Shelby Dakota
The Dakota wasn’t a compact car but a compact pickup truck from Dodge. It was dependable, tough looking, and came with various engines and trim levels. However, Dodge wanted more, and in the late 80s, the company conceived a performance version created by the legendary Carroll Shelby, who was currently working with Chrysler Corporation. Shelby took the regular production Dakota and installed a 5.2-liter V8 engine with 175 HP. Despite the relatively small power output, the Dakota was light and had lots of torque, which meant that this compact truck had some convincing performance.