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?
That is a really nice Dakota, and a neat idea but the price is crazy in my opinion. I would rather have the datsun without the dump bed but it is the lesser of two evils today. Also, I wonder if that dump bed is actually made for work or if this was destined to be some hokey car show truck with LSDs and shaved door handles. If the Dakota would split the difference in price with the Datsun I think it would be a contender.
I think the dump bed actually is designed for work. What we can see of the inside of the bed looks scuffed up. It also appears there might be a few small dents in the bed as well. I’m not sure what this truck was used for, but I think it was used for something.
I wasn’t able to open the FB link so I didn’t see pictures inside the bad, but that is good to know!
I was mostly basing that off the rear view photo above that shows the top few inches of the bed. If you zoom in and look close a fair bit of wear is visible. Also, the original ad included a photo that showed part of the tailgate through the windshield; the tailgate shows similar wear.
If nothing else, the bed appears disproportionately worn relative to the rest of the truck.
Also can’t see the FB pictures, but does the box have a single sheet wall like the old mini pickups had? If so, it will get dented all to hell when you lots loose materials in there.
I went with the Datsun. A manual Dakota convertible is a holy grail vehicle for me, but this is a near-perfect example priced at or above a fair price for a near-perfect example. I would be much more interested if it was a 20 footer priced like a 20 footer. I like vehicles that are presentable but imperfect.
The Datsun is also a bit nicer than I am usually interested in. I’m not against buying nice vehicles, though, if the price premium is reasonable. I could see myself paying $4,000 for a low mileage 20 footer ’80 Datsun pickup, so I would be okay with paying a $1,900 premium for a 9/10 example. I also like the dump bed; it is a cool feature that looks well executed.
I’d have WAY more use for the Datsun. But I’ve loved those convertible Dakotas ever since my neighbour around the corner had one. I continue to see them as incredibly cool and would have one any day.
12K for a convertible truck? No thanks.
The Dakota, at half its asking price, squeaks past the Datsun, because I think something is fishy about the dump bed. The Dakota at 12K is absolutely ridiculous. Datsun all day long here.
Man, this is a tough one. The convertible Dakota with a stick is really quite a special thing. I bet they’ll get close to asking price, but it will take a while to find that right buyer.
Alas, I cannot resist the appeal of a tiny dump truck. Gimme the Datsun!
I’d take the 720. It has good bones to make one of those crazy 90’s style minitrucks. A few more hydraulics and that bed will be spinning around like a top.
Indeed. I’ve seen more than one of these with a similar bed, slammed and with Kustom wheels, paint and interior. One of them even had a suicide door conversion, which probably cost more than the original truck.
Drove a Dakota soft-top once, and wasn’t terribly impressed. $12K and it’s not even a Shelby Dakota? No, thanks.
I was all set to vote for the Dakota, but a convertible without AC can be pretty brutal in the heat of the summer.
If I can’t have the AC, I might as well have a truck that saves me some manual labor.
the Datsun has a lot of red flags. Was it a former lowrider truck converted back, but the lift bed was left there by accident? Is the odometer actually 238k miles but it was rolled back?
I don’t know, I don’t particularly desire a 720 2wd, but I strangely want a convertible Dakota, simply because of the convertible side of it, but I am not sure I would pay for either. since it is the old Crack Pipe thread here, I will go with the crack pipe priced Dakota.. I guess.
I didn’t look at the prices but the Datsun is the easy pick for me today.It will turn to dust where I live long before it has any major mechanical problems plus it has a dump body.The Dakota wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either.The convertible version was a complete rattletrap.
The Datsun is better than the Dakota. Also, that Dakota’s price is crackhead.
Red interiors are awesome. Much better than boring-ass gray shit 😛
Price on the Dakota disqualifies it. Datsun by default
This.
Even in fake internet play money the Dakota is way to high. So I’m going with the Datsun and will probably overload it to the point the dump wont lift and be unloading half the load by hand anyway.
Picked the ragtop Dakota despite the stupid price. Looks like fun!
I was given a larger version of that Toyota, a 1984 F-250 dump truck. It was such a rotted out POS I cut the cab and front end off and made a dump trailer. No brakes so it’s not really roadworthy but I pull it around the field with my farm tractor and haul firewood and brush.
Eh, gonna have to disagree with you there, Mark. Both still have usable beds. Just because you have a dump bed doesn’t mean you have to dump the contents out. It still holds most crap fits. The top hinge makes it a little less accessible, so hauling a motorcycle or anything that needs to be ramped into the bed is a no go. But you can still stack lumber, bags of mulch, etc. And even with the 4″-6″ rise in bed height, the sides are lower than on new 1/2 trucks.
The ragtop doesn’t affect the usefulness of the bed at all, as long as the top is up. Maybe there is a little more danger from bed stuff whacking you in the back of the head in the event of a sudden stop, but not sure the glass backlight of the hardtop would do much more.
That said, based on price, I’m taking the Datsun Dumper. The rarity of the manual ragtop of the Dodge just isn’t worth $12K to me. Not that $6K for the Datsun is cheap, but at least it is half as much.
This.
Also most trucks do carry something heavier than a Coleman cooler these days. Those Yeti coolers are pretty heavy.
I don’t care that the Dakota is more expensive. I don’t care that it’s an ’80s Chrysler product. It looks like a fun time, and that’s today’s only criterion. We’ll take the Dodge.
The Dakota price is nutso. Datsun wins by default (but also, that’s a cool little truck)!
I’ll take the dump truck.
I think an open-top pickup should be a commitment. The top should be removed in a permanent way by a couple of friends with sawzalls and grinders.
The Datsun was probably slow to begin with, and adding a dump bed must add so much weight. The Dakota looks like fun and since it’s pretend internet money, it gets my vote. Maybe the buyer would take $9500.
The Dakota can easily do all of the things that most people actually end up doing with their trucks and it’s a convertible. Granted, a leaky convertible, but still … But pricey; what isn’t these days? Throw in the manual and this is the perfect old guy fun vehicle.
I really wanted to vote Dakota, but man, $12k is just too much, and that clean of a Datsun is too tempting, even without its party trick dump bed.
I think a convertible top Maggie’s everything better, even a Nissan Murano, but I agree with you that $12k is just too much. If the price was much lower, I would be thinking about how long it would take me to get to Ohio.
As soon as I saw the top-shop I knew how I was voting. Dad had a dump bed on his F-250 when I was growing up, and after he got rid of it for a truck without one I questioned his decision. My “holy grail” dream resto-mod would be a Jeep FC-170 with a small turbo-diesel swapped in for the engine and a dump bed.
Today is a much easier choice.
I don’t care much for convertibles (The Answer being the exception), and especially something made into one.
That Datsun is clean, 5 speed manual, and would look very cool with the bed up at our Cars and Coffee.
I almost never pass on both, but today gets an “abstain” from me. If it were a dump bed that I wouldn’t mind beating up and could carry a bit more weight, maybe I’d go Datsun. But even with internet money neither of this is doing it for me.
The Datsun looks nice, with or without AC. It would be a great option for an in-town run about to do projects and landscaping around the house. Meanwhile $12k for a Dakota with a top that looks like a tent that was rejected from a surplus store is insanity.