Hello all. My name is Tom. I am new to the forum. Dont have a ford truck yet but I found a 1974 F100 close to my house which I plan on checking out this weekend. I got the price down to $1000. has the 390 big block. he says it has no rust, has new tires, and it just passed inspection. is there anything I should look for?

here is a picture of the truck.

 

it looks pretty straight from that picture but you are going to need to put some paint on it if that is just black primer. Plain primer won't prevent rust.
Crawl underneath the truck and look for rusted floor and cab corners. Look for rust on the wheel wells of the bed.
When you test drive it make sure you check for transmission shifting properly and any other weird noises.
Check all of the fluids before you start the engine. What color is the anti-freeze? What color is the oil? What color is the trans fluid?

i am sure others will have more advice.

Mark

 

Yes this is a nice looking original truck that looks all complete. Put a paint job on if you get it and have fun. Like the other person said, check under the truck for bad rust, some surface rust you are going to have. Check the engine over and listen for any odd sounds and make sure the trans shifts. Make sure the wiring is not hacked all up too. If all checks out ok you have a nice truck to start with. $1000 doesnt sound to bad but you might get them down under this amount. Try, it never hurts. These trucks are very basic so if anything happens Ford-Trucks will guide you right through the issues to get it fixed.

 

thanks for the input so far. yeah I will definitely be checking out the engine and trans for noises and look under the truck for rust.

this truck is his DD so I expect the engine and trans should be good.

 

Welcome to the forum (from a fellow new guy)! What are you wanting to do with the truck? Drive it as is? fix it up? I'd haggle with them to get below $1k if I could using the whole angle of it needs paint over the primer and it needs a tailgate. Paint jobs can get expensive fast!!

 

thanks for the welcome. as of now it will mostly be used for hauling stuff and maybe for tooling around town.

 

to the site! Good luck with you purchase. I am a newbie as well on this forum, and trying to learn as much as possible too. Everyone here is way cool, and offers good advice. Keep us posted on your decision!

Matt

oh, where do you live, the background is really neat looking. Better then the deserts of Phoenix that i am used to seeing.

 

well I live in Maryland but the truck is located in PA.

 

That truck is near me and has been on craigslist for probably 2 months. It doesnt have a tailgate but thats not that big of a deal. Other than that I thought about buying it for parts. I would check it over good. I think you will its not as nice as he says.

If you do buy I can point you in the right direction for a cheap tailgate thats close by to that truck.

 

yeah he said he has been trying to sell it for a while. he says he has done some work to it. i will definitely check it over good. I should have posted sooner so you could have checked it out for me.

 

Welcome to FTE

On sale day, 360 engines magically become 390's.

The engine code is the 4th digit of the VIN

1968/76 F100/350: H = 390 2V / M = 390 4V (1974/76 only) / Y = 360 2V.

360/390 engines: The bore is the same (4.05"), the stroke is different.

Stroke: 360 = 3.50" / 390 = 3.78"

While 390 engines were available in these trucks, prolly 75% of them that have an FE engine, have the 360.

 

good to know thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum you will learn a lot here. x2 on what NumberDummy said. When I bought mine it was advertised as a '78 with a 390 in it. After I started tinkering with it found out it is a '79 with a 400. Some people just don't know what they have when they are selling these but you need to be sure especially when it comes to parts. Also take a good look at the engine and the ground below it for any signs of fluid leakage. Ask the seller how many people has looked at it. If it has been a high amount may still be for sell for a reason.

 

well when it came day for me to check out the truck the guy would not answer his phone. just checked out craigslist today and saw he re-posted the truck now with only 54k miles. he told me it had 140k miles. so I will NOT be buying that truck so other buyers be ware.

74 F-100, New Inspection, Trade

 

That's exactly what I heard from someone else