I’m convinced that hunting for good Rough Start vehicles in Arkansas is like picking up a date at a cheap bar: If you want good, you’re gonna pay for it, if you go cheap, you’ll pay for it and regret it, and going ugly is going to be the theme of the night. I almost gave up and switched states. I had passed up numerous Fox Mustangs and 80s-90s F-cars because of varying issues (titles, non-runners) and someone is actually trying to pawn off a totaled, half-stripped Demon 340 for $1200.

Then at the last possible second this gem popped up and made up for the hunt. What you’re looking at is officially a M887 Truck Cab/Chassis 4×4, though calling it a ’77 Dodge W200 works as well. In the late 1970s the military was trying to find a suitable replacement for the Jeep, which was reaching the end of it’s service life, as well as the M151 “Mutt” and the M-715 Kaiser-Jeep truck. Dodge started designing a militarized W-series in early 1973 and by 1976 had been awarded the CUCV (Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle) contract to build the M800-series of trucks. Based on the W-200 chassis, these vehicles were meant to be support-style vehicles, not front-line trucks. Unfortunately for Dodge, three things caused the contract to be shifted to Chevrolet: The lack of a diesel engine (or even a worthy gas engine…they used 318s), the lack of a 24v power system, and oddly enough, the fact that Dodge didn’t equip any of the M800s with power steering. Most of the CUCV’s have been filtered out of the military system, though every once in a while you will see a rare one hidden somewhere in a motor pool, but luckily a lot of them were auctioned off to private owners.

This M887 has what appears to be a M101 trailer mounted to the frame and other than the typical roughness associated with a used CUCV, seems to be in decent shape. The seller notes that the interior could use some TLC, but what late-1970s Dodge truck doesn’t? The 318 is in good working order, the 37″ military wheel/tire combo looks purposeful, and as long as it starts, runs and drives, it looks like a great price. If we picked it up, the 318 has to go in favor of a rowdy 440 and if it were me personally, I’d find a couple of contacts in the Army and a ’70s Dodge bed and match up the CARC paint…the trailer isn’t quite working, though it’ll certainly get the job done. Or you could go seriously overkill and swap frames with a Cummins-powered W250 and enjoy the kind of machine the Army would’ve loved back in the day.

Click Here to see the Craigslist ad for this Dodge M887