Make: | Dodge |
Model: | Other Pickups |
Trim: | Mid-level |
Year: | 1984 |
Mileage: | 149,994 |
VIN: | 1B7EZ44C3ED359723 |
Color: | Black |
Engine: | 2.2 |
Cylinders: | 4 |
Fuel: | Gasoline |
Transmission: | Manual |
Drive type: | FWD |
Interior color: | Gray |
Vehicle Title: | Clear |
Item location: | Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
I'm helping a local friend of mine sell this 1984 Dodge Rampage that he purchased a few years back from a seller in the St Louis area. It was originally purchased to a complete the numerous upgrades already under way, but another one was chosen to restore instead so he decided to sell this one. We’re located in Jacksonville, FL just below the Florida/Georgia border just off I-95.
The previous owner spent a lot of money in obtaining some of the best performance parts but they never got everything fully assembled and running. The current owner only started finishing the project by installing some new front hubs and will supply new rotors, calipers, pads and rear drums to add to what he originally purchased. The mileage on the vehicle itself is unknown, the instrument cluster reads 149,994 but we cannot guarantee it’s correct.
Other than that nothing else was done mechanically so it is being sold as a non-running project vehicle in need of completion. Since it is not able to be driven you would need to make arrangements to bring it home with a trailer or contact a vehicle transport company. We don’t have any recommendations on transport companies.
How how much additional effort is needed to get it fully operational is not known since my friend had to leave town for his job and didn't put a focus on it. Someone with some experience with turbo Dodges shouldn't have an issue with getting it to achieve it's potential. It would be a great father & son project vehicle.
The best feature of this deal is that you're not only getting a hard to find collectible vehicle with a straight & solid body but a very nice amount of the most sought after turbo Dodge performance parts for it. Most of the expense of building a collectible is spent tracking down all the hard to find parts you’ll need and with this deal somebody else already spend a whole lot more than the asking price buying and installing them already.
Both my friend & I have owned quite a number of Dodge Rampages over the last 20 years and I can tell you from firsthand experience that you would have an extremely hard time today locating some of these parts that come included with this vehicle. We'd really like to provide a good deal to a buyer and keep everything intact but if it doesn't find a buyer as a whole it may have some of the rarest parts taken off and used elsewhere on other vehicles. I personally wouldn't like to see it get parted out, but the new owner can select whatever option they want.
It's still in the same shape it was purchased a few years back. He transported it by trailer to his home in north Florida where it immediately was placed in his garage and it's been there ever since. Other than starting some minor work on the brakes the only other thing that has been done is a little bit of disassembly to the interior in order to evaluate the condition of the floorboards. Only a portion of the history on this vehicle is known.
It was purchased out of the Little Rock, Arkansas area but it seems to have spent time in the Pennsylvania area due to the PA state inspection sticker on it. The free CarFax report listed within this auction should reveal additional background on it. The buyer will be provided with a clear Florida title and it's being sold "as is".
It's an original black 1984 Dodge Rampage with factory AC that originally came with a light duty A-520 five speed with a carburated Chrysler 2.2 engine. The previous owner transplanted a later model (1986?) Chrysler 2.2 Turbo I engine. Most likely it came from a 1985-87 Shelby Charger since it requires a wiring harness from a turbo model to operate. These wiring harnesses are very hard to find today since they only came in turbo only 1985-87 Shelby Charger & 1985-86 Dodge Omni GLH-T's.
The transmission (transaxle, technically) that replaced the original one is a newer models unit that was made in late 1986. It's a model A-525 five speed transaxle that features a far superior cable operated shifter which was never available on an L body. The previous A-520 used an old fashioned metal rod linkage to the shifter and it was prone to looseness and malfunction. It was installed well and modified for a stock appearance. It also has a hard to find equal length halfshaft assembly that helps reduce torque steer.
That would cover the basic drive train, let me break down the remaining components so it's completely clear what you're working with and exactly what condition each section is in.
Body- Overall it's in very condition. It shows no visible rust in the areas most prone to it which are the lower rear quarter panels, the lower corners of the windshield, the upper drip rails on the roof and the lower doors. This truck was black originally and still appears to be wearing a portion of its original paint. The upper portions on the doors and bed are baked from the sun, but the lower portion is in very good condition.
As is clearly shown in the photographs it does have a rust hole on the driver side rear floorboard. Luckily it's in an area that's easy enough to repair with a small section of patched sheet metal. The only other rust is some surface rust on the front floor board where the carpet covered the floor but it can easily be neutralized and will not require any patching. The carpeting was removed (and tossed) to provide floorboard access so the rust can be treated and repaired.
We put it up on a lift to check further and there was a small amount of rust just under the gas petal and along a seam on the passenger side just under the front seat. The factory undercoating looked like it spared it from additional damage. The undercarriage is in far better condition than most I've owned and seen being sold by others.
The fenders, nose, hood and air dam were transplanted from a 1985-87 Shelby Charger. All of these pieces are in excellent shape and were painted matte black to blend in to the remaining black paint. Those parts are getting very hard to find, the vented turbo bulge hood was only used on the last couple of years of Shelby Charger. The 2 headlight SC only nose replaced the less attractive 4 headlight nose that all the 1984 models came with.
Once it was raised up on a hydraulic lift we found that the undercarriage was in very good shape with no big surprises. We did notice a few extra things like a nice thick 1.25” front sway bar plus it even had a ¾” rear sway bar as well next to the Monroe rear shocks. The downpipe on the exhaust was a nice 2.5” size but the remainder of the piping was a smaller stock size where it appears they planned on upgrading later. The spare tire hold down arm was fully intact and the spare tire may be an original unit.
Bed- These thirty two year old truck usually have a number of dents and scratches from use but this truck was well cared for and they used a protective cover that protected it from damage. It's in exceptionally good shape and looks like its wearing original paint. Even the side panels are pretty clean as well. The current owner was told that the rear section of the bed just under the tailgate was replaced by having a replacement panel welded in. The panel was originally red so a little bit of red appears where some paint chipped away. It comes with a soft vinyl tonneau cover the prior owner used.
The rear tailgate is very solid, but it's not original. It came from Dodge's sister truck a 1983 Plymouth Scamp and it still wears the original metal badging. It also has a small trailer hitch installed.
Glass- The side windows are prone to scratching, but these are in very good shape. The front windshield (which have been getting very hard to purchase new) is also in great shape with no cracks, chips or heavy wear.
Front & side ground effects- The airdam that overlays around the SC nose is in exceptional condition. A clean and straight airdam is especially hard to find since they're made of a rubbery plastic that's prone to scraping, breakage and warping. The only part that's missing on the front is the fender extension overlays, but if you can't locate used ones there are aftermarket replacements are available.
The lower side ground effects are an extremely hard to find part since they're 8" longer than the similar Shelby Charger versions and were not used on a regular production model. Other than a couple of very limited production versions they were only sold as an accessory item in the early 1980's via the Direct Connection parts catalog. The driver side is in perfect condition, but the passenger side has some damage but enough of it is intact where it can be repaired.
A well experienced eye will notice the lower extensions that continue along the rear quarter panel where it meets the tailgate were not intact. Fortunately last year these rare pieces were finally reproduced by a vendor in a more durable fiberglass.
Interior- As you can see in the photos the carpet and the seats were removed to evaluate and repair the floorboard issue. The door panels are gray and look like they came off the Shelby Charger, the dash and it adjoining console are gray as well and in very good shape. Unlike the earlier years the 1984 models used the later style dash which provides more room to install a factory or aftermarket radio and uses a better and more common gauge cluster.
The seats that come with it are a set of gray cloth (non-Shelby Charger) seats that may be the 1984 factory seats. It appears that although they are loose the remaining interior trim pieces seem to be all there but this cannot be guaranteed. As far as loose interior parts go- what you’re getting is only what’s seen in the photographs. If you see a part isn't there we both have some spare pieces that may be purchased.
Suspension- The previous owner also located and installed one of the most desirable high performance parts to improve handling. He used a set of fully adjustable Koni front struts. These were only used on the limited production 1986 GLH-S Omni & the 1987 GLH-S Charger and are widely accepted as the best units that were ever produced for L body vehicles. Koni didn't make a upgraded shock for the rear of a Rampage so they're currently using a factory set.
I'm not exaggerating when I saw these are extremely hard to find since Koni stopped producing them many years back. Due to this rarity people are even paying top dollar for a worn out set so that they can be factory rebuilt. The closest equivalent available today is a set of Koni's designed for using with a separate set of coilover springs and they sell for over 799.00 without the special springs.
The front springs may have been upgraded as well, but I can't personally tell by looking at them.
Wheels- The original factory wheels that came on a 1984 Rampage would have been a 13" or 14" on a 4 bolt 4 x 100mm pattern. Most of them got stamped steel rims. This truck was already upgraded to a 5 bolt pattern setup that was used on later models like the turbo model Shelby Chargers and a majority of the late 80's and early 90's Mopar's.
It saves you a lot of work and this is an upgrade that's great to do since it majorly increases your choices of different kinds of wheels that will fit since this 5 x 100mm pattern is quite popular. Currently it's wearing a basic set of steel wheels with pretty decent tires. As mentioned before new uninstalled brake parts are being included as well.
If there is area I forgot to cover please feel free to ask. Unfortunately due to some previous vehicle auctions where the high bidder failed to follow through and blocked out legitimate eBay customers I'm going to need to restrict bidders that have ten or less eBay transactions and/or a feedback score of less than 97.0%.
Lastly, please don't ask about selling it outside of eBay or offering to "do me a great favor and take it off my hands" for a ridiculously lowball price. It's a solid project vehicle in very good shape with some hard to find upgrades already installed so it's already being offered for a reasonable price.