27 Pickup Truck Special Editions Auto Fans Never Heard About

26. Dodge Dude

Back in the late ’60s, Western-themed TV shows were a big deal in America. So Dodge figured out a way how to use that popularity in its favor. In that period, Dodge had a D Series line of pickup trucks. They were sturdy and dependable machines, but not as popular as Ford or Chevrolet products. However, Dodge had a faithful customer base, which kept production going. Trying to warm up the aging D Series line, Dodge presented one of the most legendary special-edition pickup trucks – the Dude. The Dude was a regular D Series truck, but with a few important features. It had bucket seats, a tachometer, an improved interior, and choices of lively colors.

The best thing was the powerful 383 V8 engine that came as standard with over 300 hp, offering significant performance. The feature the Dude is most remembered for is the big black “C” stripe on the sides of the truck. This was reminiscent of Dodge’s muscle cars of the period. The Dude is also interesting for being the first special edition truck older guys who watched western shows on TV welcomed, as well as younger people who were into muscle cars and performance.

25. Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible

The Dakota was a compact pickup from Dodge sold between 1987 and 1996. It was dependable, tough-looking, and came with a wide arrange of engines and trim levels. But Dodge wanted more. So in the early ’90s, the company conceived a convertible version of this truck. For some reason, Dodge management thought it would be cool to offer a pickup truck with a convertible roof and roll bar. The idea looked good on paper, but customers weren’t impressed and the Sports Convertible wasn’t a big seller in its class.

Dodge contracted the American Sunroof Company to do the fine job of cutting the roof, and replacing it with a convertible top. This outside contract caused the Sports Convertible to be more expensive than the similar Dakota, which didn’t help sales. Since then, several manufacturers tried the same thing, most notably the Chevrolet SSR. However, none had wanted sales results. Today, the Dakota Sports Convertible is considered a collector vehicle and their prices are on the rise. If you looking for one, find a V6-powered model with all-wheel drive, wild graphics, and nice equipment, because those cars will have the most value.

24. Dodge Ram SRT-10

From 2004 to 2006, the Ram SRT-10 was one of the craziest, fastest pickups Dodge ever produced. That itself is a hard thing to say since Dodge always had wild special versions of their trucks. However, just look at the specs. It had an 8.2-liter V10 engine with over 500 HP. It went from 0 to 60 in fewer than five seconds and fuel economy was in the single digits. Top it all out with a crazy bright red or yellow paint job, two white racing stripes, and big shiny chrome wheels, and you see what the SRT-10 was all about.

It was something you couldn’t miss if you saw it on the street. Of course, with the price tag over $45,000, the SRT-10 wasn’t exactly a sales hit. But they did produce a decent number of them in the three-year production run. In 2005, Dodge introduced the Quad Cab option. This gave the SRT-10 another pair of doors and more practicality if you could call this truck practical. The four-speed automatic was standard, but you could also get a six-speed manual straight from the Viper to go with the engine. Interestingly, the SRT-10 sent all its power to the rear wheels since the size of the engine limited installing an all-wheel-drive system. Imagine how quick the SRT-10 could have been if it had AWD.

23. Jeep Gladiator Honcho

During the ’70s, most truck manufacturers experienced trouble selling their products. The recession and bad fuel economy kept buyers away from those big, thirsty trucks equipped with V8 engines. Even some small compact trucks managed to achieve good sales results due to their affordable prices, smaller engines, and youthful image. In an effort to capture the latter, many U.S. manufacturers introduced some interesting versions with bright colors, cool details, and crazy wheels. But among all those trucks, people thought the Jeep Gladiator Honcho was the coolest.

This special model was based on a regular Gladiator truck. However, Jeep added some fun graphics on the side and the “Honcho” name. They also included numerous interior details, special wheels, off-road tires, and a pulling winch. Under the hood, a couple of engines were available, but the Honcho came with the optional 401 AMC V8. It was a seriously powerful machine for the day. The Jeep started an aggressive advertising campaign. But despite all the efforts, they only made 1,500 Honchos in seven years of production. Since then, the Honcho has become a highly sought-after collector truck and its prices are on the rise. You could find an unrestored one, but since there are so many unique trim pieces and details, restoring one could be a hard, expensive job.

22. Chevrolet 454 SS

After almost two decades of low-compression engines, safety and environmental laws, and slow performance, in the early 1990s, U.S. manufacturers finally started to produce and sell faster, more powerful models. This wave of new-found performance was so overwhelming that every pickup brand had a fast special version or limited edition. However, one of the most menacing and powerful was the mighty Chevrolet 454 SS. The basic idea behind this model was to offer the biggest available engine in the lightest full-size truck. It was basically the muscle car philosophy in truck form. That is why Chevrolet’s engineers took the ordinary 1990 Chevy 1500 pickup truck with a short bed option and added a massive 454 V8 engine.

The enormous 7.2-liter V8 was good enough for 230 to 255 hp, which was a diminutive number. But it also had 385 pounds per foot of torque, which made it fly down the road. The big-block engine was borrowed from Chevrolet’s heavy-duty truck lineup and it was a durable, but also a gas-thirsty machine. On the outside, 454 SS was low-key without any wild graphics or color choices. On the back of the bed, there was a model designation and the only difference was a blackout front grille. However, despite the big torque number, the 454 SS wasn’t that fast and it couldn’t beat sports cars like the GMC Syclone did, for example. Still, it was one of the fastest trucks around and a good-looking vehicle.

21. Ford F-150 Lightning

The Ford F-150 Lightning is a legendary truck. It wasn’t the first of Ford’s limited-edition trucks, but it was the best. It was extremely well-executed, making the first generation, sold from 1990 to 1995, a true automotive icon. The basic idea was to make a muscle truck using a regular F-150, similar to the Chevrolet 454 SS. However, Ford did it with more care and better engineering and gave the Lightning a smaller but equally as powerful engine. Ford put a lot of effort in designing and producing the first generation F-150 Lightning. There was the engine – a 5.8-liter V8 unit with GT40 heads, a special camshaft, and a lot of unique internals.

The power output was 240 hp with 340 lb-ft of torque, which is a little bit less than the Chevrolet 454 SS, but the Lightning was much lighter and had a revised suspension and transmission that translated to better acceleration times. Other than that, they changed or redesigned every important bit of the vehicle to present the Lightning as a true performance vehicle. Despite the higher price and the fact that the basic platform was old in the early 1990s, the F-150 Lightning was relatively popular but highly influential. It opened the way for the second generation of Lightning which was insanely faster, and a modern-day Ford Raptor.

20. Dodge Li’l Express Truck

Dodge was at the forefront of special editions and limited truck models back in the ’70s. The best-known and highly sought-after truck was none other than the Li’l Express Truck. They built it for just two years, 1978 and 1979, and in limited numbers. The secret of the Li’l Express Truck and its importance lies in the strict rules of the late ’70s, which robbed V8 engines of their power and vehicles of their performance. But Dodge found an interesting loophole in regulations that declared pickup trucks didn’t need catalytic converters. This meant that Dodge could install a more powerful engine and have it breathe easier and deliver more punch than previous models or competitors.

Dodge took the standard D Series short-bed truck, added a 360 V8 engine, and put big truck-like stacked exhaust pipes right behind the doors. They also installed durable automatic transmission, a red color scheme with signature decals and details, and chrome trim. This wild-looking special model had 225 hp, which was considered much in those days, and thanks to the revised drivetrain, it was the fastest accelerating domestic vehicle in 1978. Just as a reminder, the Dodge pickup truck was faster than all Mustangs, Camaros, and Corvettes in 1978. The Lil’ Express Truck was back in 1979 and it remained famous, but overall production numbers were relatively low, and they only offered under 3,000 of them. Today, these cool-looking Dodge trucks are highly popular and rare, so they command high prices.

19. Lincoln Blackwood

Lincoln made pickup trucks for only one year in the form of the Blackwood. Back in the early 2000s, Lincoln had a popular and successful Navigator, which was the golden standard of luxury SUVs at the moment. Wanting to capitalize on that success, somebody at Lincoln suggested they should build a pickup version and expand the range. The idea seemed plausible and soon, the first prototypes were sent to testing. The Lincoln used the Ford F-150 platform with the front end and cabin of the Navigator. They added a custom truck bed with a tailgate that opened like doors and it even had a power cover.

The finished product looked like a Navigator truck and it was luxurious, but failed as a truck, since the truck bed was small and unusable. But the biggest problem was the price, as the brand new 2002 Lincoln Blackwood started at a whopping $52,000, which was an extremely high price for an unusable truck with Navigator fascia. As you could expect, the market was not amused and during its 15 months in production, they made only 3,356. Today, it is considered a collectors’ vehicle and perfectly preserved examples command high prices.

18. Dodge D Series High Performance

Back in the early ’60s, Dodge’s lineup of trucks was behind Ford and Chevrolet. Simply, competitors had newer models, more options, and wider engine choices. But Dodge did not give up and introduced an interesting special edition, available from 1964 to 1966, which took the pickup world by storm. It was called the High-Performance Package and it featured a lot of speed improvements from Mopar.

First, there was the mighty 426 Wedge V8 engine with 375 hp. At the moment, it was the biggest and most powerful engine ever installed in a pickup truck. There were bucket seats in the interior, a 6,000 rpm tachometer, racing stripes, and a performance transmission. They even revised the suspension to withstand such big power and torque. The finished product looked cool and performed well, but a high price sealed its faith. The Dodge D Series High-Performance Package model has been produced in only around 50 models, with just 31 known to exist today.

17. Dodge Ram SRT-10 Night Runner

Most truck fans know about the crazy, over-the-top Ram SRT-10, the truck that features the Viper V10 engine. This engine produces 503 HP and can go from 0 to 60 mph in five seconds. Even though Dodge introduced it back in 2004, it is still one of the coolest Dodge products ever. But do you know about the Night Runner version? The Night Runner was a special, limited version of the SRT-10 truck that Dodge produced in just 400 trucks. The differences between the regular SRT-10 and the Night Runner were in appearance.

It featured a blackout paint job, black 22-inch wheels, unique Night Runner badges, a black center stack, and a center console bezel overlay. Interestingly, all Night Runners had a plaque with their serial number on the dash. The Night Runner option was available only for one year – 2006. Production of the SRT-10 came to an end because many truck dealers didn’t even know that it was available. Today, the Night Runner is quite unknown to the public despite being a part of the highly publicized Ram SRT-10 model line.

16. GMC Beau James

The ’70s were pivotal times in America for the truck industry. People formed a love affair with a pickup truck, so those basic workhorses started turning into lifestyle vehicles. Manufacturers realized that trend and started offering more luxurious appearance packages for their bestselling trucks.

One of those special models was the 1975 Beau James, which appeared on GMC trucks. It included two-tone paint and wire wheel covers like on the Cadillacs of the era. It also sported classy whitewall tires. The basic construction and engine choices were the same. With the Beau James, all you got was an upscaled look and the attention of your fellow truck fans.

15. Ford Skyranger

Even if you are a pickup truck fan and you know much about this class of vehicles, there’s a chance you have never heard of the Skyranger. We can’t blame you since Ford made less than 20 of those. The idea behind the Skyranger was to use American Sunroof Company as an outside partner to produce a series of convertible pickups. Ford would use the regular Ranger body with an extended cab as a basis.

ASC did what Ford asked and delivered the first examples, but the Skyranger was just plain odd. It had a 4.0 V6 engine under the hood, interesting graphics on the sides, and spoilers on the back, but the soft top didn’t look right. So, the truck was never a sales success. The similarly constructed and executed Dodge Dakota Sports Convertible was much better looking and popular, even though people also considered it a failure.

14. Ford Free-Wheelin’ Models

Back in the late ’70s, the automotive world was full of special editions featuring nothing more than crazy graphics, flashy wheels, and cool details. The typical models of the period were Ford’s Free-Wheeling’ editions. Ford made them available on numerous models, such as the Bronco, Econoline vans, Courier compact pickup truck, and F-150. The first thing that set those editions apart was the unique graphics. Each Free-Wheelin’ model had a five-color rainbow stripe suited to the lines of the car. This option was available for four years, from 1977 to 1980. Each year had its own style, so it was different than the previous model.

Other than that, Ford prepared numerous other styling details as optional extras. Customers could get special wheels, white letter tires, additional lights mounted on the roof, side pipe exhausts, bull bars, and a whole lot more aftermarket details. Since the Free-Wheelin’ package was available on so many models for four model years, no one knows exactly how many Ford made, but it must have been thousands. Today, those vehicles are not particularly expensive or rare, but they are cool to own, especially if you can find one with all the details and paint job intact.

13. Chevrolet Blazer Chalet

Most special versions of those ’70s trucks were nothing more than stripes and flashy wheels. However, there were still some models that offered genuine uniqueness like the Blazer Chalet. The Blazer Chalet was Chevy’s attempt to turn a two-door compact truck/SUV into a motorhome by adding a cabin in the back. They equipped it with a bed, mini kitchen, and pop-up roof.

The combination was compact and well-designed, so it offered customers a chance to explore the vast space of America along with the interstate highways. Unfortunately, the Blazer Chalet cost more than $12,000 and in 1976/77, you could buy a fully equipped Corvette for that kind of cash. This affected sales and production, so no one remembers the Chalet today.

12. Willys Jeep Pickup Truck

Willys was an economy car manufacturer before World War II. They produced Jeeps for the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1946. When the war ended, Willys found it hard to transfer to passenger car production. They had a surplus of Jeep engines, chassis, and components. So they made the logical decision to produce Jeeps for civilian use, mainly as farm and utility vehicles. Willys thought that ex-military personnel would buy Jeeps as everyday cars after they got to know them on the battlefield. It turned out that Willys was right, and civilian Jeeps did, in fact, have a market in post-war America. But the company wanted to go further, so they introduced a line of pickup trucks using Jeep mechanics, engines, and the design, but with a twist.

That’s how the Willys Jeep Pickup Truck came to be in 1947. The Willys Jeep pickup truck had four-wheel drive and was much more capable than any regular pickup truck available at the time. Today, four-wheel-drive trucks are nothing special. Most new models come with a 4×4 drivetrain as standard. But back then, it was revolutionary. Although those early Willys Jeep trucks had smaller, 2.3-liter four-cylinder engines only producing 63 HP, they were tough. They came with a lot of pulling power and durability. Willys also produced a couple of variations. Over the years Willys introduced some bigger six-cylinder engines. Sadly, they ceased production of their original model in 1965.

11. Datsun 120/220

You may wonder why a Japanese brand is on an almost purely American list of significant pickups. This is because the Japanese had their share of innovations in truck design and construction. The first Japanese compact truck was the Datsun 120 introduced in 1955. Immediately after the war, Japan needed light delivery vehicles. Most car companies started producing three-wheeled Kei cars and vehicles based on motorcycle technology. Those pickups were small, light, and nimble, but they weren’t real trucks. So, in 1955, Datsun produced the 120, the first real compact truck.

Under the hood was a diminutive 860-cc engine delivering just 25 HP. The payload and towing capacity were not great, but by Japanese standards in the 1950s, the Datsun 120 Pickup did the job. For that reason, it was the first true compact pickup truck. After the 120 series, Datsun continued to produce small trucks. Today the compact truck market is huge, especially in Asia, Africa, and Europe, all thanks to this little pickup.

10. Chevrolet Cameo

Before the 1955 to ’58 Chevrolet Cameo, pickups had a step-side design in the truck bed. It was a production method that dated to the first trucks from the early 1920s. But as one of the biggest pickup manufacturers in the U.S., Chevrolet introduced the fleetside truck bed for the 1955 model. The truck bed looked more elegant because it was flush with the lines of the cabin and the whole design of the truck.

Second, the fleetside design allowed for the use of the maximum width of the truck bed, making the truck more capable to carry a wider load. The first model to feature this construction solution was the Chevrolet Cameo, but it wasn’t successful at first. The Cameo was an upscale version of a standard Chevy truck. It featured a V8 engine and updated equipment, and some earlier versions even featured a fiberglass fleetside bed instead of steel. They discontinued the Cameo as a model in 1958, but the fleetside style continues to this day.

9. Toyota Tacoma X-Runner

Behind this strange name lies quite an interesting vehicle. Not only does it provide more power than a regular truck, but it also has better handling and driving dynamics. The idea behind the Tacoma X-Runner is to make a sports car with a truck bed. And it looks like Toyota succeeded.

Under the hood is a 4.0-liter V6 with 236 HP, which is not much. But, you could order a supercharger and get 305 HP, which is a significant increase. However, the most interesting features are the lowered suspension, sway bars, bigger brakes, and modified steering. These are the improvements that made the X-Runner drive like a nimble coupe, and not like a truck.

8. International Harvester Travelette

For those who don’t know, a crew cab configuration means a truck has four doors and a truck bed. It’s a common option today. But back in the day, they only made trucks in a single-cab configuration with two doors. Back then, it was unimaginable for a truck to have more than two doors or carry more than two to three people inside. Then, in the early 1960s, International Harvester presented the Travelette version of their C-Series truck. It changed the industry as the first-ever crew cab pickup truck.

International Harvester is a famous producer of agricultural machinery and big trucks, but during those days it was active in the pickup truck market. Their products were always heavy-duty and for professional use. The idea behind the Travelette was simple. Allow a group of up to six workers to travel together with their tools or machines. At the same time, International produced an SUV version called the Travellall with a closed roof. Somebody in the company came to the idea of bolting half of a Travellall SUV to a truck bed and creating a crew cab. As with all successful ideas on the pickup truck market, all major companies soon adopted the idea.

7. Ford Ranchero GT

Ford conceived the Ranchero in the late ’50s as a reasonable proposition to the car-truck dilemma. It sold reasonably well, becoming a practical vehicle for people who wanted the usability and payload of a light truck with the drivability and road manners of a car. However, in the late ’60s when the muscle car craze took the American automotive landscape by storm, Ford decided to introduce its most potent muscle car engine ever, the mighty 429 Cobra Jet, to the Ranchero line.

So, if you opted for the GT package in 1970 and paid extra for the 429 motor, you could get one of the fastest trucks on the planet. Best of all, it came with optional wood grain sides, a hood scoop, and suspension upgrades. They rated the Cobra Jet engine at 335 HP, but in reality, it produced over 450 HP. As a result, the performance was brutal, but the Ranchero GT was a bit of a handful to drive.

6. Toyota Tundra TRD Supercharged

The Tundra TRD Supercharged is the only non-factory model on this list but it belongs here because it is truly a hot road truck. The TRD Supercharger package was available from Toyota dealers for the hefty price tag of over $20,000. For that kind of cash, buyers got numerous upgrades including an Eaton supercharger that upgraded the power to a staggering 504 HP.

The Tundra TRD with its newfound power got some quick acceleration times. In fact, many reports state this big truck could see 60 mph in less than five seconds, which is mind-boggling.

5. Ford F-150 Tremor

This interesting muscle truck is the spiritual successor to the early ‘90s Lightning. But, when the latest Raptor came out, everybody forgot about this model. The F-150 Tremor was a hot rod F-150 with 365 HP from its 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine. It came with suspension tweaks, unique graphics, and visual improvements.

The F-150 Tremor was available as a two or four-wheel drive version. Although the performance wasn’t that good, the Tremor was fast. In fact, it could accelerate from 0 to 60 in around six seconds.

4. Chevrolet Greenbrier Rampside

In the late ’50s, Chevrolet presented the Corvair, a revolutionary compact car with a rear-mounted air-cooled flat-six engine. Despite the promising sales and initial reception, in the mid-60’s they discovered the Corvair was unstable. This killed its sales and gave Chevrolet bad press. However, before that happened, Chevrolet introduced the Greenbrier, a van based on the Corvair. Using the same floorplan, engine, and drivetrain, the Greenbrier was a cool-looking and decent-performing compact van.

The engine was underneath the cabin or truck bed if you chose the pickup version. It could carry up to nine people or half a ton of weight. Since the floor was flat, Chevrolet introduced a practical Rampside version with a side ramp for easier unloading of the cargo. However, they only offered the Greenbrier for four years, from 1961 to 1965. Despite its qualities, the market simply favored more conventional models from Dodge and Ford.

3. Lamborghini LM002

To be honest, LM002 is somewhere between a truck and an off-road SUV since it has four doors, a double cab, and a truck bed behind it. This crazy creation debuted in the mid-’80s as Lamborghini’s attempt of entering the world of luxury SUVs and widening its appeal. The LM002 uses a special chassis and suspension and Lamborghini’s famous V12 engine. The 5.2-liter engine with 400 hp was the same one as you would find in a legendary Countach. For those buyers who thought that 400 hp is not enough, the factory could supply the LM002 with a 7.3-liter monster V12 engine from a racing boat. Nicknamed “The Rambo Lambo,” this truck was a rugged and desert going version of the supercar Lamborghini is well-known for making.

Despite the enormous power and tough looks, LM002 was a failure since it was hard to drive on the road. It had an enormous thirst for fuel and problems with off-road stability. It was extremely expensive. Michelin made tires exclusively for this model, which you still can find today at an astronomical price of $5,000 per tire. So, just to have your tires changed on your Lambo LM002, you will need $20,000. As you could imagine, the production of this strange vehicle was not high. Only 301 models left the Lamborghini factory, which is still a considerable number knowing all the facts.

2. Mazda Rotary Pickup (REPU)

Among all Japanese car companies, Mazda is known for being the most innovative. That is why it kept perfecting and investing in the Wankel engine concept since the late ’60s. The first Wankel-powered model was a little sports car called 1100 Cosmo, but soon Mazda started installing this engine into ordinary models. The advantages of a Wankel engine are considerable. Its small dimensions and weight compared to regular inline units, high revving capacity, and simple construction are some benefits. However, the disadvantages are also significant because Wankel engines have little torque, are not durable and since the construction is so specific, spare parts and components are hard to come by.

This is why it was strange when Mazda decided to install a small Wankel engine in its B-Series pickup truck in 1973. The B-Series was a common Mazda compact truck they sold globally. The version with the Wankel engine had 110 hp from the diminutive 1.3-liter engine, which was enough since the whole truck was a little over a ton. The interesting thing was that the red line on this little engine was 7,000 rpm, which made driving a B-Series truck much like driving a sports car. Unfortunately, a truck equipped with this kind of engine wasn’t capable of towing or carrying a lot of weight, but it looked cool and sounded awesome.

1. Mercedes G-Class G63 AMG 6X6

The Mercedes G-Class is one of the longest-running models in the car world. First emerging in 1979 as a primarily military off-road SUV and truck, it is still on the market today with the same basic design. During the course of almost 40 years, it survived many modifications and redesigns, but never changed its distinctive appearance and basic mechanical layout. Over the years, the G-Class evolved from a pure military truck without any luxury items to an overpriced, premium full-size SUV with a powerful engine, 20-inch chrome wheels, and acres of leather in the interior. Mercedes attached a pickup truck bed and install one more axle and made it the fastest, most expensive, and rarest 6X6 in the world, creating one monster of a truck.

It was a monster by power and torque ratings, and a monster by the sticker price, too. Under the hood is the 5.5-liter twin-turbo engine with 540 hp, which delivers power to all six wheels through a specially built automatic transmission unit. Inside the truck, it is all about luxury with the finest materials and creature comforts. This 6X6 may not be so capable in the wild since it is a big, heavy truck, but it looks like it can tackle the sand dunes well. And, of course, there is the matter of price. When it was new, this G63 had a sticker price of $450,000, but if you find one today, expect to pay close to one million dollars for it.

These are the rarest and coolest pickup trucks that most people have never seen or even heard about. If you are lucky enough to find one, be sure to buy it while you have the chance. You will be sure to turn heads every time you drive it.