Concept Car of the Week: Dodge Deora (1967)

Half concept car, half custom but all awesome, the Dodge Deora was designed by former GM designer Harry Bentley Bradley for the famous car customizers the Alexander brothers who wanted to build a radical custom truck using one of the Big Three's new cabover mini-pickups.

They relied on Bradley's futuristic drawings to seduce Chrysler who eventually agreed to provide a stripped down A100 truck for them to customize although the final design shares almost nothing with the original donor car. The cabin was radically chopped and integrated into the rest of the body and – after its suspension was also lowered – the overall height of the Deora was reduced by a whopping 380mm.

Its very sleek profile is emphasized by the lack of doors – and therefore, no shut lines – on either side. To actually get inside, Bradley's original vision was that the front would open through a one piece hatch, hinged at the roof's leading edge but the flimsy A-pillars would never have supported it. So the 'A-bros' came up with a solution of their own which may well be one of the whackiest door openings ever applied on a car. They proposed a complex rotating front-opening hatch built using the chopped rear section of a 1960 Ford station wagon. What used to be the rear window was used as a windshield, controlled by an electric motor that pushed the supporting arm. The lower part of the front panel was hinged on the right side and formed the second part of the door giving access to the cabin.

Other Ford parts were used around the Dodge such as the rear window from a Ford sedan and the side vents which used a 1964 Mustang's taillight bezels. Its actual taillights were taken from a Thunderbird and featured sequential indicators.

The Alexander brothers also wanted the occupants to sit low in comfortable bucket seats, between the front wheels, so the 6-cylinder engine was moved rearwards. It protruded into the load bed, where it was covered with a hard tonneau secured by chrome locking pins. In the load bed were also located the radiator and the fuel tank, which was placed behind the rear axle.

The steering wheel was replaced by butterfly shaped handles that appeared like an aircraft control, while all clocks and meters were moved onto the side trim panels. The rest was elegantly trimmed with black leather and chrome.

Presented at the 1967 Detroit Autorama, the Deora won nine awards. It was then used by Chrysler on their own stand alongside official Chrysler concept-cars. In 1968, it became one of the 'Sweet 16' original Hot Wheels model cars.

First seen Detroit Autorama
Designer Harry Bentley Bradley
Length 4,800mm
Width 2,006mm
Height 1,448mm
Wheelbase 2,286mm
Engine 2786 cc, 6-cylinder, 3-speed manual
Power 101 bhp

Your author, Flavien Dachet, is a UK-based, French-born car designer. You may know him as the purveyor of KarzNshit, a photo blog that if it isn't already in your bookmarks, it certainly should be.

By Flavien Dachet