How did this happen so quickly? Just a few years ago you could buy a 1980s/90s pickup with a manual transmission for what seemed like pennies, but in the last five years, it seems, the remaining stock of manual, 4×4 trucks has dried up, and prices seem through the roof.
My friend Brandon is on the hunt for a manual four-wheel drive pickup truck to use around the farm. When he told me this it seemed like an easy undertaking, as surely there are plenty of cheap old Dodges, Fords, and Chevys out there with a front diff and a stick, right? It turns out the answer is “no.” Brandon has been having a tough time finding what was once a ubiquitous, cheap workhorse, and in trying to help him I realized: Maybe the days of cheap 4×4 stickshift pickups are behind us. And I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, since manual trucks — especially full-sizers — have gone the way of the dodo.
“I looked at a manual V8 4WD Dodge Dakota in Virginia,” he told me today. “Frame had some massive rust going on. Wasn’t rusted through but won’t be long. The seller seemed confused because he ‘had rustproofing applied to the frame by a shop.’ It was just cheap black paint and it was way too late to make a difference.”
Clearly desperation has started kicking in.
Flashback to 10 years ago, when I bought the above 1985 Jeep J10 for $3,500. That was a decent amount of money for that truck back then, and a number of my friends told me I overpaid. But it was exactly the truck I wanted; I’d looked at it on the way back to Michigan from my friend’s place in North Carolina, and I couldn’t exactly negotiate given that I told the seller “Hold onto this for one week; I’ll come back with a trailer and cash.”
So I paid the full $3,500, got a ribbing from my engineer-buddies at Chrysler for having paid too much, and then fixed the Jeep up and drove it with a big smile on my face. Fast forward to 2025, and my smile is even bigger, because even after adjusting for inflation, those $3,500 in 2015 would have been $4,643.41 today, and under $5 grand for that mostly rust-free pickup in 2025 would be a smokin’-hot deal.
What also would have been a smokin’ hot deal is this 1993 Chevy K2500 five-speed 4×4 that Jalopnik reader Jason offered me for, if I recall correctly, somewhere around $4,000. I’m not sure why I didn’t say “yes” immediately, because this thing was in great shape!
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Sure, some paint had flaked off, but the interior looked great, and there really was little rust to speak of. Plus, a 350 hooked to a five-speed in a bench-seat-equipped regular cab pickup? It doesn’t get better:
Here’s the $700 “holy Grail” ZJ next to that ’93 Chevy 2500 I fell in love with that night while traversing the Rockies. I love beaters. pic.twitter.com/84zWMTdEub
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) December 17, 2019
But deals like my J10 and that K2500 — which were far from anomalies pre-pandemic — seem to be hard to come by these days.
The truck above, which has 130,000 more miles than my J10 does, is in OK shape. It’s missing the proper front bumper and the correct wheels, plus it’s got a few rust holes in the bed (and I’m suspicious of those bedside seams), but it’s not that far off the overall condition that my Jeep was in, and it’s $7,500. This truck is in even closer shape compared to what my J10 was in:
It’s an automatic and a V8, and it has over 100,000 miles more than my truck, plus there’s some weirdness going on with the black paint on the front end; the seller is asking $9000.
This $10,000 1976 Jeep J10 looks quite nice:
But a closer look reveals that there’s quite a bit of rust:
To be sure, my J10 has a bit of rust, too, but it’s nothing that bad.
I can’t really tell you what exactly has happened to the Jeep J10 market over the years, because I don’t have great data, but here’s what Classic.com has based on its listings over the years, starting in 2020 (note that this isn’t specific to manuals):
I wouldn’t put too much stock into that 50% increase since 2020, since — again — the data is pretty limited. But my own “eye test” on J10s says that finding a cheap, decent one just ain’t happening these days, at least not with any sort of regularity.
But let’s hop over to Chevys, because that 1993 K2500 that I could have bought for $3500 is worth more than I would spend today. In fact, I just looked for a cheap five-speed K2500, and what I found is, well, not bad, but it has 100,000 more miles on it than the truck I drove:
That truck is $5,500 OBO, which isn’t terrible. But overall, per Carguru’s Price Trends, Chevy C/K 1500s are up almost 90% since late 2019, with average prices up to almost $13,000 from about $7,000:
Motorbiscuit wrote two years ago the story “It’s Hip to Be Square: Is It Time to Invest in an OBS Truck?” with a subheading reading “Values are skyrocketing for square-body and OBS Chevys.” Again, this article is based on incomplete data and it’s not specific to manuals or 4x4s, but it’s something. And Hot Rod Magazine declared pretty much the same thing in the article “Are Chevy’s OBS 1988 – 1998 Pickups the Next Big Thing?”
From that article:
In truth, the GMT400 platform has been desirable since the day it came out, with customizers like Boyd Coddington being among the first to modify them. It’s not quite accurate to say the GMT400 platform is the next big thing when it really always has been popular. But in the last two years, we’ve seen a dramatic uptick in the amount and quality of performance aftermarket parts available for this platform. It will be very interesting to see how far it goes.
OBS (Old Body Style) Ford owners are also saying they’re seeing similar things. Just see the post “OBS Values….Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” (among others)on Ford Truck Enthusiast Forums. Here’s the Cargurus price trend; notice that the price has gone from an average of $3,500 to about $10,000 (145% increase) more for an 1989 F-150 (again, this data is pretty weak, but it’s something)
I reached out to Caleb Jacobs, The Drives’ go-to truck editor, and just a wonderful human. I wanted his thoughts on the topic of manual 4×4 trucks being hard to find at a decent price. Here’s what he had to say:
Yeah, man. If it has one or more of those keywords—“4×4,” “manual,” and especially “diesel”—then it probably costs too much. And even in the post-COVID market (values are no longer inflated like they were during the pandemic) people seem to list them way high and hope they catch a sucker. It apparently doesn’t matter that they never sell either because Facebook Marketplace is littered with trucks that were posted months ago and sometimes more than a year ago, yet they’re still available if you shoot the seller a DM.
I’d say that the truck market, more than any other, has missed the memo that prices are no longer inflated like they were during the pandemic.
There are some deals to be had out there, but things aren’t like they once were — not even five years ago. That’s apparent to anyone looking for a stickshift 4×4 pickup. With that said, it seems smaller trucks are a little easier to find. How about this diesel 5-speed Ranger?
I see the 25 year emission omission rule in most states contributing to this as well.
Hi- I’m the guy that had the ’93 Chevy that David mentioned. It was stolen in August 2020, then after I bought a new Ram as a replacement the Chevy was recovered in I think January of 2021, none the worse for wear except for a dead battery and an empty gas tank.
Since I didn’t need 2 trucks I (stupidly) sold it to a handyman who does a bunch of work for me and he passed it to his son, who never bothered to get a title or plates and eventually it got impounded. Probably the fate of a lot of these old trucks once they end up in the hands of people on the margins.
These days I have a GMT800 with the 8.1 / Allison as a work truck / tow pig. It’s better than the old Chevy in every possible way but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still miss the old beast.
The silver lining is that my mom says I’m named in the will for my step-dad’s cherry 1988 F150. Regular cab, long bed, 5.0 V8, 4×4, 5-speed, XLT Lariat with pretty much every option you could get back in the day. Once I have that in my hot little hands you better believe I’m never letting it go.
There are a handful of first-gen manual 4×4 Tundra’s on SW Craigslist; ~$6,500 miles and around 250k miles. Would that fit the bill?
Toyota’s have always had a major rust problem, so many of those have a rusted out frame…
It’s a non-issue in the southwest.
There are no more work trucks. Back in 1999 a steel mill I worked for was looking to upgrade it’s fleet. I was asked to help review the new bid from Ford. WTF do we need 4speed OD automatics for when the in plant speed limit is 25? The older 351W/460/C6 beasts just kept running forever despite the negligence.
That is part of why I drive a 2WD pickup. For $3000 I got a 2002 truck with only 112,000 miles and no rust. Admittedly I did put $1000 into replacing cylinder heads on the 5.4 Triton. After buying tires I’ll be into it for $5000, so I’m happy.
The region you are looking in will make a difference too. When I moved from NJ to Maine I was surprised at how many more manual transmissions there were then autos. It made sense though when you thought about it, way less traffic, so the benefits of an auto (of the era) didn’t come to light as readily. Now that I’m out in northern Illinois, way fewer manual vehicles of any sort are out here, especially trucks.
If I had a gun to my head and was told to pick a Craigslist region to find a rare vehicle with a manual transmission listed, I’d currently choose Maine. The downside is it will be rusty unless you find a unicorn.
I suspect there are other pockets though worth spending some time looking in though.
Finding the right resource to locate vehicles outside of your backyard is the hard part now. I found Facebook groups dedicated to the vehicles tend to work well, but they are also usually full of the “I know what I got” types and you’ll be paying premium pricing. You have to move fast to get a good deal. Otherwise, I’ve had luck with the stumbling across something listed locally that Grandpa drove for years but doesn’t have on the internet and is giving away cheap… but that’s dumb luck at best!
Cheap New England Yankees bought manuals in everything. Myself included. Even in MA and CT manuals were very common. The problem is that they have all rotted away in those areas.
I’ve never bought the arguments around manuals in traffic. if you are shifting all the time you are doing it wrong, and on automatics you are just on the brakes all the time in traffic. I regularly drove my stickshift Land Rover around Rt 128 in Boston, didn’t bother me a bit. Just leave enough room to ride out the standing waves without stopping, and you don’t need to shift much at all.
Long time 4×4 pick up owner who uses it as a pick up. Never once have I ever said I wish this was a manual. And with an HD diesel, its power is actually derated vs an automatic. With all the electronic torque management these days, I think it’s only nostalgia that still drives the manual market. If I really want to break the wheels loose, I can just hit a button. And also just flushing out the tranny fluid as needed is a whole helluva lot cheaper than clutch replacements, etc. To each their own, but I think this argument can go to the wayside along with how roll up windows are better, etc
Drove a diesel w stick. Learned that touching the throttle pedal below walking pace was a quick way to blow the clutch. Not even modern diesel where the auto has a huge jump in power.
Anyone crying about the death of manual pickup trucks either doesn’t need a truck, or better get their ass down to the Toyota dealer or CJDR before they sell out of 2024 Gladiators.
Power is derated? Old ones had MORE power with the manual, a 7.3 Powerstroke makes 20hp more with the manual.
If you’re talking about something 2010 or newer, well then that’s a $20k machine and irrelevant to the discussion of cheap pickups.
I read on here most every time there’s a manual transmission discussion how no one wants a manual transmission anymore.Automatic transmissions are so much better now is the common excuse used for not wanting a stick.
If the demand was there for them “they “would build them ,there isn’t so “they” don’t.
Thats why there are no cheap trucks with manual transmission’s anymore .
I bought a Tacoma for the manual transmission as I don’t trust the newer jeeps.
There are no other manual transmission “small” trucks made now so it was my only option.I figure I’ll keep it till either it or me can’t drive anymore.
It’s MTX or bust for me.
I see what you’re doing.
Hmm, let’s see…
Purchase price of my ’89 K1500: $1,200 in early 2019
4 new tires: $800
New front seat upholstery: $260
4 new shocks: $160
Battery: $150
Clutch hydraulics: $100
Taillight re-wiring: $50
A/C system refresh: $400
Starter: $100
Trailer hitch: $200
Ebay stereo and install kit: $60
Rear brakes (during the cross-country drive): $860
TOTAL: $4,340 (though I’m probably forgetting some little stuff)
Yeah, I’m never selling it.
I just made a lengthy post about the Ranger I snagged and I’m thinking I maybe shouldn’t sell it?
Oh man, maybe I’ll be able to sell my baby and retire early! Or not…. 79 C10, but it’s ridiculously clean and less than 20k miles (not a typo). There was a spike there for a bit but it feels like things have settled down. The 4x4s are still in demand but I think people are moving on.
And this is exactly why I have no intention of letting go of my manual 2002 Ranger 4×4, it will be very difficult to replace. But it makes me wonder if I sold it, how close to my purchase price I could get ($16K adjusted).
Isn’t it so weird how cheap manual 4×4 kei trucks are exploding in popularity these days?
Kei trucks can have a dump bed too, which is just awesome for DIY yard work.
Unfortunately I don’t have faith in my state government to not decide to ban them, so I’m hesitant to pull the trigger. Meanwhile I just occasionally check used listings to see a 2006 Tundra with 200k miles on it for almost $10k.
I wanted a dump bed kei truck really badly until my county banned dump beds and trailers from the yard waste sites. The thought of making everyone pulling bags of leaves out of their crossovers jealous carried a certain appeal.
The downside of the dumpers is that you lose the dropsides, which are awesome.
I’m working on my 63 crew cab as I read this in my shop.
The drop sides on it are fantastic and I’m surprised the newer trucks don’t have them so you can access the stuff in the bed without a stepladder.
Either is an upgrade over the standard American pickup bed.
Dump beds existed as i recall a $8k or so kit for my dads f250. Let’s ignore he only paid $16k for it. The shovel he owned was “free” so a far better price.
They do exist, but as you point out, they cost as much as a whole kei truck. And almost never show up on a used truck.
go auction. They come up all the time for much less than this.
The people who want the useful trucks are keeping ahold of the useful trucks. And since so few of them have been made since the mid 2000s they’re being depleted at a rate of multiples over what they’re being replaced with. There were a ton of Rangers, S-10s, and Dakotas around that got used as they were intended. And now they aren’t here anymore because they were used as they were intended. Since the mid 2000s new trucks have been too nice to use as tools. I’m seeing more 2007 era Silverados that look like they’re just four years old instead of eighteen because they were too nice when new to be used, and their second, third, and fourth owners still thought the same.
What’s even worse is that with the Mecum Auctions and similar dipping into trucks, even the old garbage is getting snapped up and modified because people see it as an investment. Remember that article from Hagerty about the Bronco II? That’s real. There are Dodge Ramchargers that look like somebody sent them to Stacy David selling for $15,000 because somebody wanted an investment rather than a tool.
This isn’t just a thing with trucks. Or even cars. This is applying to everything. Nobody has any way of making enough money to get them out of whatever unenviable situation they’re in, so they’re buying “nice” things and keeping them “nice” in the hopes that they’re able to sell them without depreciation being a factor. Furniture, TVs, computers, houses, clothing… People want to sell up, hoping they can make anything they own into an investment. It’s indicative of an economy that stagnated at the stabilization stage and never made it to the recovery stage.
It is like house flippers ruining the opportunity for someone to get a cheap fixer upper. Instead the only thing that hits the market is their gray walled, LVP floored “renovation” for $100k more than it could have listed for as-is.
And you are exactly right about the supply. If I am buying a truck for weekend chores, I don’t want a 5.5′ bed crew cab, which seems like it is 90% of what leaves a dealer lot these days. Good luck finding a long bed extended cab pickup anywhere.
Even the government surplus auctions (since they actually buy trucks with beds to work) are either getting heavy bidding or they demand a very skilled DIY’er take the reigns to fix the rust, non-op motor, etc.
“It is like house flippers ruining the opportunity for someone to get a cheap fixer upper. Instead the only thing that hits the market is their gray walled, LVP floored “renovation” for $100k more than it could have listed for as-is.”
No kidding. There’s a little house right down the road from me, by the school. It was a rental house, little one-and-a-half story house, 1100 square feet. Someone redid the entire thing, to be honest it looks really nice. But it hit the market at $300k, and all I could say was what in the world. It’s 1100 square feet man, a nice starter house, not a homestead. I paid less than that in 2015 for a house twice that size, on an acre.
I don’t think there’s any way on earth I could buy a house today, thank goodness I don’t have to.
Where I am from in Maine, 800sq/ft 2bd/1ba post-war Cape Cods on postage stamp lots with no garage sell for $400K+. Fully renovated with a garage and it’s $500K+. Mind-boggling, but given I am might be selling my place up there next year, I am not complaining too loudly.
The cost to build a house is crazy too. Here in FL, so admittedly building to hurricane standards costs plenty extra, though you save in not needing a real heating system or a basement, it is costing me $375K to build a 1300sq/ft 2bd/2ba with a 1000sq/ft attached garage. That is not including the land that I already own and the IKEA kitchen and appliances that I bought separately and am installing myself. Would cost a bit less to build this house in Maine, but the lot I paid $50K for in FL would cost *$250K* in my part of Maine.
Ultimately, people do it the same way I did when I bought my place in Maine 24 years ago when I only made $40K a year. Multiple income households and/or housemates, plus eating a lot of ramen noodles. I make enough to very comfortably afford the new place, the problem being I am only 12 years from retirement and need to have it PAID OFF before I can do that, and the sooner the better. I’d like to keep both my place in Maine and my current house here as rentals, but we’ll see how it all shakes out once the new place is finished.
Tell me about it.
I just went through this struggle the last few months. I wanted to pick up another project vehicle, and a J10 or K1500 were top on my list. Every single one I looked at was crazy overpriced and rusty/beat, and any that wasn’t rusty/beat was INSANELY overpriced. I found one J10 with the 304 and 4-speed for a reasonable price that looked decent in the photos. What the photos didn’t show was that there were absolutely no floor boards, there were rust holes in the firewall, and the frame was swiss cheese. It was mostly the same situation with the K1500s and K2500s – anything with a stick or a 4×4 demanded crazy money, generally in terrible shape too. The only rust-free K2500 I found had a 454/4-speed combo and they wanted $26k with 275,000 miles. In the end I just bought a cheap TJ instead.
Time comes for us all.
Perhaps southern states and the West coast live in a world where survivors hold on longer, but beasts of burden get used up. Especially low-value unpopular versions that end up as work-mobiles.
Aside a few exceptions, manual transmission trucks were never really popular.
Small, manual-transmission trucks especially this, because they often were mated with the smallest engine option, which rendered them both thrifty and useless for hauling.
“manual transmission trucks were never really popular”?
Like 90% of Rangers made before the millennium are manual. Ditto for S10s, Dakotas, and the like. You have to go back further for manuals to be as common on fullsizes, but before the mid 80s a majority of fullsize pickups were manual.
Not sure where you get your grossly incorrect information.
This seems to be a spot with a demand niche and perpetually reducing supply now that it’s almost certain that more of these trucks are being scrapped than built each year. Does anything new come in 4×4 stick other than the Taco?
You probably need to look a bit newer to find cheap ones. Everything in the article is classic age. My ’08 Ram is probably about bottomed out on value on the other hand.
For the record, the niche has always been there. It’s the only vehicle I’ve had strangers offer to buy when they find out it’s drivetrain. If they’d bought them from the dealer, we wouldn’t have this problem.
Jeep Gladiator, but auto only for 2025. Should still be a few 2024s out there though.
I bought my Beige Unicorn in late winter/early spring of ’21 for $9k cash, but it was also a rust free, manual, V8, 4×4, single cab, long bed with factory tow package with under 70,000 miles on it, so am I the problem? No it is the northern salt cured roads which are the problem.
That sounds nice. I am kicking myself for not buying a K1500 in early 2020 that a neighbor was trying to sell. It was brown, regular cab, short bed, V6, 5-speed, with 89,000 miles. A little clear coat fade, but otherwise in good shape, all for $3500.
35 years ago both manual and automatic trans were bad. My dad’s truck could blow up 5th gear unless you were very careful. Mind it was a 351 not a 460.
Current 10spd auto makes it an easy choice.
That’s why you get the T18!
I have a 92 F250 2WD with the 300-6 and T18. Great for around town, towing, and pulling stumps but I always covet the 5 speed when I hit the highway. I’m glad it doesn’t have a tach because I would hate to see what it’s spinning at 70 mph.
Even the 5spd is 55mph bait. Granny 1st. Too short for streets as even at 7k ft altitude a 351 pulls 2nd just fine. I’d assume a 300 the same empty, while towing might be a be different.
Since you seem to be mentioning Ford engines and your timeframe puts you around ’89, yeah, Ford trucks were pretty much crap around those years. At least my dad’s ’90 Ford with the 302 was a hunk of absolute junk. My dad put over 100k miles on a ’70 Chevy, a ’77 Dodge, and an ’82 Dodge and never replaced a clutch, and even the malaise-era 318s were veritable founts of power compared to that gutless 302. The Ford was on its third clutch by 50k miles, and the dealership wouldn’t do a thing about it.
My father had a Ford pickup and the dealer replaced three V8 engines under warranty and finally they got tired of the whole thing and put a 300 six in it. Something about dust getting into the crankcase. The V8 trucks just weren’t suitable for a farm environment. The six was great though.
lol that’s funny, my family farm operates a fleet of contemporary(90s) Ford pickups, all but one have the V8s. They hold up fine around the farm and several have over 300k miles. Seems pretty suitable for a farm environment.
This was in the late 70s. Apparently there was some combination of problems with the air filter and negative pressure in the crankcase that would occasionally sick dirt and sand into the crankcase. I don’t remember the details but maybe a leak in the PCV hose or a loose fitting which would be under a pile of dirt.
I assume you’re talking about a Mazda M5OD transmission. That was a Miata transmission, upgraded to become a Ranger transmission, that they put in F150s(where it holds up fine but is not known for being super strong) and also some lighter spec f250s or heavy spec f150s(that’s a terrible idea, and they are known for stripping out 5th).
That transmission just happens to be an overtaxed one and is NOT indicative of the state of manual transmissions 35 years ago as you seemed to imply. In fact, that transmission is the exception; Ford concurrently offered the ZF5 5spd manual(legendarily strong and good) and the four speed BW T18/T19(somehow even stronger). Dodge and GM also offered a similar range of awesome manual transmissions like the NV4500. That’s in fullsize pickups, a lot of the compact pickups were super good too. S10s often came with legendary BW T5s, Jeep Comanches came with the amazingly strong and long lasting Aisin AX15, Toyota pickups have a range of super strong transmissions.
So your statement “35 years ago both manual and automatic trans were bad” just isn’t true.
Um, the plastic gear 5th was easy to blow up, but the best Ford had was easy to nuke when a 351 was on one side and towing something on the other. Owners manual demanded 4th any time a hill and payload occurred.
Never heard of a ZF5 breaking 5th or any other gear, they are renowned for their ability to hold up to 1000+lbft from tuned diesels. No, the mighty 300lbft from a 90s 351 are not stripping out 5th on a ZF5. That’s just the Mazda transmission that has that problem.
I paid 4k from a sketchy lot for my 09 Ranger Super Cab 2WD two years ago. It was cheap because nobody was interested on a manual truck, everyone wanted an automatic one for some reason. Looking for the same truck today is impossible, either the price is way higher (close to 10K) or very bad condition.
I had a white ’97 Ranger XLT Supercar 2wd 4 cyl manual for a short time – It was a really good truck.
4k? Try double that now. Recently was in the market for a manual 4wd Ranger – those have skyrocketed. After looking a many pieces of junk, ended up with a well maintained but high mile (189k) 2004 4.0 stick extended cab for $6200, in which the slave cylinder promptly and suddenly gave up, necessitating a $700 clutch job and $500 other repairs to make it reliable.
It is a good truck though.
Can I be honest here? I love manuals, and I have had manuals as daily drivers for 27 out of the last 33 years including right now. With that said, I like my trucks to be automatics with a nice, out-of-the-way column shifter. I think it makes road tripping and four-wheeling and trailering easier, and I love having my center console space not being taken up by a shifter and not having to do leg presses on a heavy clutch.
Please don’t revoke my Autopian card!
100%.
Manual trucks are cool for about 30 minutes, then you realize how much better modern autos do everything.
No Autopian card revoked. Column shift-autos are great!
I’m a diehard stickshift guy because I find them more fun, they tend to be more reliable, and I can rebuild them easily compared to an auto. But we don’t kink-shame here!
DT using “kink-shame” in the comments? He just elevated his God-tier status to Master of the Universe-tier.
Why my dad didn’t replace his v8 explorer w a new one was that column shift was police inceptor only by then. Most dealers wouldn’t deal with it even if it lacked the police package.
I’m all for unique vehicle choices, but if we’re shopping for a true work truck, getting hung up on classic vehicle prices and manual transmissions is getting a bit lost in the weeds. Keeping and maintaining a classic vehicle- Even one that gets used for ‘truck stuff’ is ultimately a luxury purchase.
Someone struggling to buy a truck because it doesn’t come with a ‘fun’ transmission, sounds like they really just want a toy.
It’s been a while since I’ve ran the numbers, but for a practical, capable work truck at a low price (say $10-15k US) I imagine a 2015-2020 era F150 XL or Silverado WT would be the smart money. Anything cheaper/older and TCO bites you in the ass, unless you’re fixing it yourself as a hobby.
Automatic trucks are cool for about 30 minutes until you drive a semi truck and realize how superior manual transmissions are for any type of hauling, in any type of vehicle. That’s why every single heavy truck used a manual transmission until the last ten years, and truckers complain endlessly about how horrible the new automatics are.
Ahem. 1963 Ford F100 here, with a stckshift ON THE COLUMN. Best of both worlds…
Edit: also, no timing belt or chain. Gears, baby!! Gears!!!
Three on the tree in my dad’s pickup is how I learned to drive stick. On an old vintage truck manuals are great; my comment was directed toward more modern models.
Love a colum-shift manual.
My dad has an LT Silverado with a 40-20-40 front bench and column shifter. He can seat 6 legally at any time. Rest of the time the center 20 folds down into an armrest with 3 cupholders, storage in the seat back (like a center console) AND storage under the seat.
I would not buy a full-size truck any other way.
I had one that I consider in hindsight to be a holy grail: A 2001 Dakota 4X4 Crew Cab stick, with noneother than the 4.7 V8. It came in on trade here at the dealership, with a fair amount of body rust and 247,000 miles, but nary a squeak or rattle.
Dude, that truck had it all. V8 rumble, stickshift fun, a robust 4wd system, nice meaty tires, and once the wooden flatbed was installed (We went a foot wider and 2 feet longer) it was extremely useful. I still maintain that no other midsize truck from the 90s and the 2000s could come close to how a Dakota handled and drove.
I ended up giving it to my Grandpa to use around the farm, and he sold it to a kid a few years later.
I was such a fool, because it’s been about 10 years now, and even working at a dodge dealership I still haven’t come across another crew cab 4×4 stick, let alone one with that happy little V8.
“I still maintain that no other midsize truck from the 90s and the 2000s could come close to how a Dakota handled and drove.”
Boy, I’ll say. We had a couple of those in the fleet over the years and I fucking hated them. They were awful. Apparently YMMV.
Maybe it’s a comparative thing: Ive had mostly Jeeps, S10s, Rangers, a couple toyotas, and various half ton chevies and fords to compare it to. and compared to them that Dakota rode like a cloud.
Regret is a wasteful feeling (I myself regretted not buying that DIRT CHEAP WWII Jeep the other day). Best to discard it.
I’m trying boss, but you keep making posts about stickshift trucks and it’s got me going through pics of all my past stickshifts while Randy Travis sings “Digging up bones” on the Alexa
I still have my 2004 in the same spec! Including the heavy duty cooling and heavy duty suspension so its basically a 1500 underneath.
I bought it in 2021 for $3k with 139 on the clock completely rust free from a snotnosed kid who didn’t like it because “it wasn’t a Tacoma.”
I’ll hate to one day sell it because at 6’5″ I don’t really fit and it’s towing capacity is short of a travel trailer that it’d take cross-country.
you EVER decide to sell that thing, you call Daystar Chrysler, and ask for Randy. I’ll take out a loan to get another one of those trucks, I don’t even care lol!
The deals are often in the oddballs- Mazda pickups, Mitsubishi, and to a lesser extent Nissan. Even 4×4 Manual Comanches still pop for under $5k on occasion.
I have a 4×4 manual Comanche, it is the best. The 4 cylinder ones are still very affordable, the 4.0L six cylinder ones are more than $5k unless they are rusty. Mine is a high mileage manual 4×4 Eliminator, so quite a desirable one, cost $9800 and I only had to repair one hole in the drivers floorpan. Otherwise is it very clean and straight.
All the smaller trucks from that time period are awesome.
hmm…I’m thinking of selling my ’12 Frontier SV manual 4×4.
I’m just here before the inevitable blaming of Cash for Clunkers in the comments.
NB: A program that scrapped 677,000 vehicles more than 15 years ago in a country with 300 million vehicles on the road is not affecting the value of anything right now.
I’m glad somebody said it
It didn’t help, but also, trucks were cheap well after C4C.
and still are lol