Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible Truck

Today’s vehicle comes to us from the saddest car show I’ve ever been to.  The weekend before last, I traveled down to Iowa to visit my parents.  While there, the town my parents moved to was having a festival, and part of that celebration was a car show that was to take place along the main drag.  Unfortunately, nasty weather conditions were looming on the horizon, and so, many of the show’s participants chose to back out and keep their cars tucked safely away in their garages.  The result of this was a car show consisting of 7 cars -later, an 8th showed up, but when I was there taking photos, there were only 7.  The usual suspects were there at the show, including a highly modified classic car, some beautifully preserved oldies, a polished restoration, and a couple of mostly in tact and complete examples of old but not particularly interesting automobiles.  Then there was today’s car, which I actually spotted and photographed while shopping around town prior to the car show.  When I first spotted it earlier in the day, I had an inking it would show up at the show given how rarely I see one of these things.

Today’s car is a Dodge Dakota Sport convertible pickup truck.  Years before Chevy tried to make a go of the notion of convertible trucks with their expensive toy, the SSR retractable hard top truck, Dodge provided some fun in the somewhat practical sun with an inexpensive and not particularly well executed convertible version of their little Dakota truck.  These little buggers hit the market in 1989 and only stuck around for one year after that.  Not many were made because not many were sold.  In its last year of production, I believe there were just barely over 1,000 sold. 

This truck is one of those things, the existence of which is chalked up to the notion of “it seemed like a good idea at the time”.  Dodge had noticed that a lot of people who bought pickup trucks were using them for leisure activities rather than hard work like hauling and towing.  Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the leisurely truck buyer, they devised a plan to bring a convertible Dakota to market.  After all, what could be more leisurely than a convertible?  Well, a golf cart, maybe, but in terms of an actual street legal automobile, convertible is the answer we’re looking for here. 

The Dakota Sport convertible came to market with a price point of around $13,500 for a 4x2 , and $15,500 for a 4x4 version.  Those prices could swell by a couple thousand dollars depending on options that were included in the deal.  There were a couple of engine options offered during production: a 3.9L V6 that stirred up a measly (by today’s standards, but I think by 1990 standards as well) 125 HP and 195 lb ft of torque, and a 2.5L 4 cylinder with 117 HP and 139 lb ft of torque and could be had with a 5 speed manual transmission.  You could have one in your choice of 3 colors: red, white, or black, all decked out with tape graphics like you see on the one pictured here.  The truck came with a built in roll bar and the drop top was manually operated.  The 15” rims are nothing too special, but tires ought not to be too expensive when it comes time to buy new ones. 

The truck shown here bears decals that indicate it’s a 4x4 with a V6 under its hood.  If I were to search out one of these trucks though, I’d  set my sights on the 4 cylinder 4x2 with manual transmission.  It’s a convertible truck, and I’d probably only use it in summertime, so the 4x4 wouldn’t mean much to me, but the fuel economy would.  Both engines are pretty anemic, but at least the 4 cylinder has the excuse of being a little four-banger.    

These trucks were rare to begin with, and over the course of the past 13 years, one has to imagine that at least a few have been totaled, so who knows how many remain.  Some were used for both leisure and function and may not be very well preserved -in fact, this one wasn’t in anything near showroom condition.  Finding one of these trucks that has been kept and maintained in near new condition would be a rare thing. 

It’s not a particularly good truck, nor is it a particularly good convertible.  The only thing the Dakota Sport convertible really has going for it is the fact that it was a flash in the pan back in 1989-1990, and it has always been and always will be an uncommon sight.  It’s one of those rare birds that went the way of the dodo for good and practical reasons.  But even dodos can be interesting.  If one found a nice specimen for a low price, it would make an interesting addition to a car collection.