The used car bazaar is replete with pickup trucks, and yet people cannot quite get their fill them, which is why this is a roaring market. You’ll find pickup trucks of all shapes, sizes, and costs on the used car bazaar and most of them find good homes pretty quick.
If you are looking for a rarer model of a pickup truck on the used market, you may have to look a little further back up the years, sometimes heading into the classic pickup territory as well. While that does not indicate a bad truck, it may mean a truck that comes with a certain price tag and may bring about more comeuppance when it comes to maintenance.
But these will be trucks that will be rare on the road and may get you plenty of attention from passers-by if that is your poison. And guess what, not all of these will cost you an arm and a leg as well.
So here go the 10 rarest pickup trucks on the used car market and the price tags they carry.
10 Dodge D100 “The Dude:” The Precursor Of Performance
Long before performance trucks became the norm and Dodge launched its “Adult Toys” collection of custom trucks, there was the Dude, in 1970-71. It came powered by a 6.2-liter V8 and bore a C-stripe that ran all over the truck in black or white with unique badges on the rear.
This is was one of Dodge’s first custom trucks and some 1,500 to 2,000 of these were made, making them a rather rare acquisition in the classic truck market. The price is obviously high, and here’s one for $44,000.
9 Lincoln Blackwood: The Luxuriously Rebadged Ford
The Lincoln Blackwood was introduced as a 2002 model and remained in production for a single-year model, mostly because Lincoln was quick to see that the market wasn’t quite ready for it. Basically, it was a Ford F-150, only made way more luxurious than practicality demanded, including carpeting in the bed.
Only 3,356 Blackwoods were made, and retailed for $52,500 at the time. They came only in black and came big with a massive road presence. Today, you can have one from $10,000-30,000 depending on the condition.
8 Chevrolet Cameo: The Grandfather Of Lifestyle Trucks
From 1955 to 1958, Chevy’s Task Force series came to play and brought with them the first inklings of things to come when it came to pickup trucks; how they began to be used as lifestyle vehicles than mere load haulers.
The Cameo Carrier came with things that cars had, like the Hydra-Matic transmission, V8 powerplants, dual-paint schemes, and lots of chrome, as well as car-like wraparound windshields. Prices range from $10,000-60,000 today considering only a little more than 10,000 were made.
7 GMC Suburban Carrier: The GMC Task Force Version
Like the Chevrolet Cameo, the Task Force truck from GMC was the Suburban Carrier. That said, it came with a slightly higher price, because it came with a 5.2-liter Pontiac V8, bigger than Chevy’s 4.3-liter V8, running with a four-speed automatic.
The truck came far ahead of its time, but less than 1,000 sold in its three-year-production. How many have survived to date is unclear but if you want one of these, one sold at a Barrett-Jackson auction for $64,900 and is one very rare item.
6 Jeep CJ10: The Poorer Gladiator
So yes, the new Jeep Gladiator is out. And it is cool but definitely not rare. So if you are a Jeep fan then the ‘80s CJ10 could be one pickup truck you didn’t even know you needed. It came with three engine choices. Two were gas-powered mills: a 2.4-liter inline-four and a 4.2-liter inline-six. The third engine was a Nissan-made 3.3-liter inline-six diesel one.
Only 300 or so were made in the four-year-production run, and one of these sold for some $38,000-plus in 2019, so they don’t exactly come cheap. Remember though, prices are only going to rise for a rare model like this.
5 Jeep J10 Honcho: A Macho Classic Rarity
The Honcho was not a separate truck but a trim offered on Jeep J10, and available from 1976 to 1983. It came with Levi’s interiors and a roll bar, along with all the stripes and decals to declare it a sportier version from afar. It was also available on only the sportside (stepside) versions of the truck, and not many were made. In fact from 1980 to 1983, only 1,200 stepside models were made in total.
Either way, there was nothing conventional about these trucks and they sold in less than popular numbers though prices have gone up, with one Hemmings listing at $62,000.
4 Dodge Li’l Red Express: The Big Daddy Of Performance
The Dodge Lil’ Red Express was one of the coolest things to not only come out of the malaise era but bypass everything bad about it. Due to a small loophole in the emission control guidelines, it seems that trucks could go without a catalytic converter, and so for 1978, the Lil’ red was the fastest thing on the road, period.
Only 7,000 of these were made, and 1979 examples were underpowered due to catalytic convertors mandatory for trucks as well when the feds wised up. Even models that need work come for $15,000.
3 GMC Syclone: The Best Track Truck Ever
The GMC Syclone was GMC’s idea of taking the competition and blowing it away, by making a truck that was so out there, it could even beat a Ferrari. Made only for a single 1991-model year, 3,000 of these were made, all in black except for some red and white Marlboro editions.
When raced against a Ferrari, the Syclone made a quarter-mile 0.4 seconds faster than the Italian Stallion. Why do you want it? It’s a truck that can hit 60mph in 4.3 seconds! And you can get it for $34,000…
2 Chevrolet 454 SS: The Syclone’s Inspiration
The GMC Syclone’s idea came from Buick when they decided to build upon an existing Chevy truck with the biggest engine they could put in. Chevy passed because they already the 454 SS, and what a truck it was, with some 17,000 units being sold from 1990 to 1993.
They are built strong and to last and at the time, sold for almost $19,000. Today, you can have a mint condition for nearly $50,000, and you don’t really get to see them all that much, making them gorgeous rarities on the used car market.
1 Dodge Ram SRT-10: The Craziest Truck Of All Times
In the mid-2000s, Dodge brought out the craziest truck of all times, by taking a Ram 1500 and putting in the Viper’s V10 engine in it, giving birth to the Dodge Ram SRT-10. The truck was offered, at the buyer’s risk, from 2004 to 2006 and around 10,000 examples were made and sold at the time.
Today’s Ford Raptors can do as much as the Viper V10 could do, but at the time, it was the coolest thing to have. You can find a good model of this truck for about $30,000 today but it may turn out to be a future classic.
Sources: Hemmings, CarGurus, MotorBiscuit, Classic.com, BringaTrailer