One-Owner Bargain? 1999 Dodge Dakota R/T

It can be hard to find a decent, usable vehicle of any type for under $10,000 these days, and under $5,000, good luck. Those of you who think there aren’t any decent deals out there anymore, here you go. This 1999 Dodge Dakota R/T is posted here on craigslist in Shelton, Washington, and the seller is asking just $4,000 or offer! Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!

We hear it every day, and you see it every day: prices are up and up and up, especially for old vehicles that a lot of us remember paying hardly anything for a few years ago. Of course, those “few years ago” are usually two or three decades ago, but that’s how quickly time passes. Gas, diesel, groceries, building supplies, mustache wax… well, maybe not that, but everything is going up. Old vehicles aren’t cheap anymore, at least most of them aren’t. Here’s a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup brochure.

The seller mentions some minor body dents, but this weird thing on the left edge of the bed is the only thing I see, and I can’t figure out what is going on there. Here’s a close-up photo that the seller provided, which I think is a very good sign. Whenever a seller isn’t trying to hide anything, I tend to believe them. In this case, for $4,000, if this R/T wasn’t across the country, I’d be super interested in it as a replacement for my way-too-small 1980 Dodge D-50 Sport pickup.

The Dakota R/T didn’t come with a manual transmission, but that’s ok. There was also no 4WD option for the R/T. We’ve only seen six Dodge Dakota R/Ts here on Barn Finds over the years, and two of them were black. I like it – no, I love this truck. For $4,000, what’s not to love, weird dent or not. The seats look a bit worn, as they should after a whopping 180,000 miles, but the all-important Club Cab area behind the front seats looks perfect.

The clean engine should be Dodge’s 5.9-liter (360-cu.in.) OHV V8 with 250 horsepower and 345 lb-ft of torque. Backed by the only transmission available at this time, a 46RE four-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels, the seller says it’s a one-owner truck with maintenance records going back to day one, but they don’t say how it runs and drives. $4,000 may not be the $1,200 that a lot of us remember our used vehicles costing a couple’three decades ago, but in 2026, that’s not much money. Any thoughts on this Dakota R/T?