"I was contacted by Dodge to do a tuff truck t.v. commercial in and around 1965. They showed me the truck. It was a Dodge A-100 compact pickup modified with a 426 Hemi. They told me the truck would run fast on all four wheels. I thought to myself, ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Too bad the commercial didnt show it with the wheels up all the way through the 1/4. When I was a freshman in High School in 66 a buddy's dad let us take a trip in his 64 Galaxy 2 dr hard top to the Amarillo dragway to the winternationals. We got to see the Little Red Wagon, Backup Pickup, and Hemi Under Glass. There was one more there, an Econoline Van from Hobbs N.M. I cant remember the name of it but im sure it will come to me later. Of course all the top fuelers were there too. Man I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Too bad I didnt have a camera with me.
awesome video! i was obsessed with this machine as a child, even wrote Bill a letter.. his daughter ended up writing back, sent me some photographs as well!
My father-in-law in KC remembers The Little Red Wagon coming to town and it would sit at a little gas station a few days before the drags. Him and his buddies would always go down and check it out and watch it on the weekends. Thanks for posting!
In 1965 I was 3 years old and we lived in Dallas. We moved back to Nebraska a little while later and when I was a kid I remember my dad telling me he saw the truck run at a track near Dallas. Wish I could remember seeing it.
i saw the little red wagon run at beach bend when i was about 3 years old, i do remember. it ran against an army tank called "hell on wheels". i'll never forget the sparks flying off the tailgate. that was about 1971. scarred me for life. all of us 3 year olds should have gotten together to play lincoln logs or something.
It looks awesome....but I think I would want tractor brakes on it...left and right pedals for the rear...........bet it could plow real quick......
the last version was a t a local mcdonalds in independence ky back in 01....talked to him for a little while . he had some cool shots of the truck (for sale of course) amazing how some of the best plans end up being totally different than they are supposed to....would have made a neat race truck as a side note.....what ever happened to the pulling version of this ride..?
About 10 years ago we were set up as vendors next to Bill at Moroso in Florida. Spent the weekend talking to him and his daughter. They were really great people. Got a couple of autographed dicasts and posters from him, and he even sighned a little brass plate to go with the diecast.
A local Mopar-nut and friend of mine here build a Green version of it himself last year. He had it out on the strip this year trying it out. It sure was a sight to see, especially overhere in the Netherlands...
Ahhh, the golden years. Every kids fantasy...even for your bicycle... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBoETwl5Co
I remember the LRW being at our local (Albuquerque) track in the early 70's. About half track he hit some sand, lost it and barreled rolled it. Bill was pissed, said he'd never come back to this crappy track again!
In the DVD, "LIONS, the Greatest Drag Strip" (Part 3), Bill Golden describes the night when he was booked at LIONS to compete with Chuck Poole's, "Chuckwagon", also Dodge wheelstander. It was a 2 out of 3 match race, with the winner determined by distance of their wheelstands. The last faceoff of the night came, both wheelstanders were called to the starting line and the Little Red Wagon was first to attempt the longest length for a wheelstand for the evening. Golden pulled the front wheels up and carried them all the way through the traps...and kept going. He finally shut it down, and barely got it stopped before he ran out of real estate. Next up was Poole. As Golden watched from almost a half mile away, he said he could see Poole pull the wheels up and head down the track. Apparently Poole, knowing the distance that Golden had gone, was in no mood to be beat, no matter what. Poole went through the lights, kept the wheels airborne and headed for where Golden was shut down at the end of the track. He didn't lift off until he was sure he beat Golden's mark, but it was too late for him to shut down safely. Poole went ass-over-teakettle and ended up on Willow Avenue, crashed and wrecked...much to the amazement of commuters...a half mile from the starting line. Poole was delighted that he was the victor...
The Little Red Wagon is one of my earliest car memories outside of my Dad's cars...I have always loved those A100's...bought an econoline pickup but am selling it as I really want an A100...when I was a little boy there was nothing cooler to me than that thing doing wheelstands
Seen this a couple of years ago at the Mopar Nationals on a trailer. Golden give it to one of his old buddies and he put the front axle back under it and the original tires & wheels on the front and was showing it beside the present one. Some company gave him some clear perservative to spray on it to keep it from deteriorating further. A nice piece of racing history that was getting a lot of lookers.
I bet everyone that ever saw it in person can tell you where and when they saw it for the first time. 6" wheelies were common but to see him carry them down the track for the first time made your jaw drop. Then all the clones appeared and it became almost normal.