To this day, it isn’t uncommon to see an older fellow with a brand new truck absolutely decked out with all kinds of functional fun stuff. This has been a trend for as long as trucks have been a thing to be proud of, and this 1989 Dodge Power Ram surely shows it! Between the fog lights, bug-guard, running boards, and Garfield mud flaps this truck is about as ’90s as it gets! This is a very well-preserved example with the odometer reading 102,000 miles. Find it here on eBay in Oregon with bidding at $6,600 and no reserve. Thanks to Matt W. for sending this one in!
The odometer may say 102,000 miles, but the interior looks a lot closer to 65,000 if you ask me! The seller says that this truck was always garage kept, and I like to imagine an older gentleman pulling it out on the weekend to haul yard waste to the dump and take his grandkids for ice-cream. While that may not be the exact situation, the interior of this truck shows that it has received perhaps the best care possible and has seen no abuse. You’ll notice the larger floor shifter, which at first looks like a shifter for a manual transmission. In actuality, this is the selector lever for the four wheel drive system.
Though not a “first-gen Cummins,” as so many sellers like to call it, the engine is a dead-reliable Chrysler 318 small-block V8. Because it is an ’89 model, this truck should have the “Lean-Burn” system which can cause fueling issues once it has aged. If this truck has been maintained as it appears to have been, this should not be an issue anytime soon. The seller has included a video in the ad that can also be found here on YouTube showing the truck running. The engine runs very smoothly and is very quiet! Not everyone is looking for a big, loud pickup, so this is likely a plus for many buyers looking at a nice original truck like this.
Although the rear bumper isn’t original, it suits the truck’s style and is appropriate for the era. The hitch ball suggests there was some light towing done with this truck, so the larger bumper could’ve been upgraded for that as well as looks. This would be a great truck for someone who only needs one sometimes, or wants a truck that will really turn heads at their local cruise-in!
Very nice worth the ask. Perfect weekend warrior DIY truck. I hate to suggest putting a snow blade on for some extra 💲…depends on gearing and torque.
If mine I would keep one “get off my tail” mudflap on the left and add a chrome
naked lady mudflap on the right.
The hitch ball suggests there was some light towing done with this truck ? Look a little closer under that bumper at the heavy duty reese hitch and consider the door mounted mirror brackets that swivel outward as the mirror is flipped for heavy wide load towing. Not saying this trucked looks abused but it surely wasn’t used for light towing. Overall appears as nice as one could be in that year that’s actually been driven.
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Good call, I managed to miss seeing that due to that area being dark in most of the pictures. I see it now!
I also see a trailer brake controller mounted at bottom of dash. This thing did some at least medium duty hauling at some point. Very good condition though. No a/c is a non-starter in the Southeast US.
Never see 89 or newer dodge without a Cummins this is a really nice truck should sell…
The seller needs to hire a writer, or go back to school, but the truck looks amazing. The “rug” on the dash has to go, however.
The running boards, bug shield, fog lamps, and mud flaps would have to go. Otherwise, I could live with everything else as is. Nice truck.
Its a half ton truck.
They did not put a cummins in a 150.
That was only for 250 and 350 trucks.
It is a nice looking truck.
Correct! I was making a stab at all of the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks of this era being listed as “1989 1st Gen Cummins” instead of listing what the truck surrounding the engine is.
I always thought Dodge had switched to throttle body fuel injection around ’88 or ’89, not the Magnum version, but definitely an improvement over the 2 barrel feed back carburator on the 318. My ’87 had the gutless wonder version of a once very good engine, got terrible mileage with the 3 speed automatic without any kind of power at all. If this has the throttle body set up it would make for decent pick up truck, very clean.
It was indeed 1988 that the throttle bodies began.
Fuel milage was horrible in these trucks. I know, I owned a blue one.
10 mile per gallon would be typical for that vintage truck at highway speed.
Had a 1985 ramcharger that got about that
“Lead Burn” engine ? Not to much research done on this….or maybe a mopar beater….
Not familiar with Lean-Burn? Consider yourself lucky. I’ve been a Mopar guy since day one. https://www.allpar.com/mopar/lean-burn.html
No one could say “Chrysler lean-burn” like Ricardo Montalban
That 4-wheel drive selector lever is one of the weirdest things that I’ve ever seen (I’ve seen weirder things by looking in a mirror, but that’s a whole other story). It would make a lot of sense if the car were located here in Australia where we steer from the other side of the vehicle. For you guys in the US it must rate as more than a little inconvenient.
put the JC whitney catalog down, and back away SLOWLY!
the way I look at this truck ,he took care of it and anything extra on it was there for a reason! don’t like it don’t look! a hell of lot better than jacking it up 3 feet in the air, and painting it flat black which looks like crap!
The slogged e18 was a gas guzzling gutless pig in this year, if it was used for towing older camper trailers it was working its guts out.
Yet put a good 20′ Alumaweld boat or new light weight camper .make a more than presentable rig.
AND MIGHT HIGH BUT WITHIN REASONABLE COST
Yes 1989’s have throttle body injection, a big improvement over a carburetor. I also have an ’89 318 that also runs on propane..cuts my fuel bill in half around here (Toronto)
The rug on the dash along with the cheap bug deflector would definitely get trashed, replace the farmer running boards with tube steps, ditch the fog lights as I had a set way back when and they were not worth the trouble it took to install them, then I would be happy to drive it.
The 4×4 selector was placed to the right side of the transmission hump because on models with the HD 4 speed was place to the left. I had an 86 just like this. It was a very dependable truck. It wasn’t the fastest truck I ever owned, but I had no problem pulling a 30ft. Camper trailer with it. I put over 180k miles on it before trading in on a 99 Ram quad cab. The 99 was fast, fuel injected magnum 360ci. Fuel mileage was no better than the 318 though. This is a great looking truck, I’m looking for a plow truck, but I wouldn’t buy this for that purpose cause I know what that does to them and this truck deserves better.
Friend of mine had a mid ninties full size Dodge with the 360 Magnum, an yes, it was a very strong running truck. Put one of those weird looking aftermarket KnN air cleaners on it which claimed to improve power AND gas mileage; it got worse mileage due to the fact he couldn’t keep his foot from finding the floor because it sounded neat! Haha☺
The Army had older versions of this truck. It was called an M880 and other designations for ambulance and radio trucks. The 4×4 shift lever was shorter in those. It had carbs on it. The thing was though you were hard pressed to get it stuck in mud. I drove many through freshly plowed german fields and never had a problem with getting stuck. I kept it in 4 high to do that. The guys who put it in 4 low would sometimes get stuck and I would shift it back in 4 high and make them look stupid. LOL. The Army bought Chevy 1500’s later they called that a CUCV cause it ran deisel. That thing got stuck All The Time. Hated them.
I agree some of the extras on this truck gotta go. It would actually be a pretty good car hauler for in state trips, That is why I would buy it. Wrong color for a bug vehicle though it would stick out like a sore thumb. LOL. Although it would get you outta dodge with some gas cans in the back over land pretty easy. I miss my old M880 sometimes.
Cool old school pickup. I like big blocks myself but the 318 was a fine little engine for a half ton truck if you aren’t planning on hauling any heavy loads.
They never got the magnum motors until ’93.
Finished out at $7100