Of all of the soft spots my heart has for specific models of vehicles, the Dodge Ram 50 might be the strangest yet most easily explained: it was the first vehicle I spent solid amounts of wheel time in, it was the first manual-transmission equipped vehicle I had operated with more than three wheels with any kind of regularity, and every time I used the little blue work truck, my wallet got a little bit fatter. So, yes, I like the little beasts…they are simple, basic good small pickups. No shame in that game whatsoever. But when was the last time you saw one out and about? Honestly, I have maybe seen three total of any variation since I last saw that little blue truck in the late 1990s. They just didn’t stay put…based on the Mitsubishi Forte (read: Mighty Max, L200, and for a short bit of time, the Plymouth Arrow) the Ram 50 didn’t have the staying power of the Toyota or even the odd Mazda B-series I can still find every now and then.
So where did all of the Ram 50s go? Well, bluntly…into the crusher for the most part. But hunting around locations where old derelict cars can be found might turn one up every now and then, and usually the four-banger has about had it, having been worked to death and left to rot. Now, given that it’s a Mitsubishi-based product that originally came with the 2.6L 4G54 as an option, you’d think the answer would be as simple finding a Lancer in a wrecking yard. But for one enterprising individual, the answer to his problem was actually found in his local Harbor Freight…or wherever else you can score a Predator engine. 212 cubic centimeters of angry lawnmower engine power this flatbed Mitsu-Dodge around, with the manual choke and the pull-start still intact, using the truck’s OEM five-speed manual! Check this little freak out!
Pretty good for a young kid. This definitely belongs in the WTF files.
I’m surprised that not only does that insane engine swap actually work, but it doesn’t seem to be much more gutless than the original Mitsubishi engine. OK, having owned a Ram 50 for a while, maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised at the latter.
Just don’t park it with the left front wheel on a big rock. You’d never manage to get it started.