There’s something about seeing a decades-old pickup in the highest trim level and having white walls and full wheelcovers that gets to me. A gentleman’s truck, or gentlewoman, or gentleperson, or somethin’. For refined folks who still wanted and needed to haul things in the back. This 1984 Dodge D150 Royal SE Prospector is listed here on eBay in Manchester, Kentucky, and there is a single bid of $1,500 and no reserve!
This is one fancy truck, at least for the time, not for today. There are no factory cup holders (the humanity!), no heated seats, no Bluetooth, no touchscreen stereo, and no color backup camera. Seriously, how did we all make it through this era without just dropping dead instantly?! I’m kidding, of course, if you saw some of the rusted-out junkbombs that I drove in this era, with no heat, rusted to death, $5 junkyard tires, etc. you’d know why I appreciate a little luxury today in my vintage and newer vehicles.
This truck appears to be solid, but there is a lot of surface rust on the top portions, in the bed, and in a few other spots. We don’t see the underside but I’d bet that it has a decent coat of heavy surface rust underneath, too. It looks mostly dent and ding-free, but there’s one big zinger on the leading edge of the right fender and hood that the seller shows here, and they say that it’s from an animal hit, bummer. This is a first-generation Ram pickup, which would have been made from late 1980 for the 1981 model year, up until 1993. They were the first ones to bring back the Ram hood ornament, which is still on this truck.
GAA! Ok, the interior needs a bit of work, too. The exterior looks nice enough that a person may be able to somehow save the paint, or clear coat it – the seller says that the paint could probably be rubbed out/polished. Or, just have it painted, it’s only money, right? (crickets). The interior needs lots of help, from the tilt steering column – which they say may be from a car – to the fancy “deluxe cloth and vinyl” Royal SE ribbed fabric seat fabric, to the door panels (which could be painted), adding some sound-deadener material and new carpet, etc. It can all be fixed, of course, and at this price, this truck seems like a no-brainer. I can’t believe that it’s only at $1,500 so far. If you check out the photos, you’ll notice an incredible layer of dust and dirt on everything, as if this truck has actually been used for truck duties.
The engine is Dodge’s 318-cu.in. OHV V8, which would have had 140 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of torque. The seller says that it runs fine but does burn some oil and the oil pressure is good, not great. Hagerty is at $6,300 for a #4 fair-condition truck and $14,600 for a #3 good truck, so there’s a lot of room to bring this one back to life and still keep it under budget. How much would you pay for this one?
What a great writeup of a vehicle few care about. No comments, 1 bid( the seller?) tells me, this is the truck those macho ding-a-lings in their smoking, lifted RAM duallys would like to forget. As mentioned before, Dodge had a slim following, and after IHs demise, if for some reason you didn’t want a Ford or GM, this was the last resort. They always followed in the shadow of them, until ’94 when the new RAM , which is getting a bit old, debuted. Since most of the IH buyers were rural folks, Dodge had a big following on the farm, and for good reason. Nothing short of backing the tractor over it, would kill them.
This? Just a good old pickup, that few would restore, get it running right, and park it along side all the other, um, projects, for when, if ever, a pickup is needed.
The smartest thing Chrysler ever did- with a longer lasting net affect then even the K cars -was reinventing the pickup in 1994. It should have been an easy decision though. In 1993 they were selling some thing like 95,000 trucks a year on a body and chassis that were well paid for by that point. 1994 sales jumped to 235,000 trucks and they’ve never looked back.I’m with you though Howard -the old trucks were pretty tough- still a lot of these still “on the clock” here in the Great Plains.
These 1st Gen Rams were so cool. It’s like they’re a copy/paste of Chevy’s Square Body, but with a MOPAR twist! I mean who doesn’t love that hood ornament! This looks like a pretty decent rig, as long as the price stays nice and low. It hurts it being a long bed, but that’s the case with any of the 1/2 ton classic trucks. The steering column and wheel are correct for this truck. That’s the original column, and while the four spoke sport wheel looks out of place in a 2WD long bed, pawpaw going to town style truck, it could been ordered as an option, they were a little more common on the Ram Charger SUVs for some reason. Those steering wheels are great, so hopefully the center cap can be found.
Since this Dodge body style came out in 1972 and Chevys’ in 1973 , it would be more like Chevrolet copied and pasted the look .
You hit the proverbial nail on the head. GENTLEMEN……. Period
Use to have an 81 born with the sideways 6,swapped in a built 360. Colorado emissions went off the slant six or born with. Didn’t pass. Best Truck I had,except for the F-250 That I dropped a 410 Merc. Into. Called the Dodge Ole dodger ya know from the shooting. Sold the truck. Ki k myself for not pulling the 360.
I would drive this truck with pride because I’m old school and this would be a great easy affordable project to fix up without much strain on the wallet. I don’t understand why these got a reputation because they were the ones grandpa working on the farm or ranch owned because they knew what they had was dependable and to this day can still be used on a ranch as a nice hay carrier or feed hauler.
Auction update: this truck sold for a mere $2,650, the best deal of 2023 so far.
No one makes affordable reproduction parts for them. Have a very small following. I’ve had my 81since 95′ and it’s a great truck. Awesome lines and super easy to work on if you get rid of dodges stupid spark bull crap. Great truck.