Used Car of the Day: 1989 Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible

by Tim Healey

Published: August 12th, 2024

used car of the day 1989 dodge dakota sport convertible

Today's UCOTD is bound to upset those who still don't quite understand this feature. I promise I am not doing that intentionally -- I am not that mean (usually). No, I really do believe that the right person could take this project 1989 Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible and make it a fun project truck.

If they have the time, patience, and money.

This one has already been part of an ongoing restoration for 15 years, and it has a lot of miles (280K or more) and is currently non-running, perhaps because of a fuel-pump issue.

The 3.9-liter does have new wires, a new rotor, a new cap, and a new distributor.

It has a five-speed manual transmission and is available with either factory wheels or aftermarket wheels, but not both.

According to our seller, only around 450 of these were made in 1989.

You can find this truck for $2,500 near Topeka, Kansas. You can also click here to see more.

Before you yell at me in the comments, remember the point of this feature is to show interesting vehicles. Including those that might need a ton of work. I am not just looking for show-worthy trailer cars, here.

OK? OK. Good talk.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 26 comments

Arthur Dailey on Aug 13, 2024
As the saying goes 'rare does not mean valuable'. Yes the asking price is low. But the cost of restoration could be astronomical, in comparison to the final value of the vehicle. Now 'back in the day' you might buy a vehicle in this condition, make it a 'runner' and some young guy could drive it around paying perhaps a couple of hundred dollars for insurance.

Like Reply
Lou_BC on Aug 13, 2024
Looks like there are several 15 year restoration projects scattered around that yard.

1 Reply

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