Ridiculous Rebadges: A Sterling Reputation 

"Amoore100" (amoore100) 03/14/2016 at 23:17 • Filed to: Ridiculous Rebadges, Sterling, Daimler, Dodge, Chrysler, Mitsubishi

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Welcome to Ridiculous Rebadges, a series of articles in which I go through and examine the details and circumstances surrounding some of the more infamous and some of the more esoteric vehicular rebadges throughout automotive history.

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This is the final Ridiculous Rebadges centered around trucks for some time. I enjoyed writing about them but it gets difficult to find information as most people just aren’t willing to document the commercial vehicle industry as they would the automotive industry. Anyways, this vehicle heads back towards the world of cars anyway since underneath it’s just a Dodge Ram. Yes, we’re speaking of the Sterling Bullet, another product that was the result of the Daimler ownership of Chrysler. As you may know, Mercedes/Daimler bought the American truck company Freightliner back n 1981. In 1997, Daimler/Freightliner purchased the heavy truck division of Ford, renaming it Sterling after a long dormant name once used by White who sold Freightliners from the 50's to 70's. The old Aeromax line from Ford sold well for several years and was marketed as being versatile across many uses (long haul, delivery, garbage collection, dump trucks, etc.) but by the mid to late 2000's it was getting quite ancient. To supplement these ageing tractors, Daimler pooled its resources and came up with a Dodge Ram from its newly purchased (well not too new at that point) Chrysler division and began selling the Sterling Bullet as a chassis for delivery, ambulance, tow truck, and other light purposes. At the same time, the light truck/delivery market was covered by another rebadge, this one called the Sterling 360 which was a rebadged Mitsubishi Fuso Canter from Chrysler’s then relationship with Mitsubishi (although the timelines don’t exactly line up, I think some strings were pulled to keep selling the 360 after the DaimlerChrysler - Mitsubishi divorce). Still, these rebadged marvels were not enough to keep Sterling in the showrooms and it was eventually discontinued in 2009 as yet another reminder of the awful years of DaimlerChrysler.

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Third Generation Dodge Ram 2500

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Sterling Bullet

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Seventh Generation Mitsubishi Fuso Canter

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Sterling 360

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not for canada - australian in disguise > Amoore100 03/14/2016 at 23:19

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The urge to buy a chassis-cab Bullet and put a normal Ram bed on it is high. Would confuse the hell out of people, and that’s the point!

Somethin' 'bout a truck > Amoore100 03/14/2016 at 23:22

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It’s like they honestly didn’t try to make a decent interior. And I know it’s a truck.. but Ford & Chevy made waaaayyyyyy better trucks!

Katsumoto > not for canada - australian in disguise 03/14/2016 at 23:29

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Save the effort, buy a 3500 and just put Sterling Badges and the steering wheel on it. Voila, instant Bullet.

HammerheadFistpunch > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 23:30

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That canter interior is better...that says it all.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Amoore100 03/14/2016 at 23:31

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I think I like the Sterling Grille better than the Ram one.

Katsumoto > Amoore100 03/14/2016 at 23:34

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I own a Bullet. You know the worst part about it. Dodge wont service it. It has to go to a Freightliner dealer to be serviced.

I argued with my local dealer about it. Until they started servicing it. I told them if they choose not to service my Bullet, that the rest of my fleet cant be serviced there also. Since the Freightliner dealer has a Cummins certified mechanic on staff.

The best part about the Bullet is everyone thinks its got some different motor in it. So they sell it cheaper than a Ram of the same year and mileage. So if you find an idiot with one, buy it cheap. Lol

TheOnelectronic > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 23:37

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It’s kind of shameful for a 2008 vehicle.

Katsumoto > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 23:38

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Ill take my Rams and single Sterling anywhere any time.

Although all but my Sterling are 12s and up. So the new interior in the 4th gens is way better.

My personal work truck is a 14 Laramie Crew Cab 5500. Sorry, my company, my trucks, my money. Got damn right the boss man gets the fancy one.

Amoore100 > HammerheadFistpunch 03/14/2016 at 23:39

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My apologies, but the Canter interior pictured above is of the newest one, I just realized. This is the one that corresponds to the Sterling 360:

Amoore100 > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 23:48

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Well for the pickups it’s largely based on opinion, but yes, the contemporary Ford and Chevy were much better:

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On the cabovers, the interiors are all equally tragic, especially on contemporary Ford and Chevy/Isuzus:

Amoore100 > not for canada - australian in disguise 03/14/2016 at 23:49

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You wouldn’t be the first!

Somethin' 'bout a truck > Katsumoto 03/14/2016 at 23:49

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Yeah, I mean the newer ones are night and day better. Honestly, now they are competitive on all fronts. I just mean that particular generation!

I’ll bet the Laramie is awesome! And a 5500!?! Dang sir, you can haul!

Amoore100 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 03/14/2016 at 23:50

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Agreed. Less chintzy IMO, although the ‘S’ badge looks a bit cheap.

Somethin' 'bout a truck > Amoore100 03/14/2016 at 23:50

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Yeah, normally I would say it’s more subjective but for those years, Ram was behind by quite a bit. The cabovers are so tragic..

Amoore100 > Katsumoto 03/15/2016 at 00:13

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Well that’s unfortunate to hear. Is it just a brand loyalty thing that they won’t touch it or liability/etc.? At least they’re cheaper to buy as you say. A Bullet with a fifth wheel seems like it would be an excellent vacation hauler.

Amoore100 > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/15/2016 at 00:16

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Yep, mid 2000s Chrysler plastics were just the best! /s

Well, the cabovers are designed to have function over form, so you can’t really blame them. I just wish they had more style because as a delivery driver you’re probably staring at that dash for hours on end. Still, Volvo’s FL line seems like a step forwards, at least for the Europeans.

HammerheadFistpunch > Amoore100 03/15/2016 at 00:21

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Still nicer