This little S-10 can be found here on Craigslist right down the road from me in Hoosick Falls, New York. Goodness, it’s a heart breaker. Four-cylinder Iron Duke, manual transmission, rear-wheel drive, 110,000 miles, nice and square–this one ticked most of my boxes, and at $500 it seems like a steal.
Why doesn’t anyone make a good basic truck like this one anymore? It is just what just what I and many of my Gen X friends are looking for, and we’d be happy to pay $20k for a new one. I had my phone in my hand by the second picture, but dropped it back on my desk upon reaching picture #4. I’m absolutely certain that I’m not the only one to emit an audible sigh when getting there.
Ahh, what was and what will probably never be again. May we all bow our heads for a moment in silent prayer for this, our dearly departed S-10 friend. This above-average condition S-10 was the victim of a rollover. There may be $500 worth of good parts in there, but parts aren’t what I want. It’s a shame, really–the seller had recently redone the exhaust, replaced the grill and the driver’s side front fender, refreshed the brakes, and done some minor engine work. Looks to me like it was a great daily driver until rolling over onto a large pile of rocks. Now, not so much.
According to the seller, the S-10 still runs and drives fine, but the windshield is broken and the cab is “slightly” crunched. I guess we can quibble over the definition of slightly. Personally, I might call this “more than slightly” crunched. I don’t think that passenger side door is ever going to fit in there properly again. Still, if you need some parts, the seller is willing to negotiate. Give him a call and drive it home today!
To put a positive spin on things, the seller should have wrote “The cab requires a modicum of rehabilitation.”
as far as I an concerned the dodge dakota was a far better truck than these things and the rust bucket ranger was worse! ever try to lay a 4×8 sheet of plywood in either one how about getting a v8 in one or tow a tandem car trailer? with a dakota you can! all day long!
I had a 350 in my 83 s10, not hard at all.
I hauled a perfectly good rust and dent free s10 cab to the recycler a few years ago. I used the lwb chassis under my 55 first series project. I listed it on the local c list for quite some time. I was able to find a home for the doors and front clip, but there was no demand for the cab in central Texas…
Drive it home today? I can hear the conversation now- “Officer, it was already wrecked when I bought it…I didn’t leave the scene of anything!”
A cab can be found cheap, if it was closer, I’d buy it.
Shredder material. You can buy whole 4 cylinder S-10’s for that. The 4 cylinder is junk anyway, trust me, I had one. Toss it in,,,
If the frame is still straight, it will be a donor. Lots of old sedan and truck bodies can be dropped on S-10 frames, and lots of folks do just that. It’s a shortcut to getting a modern suspension and disc brakes into an older car. Doesn’t hurt there are plenty of ways to mount a V-8 into this frame.
$500 is short money for any hot rodder who is looking to drop a sweet old body and suddenly have modern front wheel disc brakes and independent suspension. Sorry that it’s wrecked, but someone out there will have a good time with it in the future.
“Motor was junk”, wow really!
I guess if the fact mine with the JUNK MOTOR lasted 435,000 miles then yeah that’s pretty unreliable isn’t it!
Mine was. I liked the truck itself,( mine was a Sonoma) but the 4 cylinder was horribly underpowered, and the V6, preferably, a 4.3, had more power, and got about the same mileage. Mine, the head gasket blew at about 105K, every single fuel, brake and trans line rusted and finally killed altogether, when the frame cracked( not the S-10’s fault) A V6, I would have fixed, but the 4 cylinder just not worth it. Everybody I talked to with 4 cylinders ended up putting head gaskets in. People just ran them too hard, and your example is truly an exception to the rule.
Which 4 banger are you referring too, the 2.5 tuned right with a 5 speed could net 26 mpg, the 2.2 is junk, I have one in my 99
Seller is a different kind of “flipper”.