sobiecam
College Student
I was riding home from Indy this afternoon after putting a new carb on the truck and was thinking about how most of the cars on here have their own colorful history and story, so I'll give you guys some insight to this truck's life.
Born in September 1987 (same month of my birthday, and actually AFTER the indy 500 of 1987) was Indy 500 "official truck" Dakota #250, she was built as a deluxe interior, Radiant Red on Burgundy Dakota with the 3.9L V6 and A999 transmission, it had the large radiator, four wheel drive, an AM/FM stereo with five speakers, badge delete (though it ended up with badges on it before being sold), front air dam delete, and with the code that stated "Creative Image" which I assume is the company that was contracted to add the graphics, roll bar, off road lights, air dam, fog lights, and dash plaque on the Trackside trucks.
After being converted and paraded around Indianapolis Motor Speedway the trucks were then auctioned off to dealerships around the country. #250 was won by Kneble Dodge of Winnimac, IN (now defunct). The Dakota was then sold to Sam Eskridge of Knox, IN (roughly 15 minutes north). He took good care of the truck where it was always maintained and as far as I know, garage kept.
The next part of the story is somewhat blurry as some sources say he gave it to his son after getting a new truck in the mid/late 1990s, other say it was sold to another fellow...
ANYWAYS the fellow who ended up with it called himself the "burnout king" and as one could imagine the Dakota spent some hard miles under his ownership. This is the time period when the truck had the front fender smacked in, the bumper pulled wrong (you can see looking at it from the front that the bumper looks "squeezed" near the drivers side), the rust accumulated, other dents and destruction happened but the truck was never really modified. Before he sold it he removed the original light bar and lights along with the switches for both the off road lights and the fog lights.
Some time in late 2011, early 2012 the truck was sold to my cousin, though I knew nothing of it. I discovered the truck one day sitting at a stop light in my old Plymouth Acclaim, I saw the truck with all sorts of graphics on it and knew right then, that I would own that truck.
Roughly a month later I talked to my cousin about trading my Acclaim for the Dakota, which he was very interested in. All it took was me taking it for a test drive to know I was sold on it.
After getting the Dakota I took the time to wash and wax the 25 year old paint and vacuum and shampoo the interior. I also changed the oil and put a new trans line in it. After doing that I took it for a drive, only to realize that I wasn't given a trans line at the parts store, which made for a beautiful smokey leak... thankfully the trans wasn't hurt.
Later on I replaced the front wheel bearing that had been trashed since long before I owned the truck and enjoyed some miles with her, replacing small things like the valve cover gaskets and oil pressure sending unit. One of the kinks of the truck was that it's fuel gauge didn't work but the low fuel light did, so eventually I pulled the bed off and like all other resto stories it escalated very quickly. I blasted the rear frame rails, put roll in bedliner on the rails, and before i knew it there was a new sending unit in, all new brake lines, new wheel cylinders, new pads, new drums, new shoes, and new rotors. Not long after all of this work I ended up installing a new radio along with some pioneer speakers and then I restored an extra set of factory aluminum Dakota wheels and putting new tires on them before bolting them up to the truck. Also over the summer I started collecting all of the metal to make the truck nice and rust free.
So after all of the work had wrapped up school was starting and the Dak became my daily driver again, until the carb gave up a week before school ended for the semester. Everybody at school, which was in Indianapolis, loved the truck and though it was cool, even if it did look like it sat at the bottom of a lake for a while.
Finally the end of this chapter, as the Dakota sits in the driveway, shivering in the freezing rain wishing it was in the shop with the Mopar Express Dakota, waiting for warmer weather to come, knowing that I'm ready to make her beautiful once again...
Born in September 1987 (same month of my birthday, and actually AFTER the indy 500 of 1987) was Indy 500 "official truck" Dakota #250, she was built as a deluxe interior, Radiant Red on Burgundy Dakota with the 3.9L V6 and A999 transmission, it had the large radiator, four wheel drive, an AM/FM stereo with five speakers, badge delete (though it ended up with badges on it before being sold), front air dam delete, and with the code that stated "Creative Image" which I assume is the company that was contracted to add the graphics, roll bar, off road lights, air dam, fog lights, and dash plaque on the Trackside trucks.
After being converted and paraded around Indianapolis Motor Speedway the trucks were then auctioned off to dealerships around the country. #250 was won by Kneble Dodge of Winnimac, IN (now defunct). The Dakota was then sold to Sam Eskridge of Knox, IN (roughly 15 minutes north). He took good care of the truck where it was always maintained and as far as I know, garage kept.
The next part of the story is somewhat blurry as some sources say he gave it to his son after getting a new truck in the mid/late 1990s, other say it was sold to another fellow...
ANYWAYS the fellow who ended up with it called himself the "burnout king" and as one could imagine the Dakota spent some hard miles under his ownership. This is the time period when the truck had the front fender smacked in, the bumper pulled wrong (you can see looking at it from the front that the bumper looks "squeezed" near the drivers side), the rust accumulated, other dents and destruction happened but the truck was never really modified. Before he sold it he removed the original light bar and lights along with the switches for both the off road lights and the fog lights.
Some time in late 2011, early 2012 the truck was sold to my cousin, though I knew nothing of it. I discovered the truck one day sitting at a stop light in my old Plymouth Acclaim, I saw the truck with all sorts of graphics on it and knew right then, that I would own that truck.
Roughly a month later I talked to my cousin about trading my Acclaim for the Dakota, which he was very interested in. All it took was me taking it for a test drive to know I was sold on it.
After getting the Dakota I took the time to wash and wax the 25 year old paint and vacuum and shampoo the interior. I also changed the oil and put a new trans line in it. After doing that I took it for a drive, only to realize that I wasn't given a trans line at the parts store, which made for a beautiful smokey leak... thankfully the trans wasn't hurt.
Later on I replaced the front wheel bearing that had been trashed since long before I owned the truck and enjoyed some miles with her, replacing small things like the valve cover gaskets and oil pressure sending unit. One of the kinks of the truck was that it's fuel gauge didn't work but the low fuel light did, so eventually I pulled the bed off and like all other resto stories it escalated very quickly. I blasted the rear frame rails, put roll in bedliner on the rails, and before i knew it there was a new sending unit in, all new brake lines, new wheel cylinders, new pads, new drums, new shoes, and new rotors. Not long after all of this work I ended up installing a new radio along with some pioneer speakers and then I restored an extra set of factory aluminum Dakota wheels and putting new tires on them before bolting them up to the truck. Also over the summer I started collecting all of the metal to make the truck nice and rust free.
So after all of the work had wrapped up school was starting and the Dak became my daily driver again, until the carb gave up a week before school ended for the semester. Everybody at school, which was in Indianapolis, loved the truck and though it was cool, even if it did look like it sat at the bottom of a lake for a while.
Finally the end of this chapter, as the Dakota sits in the driveway, shivering in the freezing rain wishing it was in the shop with the Mopar Express Dakota, waiting for warmer weather to come, knowing that I'm ready to make her beautiful once again...
