Was the slant six motor originally a truck motor?

Answer 1

The SLANT 6 was introduced as the 6 cylinder engine in Chrysler corporation's 1960 automotive year model line. It was used in the compact 1960 Valiant, and the 1960 Dodge Dart. The Dart was a mid sized car. The engine replaced the venerable L head 6 that Chrysler had used since it introduction in 1930. The L head engine in fact continued to be the engine in the truck line for several additonal years. I believe the Slant 6 made it into the Dodge A 100 series of vans and cab forward Pickups, then into the standard pickup in 1963. The Plymouth Full size car line also had the /6 in 1960. Dodge introduced a compact similar to the Valiant know as the Lancer it also had a /6. The engines were available in two displacemets in 1960 the 170 for the Valiant and the 225 for the larger Dodge. The Lancer got both versions by customer selection. Later a 198 cubic inch was introduced as well. An Aluminum blocked version was experimented with but never made it to full production. Some were released unnanounced to the public in random production cars. The aluminum block had head to block sealing porblems which were never corrected satisfactorily for total introduction. So the simple answer is no, the /6 was introduced in cars before trucks. When it made it into trucks it was a very flexable and dependable powerplant in all it applications. It was also used for industrial and marine applications.