Have Pick Ups Always Been this Cheap?

I just bought this 1981 Dodge Ram D-250 for $500. It runs but needs work.

It's a big one. 3/4 ton with a long bed. It will be the tow pig.

I'm also looking for a pop up camper for it so I can live at the track or whever else I tow something.

Seems like a decent buy.  Not too rusty? 360 V8?

The folding bumper was an expensive option in the day!

logdog (Forum Supporter) said:

The folding bumper was an expensive option in the day!

That was courtesy of a hit and run when it was parked at the previous owner's house. It broke the two bottom bolts and it pivoted on the two top bolts. It actually tilts back up into place, but it needs new bolts to keep it there. Kind of a strange fix.

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

Seems like a decent buy.  Not too rusty? 360 V8?

It's a Texas truck. No rust. Just faded paint. It's the 360. It actually has fuel injection which was surprising for such an old truck. The last owner just put a new transmission in it a few years ago.

As someone who just bought a pickup truck, the answer is no! But that looks like a good deal for what looks like a solid project. I would have trouble not wanting to put in a Dodge V8 8.1 litre engine just because. Especially if the engine was free Free Dodge V10 engine

An 81 model with fuel injection? 

Cummins swap!

..said only because I also purchased a boxy Dodge D250 recently.  Mine's in for paint right now.

I also wonder about fuel injection, as I think 81 predates Dodge's adoption of EFI by a few years (?)

I think it will be interesting hearing about this fuel injection setup. 

Seems like a great score.

I've never seen a non-rusty, running pickup in my area for $500. I think the cheapest examples I've seen on C-list have tons of rust, bent panels and don't run or need a transmission or something. $500 is scrap price around here.

I have a pretty good slide in camper I am selling. It's just under 1,000 lbs. Pm if you are interested.

I'll be watching this, I'm eyeballing a few late 70's / early 80's Dodges. Also interested in the fuel injection on this truck and how the conversion was done.

My bad. It is actually a 1990 according to the title.

Amazing score for $500!

It's got an 8 foot bed. Exactly what I was looking for.

CJeter said:

I'll be watching this, I'm eyeballing a few late 70's / early 80's Dodges. Also interested in the fuel injection on this truck and how the conversion was done.

No conversion. OEM TBI from dodge. Not quite as reliable as the GM but it's TBI, not much going on there. 

That generation truck isn't really good at anything. Brakes are small/weak, trans is weak, the 360 will pass nothing, not even a gas station. about 190hp when new, 12-13mpg unloaded. 7-9 loaded. Towing capacity is like 6800 (same as our 4.8L CCSB with stupid tall highway gears). Steering is about as vague as you could get. 

But for $500 and it runs, that's hard to beat. Terrible tool for the job, but its cheap enough. 

EDIT: I know a lot of this, I had an aunt that hauled clydesdales with these trucks for a long time. 2 horses in a 26' trailer. Somewhere around 1993 they switched to the Cummins trucks and literally doubled their towing mpg, from 7 to 14. Brakes were still terrible and almost had an "incident" when their trailer brakes failed coming down out of the rockies. 

this was my $500 dodge ext cab 4x4. It was rotten but good at truck things. Yours is a great buy.

Thats a $5k truck in Wisconsin

The bumper is fixed. I just pushed it back into place and replaced the two broken bolts.

Interior is a bit of a dog's breakfast. I already found a new glovebox lid on e-bay.

The bungee cord is going away.

Mirror is gone. Will be looking in wrecking yards for another.

You STOLE that thing if you got it that cheap!!! You would have to add another zero to the price up here in the Northeast. 

Also, unless someone changed out the grill, swapped the steering wheel, and added the EFI, that's at least a 1989. The 360 didn't get EFI until then, and the grille changed around 1985 to what you have there. Of course, these trucks are like Legos, and lots of parts from 1972-93 interchange. 

If that is a 1989, you may also have the roller cam LA360, which is nice to have. If it ever blows up, swapping in a Magnum 360 isn't too bad. I did that to my '79 and it really transformed the truck. 

POST A BUILD THREAD!!!

It's a 1990 according to the title. The previous owner said it was a 360 Magnum. It roars when I start it up. Makes all my dogs start barking.

That's my 1978 Dodge B-300 Tioga II behind it. No rust on it either. Cars don't rust as much in Texas.

I guess I have a thing for old Dodges.