Before The TRX, This Ram Rewrote The Pickup Rulebook
We are used to our vehicles doing everything these days. Want an EV that can out-drag a supercar? No problem. Fancy an SUV with a Ferrari badge and a V12? We’ve got you covered (although don’t actually call it an SUV). You want a hatchback with the power of a ’90s Lamborghini? Why not?
With the march of ever more efficient and powerful turbocharged engines, clever electrical assistance, and traction control that can keep nearly three tons of G63 on the asphalt, the sky’s the limit for making a performance version of pretty much everything. But it wasn’t always like this. Back in the ’90s and early 2000s, manufacturers needed some clever thinking and the wildest engine they had in the shop if they wanted to make something like a Pickup Truck go fast. So that’s exactly what Dodge did.
Fast Trucks Are A Modern Phenomenon
When Dodge announced the new Ram 1500 SRT TRX, it was interesting but not a total surprise. We can call it horsepower fatigue, but these days it would be a disappointment if there wasn’t a Ram with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 under the hood. The TRX has 777 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque, which is a lot, but these days those figures are fairly run-of-the-mill, even if they far eclipse those of an early 2000s Ferrari Enzo.
But until fairly recently, fast trucks weren’t really a thing. There were anomalies such as the Dodge Li’l Red Express Pick-Up Truck, which turned out to be the fastest US vehicle on sale in 1978. The Shelby Dakota was an interesting sports truck of the ’80s, but it disappeared without a trace. Then there was the GMC Cyclone which could outsprint Ferraris but didn’t sell in huge numbers. But Dodge decided there was a future in the fast truck game.
Ram Wanted To Rewrite The Rules Of Pickup Trucks
The muscle car era seemed to have died out in the ’80s and ’90s, with just a few models left on the market that were V8, two-door and rear-drive. Dodge saw a gap in the market, and wondered if a twist on the formula might capture the public’s imagination. The Dakota R/T was a muscle car for the hardware store and even had the edge on some Ford Mustangs. But the Blue Oval was fighting back, and the 1999 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning arrived as a pickup truck that could keep up with supercars. Under the hood was a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 pushing out 360 hp and propelling the truck to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds. No wonder it was Brian O’Conner’s company ride in The Fast and the Furious. Dodge didn’t want to be trailing to Ford, and so turned to SRT ( Street and Racing Technology) to see if it would be possible to fit its most potent sports car engine into a Ram. Turns out it was.
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The SRT-10 Is One Of The Wildest Production Trucks Ever
Dodge had already rewritten the sports car rule book with the Viper RT/10 of 1992. The Viper could have used an off-the-shelf V8 and most people wouldn’t have complained, but instead Dodge, with a little help from Lamborghini, took the basic design of a truck engine and turned it into an 8-liter V10 masterpiece. Featuring an aluminum block and heads, the unit was good for 400 hp. By 2004, the Viper’s V10 was now a 500-hp 8.3-liter V10, and it was this unit that SRT stuffed into the engine bay of a Regular Cab Ram pickup. It wasn’t detuned either, with the output and 525 lb-ft of torque the same in both vehicles.
The SRT-10 Even Has A Manual Gearbox
To make the Regular Cab SRT-10 even more special, it was also fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox. The larger Dodge Ram SRT-10 Quad Cab uses the company’s 48RE four-speed, and is automatic only. To keep the SRT-10 on the road with all this extra power, Dodge developed real aero, using wind tunnel time to ensure the nose was stable at high speed. Uprated shocks were fitted all around, with thicker sway bars. The ride height was dropped one inch in the front and two inches in the rear for improved handling, while 15.0-inch front rotors ensured that the truck would slow down from warp speed.
The SRT-10 Was The Fastest Truck In The World
Speaking of speed, how fast exactly was the Ram SRT-10? Shortly after its launch in 2004, the SRT-10 became the world’s fastest production pickup truck, as recorded by Guinness World Records. Driven by Brendan Gaughan, a six-time winner in a Dodge Ram in the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the truck was a standard production model, with no extra enhancements, according to Hemmings. At the DaimlerChrysler proving grounds’ 4.71-mile oval, the truck racked up an average speed of 154.587 mph. In the real world, the SRT-10 can give sports cars a run for their money, taking just 4.9 seconds to get to 60 mph and 13.6 seconds for the quarter mile.
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Why Dodge Killed the SRT-10 Ram
|
Engine |
8.3-liter V10 |
|
Power |
500 hp |
|
Torque |
525 lb-ft |
|
0-60 mph |
4.9 seconds |
The Dodge Ram SRT-10 was built only between 2004 and 2006. It wasn’t a huge sales success, especially as Dodge was reportedly building hundreds of thousands of standard trucks. During that time, 9,527 Ram SRT-10s rolled out of the factory in the two body styles, with the Regular cab models making up almost half at 5,533 units, says Hagerty. The problem with the SRT-10 was that it was always going to be a niche product. At $45,795, it wasn’t exactly cheap, and with that body kit it was no longer particularly practical as a pickup. So it would be a weekend toy for most people. Add to that 12 mpg fuel economy at a time when fuel prices were rising, and you have a truck that a lot of people wanted but not many bought.
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Collectors Are Starting To Notice The SRT-10
Specialists at Hagerty picked the Ram SRT-10 for its Bull Market list in 2019, and prices for a #1 (concours) condition example hit $71,000 in July 2022. In 2026, prices for the Quad Cab Ram SRT-10 are $25,600 in good condition, with the regular cab costing $29,400. By comparison, a 2004 Dodge Viper SRT-10 costs $43,400.
With 2000s cars becoming more and more of interest, especially as this was a time when car companies were experimenting with ever-wilder powerplants, the SRT-10 remains something of a special future classic. Few cars or pickups these days have naturally aspirated engines, let alone a V10, so this could be a rare chance to own something truly unique.
Sources: Hagerty, Dodge
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