Find of the Day: Fun Meets Practicality in this 1990 Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible

Back in the mid-eighties, the Chrysler Corporation was the sort of a place where pipe dreams got green-lighted. Having risen from the grave, thanks to a $1.5 billion U.S. government bailout (that was paid off early) and the success of the Dodge Aries/Plymouth Reliant twins, Chrysler had learned to be quick on its feet, and to take chances with product niches that Ford and GM hadn’t exploited. The Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible was one of those chances.

The Dakota pickup, introduced for 1987, was already something of an outlier. Smaller than a full-size pickup, it was still big enough to fit a sheet of 4×8 plywood in the bed with the tailgate shut, something that the Chevrolet S10 and Ford Ranger couldn’t do. Chrysler called it America’s first midsize pickup truck.

In 1989, Chrysler launched a convertible version of the Dakota Sport, called the Sport Convertible. Although there had certainly been utility vehicles with removable hard tops on the market, a true pickup truck with a folding roof was something American consumers hadn’t been able to buy since the demise of the Ford Roadster Pickup in 1934.

The convertibles were created from two- and four-wheel-drive Dakota Sport pickups by ASC in Michigan. There, the steel roof was cut off, and replaced with a manually operated vinyl top that could be folded or removed. A padded roll bar, containing mounting points for the upper seat belt anchors and top support straps, was added, and the rocker panels and A- and B-pillars got additional reinforcement. That, and the Dakota’s rugged body-on-frame construction, meant that the cowl shake that plagued many conversions was avoided. 

“Young-at-heart Americans want to play, and this is just the truck for ’em … it will practically sell itself,” Dodge assured its dealers. Alas, the Dakota Sport Convertible wasn’t the lightning in a bottle that Chrysler had been hoping to catch, and production was halted after three years, with fewer than 4,000 built.

This two-wheel-drive 1990 Dakota Sport Convertible offered for sale in the Hemmings Marketplace features the 3.9-liter, 125-hp V-6 engine, paired with a four-speed, column-shifted automatic, available at extra cost over the five-speed manual. It’s loaded by 1990 truck standards, with air conditioning, an AM-FM cassette player, power windows and locks, power steering, a tilt wheel, and power brakes. It features a new top, interior, and tires, and is equipped with a tonneau cover and Class 3 trailer hitch. LIke all Sports, it wears distinctive body stripe graphics, black bumpers and trim, air dam-mounted fog lights, and 15-inch alloy wheels under add-on fender arches. Find it on Hemmings.com with an asking price of $11,000.

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