Price-check (Reality Check?) ‘83 D150 pickup

My quest for a cheap-ish truck continues.

I don't have any requirements beyond $3500 or less, and somewhat local.

4WD, AC/Heat,manual, and extended cab, in that order, are all "nice to haves," but not critical.  

I've been looking at 90's chevy/GMC's, and S10s/nissans/toyotas on the smaller end. Squarebody would be cool, but in that price range, they need a bunch of work.

Spotted this guy less than 5 miles from the house. Haven't called the guy yet. Definitely has the "cool factor" (Black w/gold stripes, red vinyl interior...80's ugly/cool.) Manual trans.

Looks rust-free. Pretty straight aside from dented front driver 1/4.

I don't know a whole lot about these. I'm assuming it's either a 318 or 360.

I was hoping it'd be sub $3k but he's got it for $4k obo. Worth a phone call, or just keep looking at Chevys?

*Posted the vin if anyone wants to de-code for motor/options

Also: Recently expired tag, so assuming she is/was a runner till at least july of this year.

PPS: MAIN purpose would be farm-truck (Haulin sticks & trees & crap to the burn-pile/Home Depot runs) but bonus points if said truck could be used as a backup vehicle. 

The Disco and the "poopfinder" (pathfinder,) while awesome at doing 4WD things, both kinda suck as stuff-haulers/HD runners/backup vehicles.

Is it 4wd?  

In reply to spitfirebill :

Nope.

M means it's the leaning tower of power. So if you are ok with that, it looks clean and tidy. You can do worse for 4K 

That's a $1500-2000 truck as far as I'm concerned.

(and I LOVE it too)

Nice truck.  I see what looks like chrome caps on the front wagon wheels and no transfer case shifter through the window glare, maybe it isn't 4wd?  Might also be a slant six with a stick.

$4k obo could probably be had for $3k cash.  I see dual exhaust tips so maybe the leaning tower of slant six power has been swapped for something more burly. It’s definitely cool. 

Would it replace Disco or Poopfinder?  Because lack of 4WD makes it a dry-ground farm truck imo.

LF wheel much dirtier than than RF, so probably needs brakes.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Yeah. I wouldn't pay more than $3k. Needs tires, so I'd go ahead and throw some walmart mudders on it.

And yes, it would replace either the disco or poopfinder, but I'd still have a 4WD vehicle. If it's muddy af, I'm typically not doing much work anyway.

Slant 6 isn't a deal-breaker, but also makes it seem way more like a $2k truck than a $3k truck. I have always wanted to play with putting a Taiwan Twirly Boi on a slant 6.

But yeah, the tiny dual tips led me to believe 318/360. Maybe something even better lives there, hence the price.

In reply to noddaz :

It is not 4WD. Again, nice to have but not necessarily critical.

Also, a bunch of squarebodies & 90's chevys popped up on FB today under $4k so that's probably "the answer"

In reply to poopshovel again : Chevys and Fords are only the answer if you want to be normal. Mother Mopar has the good stuff when it comes to trucks. 

D means 2wd. It would be a W150 if it was 4wd, and sit noticeably higher with a leaf sprung straight axle under the front.

I love these trucks but nobody else seems to so I keep finding them really cheap. $3-4k is probably the high side for a D150 these days, especially a slant 6 truck. Older tin grill trucks seem to go a bit higher.

For clarification: I AM NOT, NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN, UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT IT'S 4WD

FWIW, I have one of its older brothers - '74 W150, Shortbed, 360, A/t. Got it dirt cheap back in 2004ish, $500, not running, not pretty. Got it running pretty quickly, tune up & parts, and it serves me well for short runs. Long runs are good to but MPG sucks. It has quirks, but what doesn't after 40 years.

poopshovel again said:

For clarification: I AM NOT, NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN, UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT IT'S 4WD

I was aware, my explanation was for the others that kept asking.

bit far away from you and Chebby. No pics. But $2.5k.

no affiliation.  I'd be too busy to check it out but there are others in the area.

That's a two wheel drive.

oh, I guess you knew that already.

In reply to chandler :

Well, that's a deal-breaker.

Stuff that age is getting rare enough to find in good condition that spec is way less important at the bottom of the market. As in, if you have something really nice from 1980-anything it doesn't matter which anything it has, it's not going to go under 2k unless someone is desperate. To me that looks like 3k unless there are rust or major mechanical issues. 

Buy it. Old Mopars are cool! If you absolutely must upgrade the running gear, throw a 5.7 Hemi in it. 

If you can get that for $3000-3500, I say do it. You can find ratty ones or ones that need work for less, but the runners seem to hold their value quite well.

My FIL has one just like that he bought new, but it's in worse condition cosmetically. Zero rust, but it's in primer at the moment. He's not interested in selling it at all, but he's been offered $3500 for it in my presence. 
 

Yeah but is it 4wd?