Looking appropriately Barn Find’y, the seller lists this 1993 Dodge Dakota Sport 4×4 pickup as an actual barn find. That’s all they say about it, their description doesn’t give any ownership history, although clicking on the vehicle history report tab lists three owners. They have this 17,969-mile truck listed here on eBay in White Marsh, Maryland, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $4,050.
It would be nice to know what this truck went through over just 17,969 miles to look this faded. Was it left outside in Maryland? I hope not but who knows. It appears to have been a Maryland vehicle since new according to the vehicle history report, and the miles are correct so this one doesn’t have 117,969 on it. There’s no need to look at the brake pedal for wear.
Phoenix Graphics makes replacement decals if a person wants to repaint this truck and put new graphics on it, but I’d leave it exactly how it looks now. It’s hard to believe that Dodge Dakota production started almost 40 years ago in 1986 for the 1987 model year and even harder to believe that they were discontinued over a dozen years ago, in 2011. This first-generation example looks great other than the faded paint. There’s the usual light surface rust underneath but no rust-through that I can see.
The seller nails it by uploading so many good photos, and I mean a ton of photos of just about every square inch of this truck. The Sport trim level was between the base S models and LE, or SLT, models. As with the exterior, the interior of this truck looks great with no cracks or rips anywhere that I can see. There appears to be some very light staining on the bench seat but hopefully that can be cleaned. The bed has a bedliner in it, which is a nice touch. The seller says this truck has “new husky helper leaf springs and new brake lines.”
The dusty engine is Dodge’s 318-cu.in. OHV V8 with 230 horsepower and there’s no word on how or if it runs, but we’re assuming it does run. It sends power through an automatic and a transfer case to all four wheels when needed. Whether the AC works or what any issues are would be up to the bidders to ask the seller and hopefully they would give more information than they did in their listing, other than a grand slam worth of photos. This looks like a great truck, I’d make sure everything was working perfectly and drive it as it looks now, how about you?
Too bad it’s not a stick shift. A bud had one back in the college days w/a 318 & a 5-speed, and that truck would haul a$$! It was only a two-wheel drive, though.
I’m going to call the mileage suspect, speedometer heads can be changed fairly easy bid accordingly
I know that the paint quality was pretty bad on Dodge and Plymouth vehicles in the 1990s where it would fade and peel down to the primer . I know this to be true because I owned a 2 tone red and gray 1994 dakota slt extended cab with paint fading on the cab roof.
Pretty nice interior for how weathered the outside looks. The Magnum V8 will perform well with the automatic although a 5-speed would be fun. Hopefully a nice find for the next owner.
As most of you know,I love the pre-’97 Dakotas.
I just turned 90,000 on our ’94 4WD Club Cab.
It came with a hard cover on the bed,which I felt
was a total waste,as only the back 1/3 of it opened,
which I recently removed.
I looked at the exposed bed & decided that I’d
wax it.It came out like an almost brand new truck.
Auction update: this one sold for $8,600!