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5 Trucks to Pick Up for Under $10,000
Pickups are huge sellers in today’s car market. They are truly America’s bread and butter, coming in all sorts of luxury and off-road-oriented trims to serve various roles. They’re the Swiss Army Knife of transportation because they can do so many tasks relatively well. Daily driver? Not a problem, as long as you don’t need to park in a cramped city. Hauling trailers, carrying oversized loads? Go wild. Serving as a basecamp when venturing off-road? Heck, yeah. Unfortunately, all of this capability often comes with big price tags. Instead of a fancy new truck, what about an affordable vintage one for under $10,000?
We scrolled through our latest pricing data to find five practical pickups that each fall under the 10-large mark, at least in #3 (Good) condition. These represent solid, cared-for vehicles that still offer plenty of utility and have lots of hauling left in them. Even if you’re not sold on the thought of having a new half-ton crew cab as your daily driver, we’re sure you’d warm up to the idea of having one of these utilities in your fleet if you spent enough time behind the wheel.
1987 Jeep Comanche

Based on the long-running XJ Jeep Cherokee, the compact Jeep Comanche was offered from 1986-1992 in both short and long-bed configurations and with the same RWD and 4×4 drivetrains as its SUV sibling. Several years of the RWD version fall under our $10,000 cap, but you’ll have to stretch a bit to nab a 4×4 with the storied AMC 4.0-liter inline-six. The diesel powertrain is the most affordable 4×4 version, but those are a bit hard to find.
The great thing about Cherokees is that they made millions of them and there’s a huge network of enthusiast forums as well as a vast aftermarket that still caters to them. While Comanches didn’t last as long on the market, they still benefit from sharing many parts with the four-door and two-door Cherokee. A Comanche would make a great parts hauler and a 4×4 version could be built to be a capable trail rig with plenty of cargo room for camping excursions. If you were so inclined, you could swap the interior, doors, and front end from a 1997-2001 Cherokee and build your own version of the late-production Comanche that Jeep never did.
1987 Toyota Pickup SR5

The 4×4 versions of the late ’80s Toyota pickup bring a huge premium, with values about 75 percent higher than a similarly equipped RWD model. However, if you just need a truck for occasional hauling or home projects, an EFI 2.4-liter, RWD Toyota may fit the bill. Those come in just at the top end of our budget when equipped with the Xtra Cab for a bit more room to stretch out.
Toyota’s SOHC 22RE four-cylinder has the same great reputation for simple reliability as the rest of the truck, so this could be one part of your fleet that sticks around and earns its keep for years to come.
1978 Chevrolet C10

Like every other truck on this list, GM square-bodies have a big following and a solid aftermarket for repair and restoration parts. The short-bed models are becoming collectible, but the long-bed variants remain affordable. We picked one equipped with a 250-cube inline-six to get under our budget. If we’re looking for purely utilitarian reasons, the 250 is more than up to the task with the superb balance and longevity that comes with an inline-six and seven main bearings.
We have a soft spot for these trucks in a two-tone configuration, so we’d keep our eyes peeled for an example with white flanks. A split manifold would give the inline-six that unique sound and have everyone else at the stoplight wondering what’s up.
1962 Dodge D200/D300

Dodge’s Sweptline trucks have a ton of character despite their simple, elegant lines. They remind us a bit of a full-size Tonka truck, in all the best ways. The 1/2-ton models demand a bit of a premium, so we’ll stick to the 3/4-, and 1-ton versions. For the 3/4-ton, the Slant Six model falls under our $10K cutoff, while the 1-ton values are just a bit lower, allowing a 318 Poly V-8 to slip in under the wire. Like the other trucks on this list, the RWD models come at a significant discount compared to their 4×4 brethren, but we’re already daydreaming about a V-8 D300 with a flatbed to haul all of our engine builds to and from the machinist. Maybe a bed-mounted hoist or winch to get them in place, some stake sides, and a shop logo stenciled on the door. . .
1990 Ford F-150 Super Cab Short Bed

The newest truck on our list was also produced in the greatest volume, making it the easiest to find. The 1990 Ford F-150’s sizeable supply also keeps the price down—another win. That enables us to consider an extended cab model with a V-8 packing twice the power of almost everything else on this list. The venerable 302 V-8 in the F-150 used a port fuel injection system just like the Mustang, and the truck V-8s can sound just as good. The eighth-generation F-Series was an update of the previous generation and the follow-up would refine things just a bit more with sculpted headlights. They’ve all aged rather well, but we think the middle of the three is the Goldilocks option with styling that is perfectly 1980s boxy. With a great design, solid mechanicals, and the ease of maintenance and upgrades offered by a Ford small-block, this workhorse is an easy pick to rationalize.
Full size pickups are a joke now and have been for a while. They’re all four-door short bed contraptions. Bring back the conventional two-door & eight foot bed and you’d have an endless waiting list.
While I do like the eight foot beds, I have a short bed,1991 F150 XLT Lariat 4X4, with just over 80K miles on her. I bought it new. It has pretty much every option that they put on a truck at the time. Thanks to electronics, I get to keep my original AM/FM cassette radio and use a plug in device for Bluetooth. Mine is the 4.9 inline six, with the five speed overdrive. I mention all of this because I get asked often if I would ever sell it. It is like a brand new inside and out. My answer is always no.
The 300 is this greatest engine Ford ever made.
That 300 inline 6 was such a great motor! My dad had one in his 81 Bronco and that thing ran flawlessly well beyond 100K miles.
Got an 89 xl shorted 4×4 4.9 I’m second owner. No rust anywhere original floor mats like new. Only thing wrong is upolstery and flaking clearcoat. Automatic overdrive tranny. Shopping around for paint job, new seat cover is 600.00 if I do it myself. Paid 4500.00 with 130,000 miles. Looked for 15 years and I won’t sell it unless for well over 10,000.00 after I’m done.
I wouldn’t sell it either, I had 3 in my company with the 300 6 and a 5 speed, good trucks except one had an issue with the 5 speed foreign-built transmission needing repair. 4.9 inline 6 was a good engine, even used by Ford as standard eq. in 1 1/2 ton & up trucks
Love that drive train. Had a similar one but 2 wheel drive only. It was a great truck and even stood up to my teaching my son to drive standard with it. That 6 with the FI was a great motor. Unfortunately as many of these are, it was prone to rust. Finally had to part with it because it was not suitable to pull a travel trailer I bought. Got a 2001 f150 5.3 crew cab 4X4 for that. Just had to sell it last summer with 480,000 kms.
The reason mfg ers make 4 door short beds is because they sell. They don’t drive the market…they respond to it.
A big part of this is that trucks are now expensive- they don’t live outside anymore. Crew cabs are very versatile and a crew cab with an 8′ box won’t fit in the average garage.
Our 99 F350 Dually 4×4 with the 8′ bed barely fits through the warehouse door, let alone a garage, but it’s damn useful when we have to pull something.
IMHO manufacturers do drive the market. They “tell” us what to buy.
Only if we listen; if 50% of customers demanded (and held out for) a club cab/long bed, they would build it – you can bet.
Interesting to me how often people think that manufactures dictate the products they make. When in fact, what you said is exactly correct. They are responding to the market. There’s not much to be gained in driving a market that won’t respond.
The market speaks, and the four-door, short bed models are what sells now. My own progression has gone from a eight-foot, one bench-seater F-150 to a extended cab Toyota with a six and a half foot bed, to my current ride — a four-door Ranger with a five-foot bed. Back in the day a needed the long bed to (occasionally) carry motorcycles and to take care of landscaping my new house. I now use the Ranger to drag a trailer when I need to move a motorcycle, which I can load by myself much more easily. Let it be said, you can still order a Ford F-150 with an eight-foot bed — they’re out there — but five feet is enough for me in this stage of life.
I have the same truck for the exact same reasons. Trailering any of my three bikes is WAY easier than loading them in a truck bed. If I need more bed room, I flip out my bed extender and voila’, more room!
Your Ranger is a pretty big truck nowadays and really can do everything that most people need to do.
Not really. You can still order them, but that’s not what most people are buying. Manufacturers are building what sells.
Manufacturers are building what makes them money. Try to buy a low optioned ANYTHING, but particularly a truck and the dealer will try to push a loaded vehicle on you because that’s all he has in stock and pretty much all he can get. With chip shortages and all, why would the manufacturer “waste” resources on a vehicle that only makes them half the profit, when they can crank out the high profit items. They COULD likely sell a crap load of lower priced trucks if they built them.
In the mean time I will keep driving and maintaining my base XL level 1996 Ranger long box for as long as I can!!! Hand crank windows, 5 speed manual, manual mirrors and door locks,
That’s what I’m talking about…
Chip shortages ended 2+ years ago.
You can’t order a single cab truck like that Dodge or others up above. Nobody makes one. You can’t order a two-door from most companies. Only Toyota and Nissan claim to make “extended cab” models, and only Nissan will sell you one. Toyota promised me that they “might” be able to get me one in three months if I ordered it. Everything else on the market is a “crew cab.”
I’m sorry to say that this is not true. (That you cannot buy a regular cab truck). I worked on a 2024 GMC 3500 Duramax about a month ago. Regular cab, 8 foot bed. They are out there, and available. People just don’t buy them anymore, in any kind of numbers. I work at a small town GM dealer, where trucks are our bread and butter.
When was the last time someone in this conversation went to the dealer and honestly tried to order a regular cab 8’ bed truck? I know GM still makes them, people buying new trucks just don’t buy them. Maybe there’s more of a market for them as a used truck, but no one is there to buy it in the first place?
I priced a single cab short bed through our local Ford dealer. Idk if the long bed is an option.
Spot on!
What do you mean bring it back they never went anywhere. If you want one go buy one. Nobody wants them, That’s why you don’t see him anymore.
Totally agree with you.
Laughed out loud in agreement. For starters..trucks are supposed to have only 2 doors..just my opinion. Back in the day (mid 70’s and early 80’s) there were these ugly looking things no one wanted called crew cabs,..with 4 doors. Resale value was very low. Jump ahead 40 years and 99% of every contemporary truck built has 4 doors and a box that can hold 2 loaves of bread. If it wasn’t what truck buyers wanted they wouldn’t build them, so I guess my opinion of what a truck should be is in the minority.
When I see those huge four-door pickups, I still think “highway department” – because those type of operations used to be who used them.
I heard someone say that these four-doors are “two-thirds of a car” – no trunk!
💯8 foot bed, single cab. Truck for work not a family minivan.
I’ve got one – a ‘88 Ford F-150. 107,000 miles. Decent engine, body is good, zero rust, bad tranny. Happy to part with her for $2500.
Is it a 4×4? and what size engine? The 5.0L?
The reason you can’t buy those any more is because people stopped buying them when they were still available. Manufacturers will sell whatever the public is willing and able to buy. And what Americans want to buy is a four-door sedan bulked up to look like something that a real man would drive in the wilderness. The bed, once the reason for a pick-up’s existence, has basically become a styling feature, similar to the tailfin — it’s there to make a statement, not to do a job.
When pickup trucks were vehicles that real working people used to do their real working-class jobs, the appeal was limited. (I can remember when certain snooty communities wouldn’t let you park a pickup in a residential driveway overnight.) They only became ubiquitous in the suburbs when they became aspirational lifestyle statements that projected both masculinity and wealth.
One can still get the formerly “standard” (6′ 4″) bed on Ram trucks, including on crew cabs. (I have one and it’s great).
I think you’re right also !! It’s the same with the conventional two-door with a six foot bed too. They’re the glamour sport pick-ups down the road in 25 to 30 years after new. Just look at the big auctions like Mecum, Barrett Jackson, Etc., and see the money the restored or excellent condition original conventional 2 door short beds are getting at action.
Absolutely, and lower the bed down, so a 6 foot human can be reach into the bed.
The advent of the 3/4 ton crew or extended cab with a short bed was when I decided that things were going sideways in the pickup truck market. The 3/4 and one ton truck buyer has changed drastically since the mid 1980’s. It was not uncommon to see shop workers and mechanics in a dually pickup and they used it to tow their snowmobiles or dirt bikes on weekends or for towing their boat or camper. Those guys don’t make enough money to buy a current truck. Everyone is poorer now.
I have been trying to sell are 1977 long bed two door Chevrolet for a few months now, nobody’s even wants to look at it, it does have rust but not rusted out or still a lot of good truck there for anybody who wants it. Asking $2,500. It’s in pretty good shape. That’s that nobody in the family is driving it anymore. I have too many cars and too many other projects.
Where is this truck located.Can you send pics
Yep, I’m on board with this one. 2 doors, 4X4, 8 foot box, V8 power.
A farm truck the way God intended!
Whatcha smokin? WTs in half, three quarter and one ton have been available forever and there ain’t no waitin list. There’s at least one 2025 at the local dealership right now if you really want it.
Unless you “need” a long bed for hauling stuff, I find the short beds are more desirable and look better.
I intend to drive my ‘98 Toyota Prerunner 2.7L in line 4 until my kids hide the keys. 220,000 miles and everything is still original except for tires, brakes, a battery or two, one starter, and the exhaust. Bought it used in 2006 for $8,500. I see them selling today for around the same price.
Bought my ’96 ranger used from original owner with 307000Km about 10 years ago for $1500, needed a clutch and windshield so on the road for $2500 – cap and bed liner included. Now has almost 393000 K on it. Another clutch,brakes, tires, battery, water pump and a few other minor odds and ends and I replaced the box because it was cheaper than fixing the old one – which wasn’t in TERRIBLE shape – Likely just over $5000 total invested not counting oil changes etc – can’t find another one for under $8500 in close to the same condition – the 7 foot box is pretty much a unicorn. Will I get another 10 years out of it???? We will see, but it’s likely to be my last pickup.
Talking Km you sound like you’re in Canada. How do you keep the brake, fuel lines, and all the body panels from rusting all the time? That’s why I traded in my 99 2 dr. Tahoe.
Well Chevy are rust buckets, but otherwise nice trucks
Sounds like you’ve confused Dodge and Ford with the Chevy. In Ohio, I see far more of those two with premature rust (especially Dodge) than I’ve ever seen on a G.M. truck. My 2013 Siverado (113,000) has zero rust and simply gets normal maintenance and washings.
Serious, same way half the US does.
Buffalo,Ohio,Montana,Michigan,Chicago to name a few.
I like the manual transmission option. Those can last forever. Just an fyi, if you haven’t, it’s worth it to change the transmission fluid. You have changed it with the clutch replacement.
I like the manual transmission option. Those can last forever. Just an fyi, if you haven’t, it’s worth it to change the transmission fluid. You may have already changed it with the clutch replacement.
Sold my 1993 Chevy W/T 1500, eight foot bed, 4.3 Vortech, 127,000 miles. The only thing “classic “ about it was failing white paint so prominent on GMC trucks and vans. The high school who lives around the corner bought from for a thousand. Two weeks later he had it lowered and replaced the rear bumper with a custom one. It looks great. Wish I had it back. Here goes the discussion about “ Classic “ again.
I was so glad to see my truck make this list. The “Bricknose” Ford. For the uninitiated, 1980-1986 is the “Bullnose”, 1987-1991 is the “Bricknose”, 1992-1997 is the OBS (Old Body Style) because of overlap between the new F-150 and OBS F-250/350.
I have a 1987 “Bricknose” but I hated the then new headlights. My solution, Australian headlights!! The Australian version of the “Bricknose” came with good old fashioned square halogen, sealed beam lights. In my opinion, completely changes the profile of the truck.
Interesting. I just refreshed my memory of what the 1987 headlights looked like, and they seem fine. Just a matter of personal taste, I guess.
They forgot to mention to get a good example of one of these trucks you’ll need to accept some rust in the floor and body, ( surface of frame ) even if you can access the good ones from the Southwest ( which is harder to do in the Northeast).
Hard to find a C-10 in Arizona for $10k.
Can’t find a square body C10 anywhere for under $10k unless it’s rusted to the ground
Hard to find a C-10 in AZ for $10k
I always liked the style of the 90 F-150. Not an overly complicated vehicle.
Clean the throttle body. Lube the throttle linkage (remove the round cover). Always run a fuel injector cleaner.
Bought my ’87 Comanche around 30 years ago, it checked off all the boxes 4.0L, 5 speed, even the color (burgundy) was right. RWD (one-wheel drive) means if it sees mud it gets stuck but I love it. Paid $4500 for it with a new a/c so glad to see its current value.
Dentside and Bumpside Ford trucks with 4wd were always significantly less expensive than the same years in a GM version- until recently. I am not sure when the tide changed but in the last six (6) months, I noticed that Fords are now equally expensive. I missed that boat.
They are great! I have a 1971 F250 4wd with 390v8 – all I need is a new (or non-rusted) 8 ft bed. Are there any out there?
For a small pickup, the VW Thing (Rabbit). They are dirt cheap and economical. Just make sure they haven’t been beaten to death.
Steve,
The VW Thing, built, I think, in Mexico were rust buckets from the beginning. I owned the VW pickup, which is different from The Thing, and it was a great little “truck”. Had a diesel engine which got great milage and I believe a four-speed trans?
Think you mean the Rabbit truck? The Thing is the Kubelwagen looking semi-dunebuggy.
The diesel Rabbit truck is economical but its 0-60 time is measured in decades.
I test drove a VW diesel truck in the early 80’s. 0 to 40 was 5 minutes.
4 years ago I picked up an F350, 4WDm automatic, 7.3, crew cab for $3,000 with 187,000 miles on it.
It was a lot more pickup than I wanted but I can put a full cord of wood on it and it doesn’t even bother it and I get 16-18 mpg. The more I drive it the better I like it.
Before it I had an 87 F150 extended cab 4wd, 5.0 with the 8ft bed that i liked but I couldn’t get over 14 mpg with it and with a load it would only get 8-10.
I own a 1975 Chevy Scottsdale 2 tone blue and white, 2 wheel drive 350 4 barrel Quadra jet 350 automatic transmission 8 foot bed , It’s a little hard on gas but I love it
My 72 Cheyenne Super, long bed C-10, with 34k miles on it, is gorgeous, drives like a dream, everyone loves it and I get 👍’s up on the road as I drive. And, $10k might buy you 2 wheels and a tailgate…! ( not that I would part with those pieces…!) Is anyone giving a 👍’s up to the $70-80k Silverados on the road…? Doubtful
Please post links to where decent examples of these trucks can be found for less than $10,000
Read your article on affordable pickups and wondered how you missed the Dakota ! Late 99’s to mid 2000’s, the 4 door with a very roomy seat and big entry doors make it a “usable” 6 passenger vehicle. V8, tow and plow packages, what’s not to like, I’d rate it #1 from that era
I have a ‘92 Dakota. It’s a 318, gets 12 mpg, but it’s paid for. Paint chipping is its main issue.
I had a Dakota club cab for a very short time. What I remember was the styling and finishes were 10-15 yrs behind the times and the single interior light left you searching in the dark in the back seat. The night I drove it home from the dealer I knew it wasn’t for me. Have had lots of trucks over the years but the most fun I remember was the 1984 Ford Ranger, real quick and a fun ride for the times!