10 Old Trucks That Leaned Way Into Sticker Packages to Sell

Good ideas, especially when it comes to automotive design, are expensive. Vinyl is cheap. Do you see where we’re going here? 

The concept of stickering-up slow-selling inventory to make it appear fresh and exciting is a tried, tested, and true tactic that’s been embraced by car companies since at least the 1960s but really found its stride in the world of classic trucks starting in the ’70s. What better way to inject excitement into an otherwise utilitarian pickup than by giving it a funky name and covering it in enough vinyl to press a Led Zeppelin album? 

Here’s our look at 10 old trucks that relied on their stickers to sell a bill of goods to customers. 

1970–1971 Dodge D100 Dude 

Did pickup marketing used to be as simple as slapping a “Dude” sticker on a truck’s quarter panel? Not quite: You also had to float a little white cowboy hat over “Dude” to make it really pop. At the beginning of the 1970s, Dodge was falling behind in the full-size truck game, so it came up with the D100 Dude, a vehicle whose claim to fame was a tangential association with actor Don Knotts, who had been extolling the virtues of putting a Dodge to work in between appearances in movies like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Love God? 

There really wasn’t much more to the D100 Dude other than striping, stickers, and Don Knott’s solemn pledge that this truck was “tough.” Knotts later went on to star as the landlord on Three’s Company while the D100 Dude rode off quietly into the night, leaving behind no trace of its ranch-inspired styling in future Dodge products.

Any of GMC’s Indy 500 Official Trucks 

Would it surprise you to know GMC was the “official truck” of the iconic Indy 500 race throughout much of the 1970s? Not if you were paying the least bit of attention to its showrooms during that era, when it produced a cavalcade of replica pickups intent on reminding you that, hey, there was a race! Again! In Indianapolis! 

Starting in 1974, the design wizards at GMC devoted their considerable sticker acumen to various representations of the brand’s logo, the date of the most recent Indianapolis 500, and a whole lot of blocky white and gold vinyl. As if that wasn’t enough, by the middle of the decade, eagles somehow got involved, invoking the grace and class of the Pontiac Thunderbird on the hood of GMC’s full-size pickup while also thundering down its side. There’s nothing subtle about open-wheel racing, and that’s a lesson GMC’s Indy trucks took to heart.

1976 Chevrolet C/K Spirit of 76 

America had bicentennial fever in 1976, producing all manner of consumer goods decorated with varying levels of patriotic themes. Chevrolet, not wanting to be left out, created the Spirit of 76 family of cars and trucks, including the C10 pickup. 

Although the Chevy came with a 76-specific badge and unique upholstery, the primary selling point was its wheelwell-hugging red, white, and blue sticker package, which created a mesmerizing tangle of angles and lines that ran down both sides of the truck.

1976 Dodge D250 Spirit of 76 

Dodge went ahead with its own grouping of bicentennial machinery, but its effort was a little more basic: sending a single narrow, star-spangled blue stripe down the upper edge of D250 models. Chevrolet would reign supreme, as Dodge purportedly only sold five of its Spirit of 76 trucks. Does this mean Dodge fans aren’t as patriotic as Chevy buyers? Or, more likely, were there simply only so many customers for whom a love of American history had to be proclaimed by the truck parked in their driveway? 

1977 Chevrolet LUV Mighty Mike 

The Chevy Light Utility Vehicle (LUV) truck was the company’s short-term fix for fighting the cheap Datsun and, eventually, Toyota pickups that were streaming in from overseas. Licensed from Isuzu, the LUV did battle against the Ford Courier for “domestic” dominance in the compact segment. To help give it a bit of a visual edge for 1977, it was offered in the Mighty Mike edition. 

Who was Mike? Why did he demand giant billboard vinyl down nearly the full length of the LUV truck, as well as either side of the hood? There are no answers for you here, Mr. Mulder—just ’70s styling gone wild on the smallest available canvas.

1977–1979 GMC K15 Desert Fox 

More than 30 years after Erwin Rommel’s forces were defeated by Allied forces on the battlegrounds of North Africa, GMC made the odd decision to adopt the general’s nom de guerre with the GMC K15 Desert Fox. It’s perhaps a bit unfair to single this model out as a stickers-only affair, given that it did come with unique wheels and a standard light bar, but one look at the Fox made it clear its tan-colored paint wasn’t going to do you much good from a camouflage perspective. 

The Desert Fox’s stickers, installed by Hickey Enterprises (one of the many aftermarket partners GMC teamed up with in the ’70s to offer factory special editions), are a mishmash of brown, red, browner brown, and darker tan. It created an almost Aztec-like styling application that, from the rear of the truck to the front, connected over the top of the hood like a regal blanket. GMC also foxified the Jimmy SUV, in case you preferred to sleep indoors instead of under the stars in a truck bed on your next mission. 

1977–1981 Ford F-150 Free Wheeling 

Of all the 1970s sticker packages, few have had the same kind of lasting impact as Ford’s completely over-the-top Free Wheeling option. Available across a surprisingly long list of trucks, vans, and SUVs from 1977 to 1979, the dark-to-light gradient represented by these stickers was called the “Rainbow Tape Strip.” It rose from the base of the vehicle to the top, completely taking over its sides and in some cases extending all the way up to the roof along the B-pillar, depending on which model year you’re looking at. 

Although black was a popular background choice for the Free Wheeling sticker set, you could also slap it onto much brighter colors. (All models also came with blacked-out mirrors, bumpers, and other trim to help the stickers really pop.) You got a little bit of color inside the cabin, too, helping to offset the black-and-gray upholstery and plastic common in Ford showrooms at that time.

1977 GMC Sarge 

General Motors had a lot of fun with its Special Emphasis vehicles, which ran the gamut from wacky, far-out colors and designs to more staid fare intended to attract traditional buyers who didn’t want to lose their rides in a packed parking lot filled with same-same models. The GMC Sarge falls into the latter camp, a version of the C/K 2500 series work truck that was sent for a styling lesson at the Motortown Company aftermarket outfitter. 

When it returned it brought with it—you guessed it—a whole bunch of stickers, most prominently a tri-tone block stripe down each side, set off with a SARGE hood ornament, a factory CB radio, and a SARGE callout on the rear quarter. Granted, SARGE is no Dude, but Don Knotts only had so much room in his bank account when it came to sponsorship deals. And given GMC’s fondness for tapping into a military past, the callout to everyone’s favorite non-commissioned officer must have made sense at the time.

1978–1980 GMC Street Coupe 

With Knotts unavailable, GMC had to turn to another celebrity to sell its final sticker-package truck of the decade, this time someone with much stronger automotive ties. James Garner already had a relationship with GM, having driven a Pontiac Firebird Esprit and a GMC Sierra Grande pickup on his detective show, The Rockford Files. He was also an accomplished sports car racer who formed part of a loose triumvirate of Hollywood hot shoes at the time that also included Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. 

What was a Street Coupe? Basically, it was a C/K pickup with two-tone paint and tape stripes. But wait, is there more? Not really—unless you count its unique hood ornament. Sure, you could order a ton of options with the truck, as with almost every other GMC, but the Street Coupe itself apparently had most of its development budget spent on hiring Garner for the ad campaign, leaving very little in the kitty for any cool equipment. 

1991–1992 Ford F-150 Nite 

Today you can throw a rock in almost any dealership and A) be asked to leave, because B) you likely chipped the paint on one of a half-dozen blacked-out special-editions cars, trucks, and SUVs. In fact, it’s safe to say that the modern equivalent of the sticker package is simply going full monochrome on trim and paint, as it’s become an inexpensive way for automakers to churn out something vaguely different to hawk to its faithful customers. 

One of the very first examples of the all-black aesthetic was, of course, the Buick GNX, but given that car’s exceptional performance pedigree, we’re going to skip ahead a few years to a more theme-fitting model: the Ford F-150 Nite edition. Offered on both the 1991 pickup and its 1992 refresh (as well as the full-size Bronco), the Nite was an all-black machine that broke up the darkness with a bright blue sticker that faded into purplish pink as it ran from front to rear. Also in the mix? A fancy “Nite” sticker written in a style that mixed grade-school cursive with almost-urban graffiti, and of course NITE-emblazoned floormats.

More Photos of Old Trucks With Sticker Packages 

GMC Indy 500 “official truck.”

Yellow Chevrolet LUV Mighty Mike with side stripe detail. 

Ford F-150 Free Wheeling driving through mud.

1977 GMC Sarge wheel and tire. 

1977 GMC Sarge hood ornament. 

1977 GMC Sarge side detail.

1976 Chevrolet C10 Spirit of 76 interior badge. 

Old Trucks That Leaned Way Into Sticker Packages To Sell 

• 1970-1971 Dodge D100 Dude 
• 1976 Chevrolet C/K Spirit of 76 
• 1976 Dodge D250 Spirit of 76 
• 1977 Chevrolet LUV Mighty Mike 
• 1977-1979 GMC K15 Desert Fox 
• 1977-1981 Ford F-150 Free Wheeling 
• 1977 GMC Sarge 
• 1978-1980 GMC Street Coupe 
• 1991-1992 Ford F-150 Nite