Welcome to Sweptline Truck.com...
Hello, and welcome to our website! If this is your first visit we hope you find a lot of interesting information on our site about these very rare pickup trucks. First off... a little background on Sweptline's...
What is a Sweptline Truck...?
The Dodge Sweptline truck began in 1959. The term "Sweptline" referred to the truck-box body line. Before 1959, Dodge called their pick-up's, "Sweptside's."
1959 Dodge "Sweptline" Truck
The "Swept-SIDE" Pick-up truck...
Sweptside pickup trucks utilized the rear fenders and bumper from off of the 2-door Dodge Suburban station wagon. The Sweptside featured; two-tone paint, special side mouldings and a tailgate which was specially modified by the Dodge Truck Special Equipment Group. 1957 Dodge Sweptside Pickup
In 1959 Dodge Introduced the Swept-LINE"...
In 1959 Dodge introduced the "Sweptline." The fancy tailfins of the Sweptside were gone. Tossing the fins offered buyers a large square bed that was the full length of the cab. The '59 Sweptline introduced the 318 ci. V8 (Big Block) engine. 1960 Sweptlines were nearly identicle to the 59's. It wasn't until 1961 that Dodge made some
major production design changes and marked the beginning of a new era for Dodge pickup trucks... the Sweptline era!
The Sweptline Era...
After poor market performance (Dodge only had 6% of the truck market share in 1960) they decided to create an all new truck with a lean toward passenger car styling. The popular "Dart" name was used to promote this new style and the new for 1961, "Dart Sweptline Pick-up" was born. Officially, (in Chrysler Corp. marketing), the Sweptline era pick-ups lasted until 1971. However, Dodge still used the term until 1995 when it was finally replaced by, "Ram."
The Sweptline look was low (the cab sat 3" lower) and wide with clean lines which flowed smoothly from the truck's front to rear.
These new trucks had a new drop-
center frame with a fuel efficient new overhead valve slant 6 engine.
The Sweptline trucks were lower, wider and sleeker than any Dodge Pick-up before them. Sweptline style was roomy inside the cab with added luxury and nice dash layouts. Even comfortable bucket seats with center consoles were eventually added in the 1964 models.
Of particular note is that Dodge introduced the alternator in 1961 - an industry first! Plus, the Sweptline design featured a relocated steering gear with high ratio for "passenger car handling." All in all, the new Sweptline trucks were far superior to anything Dodge had ever built in it's previous pick-up truck lines.
Read through our site for more information. We are adding new details as often as we can. And, if you own one of these fantastic trucks, please contact us! We'll send you information about how you can send us a photo or two, and we'll post them on the site.
Thanks for your visit & we hope you enjoy the web-site!
- The SweptlineTruck.com Web-team