I would have to strongly disagree, both of my 1984 F-series trucks have been some of the best trucks I've ever had. I would however steer clear of the 80-81 Ford trucks, many of them had the "swiss cheese" frames. I actually have had more issues with my 96 F150. The only stuff chevy kept pretty much the same was small block engine parts and bellhousings, and even some of that stuff won't interchange. They run at least 3 different 4wd tranny tail shafts, 2wd and 4wd frames are different, 2 or 3 different length rear leaf springs, different wheel bolt patterns (5,6&8), different axle housing widths, weak frames on the 73 and up trucks the 88 and newer GMs are absolute garbage... and where I live they rust out just as fast as anything else. As cheap as they are Chevys still don't impress me, I have enough buddies who own them to convince me which is better.
John

 

Pkupman I agree 88 and up gm's are garbage. I had 3 of them go to 200k before trading them off. I had to put idler and pitman arms on 2 of them. A wheel bearing and intake gasket on one and a waterpump one. I shouldn't have had to even change the oil until 400k miles. I would not recommend them to anyone nor will I ever buy one again.

 

Ford gets my vote. I've always liked the 80-86 body style too. My uncle had an 86 F150 Lariat that he put 269,000 miles on without any issues. My family has always driven Ford vehicles. Personally, I think the Chevy interiors have always looked cheap, especially the 88 on up models.

 

I have to say my all time favorite Ford trucks are the 73-79 F-series and 78-79 Broncos. IMO they were the best built toughest trucks of their time and still are today. They had good engines, the FEs were great 351m/400s were okay; 300 six, 302, 351w, and 460 were all excellent engines. They had bulletproof transmissions, gear-driven transfer cases, good axles, and super strong frames... not to mention they just look bada$$! The 73-87 GMs were good but they just feel cheap and weak to me, compared to a Ford. Yeah they had a ton of engine interchangeability, a good ignition system, decent axles (ff 14 bolts were great),3 speed auto trans were decent... but it really stops there from what I have seen. I have worked on a number of them and I'm sorry to say I'm not all that impressed. Both of my early 80s Fords have been treated like trucks their whole life. The F150 I have had for nearly 15 years now (I'm 29) has been up the the headlights in water many times, overloaded, overworked and always came back for more. I've sand dune ran it, mud bogged, you name it that ol girl has been there. The 300 six just won't quit, love that truck. The F250 is my work horse, I've been halfway up the doors plowing snow with it, towed ton of trailers (IIRC combined weight of 15k lbs on several occassions)... I even pulled a couple stuck semi trucks out with it. The old 6.9L IDI might be slow but it doesn't give up. I know they're not perfect but when it comes to pickup trucks, you simply can't go wrong with a Ford F-series.
John

 

I have to agree with that. Love those trucks, but near impossible to find locally that are not either trailer queens or cancer ridden. Eventually, i want to get one, maybe go down south to get it.

 

I guess I lucked out with my 79 Bronco, it's not rust free but it's surprisingly solid for it's age living here in Michigan. Sadly it could easily be restored into a cherry rig, I'm building it into a wheeler. My 77 F250 is heavily rotted out, I hope to find a rust free body for it and do a nice frame-off rebuild on it... some day!
John

 

The only reason chevy's k-series pick ups frame cracked by the steering box is from people who lift them put oversized tires on drive them hard which puts stress in the one area with out beefing it up, and they do make a frame brace kit so it doesn't happen. Now i do like chevys i was looking for one to buy but people around here wanted more than i could afford. I had a friend who sold me his 1981 Ford F150 Ranger 4x4 and i have had her since

 

I cannot stand the 90s models Chevy 1500s. I have done my fair share of work on them, stemming from entire front suspension and steering rebuilds, rear axle swaps, fuel systems etc etc and they are just a PITA in general.


As far as the 80s Fords, as much as I like the 70s trucks the 80s trucks just win me over every time. Way more badass looking, and take quite a beating. I still see 80s Fords literally everywhere as a few 70s. My 85 F250 had seen water into the cab, insane amounts of mud (got kicked out of a car wash once), plowed thick heavy wet lake effect snow pouring into the bed, hauled countless tons of topsoil, crush rock, ledge stone, you name it. I beat the **** out of it like you would not believe and it wants more, even after 665,000 miles. This is all on broken rear leafs on the passenger side by the way. Couldn't ask for a better truck. I couldn't get as much out of a new truck I'd dump $40k on as I already have and continue to get out of this one and especially restoring it for roughly $10k. Doesn't make sense to get a new one and I prefer the 80s square look to them. Everyone has different opinions but the 70s and 80s ford trucks are insane. I've done some work on 90s models and see them around and are still great compared to the in my opinion trash that's out now. I have a fried who has 325k on his all stock 1992 Bronco. Only thing we ever did to it was replaced the EEC after it burnt out. Fired right up afterwords. Compare that to a King Ranch F350 I had in the shop not too long ago an the turbo had already gone out twice in under 30k miles.

If your gonna buy a real truck get something old. New ones don't get crap for gas mileage either despite what you might hear (my grandpas 2011 ram 1500 gets 12 on average) so you aren't out anything.

 

I really don't care for the 90's chevys the one I want is from 1973-1979 K10 but preferably a 1976 K10 I will eventually get one one of these days since its my dream truck also because I am not going to go through all the work just to get a solid front axle now don't get me wrong there are some fords I do like not a lot but this is and will be the only won that I've fallen in love

 

that is the truth, id also throw in 68-72 chevy pickups/gmc and fullsize chevy/gmc blazers from 68-91. the 73-88 pickups aint half bad either from gm/ford and if you go one ton you can get a np205/d60 front tell 91. crew cab i believe.

all great engines, the chevy 350 is also great. and their straight 6 also. think it was a 250 or 235 maybe both.

 

The '70s ones and '80s ones weren't bad in my opinions. They body likes to go quickly on those ones though. Its the '88-'98? ones you have to stay away from. Just total piles. And honestly most of them after '88 all the way to today are crap. Goes for any brand.

 

Yeah im into old and vintage iron from the 50's thru the 70's

 

Ill drive any Ford up until 98 if its a 250. Though I would prefer a '79 or another '80-'86.

 

After owning an 85 c10 I will not ever use my money to buy another 80's chevy.
Or a chevy truck if I had to. I just can't stand the distributor being against the firewall.
Core support rots out too easily for me. They have a car front end.

 

Yeah I don't like the distributor being in the back either. I prefer it to be in the front like Mopar, AMC, Ford etc.