No Reserve Short Bed: 1986 Dodge D100 Pickup
This rust-free 1986 Dodge Ram D100 shortbox pickup is fun to see. I mean, not fun as in gather ’round the computer with a bowl of popcorn and look at the photos over and over again but more like, fun to see such a solid truck. Where I live, this truck would most likely be in sad, rusty condition. This one can be found here on eBay in Des Moines, Iowa and the current bid price is $3,100 and there is no reserve.
We don’t know what part of Texas this truck was raised in, but it had to be in one of the dry areas as opposed to an area on the Gulf of Mexico. The underside is in amazing condition as are the body panels, other than some dents and dings as you can see from it being, you know, a truck.
Speaking of being used as a truck, you can see that the tailgate has seen better days and they say that the front bumper needs to be replaced. Dodge gave its D-Series pickups an update in late-1980 for the 1981 model year and renamed them the Dodge Ram. 1981 seems like both a lifetime ago and just yesterday at the same time. I can’t believe that it’s been 39 years already.
The interior of this ’86 Dodge pickup looks great, I don’t see any big flaws anywhere really. I expected to see a cracked dash and a trashed seat from the Texas sun but I don’t see any of that, it looks great inside. What I do see is a manual transmission which in this case is a three-speed with overdrive.
This one has Dodge’s 225 slant-six engine with 105 horsepower. A 318 and 360 V8 would have also been available and I would have to believe that either of those two V8s would make this truck more desirable and valuable. The odometer shows 22,975 miles and I’m assuming it’s actually 122,975 but that’s just a guess. 767 miles a year on average for 34 years would be pretty low miles for a pickup but maybe it was only used on a Texas ranch, who knows. I’d keep this truck exactly how it is now and maintain it, how about you?
Comments
Nice! I call these, the “Rodney Dangerfield” of trucks, they just never got any respect( adjusting tie, wiping forehead). They were nothing fancy, but every bit as good as the others, more so even, yet, they just didn’t sell. I don’t like shifting anymore, but if you are looking for a great truck, at apparently, a super buy, look no further.
I always remember these as looking “unfinished”,with
poor paint quality – worse than Ford or Chevy.
Nice truck. The bidding is likely far from over, deservedly so. It will be interesting to watch the last few minutes of this auction.
Steve R
I do not like the color was never a fan of gold and tan hues. These always seem to survive, but I do like the 225 six automatic combination Should get good mileage and economy.
Awesome looking truck. I remember when the Ram truck looked like this. I find it more attractive than today’s Ram truck.
I agree, these old Dodges are a million times cooler, and a much more practical size, than today’s “Rams”.
Nothing says “truck” any better than these tough old work horses.
I had a Dodge truck like this with a six, but it had a 3 on three. Good truck. I also had a 1976 Dodge Dart sport with the six and a 4 on the floor.
For those of you that don’t seem to realize, this truck has a 3 on-the-tree.
Look closer at the interior shot of the driver side, and you’ll see the floor-mounted shifter.
Not a mopar guy but love this. Leaning tower of power and stick, what else do you need in a pickup
It’s time to start looking at these Dodge’s. A nice looking design (especially short beds). This same truck from GM would likely go for twice the price this one will probably fetch.
Fred spears here. I bought one just like it, short bed, slant 6, stick with overdrive. Piece of crap. Only red
I owned one of these back in the day. I bought it with my Dad, for him to use after he retired and started a small one man company called Your Handyman, that kept him happy and busy, while making pocket money, but he had no job, so I signed the papers and he got to use it all the times I didn’t need a truck. But his did give me his beautiful all baby blue 78 Town Car, to get around in, with both registered and insured through him. Dad had no issues or problems, but after a couple years he had to quit due to health reasons, then Mom&Dad retired to Florida for the winters. So they loaded up the Dodge, left me the Lincoln and went to Florida. I met the girl of my dreams just before they left and we planned a may wedding. So Mom& Dad left the Dodge at the airport in Sarasota and flew home as Mr&Mrs Smith, with a return ticket, that back in the day you could get away with such things, my new wife and I had to fly to Florida for a 3 weeks honeymoon! We flew into Sarasota then had my Dodge truck, an 86 D100 Custom SB, with the vaunted slant six! That was a decent comfortable truck, Med Mt blue, with two tone blue cloth seat interior with nice wood grain and AM/FM, but no AC! That even in may was not very good in Florida. It was on the way home 11 days later the issue of the sticking heat riser valve in the exhaust manifold manifested itself on Rt. 95, in VA. That all of a sudden limited our speed to 40 mph?? So I pulled into a service area along the highway, back when not only fast food was available, but an actual gas station repair shop. As soon as I opened the hood all we could see, tight away was the exhaust manifold glowing cherry red!! plus we could hear the gas in the carb boiling!! So all I could do is find a nice shady place off to the side under trees, to let it all cool down for a couple hours, while having lunch/nap. Later on when I could touch the heat riser gizmo, I found the spring that held it open after the correct temp was reached would hold it open had broken! So to get home for little money, especially seeing that the truck was still under warranty, I just took the pieces of broken spring out of the way, then used a little red beach engineering and used a couple hose clamps I bought off the garage, using the tools I had in the truck, with all the other stuff filling the bed under a nice cap, to mount the clamps in a way the heat riser stayed open!! That was fine till the next winter, just before the warranty ran out, I brought it to the dealer, where they performed a recall on that very issue, installed a new manifold, that helped the truck run better than ever! They did tell me that manifold could not be used in california, so that figured. Other than that we never had any problems, but I traded it in on a new GMC S15 club cab 4×4. Right after I was informed at the Dodge dealer that the latest slant sixes, unlike their earlier counterparts, were actually made in Mexico!! That they were starting to see issues running counter to the previous generations longevity!
I love this truck! I only wish my my timing was better and my check book could take the hit. With the price were it is now I would hang in to the end. The price could double and I still would want it. When will you ever find another one in this condition. I had a 69 Dart with the slant 6 , as much as I love the power, I would touch the drive train of this truck, it would be the perfect everyday driver.
But the Slant Six in your 69 Dart was manufactured in America and built a well earned reputation as bulletproof. But sometime in the early 80’s, manufacturing moved to Mexico, where the reputation took a hit.
Slant 6 and AC, so you know it was a Texas truck!
It wasn’t until 1990 that Chrysler Corporation stopped making the leaning tower of power at the Trenton Engine Plant in Trenton , MI and transferred production to Mexico.
Actually it was 1983, when it was last used in a MOPAR automobile. After that the Slant Six was only found in trucks, stationary and marine uses. The one I had in my 86 Dodge Ram D100, had Made In Mexico cast right in the side of the block near the oil filter.
I have the back half of one of these, made into a lightweight utility trailer by a farmer a couple of decades ago.
I always wondered what became of the front, figured it was a serious crash.