Shelby's known these days mostly for tuning
Mustangs. But there was a time in the 1980s when the company was tied closely
with Dodge, producing high-performance versions of the Omni, Charger, Lancer,
and Dakota – like the one you see here.
Based on Dodge's first-generation mid-size pickup,
the 1989 Shelby Dakota was actually the first V8 rear-drive vehicle that Shelby
had worked on in decades. It packed a 5.2-liter V8 driving what would now seem
like a paltry 175 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels through
a four-speed manual. It was also the first Dakota fitted with a V8, before
Dodge offered later versions with its Magnum engine – and set the stage for
other factory performance trucks like the 1991 GMC Syclone and '93 Ford F-150
SVT Lightning.
Only 1,475 examples were made in a single year of
production, of which 480 are said to have been painted white. This was the the
very first, and after initially being sold to a private customer, Shelby
American bought it back. And like so many of his products we've seen come up
for auction, Carroll Shelby himself was said to have driven it. It even comes
documented with an Arizona speeding ticket by his chief executive Donald Rager.
