There’s something special about old trucks. Maybe it’s the patina, how every scratch and dent is part of a grand story. Maybe it’s the comfy seats or the classic aesthetic reminder of years gone by. There’s only one thing they’re missing—big power. But if you’re talented and dedicated, there’s a lot you can do about that.
Meet Johann Rauch. He’s a passionate car enthusiast from Kleinwallstadt, Germany, and the crew chief behind a monstrous Corvette dragster with a 14-liter engine and a four stage nitrous system. That alone would give us plenty to talk about, but there’s another project of his that caught our fascination.
At a glance, you might think you’re looking at a humble Dodge D100, cruising its way along German roads. Only, the wheels are too large… and the engine note is far too deep and raucous. These are mere hints at the V10 secret lurking beneath.
“This is a swap I did in my shop back in 2018 in Germany,” Johann tells me. “A lot of people claimed they did this, but I’m the only one that can show you the steps of the [buid] in my shop.” The inspiration for the build was simple. “A friend of mine asked if this is legally possible in Germany… he loved his Ram SRT10, but always preferred old cars,” Johann explains. Thus, the idea was born—to give a classic D100 the power of the Viper’s V10.
“Finding the D100 was a coincidence. My friend found it on a local ad in the newspaper, ” says Johann. “Ugly as hell, but he liked the original used look.” The ratty patina is completely legitimate, he assures us. “Many trucks are just painted to look old, but this was someone’s work truck,” he explains.
The build has been credited to many shops over the years, but the true story of its creation lies with Johann. “It was featured in some car magazines here in Germany, and many companies claimed they‘ve done the swap, and I was never mentioned,” he says. “Of course they don’t have pictures from the [build] steps, it’s just now that I put them on the Internet.” As always, the proof is in the process.
The 2006 Ram SRT10 donor vehicle was factory fitted with the 8.3-liter V10 engine from the Dodge Viper. It offered 505 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque—with a six speed manual transmission to boot. A simple engine swap might have made sense, only it turns out classic Dodge trucks from the 1960s aren’t really built for that kind of power. “Switching just the powertrain of the SRT in the old pickup would have been easier, but the old axles and frame couldn’t take 500 horsepower,” says Johann.
After a chat with the relevant authorities (Germany is quite strict with its inspections), a new plan was born. Rather than swap the SRT10 engine into the old D100, he would swap the D100 body on to the chassis of the SRT10. This would provide all the conveniences of the modern truck like heating and air conditioning, and maintain features like the airbags and OBD II port which would be necessary to get the truck road registered in Germany.
“Before starting the swap, I went to discuss everything with the head engineer of the state technical inspection authority (TÜV),” says Johann. This proved crucial to keeping the project road legal. “They outlined that the swap would still be registered as a 2006 Dodge SRT10 and to be fully legal; all applicable safety equipment and OBDII systems needed to stay intact,” he explains. “It meant all emission control systems including catalytic converters and mufflers needed to be stock, with all sensors working.” Even the interior had to remain largely stock. “The original seat and seat belt mounting position needed to be used,” he says. “That’s why we transferred the whole interior to the D100 cab.”
It was going to be a big job, but Johann was more than qualified to get it done. “I did run an automotive repair shop that specialized in American cars and trucks, and I have a long connection to drag racing in different classes for over 40 years,” he explains. “I’m 60 years old now and a certified master technician and welder, and I’m the crew chief of one of three German Pro Mod Teams.” It’s just the sort of resume you’d expect for someone undertaking this sort of work.
“As my work ethic and standard is very high, it was a challenge to make the swap as much as factory looking as possible,” Johann explains. “The connection between the new and old body was carefully trimmed, I don’t know how many times we had to try the D100 cab on the SRT body.”
It was by no means a one-and-done job, with lots of fabrication required to mate the two successfully. “The inner structure of the Door pillars needed to be strengthened, because the doors had no structural support any more,” he says. “We constructed a series of 11-gauge steel plates to carry the weight of the doors and carefully crafted them to the A-pillar support.”
Even seemingly minor parts were given lots of attention. “To keep the HVAC systems and the windshield wiper motor of the SRT10, we redesigned the whole cowl panel,” says Johann. “A new water box with evacuation system was integrated to the section between windshield and engine compartment and spot welded in place.”
Overall, the attitude was not to get the job done quickly, but to get the job done right. “There are absolutely no scrappy or rigged together welds,” he says with pride. “Spot welding, TIG, and MIG welding were used throughout, as needed—no shortcuts taken.”
Regular visits from the relevant officials ensured any bureaucratic hurdles were kept to a minimum. “With the process proceeding, I always invited the TÜV officials to inspect the workmanship, they took pics to document the legality of everything,” Johann recalls. “If I remember, they were in house five times.”
Finally, after five months, the car was ready for its final tests. “The car was inspected at the TÜV Headquarters like a real street car,” he explains. “Emissions testing, brake testing on a chassis brake dyno, road worthiness and so on, including weighing and scaling for its new dimensions.” The truck passed, though the whole process of getting it approved didn’t come cheap. Johann estimates the total bill cameout to around €4,500 to €5,000 (~$4,700 to $5,200 USD).
A swap like this one is far from easy. Even today’s slapdash YouTube swaps take a great deal of work. However, pulling it off in Germany of all places is simply on another level. Government regulations won’t let you get away with dodgy engine swaps and slapped-together builds. At least, not without the Bundespolizei hauling you off the road in short order.
Johann’s skill wasn’t just in getting this swap done, but doing so while playing by all the rules. Those of us living in more restrictive lands could learn a lot from his shining example. Consultation and proper fabrication are what gets you over the line in situations like these. At the end of it all, you’re often left with a better build for your efforts, to boot.
This Dodge D100 now rockets around with V10 power, and looks great doing it—all while in full compliance with Germany’s road laws. That’s a win in our book, any day of the week.
Image credits: Johann Rauch
Well, actually, the cops you are going to have fun with if you drive around in dodgy vehicles are state police of the state you are in. The Bundespolizei or federal police has very specific duties, and domestic traffic enforcement is not one of them.
Or you may get a love letter from your local Ordnungsamt (or public order office) if a dodgy vehicle is found stationary on a public road.
But not the feds.
‘Looks great doing it’. Well, yes, apart from those horrible, incongruous-looking wheels.
Absolutely – however, Germany is also incredibly strict about wheel fitment and I do not know what options there are that look right and also provide the correct fit, etc. You can’t just turn a steelie inside out, sadly.
https://www.zrshop.de/en/blogs/news/wie-man-felgen-erfolgreich-beim-tuv-eintragt-ihr-leitfaden-zur-problemlosen-abnahme
I thought that might be something to do with it. They still look wrong tho ????
Great build, and very impressive that it was done to TUV standards. The only detail I’m surprised about is the front wheels – they seem to sit slightly proud of the fender and I thought Germany was strict about that. Maybe they’re just inside.
What is valid for Germany with that build is valid for the whole EU, as vehicle inspection is one of the thing that’s more or less the same all over the EU.
Pulling the same thing in France would probably has been as difficult and complex as it was to do it in Germany.
If you’re trying to register a car that was never officially sold in the EU, but which was sold in quantity outside the EU (eg a Kei car), then there’s an EU-wide approval process. So if someone in Belgium has already imported one, then you don’t have to fill out much paperwork.
However, for one-off builds and kit cars, most countries have their own, nationalset of criteria, which will probably be easier to meet.
France is very strict; I’ve been informed (by Max Power) that they do not allow engine swaps, period, without official letter of approval from the manufacturer. Not sure how this applies to a rebodied car, but it might work. I do believe that the car could be registered in France now that it has TüV papers.
Yes, Engine swaps are almost impossible here.
Well, they are possible if you swap an engine with the exact same engine provided by the manufacturer.
Any other case is either a PITA to get it road legal or just impossible.
And for heavy modifications and one off, you have to provide the blueprints, and lots of paperwork… to eventually, with lots of luck, be allowed to put some registration plates on the car.
And I guess that since it’s now registered in Germany, it can now be registered in France.
At worst you keep it registered/insured in Germany and drive it in France, as since it’s road legal in Germany with a German registration it’s road legal in France.
Here I am thinking the Germans wouldn’t allow any V10 on their roads that wasn’t a maintenance intensive, overcomplicated, small displacement nightmare of Bavarian or Italian origin…
Impressive build!
Glad this had to go through a proper inspection. While the interior doesn’t match, it’s at least not a deathtrap. Modern seats, modern seatbelts and airbags sure will help in a crash.
My state has safety inspections. Seeing a car with a burned out bulb or truly bald tires is rare. Now in the southern US, seeing real clunkers was a regular occurrence.
Yup. TUEV requires a full vehicle check every two years. The month and year of the next inspection is plastered on the rear license plate. Used car ads in Germany will state “TUEV good until XX/YYYY” or similar.
There is a sweet spot between the two extremes of car inspection regulation, and I wish someone would tell us which state they think has struck the correct balance. I would put my home state of Alabama at the bottom of the list; I have seen some legally licensed vehicles on the road there that should not be allowed to leave the driveway. California is at the very top; you have probably heard anecdotes about owners of, for example, 60s/70s muscle cars that were failed at emissions inspections for not having all their OEM smog controls in place, despite the fact that they have been replaced with components that actually make the car run cleaner than factory. I read somewhere about one guy who failed the California inspection for a similar reason, went home and dug through boxes in the garage to find the required OEM parts, reinstalled them, and went through testing again, to be approved with a car that ran dirtier than it did when it flunked.
Some sort of inspection should probably be required at least every two years, when you go to re-register the vehicle. What that inspection should include, and exactly how draconian its enforcement should be, is where many states lose the plot. Specific to emissions testing, all states should drop the OEM equipment requirement, and rely purely on numbers – either the car runs clean enough, or it does not. Requiring drivers to reinstall factory parts that actually cause more harm to the environment is the quintessential example of the button pushing mentality that tells citizens the results don’t matter, but the procedure and protocol do.
Seems like it should be an “either/or” situation. Either have OEM smog components in place or make the car run cleaner than the requirements for the year the engine came out. NY lets newer engines get swapped into older cars but not the other way around. The car then has to pass emissions from the year the engine came out.
Nobody is going to call out that’s shop’s uh… “full service” list in the background huh
HAHAHAHAHA. I didn’t notice that. Nice catch. 😀
Sigh. Anytime I think we’ve advanced the workplace, something like this pops up and I’m reminded that we’re still a bunch of reprobates.
Hey, at least it’s automatic.
One Stop Shop!
All it needs is a lowering and some of those body-color 20″ steel wheels.
What lame rules honestly. Proud to go work on my car in my private shop and do what I want here in Michigan.
Everyone has their toys and toys arent supposed to be regulated like everyday cars.
If you’re going to drive it on public roads, are you really surprised that it’s going to be regulated in some countries?
I’d happily trade our lack of safety, emission and noise standards here in FL for those of Germany. Absolute shitheaps are everywhere plus my insurance doubled when I moved here from Austin TX. Here in Tampa if you’re not straight-piped and tuned to make artillery backfires when you lift the throttle, you’re barely in the majority.
I totally get why some places choose to regulate heavily. That being said, my state dropped inspections a few years ago and the data hasn’t indicated any significant change in accident frequency because of it. I personally don’t know any one who has been involved in an accident where the cause of the accident was found to be a part failing on the car that caused the accident.
I 100% believe more accidents are caused each year where I live by people who only scrape a small hole in the ice on their windshield than by maintenance/inspection related issues.
Agreed. I love the freedom we have to drive pretty much anything. I’m still pro basic safety inspection (realllly basic: rust, brake lines, that kind of thing), but that’s about it.
I don’t mind if somebody wants to drive junk that endangers themselves, but if they are driving something dangerous to others on public roads, the negotiation must begin.
That being said, most new full-size trucks are a bigger threat to the public than a few old rust buckets.
There should really only be one standard of state vehicle inspection: Would an average driver with average driving skills be able to safely drive this vehicle down the road without posing a risk to its driver or other vehicles? For example, if this vehicle were for sale at a dealership, could the typical customer come in and test drive it like a so-called normal car without having any issues? Is it structurally sound? Does it stop and start? Can you see out of the thing? Does the steering wheel steer, the go pedal go, and the stop pedal stop? Do the wipers work? Do the lights work?
Other than this, and perhaps emissions standards, what other aspects of any vehicle could possibly be any of the state’s business?
“The average driver…” I don’t know how to do it but what really ought to matter is, “can you drive this vehicle.” If you can’t park that big ‘Ol pickup that your feelings of inadequacy are compelling you to buy in a typical parking lot or garage, you can’t have it. I’m not even insisting that you can parallel park. Speed/power, visibility, handling, the self-discipline to not pull out the smartphone and check texts…all of it.
None of that has anything to do with the inherent safety features, or lack thereof, of any vehicle.
A B52 bomber is extremely safe – as long as I’m not flying it.
What’s truly wildly impressive is how they accomplished this build, to TÜV standard, faster than most SEMA builds — four or five months is “quick build” territory in the US, and that’s with corners cut. This had no (or alternately, all) of the corners cut.
Cubic dollars is why
The price that they cited for the build isn’t even that expensive! It’s well under what a SEMA build might cost.
No mention of who finished off the look of the front end with mouths on the bumper to make dual smiley faces?
(The shot of it inside the testing center)
Yeah, the faces for each set of lights is doing it for me. I see a pair of clowns leading the truck into the night.
Pulling this level of fab work off in Germany certainly deserves the mad genius, haha.
No really good side pic. does the bed line up with the cab like it did on the original Platform?
Those wheels…
Yeah this is really cool but I would have went with a more classic style looking set of wheels.
I am doing a chassis pan swap like this right now myself (Tahoe and Travelall combo). I’ve always found it odd when regulation requires the vehicle to be registered as something it doesn’t look like. Maybe they have a way in their system to show that? But I would expect to eventually be pulled over when a cop randomly runs my plate and it says I’m driving a 2016, when I’m clearly driving a much older truck. Then trying to explain why its registered that way etc.
You could put the Tahoe body on the International chassis, I guess. (Kidding)
I totally cant, but only for one reason. I cut the floor and firewall out of the tahoe just like this guy did with the SRT-10. And most of the floor pan of the travelall was already rusted out. It was pretty bad. Like I seriously only had to cut out about 30% of the perimeter for the floor to fall out. Here’s a link to the playlist if you are interested.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcLCvU0_0IpllCBFH4IXKDrqJ9JP2XeBs
Thanks!
But that’s the only way it makes sense. Looks are rather irrelevant, it’s the technological base that counts, be it for safety or environmental purposes.
bUt NeW tRuCkS aRe So MuCh BiGgEr ThAn OlD OnEs
I actually had the same thought.
Are they not? I would have swore they were taller. I can reach right into the bed of an old truck without deploying a staircase or anything.
The bed height is a little taller (nothing so extreme as the anti-truck people would have you think) but length, width, and overall height are all pretty close.
What is true is that 4×4, large wheels, and crew cabs are more popular now, so the median truck is longer and taller than before, but comparing like for like (a 2006 regular cab 2wd with a 196X 2wd reg cab), there isn’t much change over the decades.
Yeah if you compare my 4×2 92 Cummins compared to a modern 4×4 truck it is night an day difference in height but you compare a 4×4 92 to a newer 4×4 the height difference isn’t that different. I think the thing is modern trucks just look bulkier (but kind of due to crumple zones and other safety features and also I think the styling)
Also pedestrian safety rules governing the distance between the hood and the engine.
Not an issue with most full-size trucks as they’re not sold in Europe.
Is that a European thing? I thought it was in the US too. That was the only saving grace for the horrible truck enbiggening in my eyes. Now I can’t find an excuse.
How long is the shortest 2025 RAM Pickup?
The D100 was available in a 6′ bed (190″) or an 8′ bed (210″). The 2025 RAM’s shortest configuration is a 6’4″ bed with the quad cap at 241″. It’s a full 25% longer than a D100.
How is comparing a regular cab to a quad cab a fair comparison?
A 2025 F150 regular cab long bed is 227″ long.
17″ over 60+ years doesn’t seem too excessive to me, considering how much of that is larger bumpers for crash prevention and such.
Because there is no longer a Ram regular cab in production. I’m comparing the shortest available 2025 Ram 1500.
If Dodge discontinued the 6’ bed and only offered an 8’ bed, you wouldn’t get to say the truck didn’t grow…
Current regular cab F250 vs one from 1980.
1980 208L x 70W x 75H = 1,092,000 volume, 4100lbs
2025 231L x 96W x 82H = 1,818,432 volume, 6148lbs
Add to that the fact that almost all trucks now are crew cabs, and the average size of what is on the road has gone up dramatically.
You’ve conflated a few things in your measurements here, the 2025 width includes mirrors while the 1980 doesn’t, the heights appear to be 2wd vs 4wd, and I would be very very skeptical of an HD truck from any year weighing 4100 lb.
Fair enough, my bad completely. Corrections below that still make the same point.
1980 208L x 70W x 75H = 1,092,000 volume, 4100lbs
2025 231L x 80W x 79H = 1,459,920 volume, 6148lbs
The corrected numbers align with the weight. It’s around 50% larger for apples-to-apples trucks. Then, add to the fact that trucks are now selected for larger configurations more than ever. A reasonable guess is that would add another 10-30% in average size. All due to marketing.
They kind of are, the D100 was 190.2 inches long on a 114 inch wheelbase, the SRT-10 was 203.1 inches long on a 120.5 inch wheelbase
Geez, V10omous, did you not see the lead image and the photo further down in the article showing the D100 and the new Ram side by side?? To be sure, the D100 is big but the new Ram is substantially bigger; also the Ram’s front end looks less pedestrian-friendly. Furthermore, that Ram is a 2006 or 2016 (the article gives both years, so one must be a typo), so nearly 10 or 20 years old now, and trucks have simply continued increasing in size & sheer mass since then.
They haven’t really though.
All of the are 4×2, regular cab, 6.5ft bed.
2025 F150: 122.8″ WB, 209.4″ OAL, 75.4″ tall, 79.9″ wide
2015 F150: 122.4″ WB, 209.3″ OAL, 75.5″ tall, 79.9″ wide
2005 F150: 126.0″ WB, 211.2″ OAL, 73.7″ tall, 78.9″ wide
1995 F150: 116.8″ WB, 197.1″ OAL, 71.0″ tall, 79.0″ wide
1985 F150: 116.8″ WB, 192.1″ OAL, 69.9″ tall, 77″ wide
1975 F100: 116.8″ WB, 189.1″ OAL, 69.9″ tall, 79.1″ wide
1965 F100: 115.0″ WB, 187.6″ OAL, 70.8″ tall, 77.2″ wide
1955 F100: 110.0″ WB, 189.1″ OAL, 75.4″ tall, 75.6″ wide
They’ve gotten moderately longer, height all depends on the year, and they’ve gotten moderately wider. I also believe some of those years had a 6 3/4 ft box (maybe 1975 to 1995?).
Thanks for doing the work on this.
Again I submit that 20″ in 70 years is not something to get worked up about, and for all the talk of the larger size trend accelerating, there’s been basically no size change in 20 years.
20″ ain’t nothing to sneeze at. It’s 10%. But it’s not what most people are talking about when they talk about them getting bigger and bigger. Most of the size creep comes from buying preferences, rather than same-for-same model size increases. When you look at it that way, they’ve gotten significantly larger because the rise of crew-cabs and the popularity of 4WD. I also think bed walls have gotten taller, but that’s way harder to track. Add a bit of height because of 4×4 and add a bit of bed wall height, and reaching over the bed side is a lot harder today.
It’s also interesting to look at it based on the shadow it casts. The ’55 covers (roughly) 99.3 sq. ft. The ’25 covers 116.2 sq. ft. That’s a 17% increase.
Meanwhile the biggest (non-limo) Cadillac was 227.3″ long, 79.8″ wide, and 62.1″ tall in ’55. The current biggest Cadillac is 227.0″ long, 81.1″ wide, and 76.4″ tall.
A Civic went from 147.8″ long, 59.3″ wide, and 52.4″ tall in ’72, to 184.0″ long, 70.9″ wide, and 55.7″ tall. More growth than the pick-ups.
That truck is 18 years old, new trucks are bigger than they were long long ago and less than 20 years ago.
I had a ’65 W100 many years ago. I’ve driven a similar vintage Ram as the one used for the base here several times.
Yes, the new truck is way bigger than my ’65.
Those seats look massive in that thing.
I love the idea of an engine swap but that truck not having bench seats is just not doing it for me