IT'S BEEN MOPARIZED! Dodge Dakota R/T starts out good, gets better.(News)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

the Dakota R/T was pretty good to begin with. It has been a favorite among street truck performance enthusiasts since it debuted in the 1998 model year. They race it, customize it, race it some more and then sit around talking about how much they hate them dang F-150 Lightnings. The Dakota R/T is so popular there is even a national club, the Dakota R/T Club (dakotart.com).

The R/T moniker stands for "road'' and "track'' (no relation to the fledgling magazine of the same name). R/T gained fame way back in the days of Chargers and Coronets, when the factory added performance just because it could. In the case of the Dakota, R/T means you get the 5.9-liter Magnum V8 instead of the 3.9-liter V6, a limited-slip, a more drag-friendly 3.92 final drive, four-wheel discs, sport suspension and four 255/55R-17s.

That's not enough for some owners, though. For them there is the Mopar catalog. But it's such a big catalog-what parts to pick? May we suggest the following: We recently drove a Dakota R/T with the Magnum MPI single-plane intake manifold, Magnum R/T cylinder-head assemblies, high-performance camshaft and lifter package, low-restriction cat-back exhaust and a cold air intake. There was also a cast-aluminum valve cover set, but that's only necessary if you're trying to improve your performance when parked with the hood up.