If you think we’re living in the era of “big” pickups and SUVs, we invite you to rewind the clock with us to a simpler (but still super-sized) time. We’re headed to 1998, when pickups and SUVs were in the midst of their first great ascension. Remember the pre-Y2K days? Back before smartphones and “self-driving” Cybertrucks? Like now, everybody seemed to be very concerned about the rising price of gasoline. And, also like now, none of that was reflected in the public’s buying habits, which is why automakers were floating concepts like Dodge’s Big Red Truck.
Yep, this is what “sponsored content” looked like in 1998. Whether it’s any better than a suspiciously buzzword-heavy post on your favorite car blog in 2025 is certainly up for debate, but we can at least say one thing for the ’90s: Back then, they still built concepts, rather than rendering them into some non-existent yet vaguely Mediterranean backdrop surrounded by uncannily pretty but somehow not-entirely-human-looking models. I digress—back to the truck.
Dodge notes that The Big Red Truck is an “experimental” concept vehicle whose specs may change. Change before what, you ask? Hey, live in the moment. Pretend it’s still 1998 and this thing might get built. That means you’d be looking forward to this monstrous, scaled-down semi-truck debuting on the updated Ram HD chassis with a 5.9-liter Cummins I6 diesel pushing 235 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque. In 2025, that’s… underwhelming. Still, it was enough to tow 11,000 pounds. That may be half-ton territory today, but I’d wager this monster of a truck would still make the job feel easier.
The interior is where 1998 actually takes a solid swing at some 2025-style creature comforts. Dodge raised the roof ten inches to make the interior roomier and accommodate additional storage. A fold-away, swiveling LCD “color television set” may sound corny as hell now, but it’s not that far removed from the rear-seat entertainment systems you can spec on most family SUVs today. Second-row passengers even had their own dedicated audio controls and headphones, which are often still expensive options even in 2025.
Where is this absolute unit today, you may be wondering? Sadly, it met the same fate as many concept and other pre-production vehicles. According to a Stellantis spokesperson, the pickup was scrapped in the early 2000s, never having made it to the company’s in-house collection. That’s a shame; sure, specs and tech may improve over time, but the appeal of a Big Red Truck is eternal.
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