1989 Dodge Ram Cummins Turbodiesel

Back in the 1980s, the Dodge brand was an insignificant player on the pickup market in the US, so it could afford to gamble installing a Cummins diesel engine to its vehicle lineup. The car maker had nothing to lose with this move and soon it all paid off big time.

The 1989 Dodge Ram was the first 3/4- and 1-ton American pickup truck with a turbodiesel engine under the hood. It was powered by a 5.9-liter straight-six Cummins turbo diesel. In spite of it being only rated at 160 horsepower, the engine developed an enormous 400 lb-ft of torque at 1,700 rpm.

This amount of torque brought a revolution in towing, so much that even today most of the heavy-duty pickups have turbodiesel power. GM did use its Oldsmobile diesel V8 in its pickups at the end of the 1970s. But this decision caused revulsion in the customers instead of revolution. There were other diesel powered pickup trucks, but it was the turbocharged 1989 Dodge Ram Cummins which made the largest influence.

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