Automobile classifications arise from various sources. Tax structures, legislation, half-plastered automotive journalists, and automakers filling a gap in the lineup can result in cars and trucks given compartmentalized monikers like crossover, or formal coupe. In 1987, Dodge already had the full-size and compact ends of the pickup truck lineup covered. What they needed was the middle ground. The solution? The Dodge Dakota.

With the rebadged Mitsubishi Ram 50 already in place on the compact slot, and the Ram holding full-size ground, the Dodge Dakota wedged in between the two with either the Chrysler 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine rejiggered to fit in a longitudinal configuration or a 3.9-liter V-6 which was more (or less) a 318-cu.in. V-8 missing the rear two cylinders. While the V-6 did not possess the smoothness of its 318-cu.in. cousin, the V-8 eventually made its way into the Dakota in 1991 after the 1988 Dodge Dakota Sport V-8 concept.

The 2.2-liter engine combined with rear-wheel drive seems to predict turbo potential for the Dakota, but the 1989 Shelby Dakota instead featured a fuel-injected version of the 318. The Dakota had a good run, with over 2.7 million of them built from 1986 until the last Dakota rolled out the door at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant in 2011. Seemingly all compact pickup trucks grew to mid-size before themselves being driven over by the modern crop of Iowa-class full-size pickup trucks.

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