In the late 80s, the muscle truck wars were just beginning to heat up. These were great days to be a light-duty truck shopper, as you had your choice of high-performance, two-wheel-drive pickups that didn’t offer much in the way of towing capacity but could break the tires loose with reckless abandon. This Shelby Dakota was the first one out of the gate and featured a healthy list of performance and cosmetic improvements to make a compelling argument for picking up a performance vehicle like this over a comparable Mustang or Camaro product. Find the Shelby Dakota here on craigslist for $12,500 near Burbank.
Now, at first glance, this truck looks like it may be like so many other Shelby products, with all of the distinguishing qualities that make it a Shelby product stripped off. Thankfully, this quality seems to end with the exterior decals and not the rest of the tweaks Shelby made. As you can see, it has the Shelby-specific cloth on the seats, along with the three-spoke steering wheel. The Shelby plaque is still affixed to the dash, and the door panels still sport the Shelby cloth inserts. The low-mileage claims seem to be reinforced by the condition of this interior, with the seller noting it’s showing just over 73K on the odometer.
The 5.2L V8 was good for 175 horsepower and 270 ft.-lb. of torque, channeled through a four-speed automatic and a limited-slip differential. Little details like the “Shelby V8” decal on the air cleaner still being visible is another clue that the low mileage reading is accurate. The seller notes that the truck was stored indoors and that it’s running well enough that you can drive it home today. The listing indicates that in addition to a brake job and the transmission mount, the seller has also rebuilt the transmission leading up to the sale. As the owner of a ’98 Dakota R/T, I live in fear of the words “transmission rebuild.”
The Shelby decals are in pretty rough shape, but I’m sure there’s someone out there making reproductions. The paint shows some fading in places, so it will always look a bit tired unless you’re prepared to take on a full respray. The old-school California license plates tell the tale as to how long this Shelby Dakota has been off the road, but the upside to a car going off the road in California is that they tend not to sit somewhere rusting for years at a time. The seller is asking all the money for one of these, but I can see a scenario where the low mileage triggers a potential buyer to overlook the cosmetic faults in order to own a sub-100K specimen. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Rocco B. for the find.
I guess that was considered a lot of power in 1989.My 1994 Dakota
Club Cab is rated at 220 horsepower,& 295 pound-feet of torque.
Dakotas are great trucks – not too big,& not too small.Much more
comfortable than the smaller Toyotas,Nissans,etc.
For a truck from Southern California,this one sure doesn’t look like
it was stored indoors.
I love the Dakotas,& have had six of them.I prefer the ’94-’96
models,as they have the best interiors,& look like a truck should –
boxy,with chrome bumpers.
Here’s a picture of the ’94 I just bought in Eastern Tennessee.
It has 75,000 miles on it & no rust.I bought it from the second owner
who had it 2-1/2 years,& bought it from the original owner,who kept
it in a garage,& only drove it on weekend.It has no scratches on the
inside of the bed,& a rubber mat covering it.It only had 35,000 mileson it when the second owner bought it.
I’m hoping this one will last me the rest of my life.
I hope to outlive mine.
They were nice mid size trucks. I had a 95 and it ran great.
Shelby did not sign the glove box…
I’m out.
As the gate cop said when Joe Dirt tried to enter the movie studio…”Don’t try to church it up son” Ugliest trucks God ever allowed man to string a gas line through…period!
Ugly? Have you seen the Tesla pickup?Now that’s UGLY!
To me,at least,the ones after this are the best looking of the bunch.
They’re boxy,& have chrome bumpers like a real truck should.
Unlike the new pickups,these are simply styled,without a lot
of needless (& trendy) lines.
I had an 85 S-10 with the whopping 112 hp and my buddy had an 86 one of these with a V-6. We used to try and bury the speedometers on tham and they both ran out of air or govenor at 88-90mph. Mine started dying when the temp went over 95° and the dealer couldn’t/wouldn’t fix it. Traded in on an 89 k1500 wit a 350 and 5 spd that was much more fun but a giant lemon. Last GM I’ll buy unless restoring one for fun. The LS is great now but the BS problems are not. I drive a 2015 2500 PU for work. Not fun.
I really liked my 2500
It’s missing the big plastic light bar-type thing attached to the back of the cab. It may be impossible to find another one…
I had a’93 Dakota single cab with the 220 horse 318 and that was my first “fast car”, that thing was fun to drive let me tell ya. I surprised many people who thought they were driving muscle cars, namely the mid to late 80’s Camaros and Trans Ams. The looks on their faces when they got smoked by a lowly pickup truck were priceless. That truck could really get up and go! The only ones I couldn’t beat were the IROCs and GTA’s with the L98 350. And it got decent mileage for what it was with the push button overdrive. I’d love to have another, or better yet the late 90’s Dakota R/T with the 360. There were some pretty cool muscle trucks back then, and you could still use them as trucks. I installed a Thrush cherry bomb muffler on mine and it would surprise anyone thinking it was just a six banger on startup, and it sounded great going through the gears.