No classic is complete without a great story to go along with it! And this 77 Dodge Warlock has a great story to tell!

One day my grandpa and his wife Toni were visiting some friends in Sacramento, CA. While they were driving around he spotted the Warlock in a dealership and stopped to look at it. The sales guy told him the price and he told the sales guy what he'd pay for it and what he wanted for his truck as a trade. Well his truck was in Oroville so the sales guy had no idea if it was worth what he wanted. And of course grandpa wasn't exactly offering full price! Grandpa wasn't big on beating around the bush so the first offer was basically the only offer. To make a long story short, the sales guy kept grandpa from walking out the door and agreed to the deal. He even went so far as to drive up to Oroville and pick up grandpa's trade.

Grandpa loved his Warlock and knocking around the woods. He'd spend hours out chopping up firewood and on his way home he'd drop wood off all over town. More times than not he'd get home with an empty truck! I'm sure that he gave it all away just to give him a great excuse to go out and hack up even more.

In 1976, Dodge decided to test market a pickup loaded with special trim and accessories in Los Angeles, they found that it sold well, and then put it into production the next year as the Warlock, alongside the rest of Dodge's "adult toy" lineup. The production Warlock was a twin to the show vehicle but differed somewhat, using a different tone of gold on the wheels, tape stripes instead of paint stripes, and no roll bar. The Warlock featured tinted windows, fat tires, bucket seats, a “tuff” steering wheel, oak-lined bed, oak sideboards and chrome plated running boards. The interior and exterior was accented with gold pin striping that outlined the wheel wells, body  lines, door and instrument panels. To tell which year a Warlock was produced look at the tailgate. The 76 Warlock had painted pinstripes, 76 and 77 had Dodge on the tailgate, 78 had Warlock by Dodge and 79 said Warlock II. The 76-78 Warlocks came with 8 spoke gold wheels and the 79 had chrome wheels.

This Warlock is a Red 77 built in Warren, MI with the 360ci engine, 2bbl carb, automatic and A/C. With the exception of the carb, alternator, A/C compressor, odometer, and some electronic components this Warlock is an original numbers matching classic. All of the gages, lights and gadgets work and it still sports the original paint and interior. Some time in the future I plan to do a frame off restore and get it back to its showroom glory. I'm not sure yet, but I might do a concourse grade restore and show it. I think my grandpa would have liked that.

Grandpa

Virgil H Edwards, Oroville, CA, Aug 27, 1908 - Dec 27, 1989

My grandpa was a railroad man all of his life. He was very proud of working for the railroad and loved his job. He was an engineer for the Western Pacific Railroad and spent most of his career running freight on the Feather River Route. He experienced allot of the history and change that the rail industry went through including the transformation from Steam to Diesel Locomotives.

When I was young I didn't get to visit my grandpa much so I didn't know him very well. What I remember most growing up was his Mynah Bird, he always had candy in a bowl in the living room, his big open yard and a huge pile of firewood stacked out back. Whenever we visited, my sisters and I just wanted to talk to the bird and explore the yard. All 3 of us thought that the bird was the coolest thing going about Grandpa's house.

When I was 15 we spent 2 weeks together camping and fishing around the mountain lakes near Portola, CA and our relationship changed forever. I don't remember who's idea it was, but since I really loved camping and fishing I thought it would be interesting.

When I first met up with him at Lake Davis he said that he'd spent several days floating around the lake sounding out the bottom. Of course, since I already knew everything I needed to know about fishing, I thought he was nuts! I'm just glad that I didn't open my big mouth and express my "EXPERT" opinion of how ridicules that was!

After the first trip out I thought we just had a good morning. Even the second trip, lunch time on the same day, seemed like we were having a good run of luck. I started realizing that luck had nothing to do with what was happening. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, catches that many fish EVERY time they go out on the lake, except us!!! We were pulling in our limit every time we put the boat in the water. Even in the middle of the afternoon when fish don't bite, we'd catch our limit. Sometimes we'd spend less than 2 hours on the water and have to come in because we had already caught our limit. Other people were out for four hours and coming back with maybe 2 or 3 fish. Not only were we catching our limit, but these were some big fish. I caught a 21 inch Rainbow Trout and a 19 German Brown that were some of the most beautiful fish I've ever pulled in. We gave away so many fish that we became the favorite camp site for visitors from all over the campground.

Four Generations

Grandpa wasn't what you'd call a softy. I believe he might even had shot anyone who dared to call him that to his face! But, from the very first time that he met his great grandson, I think that tough guy had met his match. Jason loved his great grandpa and loved spending time with him. Jason was just 9 when his great grandpa passed away and I really do wish they could have had more time together.