Some recent troubles with the Land Rover, and a lack of space in said LR, saw me pick up this faded and high-miles 1992 Ford F250 to provide backup and hauling capabilities.
My budget was next-to-nothing and “cheap trucks” are no longer a thing in the world. I started peeking at Craigslist to see what might be out there, and in my budget there was literally nothing. One of my close friends let me know one of his friends had this truck sitting in the driveway largely unused, and it might be available. After a bit of thought on his part, and negotiation of price, it turns out it was available and now it lives in my carport (which it barely fits into).
The truck is two wheel drive, which is fine–I have 4×4 covered with the Disco. It has the 351 Windsor V8 (at least it’s fuel injected!), which is ok, if not the most fuel-efficient option (it’s getting about 11mpg) and an auto transmission. The previous owner spent a lot of money over the years having the truck repaired if and as it needed it. I think the “Custom” trim level is the base model, which again is just fine. It has traveled 240,000 miles, a not-uncommon number of miles for a used truck these days, which just shows how far in the past I live (where such a total would be worthy of a human interest story in the local paper).
The Ford also has an 8′ bed, which is pretty rare on any relatively new truck. With the “supercab”, it does make for a loooong truck, but I’d rather that than a bed too short to put a piece of plywood in, especially now that a couple of sheets of plywood requires a second mortgage to purchase.
I’m undecided about removing the cage on the bed. It would be handy if I was do lots of yard-waste type of hauling, which I’m not. It makes it a lot less handy for other uses of the bed, though. It’s a well-built addition which undoubtedly weighs a ton, and I’m not sure what I would do with it if I ditch it, as taking it to the scrapyard would undoubtedly have me finding a use for it shortly thereafter.
Anyway, that’s as exciting as it gets around here at the moment.