Well I just like the look of the dakotas, espcially once lowered and put on a nice set of wheels (CCWs or Vipers). Plus I am hoping to find a late model truck with nice paint and interior to buy and just swap my stuff into it. But yeah those trucks do get some good mpgs for sure!
True, it would be almost impossible to find a 1st Gen D50 with nice paint & interior anymore. Those poor trucks had hard lives and got abused badly.
2nd gens (1987 - 1993) are easier to find in decent shape, but they just don't look as nice as a 1st Gen (especially the Quad Headlight 1st gens)
My '84 4x4 D50 once had a 2.5L Intercooled Turbo Diesel in it, 40+ MPG in a 4x4 truck, 230hp/300ft lbs wasn't a bad little critter... until a balancing shaft locked up, starved the oil flow to various components in the engine (while still registering pressure on the mechanical gauge) and trashing the #2 piston and cylinder.
The 2.5L was originally a 2.3L from a factory Turbo Diesel D50 I used to own, sourced the crankshaft, rods & pistons from Canada to convert my 2.3 to a 2.5
I yanked it out, dropped in a 2.6L gas engine, Ran it for 2 months and then yanked the 2.6L out and dropped in a Chrysler 273 Small Block & 904. No idea what the mileage is now, I'm still putting it back together. But I can bet the mileage is going to suck, since the truck has 6" of lift and 40" tires on it.
My '87 4x4 D50 was the one that brought me 27 - 29mpg, when it died, I replaced it with a '92 4x4 Dakota Clubcab with a 5.2/A518... gets 15mpg on a good day, if i've got a good wind pushing me downhill.
The '87 had a twin, mine was a Longbed 4x4 5-speed. it's brother was an '87 5-Speed 4x4 with a 9' Dumpbed (both trucks also had snow plows), the '87 Dumptruck managed to bring in a decent 25 - 27mpg, but it also had a bone stock 2.6L (the 2.6 in my '87 Longbed had a header, a custom ground camshaft and a non-jet valve head that had been milled for more compression)
