I have a 95 f250 460 126,000 miles. It needs new fenders, hood and a driver door, and passenger bedside is pretty messed up( rust and dents) and other bedside is straight no rust besides a couple deep scratches. Went to a good body shop to get a quote and was quoted upwards of $7000. I like my truck, I just don't know if it's worth putting that much in to it. I could sell the truck, but this body style is just so sexy. Any advice much needed.

 

That is up to YOU to decide.

What is your truck worth to sell the way it is?

What would that money and 7k get you? Another rusted beat up truck just a couple years newer?

 

What Brad said. Around here, $7k will get you a truck that needs $4k in work...

 

That was exactly my thinking when I had every body panel except the hood and cab on my 97 replaced.

I payed about 7k for mine also. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

If the only problems with the truck is the body work, and it doesn't have any major engine or tranny issues. Then I would get it fixed.

 

You can do most of that work yourself. Fenders and doors are just bolted on. The bed will need to either be completely replaced or cut and have panels welded on.

 

I'd buy a one way ticket out of the rust belt and find a clean truck for $5-8k. Sell your rust bucket before dropping that much money into it. A 95-97 460 auto(?) f250 isn't exactly the unicorn of OBS Fords.

 

Not sure this link will transfer right to the billions of F250s in seemingly showroom* condition available for as low as $2300....

https://www.carsforsale.com/1995-for...r-sale-C122607




*I didn't say "new car" showroom....

 

If you like it that much replace the panels yourself.

 

7k will buy you a lot of truck (even diesel truck,let alone a 460 truck) anywhere in the contiguous US.there's no need to pay that much for a few panels some body work and fresh paint.you can replace the fenders,door and hood yourself having some rust free ones shipped in from the south if need be,then go somewhere else to get the dents/scratches and paint work quoted.keep your eyes open and you might even find a decent bed.

 

around here, 7k will buy a meticulously maintained cream-puff (gas prices are high here, lowering the value of older trucks, especially the big blocks). absolute no-brainer. obviously, in the rustbelt, things are different.

 

In Texas I paid less then that for this truck which is a solid 8.5-9 on a scale of 10 inside and out! I agree with the others. Take your $7k and locate a solid truck!

 

i saw trucks just like that ^ (yeah,even those more slightly "rare" f250 crew cab short beds are not so "rare" at all in Texas) in Texas and Oklahoma by literally the dozen on every 1 hour or so trip away i took while there.so cool.
around here my clean and repainted chip truck turns heads.down there she would just be another truck.
a plane ticket and a drive back is all it takes to score an affordable clean 9th gen truck.
do us all a favor though.please don't go after one just to drive it in the winter roads of the north.put her up and keep 'er good. little $500 beater front wheel drive cars work well on snow.

 

I wouldn't fix it. Buy a southern/western truck and only drive it in the summer. Keep this truck as a winter or parts truck. Even if you replace the bad body parts, there's probably a hole starting behind the shackles and the shackles around probably starting to go.

 

As a person how used to repair automatic car washes in the Chicago area. I have learned that to extend the life of a vehicle is to drop some quarters in a manual carwash and rinse off all surfaces top and bottom and a good coat of wax.

 

I agree with you there. Wash it as much as you can during the winter, and make sure you clean up inside the lip of the wheel wells and they will last alot longer.

In my sig is a link to the work I've done to my 97, and I still drive it in the worst winter conditions. Because what's the point of having a 4x4 truck if you have to park it when you need 4x4 the most.