So after many years of coveting, I finally talked my dad into selling me his 76 F250. He bought it in early 77 so we have had it nearly its whole life and when I was young nicknamed it "The Big Truck". As a contractor my dad used it pretty hard and as such it will be a very long project, but as of now I want to attempt to get it to near factory condition (minus the nearly new rebuilt 390 and probably updated wheels and maybe a few other odds and ends).

I'm sure that I will have many question through out the course of this process but to start i'm having a hard time figuring out what color it is. Its a rather plain brown, but the paint code is missing on the data plate any ideas why it wouldn't be stamped? Also i have a bed from a 77 that is in far better shape then the one presently on it, is it possible to move it from one truck to the other? i know the frame rails are different widths but i cant help but think it wouldn't be terribly hard to drill new holes and call it good..

I'll be posting some pictures soon, and thanks in advance for any help or suggestions anyone wants to throw out in advance.

 

As far as I'm aware, the frame rails are only different widths for the 4x4 and 2WD models, but it is definitely a doable project. It's simply a matter of bolting the donor box on your truck.

Pictures of your warranty plate on the door would be nice, as well as a good photo representing the colour of the truck. We don't often need the paint code to be able to tell you the name of the colour.

 

Was the truck originally part of a fleet order?
Look at the DSO code on the warranty plate (the last code in the bottom line), is it a two digit or six digit number?
If it's a six digit number, the truck was special ordered and could have included a non-standard color. This was usually done when it was a fleet order.
If the truck was ordered with a non-standard color the color code was left blank.
The bed used a narrower bolt pattern to match the narrower frame rails, the narrow frame was used on the F250 4WD and dual wheel F350.
Another issue you'll need to deal with is the fuel filler. On 73-76 the filler cap was exposed. On 77-up the filler was behind a door. The filler necks are different.

 

Currently the truck has the factory behind the seat tank, and one after market saddle that has a spout in the drivers side wheel well. I have been toying with maybe having a custom tank done to fit under the bed to utilize the rear fuel door the donor '77.5 has. and then doing away with the saddle so i can route dual pipes to empty in front of the rear tires (not real comfortable with the idea of exhaust pipes that close to the plastic saddle).

Here are two pictures that might help with the color identification. Thanks for the help.

 

That truck was special ordered (DSO 482709). If it was a stock dealer order, it would have just had the DSO 48 code (Detroit).
It came with a tan all vinyl interior, that's what the "DU" part of the body code means.
The color looks close to Medium Ginger Metallic, color code R.

 

That colour would look great in fresh paint.

 

as this is going to be a long project, does anyone know if i can get that colour in rattle cans so i can keep the same over all look while i replace and fix parts?

 

You can get any colour in rattle cans, but you first need to know what colour you have. That's something a digital scan at an autobody shop could tell you.

 

Due to a very hectic summer work schedule I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on this let alone post much, so let me do some catch up starting with the trip to her new home. We started at my dads place in Utah, and due to it's limited drivability opted to trailer her north with my Dad's '96 power stroke.



We had just started out when 5 miles from the driveway the powerstroke broke down . end up replacing a bunch injectors and other diesel stuff. $4000 dollars later... While the tow truck was down I borrowed my brother in laws truck to get the trailer back to the house just in time to find out the trailer brakes were coming apart



Finally got back on the road 3 days later and did rather well all the way to northern washington where we promptly broke down again. Luckily this ended up being some sort of computer glitch and we were back up and running a couple hours later.



Made it through the canadian boarder with only light harassment.



and drove some more... and more... and more... where we then broke down again... (starting to wonder if it wouldn't be better to swap trucks...) once again it was a relatively quick fix, and we were back on the road again (decided to fill up the '76s tanks in case this trip kept up its current trend).

Made it to the Yukon ok.



and finally about 5 days and 1, 2, 3,...5000 break downs later made it to Her new home in Alaska .



Thought some of you might get a kick out of the title my dad handed over to me. The DMV wasn't even sure what to do with it. Ended up getting a duplicate made so I could hang onto the original

 

Glad it is still in the family, welcome to the Forum. We love hearing the history and seeing lots of pics

 

I am subscribing to this one, I like the history behind the truck and how it all started.

Ah....road trips with memories.

 

Subscribed. What a great story. Love the pic at the gas station. But it does sound like your dad could stand to better maintain his equipment. And I'm not sure how would have reacted to the state being unsure of what to do with the title. I mean after all their the ones that require the title, and set all of laws governing everything that we the citizens do in our lives. Right? Not to mention, how hard is it really to do a title transfer? I should also mention that I can't wait to see more pics.

 

To be fair the DMV was good with doing a title swap, but they, like me had never seen one that looked like that and with my interest in keeping the original it proved easier just to get a duplicate title made and then retitled it that way.

As for pictures I have more that I put in my album last night, showing some of the clean up and first stages of the rebuild, but it wouldn't let me post any of the new ones. I'll try again in a day or two.

Thanks for the interest, the knowledge on the site has already proved invaluable, and I welcome the input

 

The newest member of the family. Picked her up for $300 with "new" 351m (we'll see when i get it into the shop). But it has my new front quarter panel and a good bed side tool box, not to mention a bunch of pretty good trim and interior parts. I'm happy with it

 

As long as i'm introducing my ford family, here is my first '77 F250. She doesn't have a name yet, but "The Big Truck" has now been dubbed "Penny" by my wife, so I guess its easier to roll with it.