I don't know about you guys but I am questioning the idea about these Dakota's. Pretty soon these trucks will reach the fine age of twenty five, and in Canada be considered classic, do you guys feel that these trucks are a classic vehicle, or if anything a hot rod?? I am puzzled about this question since I am at the point where I could go further with my Dakota and fix her up to make it one heck of a machine or invest my time into something else. I do have some amazing ideas for this truck and the power to transform it. So here's my question do you guys believe these first gen Dakota's are worth doing the repair to create a muscle truck, or if anything a hot rod???

 

It's like the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." After twenty-five years it may be considered a classic, but to be accepted as a classic by the mainstream public like a '60's or early '70's muscle car, I doubt it. If you have a Shelby Dakota maybe. If you're considering sinking money into your truck to make it worth something because it's a classic I think you're wasting your money. If you want to sink money into your truck because it brings a smile to your face and makes you happy, then by all means, spend away. My Dad and I built an '85 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon. Technically it's a classic, but we didn't build it because it might be worth something. It's turbo-charged and we take it to the track. It does 14.7 in the 1/4 mile. I'm currently building a new transmission for it with a limited slip differential. We're doing it because we have fun at the track not because it might be worth something as a classic. As far as a Dakota being hot rod, same thing. On the street, it's just a pick-up truck. At the track, if you can get a good time, then it's a hot rod. I'm taking my '94 360 Dakota to the track this weekend to see what it can do. I consider it a hot rod because it has a bigger engine than stock. But I think the average person could care less.

A.J.

 

I completely agree. Some vehicles "age" better than others. I have a car (86 Fiero GT) that I could register in ND as "classic" but to me, calling it a "classic" makes me feel old since its younger than me!! haha

And in a lot of car guy eyes, its neither a collector NOR a classic!

But I like it and for a 26 year old car, its MINT and in ND it is quite a rarity. Dont know how many times I have been asked what type of Ferrari it is!

 

That says it all right there. My 82 Trans Am that I sold a year ago was 29 years old, in good condition it is still looked at by most as 80's junk or Mullet Redneck cars.

Being not the popular trucks out there these will be looked at by most as a large S-10.

 

I agree with the others. I love my Dakota, and I have been and will continue to fix it up, for me,not because I think it will ever be a collector vehicle. I don't care what others say or think, I like it.There are quite a few 1st gen Dakotas around me, and some of them are very very clean.None of them have any noticeable mods other than wheels, and only a few. I actually almost rear-ended somebody a couple of monthes ago because I was looking at another Dakota.[Pretty stupid, I know.]

I also think it's cool how Dakota owners check out eachothers trucks, and seem to give passage to eachother on the road. Almost like an unspoken brotherhood or something.

Do what makes you happy and enjoy either way.

 

You mean check each other out, like the Harley boys do? My wife's Dak is a '92 with 5.2, around 90,000 miles, completely stock except for the dual exhaust from the muffler back. We took it to a couple of shows last year just to see the reaction and we were pretty surprised how the younger people really seemed to gravitate to it.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/DSC01193.jpg

 

I don't blame them! That is one beautiful truck!

On that note, There are those that love these trucks, and there are those that see it as just another quarter ton.. The majority being the latter, therefore not too many people will even be able to see these things being called classics..

 

Hello guys again, sorry for the extremely long related post on this site, I needed some time to think over if I should "hot rod" the truck or get rid of it. So I finally came up with a decision. I will be keeping the truck, and fixin her up mighty fine. Also I payed 250 for my truck and thats about the best base price I'll ever find for a project. With searching for the past month or so, I have been checking other sites about dakota's, so on and so forth I have two main ideas for my end result for my dakota and idea to get there.

(1) A retro style gasser, since I have always love the gasser look but up around here I could never find a proper body for a decent price to rebuild. Idea was to sink the back and find some 4x4 shocks "pretty common around alberta" to jack the front. Throw the 5.9L in "going in no matter which idea i will use" and rat rod it a little bit, cut front fenders, chop top to shorten roof height, wheel spacer for the front so I can throw on some pizza cutter tires, and big tire's in the back. maybe even solid front axle like what real gassers have. - DOWNSIDE, there are a few down sides with my truck, the main one is that my truck is a ext cab, and it might be to long of a vehicle and might look qwerky. Its a automatic, also it will be a lot of fabrication to get it the way I want.

(2) Is a sleek drop look, like what most people do over at custom dakota, lower the vehicle by two- three inches "back is already lowered 2 1/2" smaller diameter tires with white wall like one of the trucks over at custom dakota, I think that is a very sexy look. Keep it nice sleek. - DOWNSIDE, It's very simple to do plan B but not very origional "I am not raising my truck since there are enough rig rockets around where I live" So it would stand out a little more where I live. Around here we have what we call winter and a lower vehicle tends to have a little problem in the snow, the solution for plan B is that most of the height difference will be by the tires, smaller size-vs-bigger size, and lastly it will be less fab job but I will have to search for rust free parts where plan A I wouldn't.

Thank you guys for the long wait, please feel free to throw your input, or negatives or other build ideas, and have an awesome day.