Plymouth's Only SUV Was Really A Dodge Ramcharger With A Removable Soft Top Truck Cab

Plymouth is a storied but sadly defunct automaker, remembered most fondly for powerful muscle cars like the Barracuda, Superbird, and rolling midlife-crisis that was the Prowler. What it isn't best known for is SUVs, as despite being in business from 1926 until 2001, Plymouth only ever made a single SUV — and it wasn't even a model unique to the brand. 

In 1974, the brand introduced the Trail Duster. It was built upon Chrysler's shortened D-series truck platform and shared practically everything in common with the far more popular Dodge Ramcharger. No matter which one you bought, you had a choice of two- and four-wheel-drive versions, and production of the Plymouth ran until the 1981 model year.

The Trail Duster's main highlight was its configurability — it could be ordered with an open rear section, a vinyl roof, or a removable steel roof. The vinyl roof even included roll-up sides, enabling unrivalled access to the open world, while keeping the top covered. The SUV was designed to compete with the already established Chevrolet K5 Blazer and Ford Bronco, which were also incredibly modular. The story was much the same inside, as pre-'76 Trail Dusters only came with the driver's seat as standard. A passenger front and rear bench seat needed to be optioned, as did the front bucket seats.

Despite coming from a well-established American automaker and enjoying an eight-year production run, the Trail Duster sold in fairly dismal numbers. Only around 36,000 examples ever found homes — roughly three times fewer than the Ramcharger's sales during the same timeframe, despite the two models sharing pretty much everything between each other, save for the grilles and some trim pieces.

Buyers were given a variety of powertrain choices, kicking off with Chrysler's 225ci slant-6. All other options came with eight cylinders, and these included a 318, 360, 400, and even 440-cubic-inch V8, although different engines were available at different points throughout the Plymouth's production run. With regards to transmission choices, Plymouth made three- and four-speed manual options available, in addition to a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic — just one of Chrysler's game-changing innovations. Four-wheel-drive was always the core offering, although rear-wheel-drive was introduced for the '75 model year.

In terms of pricing, when it debuted in 1974, the Ramcharger carried a base price of $4,096. And although the Trail Duster came with an identical MSRP, the exact price paid would no doubt vary hugely given the scope for customization. The 1974 model is also the rarest Trail Duster variant today. For its first year on sale, the SUV sported a unique half-door design in which the upper door frames were attached to the removable roof section. Later Trail Dusters retained the removable roof but switched to conventional full-frame doors.

With only about 36,000 produced, the Trail Duster was hardly a common sight when new, and even less so today. It's also worth recalling that these were built as utilitarian off-roaders, so many will have been used exactly as such, which makes clean survivors even fewer and further between.

While scarcity can be a factor that sends collector car values sky-high, that isn't the case with Plymouth Trail Dusters. Sure, some examples in pristine condition have impressed — most notably a '79 example that sold earlier this year for $60,375 and another that fetched $57,500 – but for the most part, these change hands for closer to $30,000 in solid order.

Hagerty pegs clean Trail Dusters in the mid-to-low $20,000 range, regardless of model year, while concours cars are estimated to fetch north of $40,000. Those real-world results suggest the market is on the move, so collectors should hurry to secure one before prices jump further. Both the Trail Duster and the Ramcharger are examples of classics that deserve another chance, and while the Dodge will be easier to find, the Trail Duster's exclusivity might just make it a more interesting buy in 2026.