The Most Iconic Special-Edition Ram Trucks Ever Made

Beginning with the 1946 Power Wagon, which was the first mass-produced 4×4, Dodge trucks have always been just a little more badass than the rest. Dodge pickups built a reputation as the best off-roaders, but there has also been a focus on street performance with some of the greatest muscle trucks of all time. The 1965 D100 Custom Sports Special packed a 426-cubic-inch Max Wedge V-8, and the 1978 Lil’ Red Express was faster than a Corvette. Of course, awesome trims and special editions like the ’71/’72 “Dude” have been a big part of Dodge truck history as well.

Parent Corporation

Stellantis

Founded

2010

Headquarters

Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S

Current CEO

Christine Feuell

Status

Active

Total Vehicles Sold In 2022

647,331

In the early 1980s, the long-running D-Series was replaced by the Ram, but it wasn’t until the radical redesign in 1994 that these pickup trucks really started to pop. With a front end that resembles a big-rig semi, the second-gen Ram is the most wicked-looking truck ever designed, and subsequent generations have only improved that killer style. Around the new millennium, Dodge started having way too much fun with these amazing trucks, producing a series of special editions that actually helped usher in the Modern Age of American Muscle. Here are the baddest of the bad Ram 1500 limited edition trucks, all of which still look great, and in some cases kind of evil.

Dodge Ram 1500 Indy 500 Edition

The Brickyard Ram Beast

Dodge eased into the Ram 1500 special edition mayhem to come with the 1996 Indy 500 Edition, which, as its name implied, was built to commemorate the Indianapolis 500 race. Actually, there’s kind of a crazy story here that begins with the Dodge Stealth. The Stealth was supposed to be the official pace car of the 75th running of the Indy 500, but because it was a badge-engineered Mitsubishi 300GT and not particularly American-made, there was much controversy and anger, mostly from the United Auto Workers. At the last minute, Dodge swapped out the Stealth for their prototype roadster, which we now know as the Viper.

Limited Production Specs

The Viper was more than a year away from production, but the pace car was such a sensation that it was fast-tracked. Dodge partnered with the iconic race as a way to promote their performance vehicles, and the Ram 1500 became the official truck of the Indy 500. Available only in blue with white stripes, the Indy 500 Edition truck was meant to mirror the look of the Viper and hopefully get people to view it in the same light. This truck predates the glorious return of the Hemi V-8 in 2003, but the 5.9-liter Magnum was a pretty banging engine for the mid-1990s. While not as powerful as a Viper, the Indy 500 Edition had an exciting appearance and was a harbinger of awesomeness to come.

Dodge Ram 1500 Rumble Bee

Scat Pack Assault Vehicle

The Charger relaunch was still a couple of years away, but the Hemi V-8 was back, and Dodge was itching to reestablish Mopar muscle dominance in 2004. They also wanted to remind people of what made Dodge muscle cars the fastest rides of the Golden Age of American Muscle, so they came up with a fitting tribute for the Ram 1500. The Rumble Bee, produced in 2005 and 2006, was a nod to the Coronet-based Super Bee, which was a street assassin, especially when equipped with a 426 Hemi or 440 Six Pack. The truck was also an homage to the “Scat Pack,” which was a designation Dodge put on its baddest muscle cars back in the day.

Limited Production Specs

The Scat Pack mascot was an angry, motorized bumblebee, which was adopted by the Super Bee and carried over to the Rumble Bee. All the classic Mopars came with a Bumblebee stripe in the rear, which is something the Ram special edition also replicated. With a hood scoop, ground effects, and that killer third-gen Ram design, the Rumble Bee was easily as aggressive-looking as a ’69 Super Bee A12. The truck was available in either Solar Yellow or black, but the first color went better with the bumblebee theme of the pickup. There were buzz-worthy touches all over the exterior and interior of the Rumble Bee, but the coolest was a shifter nob on the 2004 version that features a real bumblebee encased in clear resin.

Dodge Ram 1500 SRT-10

The Viper Truck Strikes

While the ’96 Indy 500 Edition captured the look of a Dodge Viper, the Ram 1500 SRT-10 delivered Viper-esque performance. Equipped with the same 500-horsepower 8.3-liter V-10 engine as the Viper, the Ram 1500 SRT-10 was the ultimate muscle truck, until the supercharged Ford Raptor and Ram TRX dethroned it decades later. All of that power inside a full-size truck was good for a 4.9-second 0-60 time and a 13.6-second quarter-mile, which put it on the same footing as the classic-era 426 Street Hemi-equipped Mopar muscle cars. Once again, the awesome styling of the third-gen Ram helped make this a ferocious-looking ride.

Limited Production Specs

The regular cab version, with a Tremec T-56 six-speed manual transmission, was able to hit 154.587 MPH, which, in 2004, earned it the Guinness Book of World Records for “World’s Fastest Production Pickup Truck”. The SRT-10 is most familiar in Electric Blue with white stripes, but those are actually a subset known as the Viper Club of America Edition, which was limited to just 50 units. The regular Ram 1500 SRT-10, produced from 2004-2006, was available in black, red, and two kinds of silver, but without those iconic stripes, which seems less fun. If you’re going to have a truck with a Viper engine, it should look like a Viper, but there’s another truck on this list that begs to differ.

Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi GTX

Plymouth Gets Some Love from A Dodge Truck

The Plymouth brand was discontinued in 2001, so they never got a chance to reboot the Barracuda or Road Runner for the Modern Age of American Muscle, though they did go out with the seriously awesome, yet underrated Prowler roadster. Dodge, however, threw its former sister company some love in 2004 with the Ram 1500 Hemi GTX, which was a tribute to a classic Plymouth muscle car. The GTX was the upscale version of the Road Runner, known as the “gentleman’s muscle car” because of its luxury and refinement. The Road Runner was a bare-bones speed machine, while the GTX was loaded with every option Plymouth offered.

Limited Production Specs

The Ram 1500 GTX, produced in limited quantities between 2004-2005, was also a luxe machine with leather seats and fancy interior accents. It also aped the GTX muscle car’s best version with a Hemi V-8 that made riding in style a quicker endeavor. Keeping with the nostalgic theme, the Ram 1500 GTX was only available in classic Mopar “High Impact” colors like Plumb Crazy, Hemi Orange, and Sublime. A few were available with a blackout hood, which was more reminiscent of the ’69 Road Runner A12, but still extremely cool. This amazing tribute was a collaboration between Dodge and LA West of Indiana, producing fewer than 1,000 examples, which makes for a great, rare collectible.

Dodge Ram 1500 Daytona

An Aerotruck That Soars

The 1969 Charger Daytona was a crazy contraption with a long nose cone and wild-flying rear wing that Dodge came up with to dominate the NASCAR circuit, which it most certainly did. It was the first car to break the 200 MPH barrier on a closed track and was, in fact, so fast that it got banned. If ever there was a ride that needed a Ram tribute, this ground-breaking aerocar was it. In 2005, Dodge rolled out the Ram 1500 Daytona, which respectfully honored the spirit of the original muscle car. A rear wing spoiler, which wasn’t quite as extreme, and a black Daytona rear fender stripe perfectly captured the feel of the ride NASCAR feared most.

Limited Production Specs

Unlike many Dodge Ram special editions that were only available in regular cab and RWD, the 1500 Daytona could also be had in quad-cab as well as 4WD. The two color options were Go ManGo! or Metallic Silver, but much like how the Rumble Bee was best in yellow, the Daytona was born to be orange. Though this was a one-year-only special edition, Dodge moved nearly 10,000 units, which should have told them to extend the life of this clearly popular truck. Then again, the ’69 Charger was only available for a single year, so its tribute truck followed suit. It’s not a special edition if it’s extremely common, so this makes all the sense in the world.

Dodge Ram SRT-10 Night Runner

A Blacked-Out Knock-Out

2006 was the final production year for the Ram 1500 SRT-10, and Dodge sent it off with an extra-special, extremely limited edition. The SRT-10 Night Runner had a cap of just 400 units, but only 370 were actually made, which qualifies it as the rarest Ram 1500 special edition. It’s also the most sinister, with a black-on-black-on-black motif, making it the Darth Vader of muscle trucks. The body paint is Brilliant Black Crystal Pearl Coat, the front grille, as well as the headlight housings, are finished in black chrome, and the 22-inch alloy wheels are done in Dark Nickel Pearl. The interior, of course, is also black with gloss center stack, console, and Viper gauge cluster, plus a serialized dash plaque that indicates the truck’s production number.

Limited Production Specs

The only minor complaint about this otherwise exquisite pickup is that the name Night Runner doesn’t appear to have any meaning besides the fact that nighttime is dark. Dodge really missed the boat because there was an infamous 1971 Challenger R/T street race car known as the “Black Ghost” that was unbeatable in the Detroit area. There really isn’t a more perfect name for a Ram 1500 with a Viper V-10 engine than this, but they went with Night Runner, which may have been a sarcastic jab at the K.I.T.T. car from the Night Rider TV series, or perhaps had no meaning at all. Dodge did eventually pay tribute to the Black Ghost with a “Last Call” ride that sent the rebooted Challenger into retirement in 2023.

Ram 1500 Detroit Red Wing Edition

Let’s Go Red Wings!

In one of those “why didn’t we do this earlier” moments, Ram partnered with the Detroit Red Wings NHL hockey club to produce a special edition 1500 truck in 2012. By that time, Ram trucks had spun off from Dodge as its own make, but it was still the industry-leading pickup it had been since the 1990s. The Ram 1500 Detroit Red Wing Edition was a Michigan exclusive that featured the best-in-the-league Winged Wheel logo on the rear fenders, as well as interior representations, including the embroidered front seats. This was more of a dealer option kind of thing than a factory edition, but the Ram 1500 was the official truck of the Detroit Red Wings and was promoted as such.

Limited Production Specs

(Production numbers sourced from MotorTrend)

Ram expected to sell around 1,000 of these very cool trucks, but demand was so high that they ended up moving 3,000 units. While it was only an appearance package, the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 was jacked up to almost 400 horsepower for Ram 1500 trucks in 2012, so this was the baddest non-SRT-10 special edition and a fitting tribute to the high-flying Red Wings. These trucks came in home red, away white, and black third jersey. The success of the Detroit Red Wing Edition should clue Ram in on the potential for some heritage editions. If there were a Steve Yzerman edition with #19 on the doors or a #9 “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe “Production Line” truck, dealers wouldn’t be able to keep them in stock, and Ram could probably sell them nationally.