1974–1993Collector's Guide

Dodge Ramcharger

Dodge's answer to the Blazer and Bronco — a full-size, truck-based SUV with a removable hardtop.

The Ramcharger entered the same full-size SUV category as the Chevrolet K5 Blazer and Ford Bronco, built on Dodge's own D-series truck chassis. Its two-door body and (on early years) fully removable fiberglass roof gave it genuine open-air capability that later, more car-like SUVs abandoned.

History

Introduced for 1974 on the D100/D150 pickup platform, the first-generation Ramcharger offered a removable hardtop through 1980, after which it moved to a fixed roof — a change that meaningfully affects which years are most sought after by open-air-focused collectors today.

Production continued largely unchanged in basic form through 1993, by which point the truck-based SUV segment was shifting toward the four-door format that would come to dominate the market — a shift the two-door Ramcharger never followed before it was discontinued in the US market.

Notable Versions

Removable hardtop (1974–80)

The most distinctive and most collected configuration — genuine open-air capability on a full-size truck-based SUV, discontinued after 1980.

4x4 models

Four-wheel-drive versions are more common than 2WD on surviving examples and are generally the more desirable configuration to collectors.

What to Look for When Buying

Key inspection points from experienced collectors.

Confirm the hardtop is present and correctly fitted on pre-1981 trucks

Removable hardtops were sometimes lost, damaged, or swapped over the decades — a complete, correctly-sealing top matters significantly to value.

Rust patterns mirror the contemporary D-series pickup

Cab corners, rocker panels, and floor pans need the same close inspection as any full-size Dodge truck of this era.

Parts overlap significantly with the D-series pickup

Mechanical and drivetrain components are shared with the contemporary Dodge pickup, keeping restoration more practical than the body-specific hardtop parts.