In the world of pickup trucks, there are a few absolute truths. One of them is that to have the most desirable configuration of truck possible, you should buy one with a V8 and a short bed. This 1988 Dodge Ram D150 pickup is said to have been slumbering for a few years before being woken up, and it has under 60,000 original miles on the clock. Between the short box and V8 combo and the low miles, this one is not surprisingly racking up some fair bids at the moment here on eBay. The current bid price has it sitting at just under $8,000, and I suspect it will go further, even with no reserve.
The Dodge pickups of this era are interesting to me. They haven’t quite achieved the same level of collectability as the C10 trucks, but good ones do command good money. Rough examples are almost throwaway trucks at this point, but I’ll still see a rough C10 find a new home without too much issue. The Dodge isn’t as attractive as the Chevrolet and GMC products of the same era, in my opinion, which may have something to do with the hit-or-miss desirability. The chrome bumpers on this Dodge look to be in good shape and the same goes for the two-tone paint job.
The interior shows signs of wear and tear but nothing egregious. The door panels, bench seat, and carpeting could all be improved with detailing, but that’s a weekend’s worth of work for the next owner. The fake wood trim around the instrument cluster is in very good order and suggests this Dodge hasn’t spent much time in the sun given the lack of fading or peeling. The Dodge is equipped with power windows, a factory option we don’t see all that often in a truck that was seemingly always ordered as bare-bones as possible by the original owners. The carpets are a bit filthier than I would have hoped for considering the lower miles.
The bed has seen some use so don’t expect to see spotless original paint inside in case that odometer reading got you hopeful. Still, the paintwork atop the wheel wells looks very good, and the paint around the truck appears to have aged evenly – so hopefully, there are no accidents in this truck’s history file. The seller reports that after it had sat for two years, he dropped a battery in and it fired right up. The only concern I have that isn’t addressed in the listing is the fact that the Dodge resides in Pennsylvania, and if it’s been there since new, there’s always a chance there is rot underneath. Hopefully, that isn’t the case with this low-mileage short bed that’s offered with no reserve.
ANOTHER good clean truck! 👍🏻 Not really inclined to agree with the sellers eBay billing that this is “a rare antique classic” but it certainly is a nice one. Curious however about the lacking mechanical description-what motor is in it, the 318 or 360? Can this be driven further than the trailer/flatbed? Is it lacking for anything mechanical?
Most importantly are there gloves in the glove box!!?!?!
Nice standard cab short bed (a good looking combination here) it doesn’t look like it was run hard and put away wet👍🏻 and if the price doesn’t skyrocket at the closing bell this might be one of the better buys out there.
Located in Philadelphia,PA.No pictures of the underside.
Is that road salt on the ground?Did it fall off of it?
The wear in the bed looks like the result of a drop in bedliner. I’d throw on a set of cop wheels ,dog dish caps, and drive this one.
I agree with you on that.I once owned the full size dodge truck same year four x four three eight teen engine and the same exact color.I was the second owner of it it was a farm truck with just under fifty thousand miles on it my Grandpa bought it for me I loved that truck!
A nice example of a square body Dodge. I highly disagree with the author’s opinion that Chevrolet’s of the same area are better looking. They have a bigger following, but the Dodge is good looking also. Wouldn’t mind having this, but I have too many vehicles already!
I owned a Dodge of the same era and I loved that truck. Chevrolet trucks of that era were cheaply made and a sneeze would dent the door in.
Looks pretty nice for what is visible but lets have a look at the undercarrige!
I am going out on a limb and saying 157000 + miles. Looks alright but not quite as good condition as they want you to believe.
I’m with you on the mileage.
This truck has sixty thousand miles on it and my truck had barely fifty thousand miles on mine.my grandpa wanted to buy me a new truck but I couldn’t afford to pay full coverage for a new truck so we found this truck the full size just like this one I fell in love with it right away.he brought it for just under ten thousand dollars for mine.all I could afford was liability insurance on it back then the wages weren’t the greatest back then.I did a tune up on it the tips were burnt out on all eight plugs, and it took me a hour just to get the rotary cap off with out damaging anything else on that motor I almost gave up on it lol.I’m surprised it ran so good before I worked on it omg! That eighteen engine ran even better yet after I did the tune up lol.I’ve never ever encountered anything like that before quite a learning experience on that one lol! A few years later I was working two jobs for over a year and I did another tune up again and I got a couple of wires messed up into the repair shop i sent it to get fixed.well that was on Christmas Eve i got two Christmas bonuses guess where that money went to you got it i paid for that mistake i did lol but still made it back to my parents for Christmas at least lol!
Mopar are no car or truck in this case
4wd should be W150 vs D150…..
I once owned the full size truck the same year four x four year and color my Grandfather bought it for me she had just under fifty thousand miles like mint a farmer truck.. it still had the original plugs in it I changed them myself the tips were gone on the plugs, and it took me a hour to get the rotor cap off of it lol I’m surprised it ran so good or ran at all lol.I put on white letter Hercules atv off road tires on it, and put on Walmart’s cheap mag looking hubcaps on the wheels the wheel covers even covered the front hub’s making it look even better and it looked cool. I had to sell it,because my Grandpa passed away and left me his brand new dodge Dakota four x four truck in which I had her all gussied up too before somebody had to total it out a nice truck to fully loaded!
Those are Ford wheels and center caps
Have a penchant for first gen Dodge pickups. It stems from my first vehicular purchase with my father as cosigner on a D250 diesel in 1992. Still drive that one daily. Gone through a handful of these; used hard as work pickups. It is my armchair opinion that this rig has more use than described. Still I would not kick her outta bed.
I’m with ‘ya, Ridge. I dearly love old Dodge trucks! I currently own a ’98 Ram 1500 w/ 236K miles that runs like a top. It’s an ex-FS truck out of NM w/ the 3.9 V6 and the HD 5-speed. Fifth gear apparently is an OD and the old V6 doesn’t have quite enough guts to pull it, but fourth hits the sweet spot in the powerband at around 72 and the ‘ol girl will purr aloing all day long at 75-80. The biggest problem I have is she keeps wanting to go faster! … In the 80’s I owned a ’73 D100 w/ the 218 V6. I sold it but I have regretted doing so ever since. I just bought a ’73 D600 w/ a 4+2 manual and 40K original miles at a farm auction in NE. It’s a 2-ton grain truck w/ no rust on the cab. I’m gonna’ pull the sides off and build a log cabin camper on the 14′ flat-bed. It will surely be a big project, but it should be lots of fun! Wish me luck!
Keep us posted! Good luck.
Looks like the auction ended at $9700. As others have mentioned, there’s a few odd things going on here. The lack of engine bay and under carriage pics would worry me greatly. It being a 4×4 and thus a Power Ram W150, it should have lockable hubs by then, so are they just covered up by the Ford wheels? Maybe it fell off at some point and got swapped, but the Dodge script on the front hood should be the same font and thick lettering as the side badges. The smaller lettered Dodge was on the 81-86 trucks. At least according to the VIN, it would have been the 5.2L (318) with EFI under the hood.
If it was close by. Definitely worth going to check it out. Shows fair amount of wear for 60K. Maybe a cleaned up work truck. Not lots information and pictures. 60K it should be bone dry underneath. And pretty much in shape under hood. I’ll bet it runs strong.