The Shelby Dakota was a one-and-done in that it was only offered by Dodge in just one model year (1989). Just 1,475 were built, with most of the magic coming under the hood from Shelby Carroll’s shop in California. According to the seller, a third of these trucks were painted white, so ole Shelby must have had a thing for that color. Located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this project performance pickup is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $7,500. Another tip brought to us by our reader with the most interesting handle, “Lothar… of the Hill People.”

Shelby Dakota’s were not Dodge’s first pass at a performance truck (remember the Li’l Red Express pickup from the late 1970s?). The Shelby Dakota was a standard cab pickup with a V8 installed by Shelby where a factory Dodge V6 once lived. Shelby snatched out that 3.9-liter motor and dropped in a 5.2-liter V8 which was peppier at 175 hp. The new engine brought more torque, too, at 270 ft-lbs. Total production numbers were deliberately kept low, perhaps adjusted for the number of units that Shelby could process.

This vehicle has seen more than 138,000 miles which is not a lot by today’s standards but a fair amount for 1980s transportation. These trucks came with a 4-speed automatic transmission and a limited-slip differential since rear-wheel-drive was involved. The seller says this truck must have been built halfway through the cycle since it’s #730 out of 1,475.

Besides some surface rust, issues with the Dodge include non-working air conditioning and power steering, missing caps off the wheels, a leaking gas tank if filled to the top, a broken fog light, and a headliner that has a case of the flops. With some attention, all things these could be repaired, and you could use it as a daily driver or for outings to Cars & Coffee how many of Shelby’s first pickups could be left?