1989 Shelby Dakota

[shelbymotorsports]

A lot of people don't realize that the 1989 Shelby Dakota was the first V-8 powered vehicle to be built in house by Shelby since 1967.

I've always thought that the Shelby Dakota would be a perfect tow vehicle for all the Cobra owners out there but for some reason that didn't happen.

People seem to think that the Chevy 454SS, the GMC Syclone or even the Ford Lightning started the performance truck boom of the 80's & 90's but if one looks back Carroll was there first in 1989 with the Shelby Dakota.

Thanks Carroll

[shelbyregistry]

I always had a soft spot for the Lil' Red Express Truck.

[79LilRed]

Steve,

First off, I am curious about the price range of these trucks? I would like to find one that has about 90k to 130k well maintained miles. Wondering if red or white trucks bring more value? Second off, what type of gas mileage do these trucks get with the 318? Also, what is the top speed and how hard it to find a shop that specializing in selling or reprogram the computer modules on these trucks? Thank you in advance.

[79LilRed]

Sorry, posted in the wrong window. I was multitasking. Anyways, I have a Lil Red Express and Dakota Convertible. I love both trucks but, convertible parts are hard to find and some of the Lil Red parts can be hard but, not as bad.

[steve]

79 lil red,
sent you a P.M.

Steve-o

[shelbymotorsports]

Originally Posted by 79LilRed

Steve,

First off, I am curious about the price range of these trucks? I would like to find one that has about 90k to 130k well maintained miles. Wondering if red or white trucks bring more value? Second off, what type of gas mileage do these trucks get with the 318? Also, what is the top speed and how hard it to find a shop that specializing in selling or reprogram the computer modules on these trucks? Thank you in advance.

The average selling price is between $2,000 to $10,000 depending on mileage and condition and deals can be found. For example I have a 24,xxx original mile truck for sale at $8,000

Haven't really seen any price difference between the red & white trucks. Although white is a little rarer compared to the red the white trucks had the all too common paint peel problems of the 1980's so any perceived additional value a white truck would have is offseted by the need for a repaint.

Combined city/hwy gas mileage is around 18 mpg. On the highway doing 65mph you could probably get around 22-24mpg.

I can't recall off the top of my head if the top speed was limited by the computer or the brick shape of the truck but I want to say it was somewhere around 124-127 mph.

If you ever have the need for a replacement computer I can help you out. I have both the stock and the 30hp upgrade computers.

Let me know when you find a truck and I can give you some assistance if its a good deal or not and what to look for.

Steve

[79LilRed]

Shelby,

I have also been throwing around the idea also of just building a Shelby Clone as I own an 1990 Dakota Convertible I purchased last year out of Southern California. I am assuming your computer module would on my truck as well correct? Let me know if it will and let me know how you sell the stock and upgrade module for. Thank you in advance and thank you for the information.

[nellihahn]

Hi:

I know that we all struggle with the bolt on license plate frame for the front-end of our Chargers. Many of us hate to put holes in the bumper and very much like the front of the car without the license plate, including myself. However, many of us live in states where the law requires a front license plate. Also, for those of you that use toll transponders you probably need a front plate also. In addition, for many state inspections you need a front license plate also.

Here is an idea for a front license plate holding device that requires no holes or license frame and that let you easily mount and dismount the plate when you feel like it.

Attached you will find a picture of some strong black suction cups that contain a threaded post that would allow you to mount the license plate to the front of the car, as the suction cup would seem to hold on tight to the bumper.

Now, I haven't tried this yet, but I just placed an order for these to give them a try. I will put them on one of my old vehicles with an old expired license plate to see how they hold on up.

You can find these at this site:
http://www.mcmaster.com/

Just type in the search box "suction cups" Look in the results to find suction cups( 5 pages), click on that link and you will see some pages displayed on the right hand side, scroll down and you should see them entitled "Rubber Suction Cups w/Threaded Post" I ordered part 53535A22

They are pretty cheap, a box of 10 suctions cups are around $7.00

Any thoughts? Do you like the idea? Just trying to provide ideas to help my fellow Charger owners that have also been very helpful to me on this site.

[shelbymotorsports]

Originally Posted by 79LilRed

Shelby,

I have also been throwing around the idea also of just building a Shelby Clone as I own an 1990 Dakota Convertible I purchased last year out of Southern California. I am assuming your computer module would on my truck as well correct? Let me know if it will and let me know how you sell the stock and upgrade module for. Thank you in advance and thank you for the information.

Well yes and no. Besides the Shelby computer there are also some wiring changes that have to be made. The two biggest are the electric fans and the throttle body.

The good news is that the Dakota Convertibles are "Sport models" and that is also what the Shelby Dakota started out as so the mods are not that hard to do.

Steve

[79LilRed]

Thank you all. I may go a different and better route on my truck. For now I'll keep that under tabs. BTW, shelbymotorsports not all Dakota Convertibles were Sport Packages. In 89 yes you are correct, in 1990 you could get them SE packaged truck as well and you could even get a 4 cylinder in them. In fact, I have heard of one 4 cylinder convertible truck. In 1991 there were 8 produced to finish off the contract between ASC and Chrysler Corp. I think about 4 got the pre-magnum V8 in them and rest were V6. I believe last year one of the V8 trucks changed hands for around $20k.

[ShelbyDakota]

Shelby, what is the extent of knowledge on the Shelby Dakota? In all of cyberspace, there seems to be a serious lack of info. Thanks for the help.