Trucks With A Little Something Extra: 1980 Datsun 720 vs 1989 Dodge Dakota

Good morning! Today, we’re going to talk about trucks. Not just any trucks, but two single-cab short-bed trucks that each have a feature you don’t expect to see in such a vehicle. One has been modified to be able to do a certian kind of work more easily, and the other was only ever meant for play.

Yesterday, we looked at a couple of Japanese compacts you hardly ever see for sale anymore. I thought this one would be closer, actually, but I guess the CRX’s condition counted against it. Many of you thought it would make a good projecct car, but the turn-key Toyota was a far better deal.

I agree. I love the CRX, and if it weren’t up against that particular Corolla, I think it would look a lot better. But those GT-S coupes are such sharp-looking cars, and that one is in such good condition, that it’s hard to turn down. My ideal Japanese coupe from this era is still a Geo Storm GSi, but this Toyota wouldn’t be a bad substitute at all.

Short-bed single-cab trucks usually fall into one of two categories: they’re either dirt-cheap stripper models that get worked to death, or they’re sporty playthings whose beds never hold anything heavier than a Coleman cooler. One of today’s choices has been modified for doing serious work, but then was hardly ever used at all, it seems. And the other was modified by the manufacturer to ensure that it never had to do a day’s work in its life. Let’s check them out.

1980 Datsun 720 with dump bed – $5,900

Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter OHC inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Walnut Creek, CA

Odometer reading: 38,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Several times over the past few years, I’ve had occasion to haul loads of gravel in my truck, for various landscaping projects. Getting the gravel into the truck is easy: you drive up to a big pile, a bucket loader scoops up a bunch of it, and gently dumps it into your truck. You feel the springs settle as they take the weight, and away you go. Easy-peasy. Getting all that gravel out, however, is a bit more tedious. It requires a shovel and hours of back-breaking work. You know what would make it a lot easier? A dump bed, like this little Datsun has.

This is an early version of the Nissan/Datsun 720 truck, with the old L-series engine in it. It looks like it has been converted to a Weber carburetor, as many of them were. We don’t get a lot of information about its condition; the seller just says it “drives excellent.” But it ought to; it’s practically new. It only has 38,000 miles on the clock.

The interior looks incredibly clean, as you’d expect from such low mileage – except for the seats. The driver’s seat is in pretty bad shape, from what we can see, and both seats are much dirtier than the rest of the interior. It’s almost as if someone took the nice seats out of it for some other project, and stuck these in their place just so it had something. The ad also claims it has air conditioning, but I see no plumbing for it under the hood, nor a button for it inside. Something is definitely a little hinky here.

The star of the show outside is, of course, the dump bed, which appears to just be the normal truck bed with a hydraulic mechanism stuck underneath. The bed sits a few inches higher than stock, which makes it look a little weird. But there’s no rust, the chrome bumpers are shiny, and the sheetmetal looks straight as an arrow. It makes me wonder why someone went to the trouble of turning this into a dump truck and then never used it as one.

1989 Dodge Dakota Sport convertible – $12,000

Engine/drivetrain: 3.9-liter OHV V6, five-speed manual, RWD

Location: Youngstown, OH

Odometer reading: 103,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Convertible pickup trucks are nothing new; hell, a lot of the old Ford Model T trucks had a soft folding top. And technically, you could take the roof off the Jeep Scrambler and International Scout pickups, though not many people did. But when Dodge had ASC chop the top off a bunch of Dakota Sport pickups in 1989, there was nothing else like it available. It didn’t sell well; fewer than four thousand buyers were convinced it was a good idea over the course of three model years. And far fewer than that wanted a convertible truck with a manual gearbox; this is one of only a few hundred.

Power comes from the typical Dakota 3.9 liter V6, three-fourths of a 318 V8. It has throttle-body fuel injection and makes 125 horsepower. This one has a five-speed stick behind it, so it can make the most of what it has. It runs great, according to the seller, and has a new battery. The brake lines have also been replaced. Those two factors, along with the lowish mileage, lead me to believe this truck was sitting around for a while. It could probably use some exercise.

It’s in beautiful shape inside, but I could never quite understand why US automakers thought that a maroon interior goes with a fire-engine-red exterior. If it were gray or tan inside, or black outside, I think it would look better, but I digress. This one doesn’t have air conditioning either, but it does have plenty of ventilation, at least. The top is in good shape, and it also includes the boot and its storage bag, items which probably disappeared from most Dakota convertibles decades ago.

It’s nice and shiny outside, and both the paint and the vinyl graphics are in good shape. It includes the add-on black plastic wheel arches, which were never installed, but personally, I think it looks better without them. This is the nicest Dakota convertible I have seen in a long while, and the manual is a nice bonus, but I do feel like the price is a little optimistic. Rare only means valuable if there’s a lot of demand for something, and I get the feeling there’s about half as much demand for this one as the seller thinks there is. But as I’ve said before, I don’t price ’em; I just report ’em.

Both of these trucks have somewhat limited appeal, actually. Neither one can really be used as a “throw stuff in the back and go do work” truck like one without a dump bed or a convertible top could. But for exactly the right buyer, either one could be just the ticket. Are you that buyer? Probably not, but just for a minute, imagine you are. Which one are you going for?