I have a 99 Dakota and was liking how tough the chassis is. I also was thinking about using Dakota chassis for street rods. I have discoverd that the front 5 lug hub assy. of a same year from a Ram 1500 will fit my spindles, giving me the ablity to use 5 lug wheels. Most Dakotas have a peg-leg rear axle so I fuggured to use a Ford 9" The only hurdle was the front 6 lug spindle. Now that I've solved that I'll be using Dakota chassis in some of my builds.
At the car show that I was at this weekend there was a 30's Dodge PU sitting on a Dakota chassis. It was well done. The owner said that he liked that front end better then the Mustangs that he had used in the past.