My shed of a 1978 Ford F-150

[geekman]

Needed a pickup for a building project and house move - found this for the equivalent of £1k and bought it. Already been offered more for it, but I fell in love with it on the drive home despite its many, many faults, so I’ve decided to fix it up. Expect many stupid questions as I’ve never owned an old car before and don’t really know how anything works. I’ve changed shocks, throttle bodies, sensors etc on modern cars so how hard can it be?

Good / working things:

Engine (recently rebuilt)
Transmission (all 3 speeds of it!)
LPG system with 100l tank (very much enjoyed paying 25ppl to fill it up on the way home)
Brakes
Door locks and ignition
Most gauges and lights
New radiator, battery and shocks
Power steering
Tailgate opens and locks fine
Solid, non rusty chassis, body and suspension

Non working things / damage:

Indicator stalk doesn’t do anything
Seat belts (it has the entire belt system on the door pillars but nothing to clip them into as it’s had the seats from a Silverado or something similar fitted)
Drivers door handle
Blower / radio assembly damaged and not working
No gear selector gauge
Steering wheel very off centre
Steering generally feels vague and misaligned
Steering wheel centre plastic missing
Dash top cracked
One door card missing (buying a good used one today for £4)
Some damage to front drivers side, indicator dislodged
Various dents and paint damage. Looks like it was originally dark green, so I’m probably going to repaint it eventually in the original colour, as well as sort out all the dents and bent chrome. I can get cosmetic work done very, very cheap through a family member, so I’m not concerned about that.

No doubt there’s more issues, but that’s all I found on the test drive and 1hr drive home.

Here’s some pictures - as you can see, it was bought from a rather “interesting” location, and I was quite relieved not to get robbed.

@Acme Sorry, you don’t have the biggest shed on OCUK anymore

 

[Akagi]

Thats awesome!

Also very strange that I'm currently 18 minutes into "Can We Get a BURNT Truck to run?? 1979 F150 Revival" on YouTube...

Hopefully your F150 adventure goes better.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Brilliant. Love it, love pickups (Ex Amarok owner)

 

[Stu999]

Love the look of these vintage trucks. The Bronco of that era is a good looker too (that they’ve copied for the new ones).

 

[Akagi]

(Ex Amarok owner)

Worst flex ever in a thread with a cool pickup.

 

[DXP55]

I also would like a V8 pickup love the sound - Had a mate in USA (died now) who had a 1996 Chevy pickup - Had 500k miles on it and hardly a mark on it - If the service book said change diff bearings at 300k he did. Everything was changed as service book said. - Whoever had it when his wife sold up had a very good buy.

Hope you sort it -what mileage is on it ??

 

[vanpeebles]

That's a beast!! If it was slightly older you could have done a Mr Majestyk replica

I like the stray dog locale too! Did you get the head of Alfredo Garcia while you were there?

 

[jpaul]

Lovely - need to hear the sound ; I guess the MOT is not too stringent if the indicator stalk is awol, or, you have an alternative.

The romance of the freeway which one were you returning on ... so we can google map it.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Worst flex ever in a thread with a cool pickup.

Genuinely don’t know that means but thanks!

I’d love a raptor, not the ranger but a proper F150 variant. There is a RHD F150 Raptor on auto trader but it’s £150k reduced to £120k which is obscene!

Hennessy do a 6x6 version too. http://hennesseyperformance.com/vehicles/ford/f-150-raptor/2017-ford-f-150-raptor/velociraptor-6x6/ $350k

 

[Akagi]

Genuinely don’t know that means but thanks!

I’d love a raptor, not the ranger but a proper F150 variant. There is a RHD F150 Raptor on auto trader but it’s £150k reduced to £120k which is obscene!

Hennessy do a 6x6 version too. http://hennesseyperformance.com/vehicles/ford/f-150-raptor/2017-ford-f-150-raptor/velociraptor-6x6/ $350k

Wow that is pricey...

An F150 Raptor would be awesome... Stupid quick for a pickup! And nice noises.

 

[EssexBoy]

Rather have Jay Leno's bronco than that raptor.

Nice colour of blue on the F150.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

That's awesome. Is it the 2WD or 4WD variant?

 

[geekman]

Thats awesome!

Also very strange that I'm currently 18 minutes into "Can We Get a BURNT Truck to run?? 1979 F150 Revival" on YouTube...

Hopefully your F150 adventure goes better.

Thanks! I've been binge watching Youtube videos of people restoring them all day - some are even worse than mine.

I also would like a V8 pickup love the sound - Had a mate in USA (died now) who had a 1996 Chevy pickup - Had 500k miles on it and hardly a mark on it - If the service book said change diff bearings at 300k he did. Everything was changed as service book said. - Whoever had it when his wife sold up had a very good buy.

Hope you sort it -what mileage is on it ??

Well, it's showing around 5900 miles, but I think it's fair to say that might not be accurate . It was originally sold in the US, worked there for many years and was then imported here. I suspect it's been working pretty much every day of it's life, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it has over 300 or 400k miles.

That's a beast!! If it was slightly older you could have done a Mr Majestyk replica

I like the stray dog locale too! Did you get the head of Alfredo Garcia while you were there?

Some of the stray dogs started having a very vicious fight whilst I was handing over the money, nobody seemed to be bothered apart from me!

Lovely - need to hear the sound ; I guess the MOT is not too stringent if the indicator stalk is awol, or, you have an alternative.

The romance of the freeway which one were you returning on ... so we can google map it.

It sounds fantastic - I was going to take it out and record a video but we're expecting a hurricane and I doubt it's entirely watertight, so you'll have to wait a few days. There is no form of MOT whatsoever here - plenty of people drive around in vehicles in far worse condition than this truck, believe it or not.

I was driving back on the 910 Libramiento Noreste, north of Monterrey. It's actually a horrible road, and one I unfortuntely have to drive most days. The 85D from Monterrey to Laredo in the North and the 85 carretera nacional to the South are beautiful though, and I'll hopefully be using the truck on those quite a lot once it's a bit more sorted. I'll be sure to post some pictures.

That's awesome. Is it the 2WD or 4WD variant?

It's 2WD. I have plans to convert it to 4WD as I do a fair bit of off roading, but that's a long way in the future. I have to build a house, pool, tennis court, garage and log cabin first, so I may well be retired by the time I have the money to pay for the 4WD conversion.

 

[Rroff]

Worst flex ever in a thread with a cool pickup.

Current Navara V6 owner checking in

A lot more attached to my pickup than I thought I'd be though single cab doesn't do it for me for some reason - some how look incomplete without though no doubt better for serious pickup duty with the extra bed length.

 

[Akagi]

@geekman If you like watching people wrench on old American barn finds/field finds/swamp finds then I wholeheartedly recommend:

Junkyard Digs
Thunderhead289
Vicegrip Garage
Dylan McCool
Ronald Finger
Fuzzy Dice Projects

Junkyard Digs / Thunderhead289 collab videos, and Vice Grip Garage are my favourites...

 

[vanpeebles]

He has his own adventure now, he doesn't need to watch yoochoob morons

 

[Akagi]

He has his own adventure now, he doesn't need to watch yoochoob morons

They're not morons, moron!

Does the tailgate open, and close?

 

[Temujin]

Now that's an automobile! Would love to have a pickup like that or a Chevy step side one day, most likely just a pipe dream tho...

 

[geekman]

He has his own adventure now, he doesn't need to watch yoochoob morons

I do, otherwise I'd have no idea how to fix anything on it. It's almost 20 years older than I am, so quite a bit before my time

They're not morons, moron!

Does the tailgate open, and close?

Yes, it does. It's actually the only one out of the many that I saw with a working tailgate handle and latch. I wish I could say the same about the drivers door handle.....

 

[vanpeebles]

I do, otherwise I'd have no idea how to fix anything on it. It's almost 20 years older than I am, so quite a bit before my time



Yes, it does. It's actually the only one out of the many that I saw with a working tailgate handle and latch. I wish I could say the same about the drivers door handle.....

Do it the old fashioned proper way, get a haynes for it and start rolling about underneath it.