Mopar Will Pay A Bright Tribute To A Classic Dodge Truck At SEMA

Back in the early 1970s, if you were A) a certified dude and B) a fan of pick-up trucks, Dodge had just the thing for you. The D100 Dude was a ‘sport’ trim package for the pick-up, bringing with it bright green paint, a C-shaped decal along the side and Don Knotts' approval.

Admittedly, as UK residents who never had Dodge trucks sold here and all born in the ‘90s, this is not a thing we at CT can claim we knew about. Someone at Mopar over in Michigan hadn’t forgotten it, though, as shown by this new concept coming to SEMA.

This is the Dude Ram 1500 Concept, which may lay claim to being the brightest thing on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center next week.

Based on a Ram 1500 Big Horn, the ‘Sublime Green’ paint is contrasted with a C-stripe just like the original, albeit this time in black rather than white. There’s also some pretty hell yeah brother-looking Dudge graphics to go with it.

There’s more to it than that, though. This 1500 has been lowered, fitted with a new front splitter and rides on 22-inch wheels. Inside, the black leather seats have bright green contrast stitching and another Dude logo within the dash. Oh, and of course, it’s using the 5.7-litre Hemi V8, which recently returned to the Ram 1500.

Mopar has also been busy playing around with a Sixpack Charger, which will sit alongside the Dude, too. Pretty literally named as the Moparized Dodge Sixpack Charger Concept, it’s had a bucket of Stryker Purple paint launched over it and been laced with carbon fibre. Spot the bonnet, front splitter and rear spoiler made from the material.

It’s also been lowered by an inch and given a set of 21-inch wheels from Brass Monkey, which house orange Brembo brake callipers. No V8 here, if that wasn’t clear, but the 550bhp 3.0-litre twin-turbo six-cylinder has been upgraded with a cold air intake and a cat-back exhaust system.

At least if you’re heading to SEMA, that’s an excuse to do us all a favour and shake someone at Mopar furiously until they put the Hemi back in the Charger.