Gallery Page 197
Brad Richmond's 1979 Adventurer Dodge Truck in Canada
1979 Dodge Adventurer 150 with the factory installed Dodge “Kary Cap Deluxe” option.
Brad purchased this ‘79 four years ago as a true survivor (from the original owner) with minimal cosmetic work required. Other than replacing the damaged passenger door, this ‘79 sports all of it’s original body panels. After a fresh coat of paint and proper trim design, this ‘79 has hit the road for many Show and Shines. This Adventurer has a 360, T/Q 4BBL, A727 transmission, 9 1/4 rear end with a 3.91:1 ratio, factory cruise and a Canadian only factory option, the Dodge “Kary Cap Deluxe” canopy. He had the Kary Cap removed to be colour matched with the truck and then decaled with the “Ram Tough” moniker. Brad had a local graphics design shop create the “Dodge Trucks are Ram Tough” theme design for the canopy back window. The scene of the 2 rams smashing their heads together catches the Ram Tough reputation and advertising theme of the day. While the canopy was off the truck, he had the interior of the box fabricated with a colour coded box liner.
When Brad purchased the Adventurer, he decided to go through the entire truck and make everything like new. This truck has never seen a winter road and has never been driven on gravel. It was factory under coated, so there has never been any rust on the truck. I had a MOPAR mechanic (of many years), rebuild the Thermo Quad, do all of the engine gaskets and seals and a complete engine tune up. He then took the truck over to the transmission shop for a service and installation of a tranny cooler. This truck only had 123 thousand kilometers (77 thousand miles) so it was no surprise everything was in good mechanical condition. Brad didn't send any pictures of the motor compartment, but he says it is as clean as the rest of the truck, with a new coolant tank and a 3 core radiator.
This Adventurer was delivered to the dealership in November of ‘78 with the factory installed Warlock seat package. The dealership removed the seats and installed a bench seat. When Brad bought the truck, he removed the bench seat and had a set of ‘79 Ramcharger buckets re-skinned to match the interior and added a console. The door panels were showing their age with broken strap buckles. The door panels were re-done and he had a local machine shop manufacture the door strap buckles out of steel , then had the buckles chromed. To make the project cost effective, he had 4 sets built and thanks to our site, viewers have contacted him to purchase the other 3 sets. Brad removed the dash pads and re-painted them and added a new carpet with matching “Dodge” embossed floor mats. He installed a 10 disc Sony CD unit in the console with a beautiful sound system.
Brad has taken his Adventurer across Canada and through the Northern USA states to various MOPAR Show and Shines. In 2011, he took the journey to MOPARFEST in Newhamburg, Ontario, which is Canada’s largest MOPAR show. The Chrysler team selected his truck to do a circular news story and while doing so they authenticated the Serial Number matching Kary Cap with the Adventurer’s V.I.N. and then did a cross country registration search. At that time, his was the only ‘79 Dodge Adventurer Kary Cap registered. A local participant of the MOPARFEST worked at the factory in Brantford, Ontario back in the years of ‘77-‘79 when these Kary Caps were built for Chrysler. He indicated that Chrysler only took delivery of about 500 Kary Caps and the company producing them then removed all the “Dodge” name plates on the remaining units so they could outsource them to other suppliers. Chrysler confirmed through their search, there were 450 Kary Caps total sent to Chrysler for factory installation for the model years of ‘77, ‘78 and 1979. The only difference in the years was the ‘77 & ‘78 Caps had the Dodge nameplate in the old handwriting font style, whereas the ‘79 nameplate is in the block lettering font style. The rarity of these Kary Caps make this Adventurer an award winning truck at most MOPAR shows.
On the long journey to and from MOPARFEST, Brad's Adventurer averaged 17 mpg with a very comfortable ride from the 31x10.50 BFG’s Long Trail 15 inch tires. This journey accumulated almost 7,500 kms (4700 miles). MOPARFEST and Carlisle are tentatively on Brad's radar for 2013, as well as local Show and Shines and MOPAR shows in his area. Next up is his ‘90 Ramcharger. Hopefully by next year!
To learn more about Brad's 1979 Dodge Adventurer you can email him at:
sbr4habs@shaw.ca
Are you proud of your Dodge truck or car? Want to show it off? Please email me a pic along with a description of your vehicle and I will add it to the Gallery.
Joe Leonard 2013-05-26