Throwback Body Style

[primer85f150]

they wont be the same, less sheetmetal , more doohickies , no character!

i will stick with my 85 and soon to be maybe running 51. i dont want to drive what is at the dealership or i would , no cookie cutter truck for me .

[DD1684]

There's nothing like the nostalgia of owning something of a totally different generation. It kind of takes you back into a different time when things seemed so much more simple. It'd be cool if Ford did a retro truck, but there's nothing like owning an original with a vinyl bench seat, steel inner door panels, 4 speed manual, crank windows, square body panels and a V8 pig under the hood. Just plain awesome.

[David85]

To be frank, I really don't see much wrong with the old trucks. There more reliable, tough as nails, just as fast, the crome bumpers didn't peel, and I think they were plenty comfortable too. Not to mention they had real character; none of the rounded blob-like shapes that come out every oh-five minutes these days.

I have heard others say this about old trucks and I share the opinion, If ford were to dust of the old plans to the ORIGINAL 70s trucks and update them only to make them road leagal, I think they would sell like hot-cakes. But we all know thats not going to happen, but hey, I can still dream can't I?

[rusty70f100]

I thought Ford should dust off the plans for the FE series, adapt modern fuel injection to it, and put those in trucks. How about a 450hp roller cam 390? No? Remember, they dont spit spark plugs, have easily changeable sparkplugs, have 2 valves per cylinder and pushrods. How about now? No noisy cam phasers, rattling timing chain, knocking pistons... I could go on.

Of course, that would be admitting that they did something wrong 30 years ago and they cant have that...

[hoxiii]

I tell ya what, a couple of days ago I saw a super clean '67 longbed out of the corner of my eye as it was sitting at a stoplight. I took a full double take at it because it looked like it had just rolled off of the showroom floor and I thought to myself "I wish Ford would go back to the 67-72 body style, I bet it would sell like mad"

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one thinking this way. But I like the idea of the retro Lightning. I could see the 67-72 (preferably with the 67-69 single piece grill) regular cab shortbed with some big V8 and a stick. Red with white metal work. . . I'd be all over that if it came to market.

Justin

[David85]

Rusty, I could definately second your call for the 390. My Dad had a 75' camper special supercab, and I loved that truck (I was 8 years old). If I try real hard I can still smell the scorched rubber and see the cloud of smoke comming off the rear tires. My Mom was driving and she accidentally lost traction while climbing an steep driveway. Hey, it was a 390, it happens .

I remember seeing an afternarket tune port EFI setup for a 390. If I remember right, it had mandrel bent pipes for the intake manifold and the whole thing was polished stainless steel. Something like that would beat the hell out of the cheap plastic stuff that is used to cover up the engine these days. I could spend all day just starring at it, and the rest of the week driving it.

The 67-72 trucks were nice too, as a retro lightning they would be a wicked sick ride. But even in stock form, I think they would still be a nice truck, simple, reliable, and tough, the way a truck should be.

Another engine I would like to see brought back is the 300 inline six. Its not the most powerful engine ever built, But I think you would be hard pressed to find another full size truck built today that could match the 300 in terms of fuel economy, reliability, life expectancy, servicability, low end torque...........

[DD1684]

The crappy part about this generation of automobiles is that many manufacturers are on the bandwagon that's all about making vehicles look very different from the competition, to the point where they're just plain ugly (GM comes to mind). I can understand if you want to implement old school flavor with new school, but to continuously evolve something can sometimes lead to one fugly vehicle! I think it'd be better for Ford to completely change the style of the F-150 like they did with the Mustang. They didn't evolve the new Mustangs from the '99-'04 style. Instead they came out with something totally different. As for a retro styled pickup, I don't think Ford would go for it because pickup trucks weren't part of the horsepower wars in the 60s and 70s. There just isn't as much heritage and nostalgia behind old pickups like there was with muscle cars. Trucks weren't looked at the way they are now (for the most part). Cars were the pinnacle of performance and trucks were just for work. Nowadays trucks like the F-150 outsell many cars, and there are more people buying trucks than ever before. I think retroing trucks would be opening a whole new can of worms. Do I think it'd work? Probably not, since most of today's truck buyers don't know jack about the earlier days of trucks, and have little understanding of the heritage behind them. Ask a random F-150 owner if he/she knows what a '74 F-100 looks like and you'll see what I'm getting at. Maybe I'm wrong about all of this though lol. Just my opinion anyway.

[David85]

I hear Ya DD1684, It almost seems to me that the auto designers are in some sort of side bet to one-up each other to see who can build the ugliest POS out there. No offence, but I'm not a fan of the 97-03 truck f150s.

Ive said this many times to myself before, if (when) I ever have to replace my truck, I'll be building one from scratch!

[zman764]

I was just comparing our old 94, my 97 and my dads 04 the other day. And how dadgum similar the 94 and 04 are. Square lines square headlights nearly identical lines in the hood minus the one running down the middle. Interiors nothing alike. I have always seen ford history in every one ive ever been in. Between family and friends I have been in and around 70's, 80's, 90's, and the current gen F-150. Every time ford makes a new truck I have always seen similarities between the old ones. I have a 97 and I would love to see a boxier truck than mine... oh wait i just remembered what dads 04 looks like. I think the current truck is awesome and really tough looking.

[nimrod1]

Ah yes..the "Good Old days" when pickups had drum brakes and lasted about 100 thousand miles before they were worn out. Sorry guys..I'm not buying it! The 5.4 is a great engine and todays pickups are engineered much better than the truck of the 1970's. It's nice to walk down memory lane but I would never trade my new F-150 for a ineffiecient V-8 with pushrods...Maybe some nostalgic stying cues but, don't make me buy 1970 technology at today's prices....Look at what you have in today's vehicles....Boxed frames...computers that adjust the fuel mixture every second to maximize power, Variable valve timeing.......I had a old Ford pickup too....I remember the five starters I had to put on it and I remember the horrible fuel mileage....I don't miss that at all! I get 19 on the highway and that aint shabby for moving over 5000 pounds down the road.

[FTE Ken]

Amen to that Nimrod1!

The market demographics that count to the manufacturer are the buyers, not the guys in driving in 20-30 year old trucks hurumphing at the new trucks. If new technology is so bad get off the Internet!

I've owned several Ford trucks, old and new. I loved my 67... but it required upgrading to disc brakes and small things always needed attending to (for example, the tune-up interval) --- and it certainly wasn't safe by a long shot.

30 years ago it was considered an accomplishment to turn 100,000 on the odometer. Now, people expect 200,000 at a minimum. The current F150 has a higher payload and tow capability than the F350 had 30 years ago. It has a stronger frame than the F100 had too. There is so much about it that has come from experience in what makes a good truck.

As to styling queues, I suspect no one will ever agree. Most folks want one styled like the old truck they currently, or used to drive. Personally, anything from the 80s and from 57-60 are certainly out of the picture. Square boxes on wheels - yuk. 56-56: too small a truck. I don't think the 53-56 design would look good on a bigger platform. I've seen an example of someone who did it and while well done it ended up looking like a Dodge and a Ford stirred together.

I'm in the process of looking for a 53-56 to restore... but keep a 53-56 what it is... don't fake it on a new platform!

[David85]

I'm not saying that the 74-79 fords were superior in every way, but I do think that they had a nicer look to them and were overall just a lot harder to wreck and way cheaper to fix should something ever actually go wrong.

I've seen first hand how quickly bush trucks wear out these days, but a while ago I saw a 1978 ford crewcab that was still in service and was finally flogged when it started using more coolant than fuel (it had been to hell and back several times). Everything in that truck than stronger than a superduty, the engine was a 300 inline six, the tranny was a 4 speed manual, and the cab, though rusty, still had more strength in the pilars and roof than what can be found today. It would not break a land speed record but it would get you there.

Now trucks that were built in 1980 and up were forever having problems with the floor cracking and ripping out at the firewall and front mounts. As for the "superduties", most of them that have been in service (again this is in forestry) for more than 3 years have rust creeping up sides behind the back tires and all the plastic is falling apart.

For all the improvements in newer trucks like 4 and five, sometimes six speed overdrive transmissions, lockup torque converters, sequential EFI, variable valve timing, multi valve heads, lighter aluminuim engines, and who knows what else, why hasn't fuel economy improved? As for reliability, both of my trucks have been turn key operations, and though they do need to be mantained, are completely reliable.

What I don't like about newer trucks is that they are slowly evolving into something crossed between an SUV an midsized sportscar, which is still kind of cool if thats your thing, but how about a solid and simple workhorse? Does anyone really build one anymore?

[soundman502]

I'll agree with all on the greatness of the oldies. I've always loved the 78-79 body styles, simple upkeep, and reliable as ever. Ford had something going back then, they cared about the product, and the customer who was buying it. You could buy a good truck, and if you felt like taking the performance up a notch, you could. Aside from gearing and maybe transmissions, those engines were just as good, and in my opinion better. I mean, if you think about it, most trucks were running with 3-4 gears, and not many included an overdrive. Slam a 5 speed behind one of these big blocks, and you'll have a real fighter on your hands, and comparable economy as what we're driving around now. I understand that new motors have more management and "intelligence" compared to the old ones, but as stated, where is the extra power? Why do we dumb down modern day motors when they are capable of so much? We all know what the aftermarket holds for these engines, so why is it so hard to incorporate that into modern engineering? I'm just a youngun by most standards, but I've grown up in mechanics, so it's things like these that keep me wondering. Just my .02

[scottfreeman]

Webmaster, My '69 has 350,000+ miles on it. It had 300,000 on it when I got it in '93. These old trucks can last just as long if the owner/driver takes care of them. I have seen plenty of newer rigs that are junk w less than a 100,000 on them. The old engines can last just as long as the new ones w proper maintenance and correct driving habits. Don't dog on the old rigs. If the old rigs had OD they would get the same mileage as you claim w your new truck.

Dodge carried its one body style soooooo long that it was retro in the '90s. how long did they carry that body style anyways? Early '70s to '93. long time.

Just restore an old Ford and build it how you want it. Ford will never build a pickup that will make it worth the exorbitant amount of $$$$$ that they want for one. The mileage hasn't increased at all since the '60s and the new ones are all plastic and cheap looking. Nothing like chrome plated plastic to try and bling something up. I hate the large quantities of plastic. basically they have taken something simple and quite functional and made it complicated and expensive. If a guy took a classic and put as much $$$$$ in it each month as he would a pay towards a car payment, he would have a bad-@$$ classic that would out-do any new truck.

[nimrod1]

Fact...Today's engines are built better!
They have tighter tolarances, they last longer, there is no way that a 1960's truck of the same weight and capacity of today's F-150 will last 350000 miles unless you rebuilt it three times. I'm not a rookie that just fell off a wagon...I lived during the 1960's. I don't think that the mariuana fumes clouded my memories?!!....I had an old F-100...It was alright for a 1960's truck...It had a 300 six in it. It ran well but, my 5.4 gets better milage than that old six banger did. I think Ford is doing a great job and the fact that they have been number one for over twenty years backs it up. Out with the old...In with the new!