Dodge partnered with at least two different engine manufacturers for pickup buyers who wanted diesel engines in their trucks beginning in the late-1970s: Mitsubishi and Cummins. We don’t hear much about the Mitsubishi-powered trucks anymore but Cummins and Dodge have been in sync for over two decades now. This brawny 1993 Dodge Ram W250 4×4 extended-cab diesel dually pickup can be found listed here on eBay in Lyones, New York and the current bid price is $30,000.
I would be like the guy who shows up at Sturgis riding a Honda Motocompo if I were to take my tiny, orange Dodge D-50 (Mitsubishi) pickup to a Dodge gathering filled with huge pickups like this one. I don’t know if they’d even let me through the door even though my truck has Dodge badges on it and was sold by Dodge four+ decades ago. I wouldn’t doubt if this big bruiser gets better mileage than my truck does with the diesel engine, too. Dodge offered Mitsubishi diesel engines in both its captive import line of trucks and also in 1978 and 1979 in their full-sized pickups. They are incredibly rare to see today.
This is a first-generation Dodge pickup, a 3/4-ton 4×4, hence the W250 part of the long name that it was born with. They were made beginning in the fall of 1980 until 1993 when the next generation pickups were introduced. These early trucks weren’t selling well towards the end of the run as they were based on old designs that dated back to the 1970s when both Ford and Chevrolet had redesigned their pickups and their sales showed that buyers wanted updated pickups. Hagerty is at $26,200 for a #3 good condition truck and $41,000 for a #2 excellent condition truck.
This example isn’t a low-mile trailer queen but it does appear to be in outstanding condition. The seller lists the mileage as being 123,917 and they say that it was always parked in a heated garage and never driven in the snow or rain. They show several underside photos and it appears to have some sort of undercoating on it as we’re seeing more and more of recently. The interior looks tidy and clean and the extra cab seating space would come in handy in a pinch, or more likely for storage. Speaking of storage space, the clean bed with a topper/cap/shell on it looks as clean as the rest of the truck does.
The big deal here, other than the 4×4 system, is a Cummins 359 cubic-inch inline-six turbo diesel engine which in this era would have had 160 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. According to the seller, it runs great and has never given them any problems at all, all while rolling at 20 mpg. Have any of you owned a Dodge/Cummins pickup from this era?
Truck has no miles, beautiful!, will go close to 50 grand
I’ve owned a 89 W150 short bed truck with a 318 for awhile now. Somehow, it’s both fantastic and awful amazingly all at the same time. I love her, but it’s not hard to see how when they were new they were easily outpaced by the GM and Ford trucks.
Not a single mention of how a W250 was converted/rigged into having dual rear wheels. Great trucks but this one has “WTF” going on all over it.
A good point. 250s never got the dual rear axle, so something fishy is going on. I know folks upgrade 250s and that’s good and all, but no mention of that in the sale.
OMG…. IMAGINE PUTTING DIESEL FUEL IN THIS HOG AT 6.69 A GALLON… lol… AND.. GOING HIGHER BY THE DAY….
With Diesel being $5.45 a gallon in my city and over $7 a gallon on the east coast its going to be interesting to see if that affects the selling price. Nice find
Bought a new 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive Cummins powered 5 speed manual Dodge pickup in 1992. 20 plus mpg pulling a tandem trailer if not pushing it over 70 mph. Owned Chevy and Ford trucks but the Dodge was the best I have ever owned. Not crazy about the visor , and lights on the cab’s roof. Getting over 20 mpg in a truck like this one is hardly a Hog!
Had multiple. All with the 5.9 Cummins. Started with a ’90 Cab and Chassis, then a ’93 W250 extended cab. On moving to New Zealand I found a ’91 W250 which had already been converted to Right Hand Drive and drove that for many years. The only problem I have ever had with the 5.9 was a blown head gasket on the ’91. Rust was becoming an issue on that one by the time I sold that. Finally went to an ’08 Ram 4500 with the 6.7 cummins that I picked up in Arizona and had converted to RHD. Had no end of issues with the electronics on this engine and was getting ready to rip them all out and get back to the basic engine when someone kindly offered good money. If I was to get another I would stick with the first generation 5.9 without any of that electronic rubbish.
These were great trucks and they rode like truck. I had a 92 W250 that was a mate to this one with the exception that mine had single rear wheels. I loved that truck. I sold it 2 years ago with 355,000 miles that 215,000 were mine. Like Tort ,I also got 20 plus mpg if you kept it under 70. It was a real workhorse. I used it to haul my backhoe and crawlers and it seemed that the harder I worked it the better it ran. I’ve also had a 96 W2500 that was a great truck also that I sold with 315,000miles. The ride was much better and the fuel mileage was the same. I now have a 07 W3500 dually with the 6.7. The fuel mileage is around 19 if you keep it under 70. The ride is so much better than the other 2,and it’s also a great truck with 297,000 miles currently. Knock on wood,but I haven’t had anything other than normal maintenance on any of them. As much as I love my 07 I still miss the 92 rough ride or not.
I was getting 26 mpg, but then our gallons are 4.5 litres whereas yours are 3.8.
Also our speed limit is 60 mph (100 kph) so accounts for better mileage. Actually I just remembered another issue I had with the ’91. It was running 3.07 finals which is a very unusual ratio. I broke a couple of teeth on the pinion and thought I could just order a new crown/pinion. No chance. I finally found one at a wreckers and my poor wife had to lug the whole innards in her hand luggage after a trip up to Canada.
Auction update: this one sold for $30,000!