here some facts
Top-down fun with America's mid-size truck
By Mitch Frumkin, published in OLD CARS magazine on October 28, 2004, page 67.
There's no denying that the Chevrolet SSR is a sexy hot rod. Its cab magically transforms from a fully enclosed state to convertible form in less than 30 seconds. Chevrolet even advertises it as the "American street machine."
Chevy rightly claims that it builds the world's first production truck with a retractable hardtop, but the SSR is not the first convertible pickup in the industry.
Ford began offering a factory-built roadster with a truck bed in the spring of 1925, and continued to offer the combination through 1934.
When Ford concluded production, the convertible truck idea faded away. It wasn't until decades later that customized convertible trucks began to gain status on the West Coast.
By 1989, Dodge capitalized on the growing popularity of the specialty pickup market with the introduction of the Dakota Sport convertible.
This was the first postwar production ragtop pickup, and Dodge billed it as "the ultimate fun truck." {It is still the only postwar production ragtop pickup.}
The Dakota Sport convertible featured a manual vinyl top that could be folded back and covered with a boot, or completely removed. The unique hauler was based on a two-door pickup with a metal roof on its cab, and was assembled at Chrysler's Dodge City truck complex in Warren, Michigan. From there, the trucks were shipped to American Sunroof Co. (ASC) several suburbs away.
ASC sliced the roof off and added the necessary components to turn it into a convertible for open-air excitement.
These Dakota Sport convertibles were sold as either as 4x2s or shift-on-the-fly 4x4s with a base price of $14,425. All {only in 1989} trucks came fitted with a 125-hp, fuel-injected V-6 mated with a five-speed manual or optional three-speed automatic transmission.
Standard equipment included an integral padded sport roll bar; 15-in., cast-aluminum wheels; a tachometer; an AM/FM stereo cassette radio; deluxe wipers; power steering, power windows, and door locks; dual remote outside mirrors; and fog lights.
Exterior paint choices were red, black, or white with the grill, bumpers, headlight bezels, wheel lip moldings, door and tailgate handles painted black.
Decorative details on the convertible included an acrylic ram's head hood medallion plus added tape graphics on the body sides and tailgate. Dodge impressed 2,842 Dakota Sport convertible buyers in 1989.
While the Dakota Sport convertible continued for 1990 with the 3.9-liter V-6, it was joined by a second variation, the Dakota SE convertible truck. The SE came powered by a standard 2.5-liter engine and smooth-shifting, five-speed manual overdrive transmission.
Colors for 1990 were Colorado Red, Bright White, and Daytona Blue, or black. A mere 1,039 {writer's mistake, there were 909} units were sold.
Legend has it that another eight Dakota Sport convertibles were built in 1991 by ASC to complete the remainder of its contract with Dodge.
Beginning in 2003, ASC was once again involved with the realization of a convertible pickup, but now it is with Chevrolet and its SSR, and this time the manufacturing procedure is reversed from how the Dodge Dakota convertible used to be constructed.
ASC first partially builds the SSR before it is shipped to General Motors for final assembly in the Lansing factory.
Obviously, the Chevy SSR is ultra cool, but with a 2004 base sticker price of $41,370, it's a rather pricey vehicle.
Used Dakota Sport convertibles in decent condition are advertised on the Internet for a more affordable $6,000 to $6,500, which enables those on a budget to still go topless in a pickup.