cummins. Period.

[DoWhat?]

I got tired of dropping loads of money into my ford and still getting my ass handed to me at the pulls. I recalled how much I loathed removing the pump from a buddies '95. For me it's simple, if you are going to be tweaking and tuning a truck all the time, I'd rather have one that doesn't have half the motor jammed up under the cowl.

[MMiller]

My dad has always had dodge trucks on the farm. We had a 77 with a 400 that I loved and he loathed. When it was in tune it ran hard, but most of the time it was troublesome. He is a diesel guy to the bone, and wanted a diesel in a truck bad. We had a Ford van with a NA 7.3, and while it was ok, the 7.3 was not work truck material. This was about the time Dodge built the first real diesel truck. Dad wanted one bad, but in 89, 90, 91, when he went shopping for a truck late in the year when the crops looked good, they were sold out. In late 92 dad left one day with the 77 and came back with the 93 that I have now. I was saddened by the loss of the truck I learned how to row the 4 speed, and the sound of dual exhaust and the 4 barrel carb opened all the way up. While a small part of me still misses that old dodge, I immediatly fell in love with that first gen, the first time I lit the charger and the trac loc made the truck fish tail down the gravel road through second, third, fourth and then fifth. When I graduated high school in 1995, the truck was about 2 years old and had 25,000 miles on it. I took ownership of it at that time and it is still my daily driver, trailer towwer, and toy. With some tweaks and some upgrades it will still run with the new trucks, it has been paid for since 1994, and still turns heads. Ford and Chevy came to the table with the first diesels, but they were not real diesels. The real reason the full size diesel truck market is as competitive as it is today, is because Dodge put a real diesel in a square bodied truck.

I think the boys at Piers said it best. First real diesel, last real truck. I have the last of the utilitarian trucks. No heated leather seats, no crew cab grocery getters with DVD players for the kids, no V8 torqless engines. A stout, but economical 5.9, hooked to a 5sp, with a 205 transfer case that has a shifter through the hump, and a dana 60 front with lockout hubs. Hook it to a gooseneck and haul hay, cows, pulling trucks, or whatever. Unhook it and drive to Arizona and get 24 mpg on the interstate. Hook it to a car on a toter and come back 80-85 mph and still get 16 mpg. The next weekend beat it down a mud road, across the river and through the timber, pull out a chevy and drive it to work on Monday.

I firmly believe if I would have had any other truck, I would have traded it, or it would have fell apart around me. I even really believe if I would have had a 1994 or newer it would have given me more troubles then my first gen.

I will go out in the morning and start my old red dodge, and drive it to work again. It puts a smile on my face every time the cummins pops to life, and when the charger lites and the straight pipe emits that classic 6 cylinder turbo diesel sound the smile goes to a big grin. This is why I love first generation Dodge diesel trucks.

Michael

[PToombs]

Aaahhhhh, spec of dust in my eye!
Allright, I admit it! It's a tear of joy and happiness!

[mprmn08]

My main reason was i wanted a manual diesel and i couldnt afford anything newer. at the time i was in college so money was very VERY tight. my brother in law had one sittin behind his barn doin nothin so i picked it up from him and now that i have it i really dont wanna get rid of it. my first thought was to rebuild the trans and ifx it up a little and sell it so i could buy a newer one or something but now i just cant.

[IowaCummins]

my reason i hve my 93 is when i was going to work with my dad as a electrician, at the age of 10 we always rode around in the work van. it was a 28' freightliner bread truck basically which had the 12 valve cummins 6bt and the allison auto. im pretty sure it had the ve also. well i always loved cruisin up the hill in a big tall van that sat as high as semi's that i were in love with also. and i didnt hurt when the muffler rusted off one day adn you really could here that cummins pur! well my grandpa had a 78 dodge camper special that i always had pics of and he passed away before i could meet him, but loved his truck. so my first truck i found and bought my self was a 1980 w200 reg cab long bed. had a lift on it brand new 35" bfg all terrains and a 318 2bbl and a 4 speed manual. bought it not running. put a 4bbl on her new ignition and dual glasspacks and dual exhaust and had her running. loved the truck cause it had a 78 grill on it( my grampas style of grille) and that gril i think is the coolest grelle dodge made on them years. then since the work vanwith the cummins and the old dodge i had naturally i wasnted to combine them. so i found my 93 and test drove it. first of all exhaust exited in frotn of the rear tire stock exhasut. it sounded exactly like a tractor! i had to have it! so after that i started breaking stuff casue i was really making this truck run and everytime something broke i replaced it with bigger and better! now i hav ewhat i always wanted with one exception. i always wante dodge diesel dually. i go two outta the three so it aint to bad but then i had always had the dream of blowing a cloud of soot out of stacks and now i got 2 7" mitres sticking out of the bed!

[burnt_servo]

why a first gen .......

because they are cool

[SuperSix-Two]

I owned a Ford Bronco for a while, and got tired of blowing up axles and started wanting a pickup.

Then this W350 fell into my lap, and It was both the 1-ton I wanted and the pickup I wanted. Since then it's been a money pit.

[PJ 3]

I was heading into the mall one day and the local dealer had a bunch of vehicles on display. My 1992 was parked there. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I told my buddy that this truck would be better parked in my yard. 4 months later my 1/4 ton Toyota died and it was off to shop for a new truck. I totally forgot about the Dodge and when I drove in the Chrysler dealer's yard it was sitting there. Nobody bought it.......probably sceptical being it was a diesel. I walked in the door and asked the salesman what the price was on that Blue 3/4 ton in the yard and he quoted me. I told him to put the plates on it and fuel it up because I'll be in tomorrow morning with full payment. Best damm purchse I ever made. I was back then and still today one of the few running a 1st gen. They're all going to the grave one at a time. Keep them up and running guy's...........

[dieseljack]

The look the sound it does't hurt that its quick now. Got to love that look when you pass that punk in honda

[Richie O]

I was heading into the mall one day and the local dealer had a bunch of vehicles on display. My 1992 was parked there. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I told my buddy that this truck would be better parked in my yard. 4 months later my 1/4 ton Toyota died and it was off to shop for a new truck. I totally forgot about the Dodge and when I drove in the Chrysler dealer's yard it was sitting there. Nobody bought it.......probably sceptical being it was a diesel. I walked in the door and asked the salesman what the price was on that Blue 3/4 ton in the yard and he quoted me. I told him to put the plates on it and fuel it up because I'll be in tomorrow morning with full payment. Best damm purchse I ever made. I was back then and still today one of the few running a 1st gen. They're all going to the grave one at a time. Keep them up and running guy's...........

I was in 8th grade when my 89 was built. Does that make you feel old Pete?

[PToombs]

Which old Pete, you little snot nosed punk?

[Richie O]

Which old Pete, you little snot nosed punk?

Both of you ole farts.

[PJ 3]

I was in 8th grade when my 89 was built. Does that make you feel old Pete?

But I bought my truck when I got my driver's licence at 16. I'm a lobsterman.........remember ? ( joke )

Seriously, I may be pushin the big five " o " but I feel like 20