General Motors had the 454SS, the Syclone/Typhoon twins, and the C-series Sport trim pickups. Ford had the first-generation Lightning. And the folks at Chrysler had…well, in the 1990s, it was kind of a miss. Early on, they had the Shelby Dakota, which had the looks down but was a little weak where it truly counted…nobody cares about a drop-top pickup if it struggles to ruffle your hair. And towards the end of the decade they broke out the 5.9 R/T, which was a classic muscle car recipe: biggest engine in smallest package, and go. Now, we all know that a 360, even the 250 horsepower Magnum lump in the 1998-2003 Dakota, can be shipped to a machine shop and worked over into a 408ci stroker that makes great torque, great horsepower and great numbers. But there was one oversight…Chrysler had one bigger engine available.
There actually was two levels of precedence for jamming a Viper mill into a truck bed, and both are concept cars: the 1996 Ram VTS and the 1997 Dodge Dakota Sidewinder. Dodge would go on to produce the hilariously overpowered Dodge SRT-10 pickups in the mid-2000s, but what about the 1997-2003 Dakota? It had looks cribbed from the big-brother Ram, had six-lug hubs that theoretically should’ve been able to withstand the onslaught of power from the Viper mill, and they came in a manual transmission form, though neither New Venture five-speed manual box would’ve lasted long behind the V-10. That’s okay, though…the Tremec six-speed is present and accounted for. Can you smell the burning rubber yet? We can…remember, bad decisions make for the best stories, and this thing just screams “bad decision” from tip to tail.
Craigslist Link: 2001 Dodge Dakota Sport
I am going to need you to go ahead, and drop this truck off with me. 😉