dpuckett

Our horseshoer (who also roped in rodeos) bought one of the first ones in late 1988, I think, maybe very early 89 (hey, I was almost 10). 2wd, 5speed, SRW. Thing sounded much more aggressive than his 86 F250/6.9, which wasnt a bad truck in its own right. He liked the Dodge much better though. He rear ended a tanker in 94 in a construction zone- killed him and the truck, two dogs, and a horse. Truck has close to 300K then. Bought my first diesel in April 99 (84 F250 4x4). Test drove a CTD Ram about August and was hooked. Got my first one in Sept 99. Have had 8 since.

Daniel

Ace

I've seen and driven the three 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gen CTDs. Is the 2007 model starting the 4th gen, just curious? Anyway, I lurked this forum for about three months before making my decision to buy. Like to be an informed buyer, ya know. Never even saw a 1st gen in person up close until I went to pick it up AFTER I bought it. That would be the first time I saw a 1st gen.

Drove a neally nice low mileage '97, somewhat modded by the good folks down at TBG Service in Ft. Lupton. Very impressive. D80, DD clutch. Nice truck. Wanted too much for it, well more that I wanted to pay. That was the first time I ever really saw one, up close. Drove a spankin' new 2006 courtesy the local DCX dealer. Another really nice truck. Could've afforded it, but again - they wanted too much for it, MHO. Kids wanted four doors. Wife wanted automatic. Too bad they're not the ones gonna be driving it and paying for it! Besides, I can't justify shelling out for a bunch of fancy stuff I don't need or even want. Not to mention being joined at the hip with a dealer who just wants even more of my $$$ is a real turn-off for me.

All I wanted was good solid, reliable truck. Looks like I got it! And it is way cool too. Can't say that about a new one.

tboling

I was in grade school, The Crumps bought the first 89 around Fleming county brand new. 350 5speed 2wd le very much like mine. They still have it and it has miles and miles on it and still the factor Getrag. The only one I know of that's never been apart. They sure did make a lot of 454 gas GM's think twice when pulling cattle. I was cummins from then on.

whereswaldo250

I can't remember the first cummins powered ram I saw because when they first came out I was just born But when I was just a little guy I probably saw one from my car seat . I was four years old when the original owner bought the truck I have now assembled in January of 92.

LJTyre

My grandad bought of of the early one's- used, auto, reg cab, 2wd (he was a penny pincher). It was the two tone blue and grey paint job, and I loved that truck. I'm not sure of the year, but that old truck is still running strong around the farm, along with my uncle's 2nd gen ext cab, and my cousin's 3rd gen quad cab, and mine whenever I make it back up there and help my uncle and cousins.

Whenever I find some money laying around I'm gonna buy a 1st gen.

EClancy

First time i saw one i was in 5th grade and saw it behind us on the school bus, it was a '94 4x4 CTD, and i thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I also happen to have an ad from a 1989 Popular Mechanics magazine advertizing the Dodge/Cummins combo. It pictures a grey d250, and the words on top read "Simply attach any 5 ton object and accelerate." I have it framed on the wall in my computer room/office.

cLAYH

I've always been hooked on Dodge trucks, first one was a '73 4X4 ext cab short box 360, still miss that truck. Now on my 4th Dodge truck(2nd diesel).

My dad had an '86 RC when I was growing up, my first memory of a CTD was going to the local dealership with my dad and him asking when they would put the CTD into the Ramcharger. That's when he found out that they were going to stop making the RCs. ;( They had a early 90s dually on the lot, silver/grey just like my dad's RC.

First time I can remember wanting one was when the 2nd gen trucks came out, had a poster on my wall of a red dually. There were so different looking at the time and had a very aggressive marketing scheme.

When I bought my '92 I was actaully looking for a 2nd gen truck but couldn't afford one so I bought hte nicest 1st gen I could find.

Now the family is grown and 2nd gens have come down in price and my budget has gone up, I now have he 2nd gen I always wanted.....well red would have been better but I can live with black!

rhino 660

i was 6 yrs old in 1994 when my dad bought a brand new Dodge Ram 2500 CTD 4x4. i liked it but was more into atv's then when i was 7 we were plowing snow and we moved a mountain of snow as big as the truck and was more into it,then
when i was 10 we went to WV mountians to work on a cabin and the concreat
mans 3500 chevy gasser couldent make it up the mountian and got stuck in a ditch (very steep and raining and he had a bobcat on a trailer) so we hooked up to him and DRUG him up that mountain he said. then i was highly impressed. after that and numerose off road recoveres i moved at age 17 to florida with my mom (from MD) and said i would buy it from him, he said ok but for the price of the motor $4,995.00 (i think) then a year later i flew up to MD with my friend and talked my dad down to $4000.00 and bought the truck, drove it all the way back to FL. then i got smoked by my friends F350 7.3L one day and found this site. so now i have smoked that ferd so bad it aint funny. turn 19 tuesday and i love this truck to death. this is the first truck ive ever bought

farmer0_1

dad bought a new gmc 6.2 4x4 in 87 it had a stick and his buddies were giving him a hard time about not getting a cummins so off we went to drive one. well after driving the gmc it was hard running a cummins thru the gears on the stick that we drove. the rpm band on the first stockers were vvery narrow and before you were ready you hit the gov. he kept his gmc and we still use it all the time.

Diesel Junkie

I was sitting at a stoplight about 12 years ago, staring off into space. And i heard the sound of a tractor/trailer 18 wheeler pull up next to me.... When i looked over it was a dodge cummins, and i was hooked.

Luke S

I remember back in 89' when I was 8 years old, our zone manager told my dad what they were coming out with and that he had four early production models to distribute to his dealers but the other dealers were weary because they didn't know much about Cummins engines, many of them didn't think it would fly. My dad knew about Cummins from having them big trucks and farm tractors, and gladly told the zone man we'd take all four of the ones he had. I can remeber the day the transport truck pulled up with all four of em on there and I can remember when the driver started the first one up to off load it. That rattle was amazing to me! Never heard anything like it in a pick-up. We had one of them set-up with a flatbed and used it ourselves, it had a big chrome stack on it too, that thing was so awesome to an eight year old kid. I can remember thinking, I am gonna have one of these some day, and now I have had several. It sure was fun being around the store seeing them when they were new when I was a kid. I can remember the last 93' we sold, it was a 350, 4x4, club cab, 5-speed, LE with every option. I remember it sold new for $27,500 and we were all in awe that somebody paid that much for a pick-up. Seemed as though you'd a had to been a millionaire to me to buy a truck like that. I can remember begging to go on trips with my dad just so I could listen to that sweet music from under the hood.

Well, those are just some neat memories I have, sorry for rambling.

ruquik

I was about 10 years old and this older couple bought a "Brand-new" 1994 4x4 Club Cab Dually. It was this odd 2-tone red and black. They also bought a Pace two axle trailer with the same red and black paint job. (They were my best freinds neighbors so I saw it everyday). Im going to try and buy it off of them next month.


To be honest the first 1st gen I ever paid attention to was the one I have now, that was only back in 2004.

.

Luke S

If this truck you talking about is a first gen it has to be a 93'. 94' was the first year of the second gen. Can't be a 94' club cab cause they didn't make a club cab in 94', only started that in 95' for the second gens.

ruquik

The year was 1994, which would make it a '95 model. Sorry for the confusion

jogl

I needed a truck to pull a 20,000 lb trailer so I asked a mechanic friend (Dan) "what should I be looking for?" He said "you need a diesel". I mentioned that I'd head over to the Ford {you know} and look around for some ideas.

Dan says "No, no, no, no, you want a Cummins."

You know how it goes from there.

JP.