1,522 Miles! 1999 Dodge Dakota R/T

A single-cab performance truck with 1,522 miles in Solar Yellow? Yes, please. We’ve seen two Dodge Dakota R/T pickups from 1999 here on Barn Finds, both written up by the senior member of the team (not by age), Jeff Lavery. This beautiful time capsule example is listed here on eBay in Abilene, Texas. The seller has a $24,000 buy-it-now price listed, or you can start off the bidding at $22,000.

Jeff knows a thing or two about the Dakota R/T; he owned one a while ago. He also showed us a Solar Yellow Extended Cab R/T here on Barn Finds exactly two years ago today. I’m a big fan of an extended cab pickup for the utility, but for looks, it has to be a single-cab body. I’m assuming someone bought this truck as either an investment and couldn’t resist driving it a bit, or there’s another story as to how it’s lasted 27 years with just 1,522 miles on it. The special 17 x 9 cast aluminum wheels were R/T only, and they look great. Today, there would be at least 19-inch wheels on this truck, and they would absolutely be black, not silver.

This is a cool angle, and the seller has included nice photos overall, even a non-lift underside shot, which isn’t easy on a truck that isn’t jacked up, as a lot of them are today. How’s this for a profile? Nice. Nice and simple, no boy racer wings, no fake tough-guy nonsense, no black wheels, no pitch black window tint, none of the current stuff that everyone has to have. We don’t get to see inside the bed; that’s about the only photo the seller missed, but I’m guessing it looks like new back there. Here’s a 1999 Dodge Dakota brochure.

Dodge’s second-generation Dakota was made from 1996 for the 1997 model year until the end of 2004. The R/T performance trim trucks were made from 1997 to 2003. A show of hands for those of you who wish it were still 2003. I know, so do I. Knocking 23 years off my age, 23 years of wear and tear on my worn-out body, things just seemed simpler back then, but they probably weren’t. You can see the plastic is still on a few things here. A column-shifted four-speed automatic is what buyers got with the big-engined 5.9-liter R/T.

You could do surgery on this engine, I mean, if you were a surgeon. It’s that clean. This is Dodge’s 5.9-liter (360-cu.in.) Magnum OHV V8, which was factory-rated at 250 horsepower and 345 lb-ft of torque. Backed by the four-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels only on the R/T. The seller doesn’t say how it runs, but I have to believe it all works like new. If the tires are from 1999, they have to be changed ASAP, at least unless you’re hitting the trailer queen show circuit with this low-mile truck. I’d want to drive it. Any thoughts on this time capsule R/T?