If I remember correctly, my grandfather had a 97 Red Dakota and at least the red paint was recalled. So you might want to look in to if any other paints were recalled.

 

Just joined the forum and found this thread. I've owned my '97 Dakota since '98. Just went throught the whole repaint deal. The hood, top, fenders and tonneau all had to be stripped. Paint was completely down to primer and beyond on the metal. Here are some pics during the repaint process.

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And the finished product:
dakota.jpg
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Well, it is nice to see they continued that feature on after '99. I have a stupid rust hole the size of a quarter that just magically appeared about a month ago above the corner of my windshield on the passenger side.

I suppose it matches the hole in each of my front fenders where they meet the bumper...

In Florida you have paint fade...here, we get rust...