68 special

Is your 68 special, 4 speed automatic, or three speed?

being that I have a manuel 4 speed, and never ever use first, gear becuase its a granny gear, I would probably be better off with 3:07 don't you think.

Im in Los Angeles and traffic is bad, most of the time, so as much as I would like to go even lower I think I better not. I moved to the out skirts of Los Angeles so out here I have some nicer drives.

have to post a picture, some time.

 

my 79 f100 has 2.75 limited slip trac loc gears in a ford 9 inch. my 74 dually 4x4 has 4.09 limited slip in the dana 60 front,and 4.10 power locker in the dana 70 rear diff.

 

[QUOTE=Riggs]68 special

Is your 68 special, 4 speed automatic, or three speed?


The 68 has a 300 inline 6 with a automatic. A 3:07 is pretty good, it a sorta the middle of the road gear ratio.

 

Well i aint quite turned 16 yet but i just got a 78 with a 351. F-100's are my dream trucks. I never wanted a car.(Maybe a Mustang...someday)These old Ford trucks dang near bullet proof and simple to work on. I dont believe in puttin computers in pick-ups. I dont want any computers unless im tryin 2 git on the net. I want to work on mine with a wrench and a hammer, not a code reader. I was dissapointed with my truck when i saw the A/C under the hood.(something else 2 go wrong, which it has)more wires, bells n whissles=more problems

 

My father owned a 1978 F250 with a 351M automatic transmission.

I loved that truck.

riggs

 

I've gone from mini truck to full size regular cab to extended cab to now an 07 crew cab short bed and a 1970 reg cab long bed. As the family has grown, so has the size of the truck in the driveway. Lots of people drive pickups around here but not everyone. It's not always an option to hitch up a trailer to an suv or car. My family and I need a truck, we can put three dirtbikes in the back and all the tools and gas we need for a weekend of riding. I don't need a pickup for work but it makes loading and unloading my gear a bit easier. My wife wants a pickup, not an suv, we just don't agree on which one she ought to get. I like the sport trac, she likes the fullsize, I think she's crazy.

 

Hi daveeich337,

I think for once you are going to have to give this one to your wife. The full size is the only way to go. Tell your wife she is the kind of crazy all men should have when it comes to trucks. If it is not a full size truck it is not a truck but only a simulation of a truck. Other than my 68 Ford F100 I also have a 2003 Ford 150 SuperCrew with a 5.4. I put 22" harley rims on it because I like the style. At the time I bought the truck I wasn't to sure if I needed a truck this size and now a SuperCrew is all I will ever own. I have had them all through the years at one time or another Ford, Dodge, Chevy and every size for every kind of reason you can think of. Through everything I have seen in my time a full size is the only way to go.

68 Special

 

Yea your right. I'm thinking about mileage(she drives alot for work), ease of parking, size of garage, etc. but when it comes down to it, it is her ride and her choice. It's not an image thing with her either. She wants a truck so she can take the kids to MX track when I'm at work(offshore 30days at a time with my truck parked at a dock).

 

I don't know if a diesel would be for her or not, but they do get better mileage than gas trucks. But an extended cab with a short bed wouldn't be hard to get around in, or perhaps a crew cab with a short bed. I will admit, a crew cab with a short bed is a big truck. I mentioned a diesel earlier, they are only available in 3/4 ton and up trucks. But it really boils down to what do you want? And what can you afford? Hopefully, you can afford what you want.

 

If you can afford it, I let her get the big suv, or truck.

Keep in mind, the bigger the safer they are. Besides this way you won't have to call your buddy to pull you out of the ditch, just call you wife..

I live in Los Angeles, and my daily driver is a 04 crewcab 4x4 F250 6.0 diesel shortbed, I can fit a 5 man crew in it, all there gears etc.. and and tow, and then load it up at home and go camping or long road trips, and get good mileage too..

 

In 1972 my father purchased a 1972 Ford F-100 300 I-6, 3 on the tree, straight cab, long bed, 2wd. My father drove that truck till the wheel came off (Litterally). He rolled the odometer 2 or 3 times, and by my 16th birthday I came home from school and there was a new 95 F-150 in the driveway.

I went in and asked him where the "bucket" was (Nickname for the truck as it became quite the rust bucket), and he told me to go feed the chickens which required me to go to the barn to get feed. There was the "bucket" in the barn with all the cancer (rust) fixed, the truck repainted to the original black, all the emblems and moldings shaved, and a flatbed with a headach rack on the back. Not to mention new wheels, tires, brakes, struts, and bushings he had done earlier in the month. The shifter was even stiff like I imagined it would have been the day he first brought it home.

There was a title and a note under the wiper that wished me a happy birthday and a title filled out with my name as the buyer.

I fed the chickens and thanked my dad. I had the coolest ride in the school in my eyes! It wasn't fast, it couldn't go in the mud, but it was smooth, I could haul a load (Which lead to alot more chores), and the vinal bench seat made the COD turns fun (COD = Come over darlin, hang a cornor fast enough where the girls polyester skits and pantyhose made them slide over to you).

I rolled the odometer over another time before I graduated high school, then tragically one night my idiot self wrecked the truck driving impaired from drinking. I hit a deer, but it probably would not have happened if I would have been sober.

I drove the truck another year totaled and riding sideways down the road due to a bent frame. I rolled the odometer once again traveling back and forth from knoxville to bristol daily working as a union pipe-fitter. (160 mile round trip).

Dad thought I had learned a lession and knew I was hurting for another truck, and not having much time or luck for finding another. I was minutes from signing sale papers in '99 on a '96 F-150 XLT straight cab, short bed, 302, auto, 2wd with 2.89:1 with 220k miles for $6900, when he told me I could have his '95 F-150 XL straight cab, long bed, 300 I-6, 5spd, 4x4, with 3.55:1 with 260k miles for $2000 which was a great deal back in the day, and would still be a mediocre deal today!

Dad to the rescue again eh? I drove that truck daily and still work her today with 491k miles on her ticker with the original everything (Minus rear end). The truck has a few more dings now, and a duct tape headlight, not to mention, everything but the transmission leaks, but that was my truck.

I have accumulated a few more ford trucks since then, and am on the verge of buying dad's '97 F-250 for the wife to drive (We are using it now), but he can't drive anymore, and needs the money since he was layed off exactly ONE WEEK before retiring after 35 years at TVA as a mechanical engineer. He gets SS, but it aint enough to keep the farm going, and soon it will have to be sold.

I'm just hoping I can come up with a larg enough down payment to make it right with Dad even though he told me I could have it for $180k (Valued at close to 3.2mil for 572 acres due to property inflation due to the boom of emory road and the population flood as many retired people move here due to being only 20 miles away from the appalacin mts and the Great Smokey Mountian National Park).

Well, that's my story

John

 

THEE only old truck I ever dreamed of having was a '72 ford. My friend had a 2-tone yellow/white '72 f-250 back in high school, and when I look up the word "Truck" in my brain's dictionary, that's the picture I see. So 3 years ago I picked one up . A brown/yellow 2 tone Ranger XLT Camper Special which is exactly what I use it for. Humping around my camper with.

It was a mess!!! 30-some-odd years of people mickey mousing the crap out of it. Cracked head. One tank hadn't been used for God knows how long. The wiring was such a rats nest, I just gave it to a bunch of old bird tweekers and said, "Re-wire it from back-to-front!" Best $200 I ever spent! The headers keep burning out my starters. I must have 5 grand in it total so far, as the only thing I haven't replaced is the lower end and tranny. And I don't care WHAT this forum has to say about the 390. IT'S A PIG!!!

I've taken it the last 3 years on a 1200 mile trek to the desert in August, not once making it all the way without something blowing. Sometimes I think, "What the hell have i gotten myself into!?!"

Man, I love this truck!

 

When I was 6 years old, my dad bought a brand new F-100 extracab (or was it called supercab back then?) off the lot. He brought me with him and I remember he pointed to a line of about 5 similar equiped pickups and told me I could pick which one. I picked out a *****brown truck, so I guess that taught him not to let a 6 year old decide truck color. lol. That was in 76. I loved that truck, I felt like it was MINE. I loved it when my dad used it to pull out stumps in the yard or whenever he used to do any kind of heavy work. It had a 400m engine I think. My uncle meanwhile bought a 1977 F-100 XLT, 2 tone, red & white. That was a beautiful pickup and my uncle used to always promise it to me when I grew up (never happened, but I sure looked forward to it for years). But near my house, in a pasture full of cows, there was a 70 ford truck, sitting there rusting away. I loved that body style more than the 73-79, I had it all planned out in my head from the time I was about 12 years old. It was going to be regular bed standard cab, bright red color, with a 390 engine. I didn't get a chance to build one like that back when I was younger, although I did own a 77 F-250 2 tone red/black pickup with a 390. That truck was a workhorse through and through but it loved gas and oil, I couldn't afford to keep either in it. lol. Now I finally got the body style I liked, but my taste in color had moderated somewhat, so I went with a emerald green metallic. I still hoped for a 390 but when this 351c engine was offered I snapped it right up. All in all it's a strong truck, I'll be glad when I finish it and can drive it anywhere (as opposed to driving around my property yanking out stumps and hauling tree branches).

 

My old 68 Special is a standard 2 wheel drive. It has a automatic and the body style is a long wheelbase. I am in the process of repainting it now and just as soon as it is painted I will post some pictures. I finished the interior in black, the seat, doors and dash. All I need is to order the arm rests and the rubber floor mate and its complete. The headliner is a Rebel Flag being we are rednecks here in Alabama which looks pretty cool with the interior in black makes the headliner really stand out.

After I finish in the paint shop I am going to order new chrome bumpers along with the 4" drop mirrors and extra wide mud flaps with the chrome edges. This will look good against a blood red paint job or at least I think it will, time will tell. We put my brothers 20" tires and rims off his 2003 three Ford SuperCrew on the truck because he went low profile with his truck, which really make the difference in the looks of my truck as well as his. Many peope have asked me how did I get those tires and rims to fit on 68 who have tried to do the same and couldn't get them to work. The reason is that the bolt patterns are different.

Believe it or not a guy at wal-mart told me how to make them fit and he was right. All it takes is to drill each hole a 32nd larger and they will go right on. What he didn't tell me was it was going to take another $100.00 or so for the drill bit, larger lug nuts with the different thread pattern and the back washers. For some reason Ford changed not only the bolt pattern but the size of the studs and the thread as well. Anyways they are on and they really look good. So far I have a "one of a kind" setup because I haven't seen anyone else do this yet or not around here anyways.

What started the project was the doctor told me I only have two years at best to live because of a bad liver along with other medical problems. I wanted to leave my big brother something so I am restoring the old 68 Ford to leave to him. Thats why I call it the 68 Special because to him the truck will be special after I am gone. Hell of a thing to have told to you at the age of 52 but what the hell I can only play the cards I'm dealt. Doing the project keeps my mind off things except the truck.

When I have good days I'm on the truck and when I have bad days and can't function very well I think of what I am going to do next to the truck. I told my brother I wanted him to through my ashes off this mountain we always went to and he said he would. This way we can ride in the truck together one final time. All I can say is "boys its been one hell of a road I have been down in this life and I am going all the way to the end riding in a 68 Ford Special".

 

When I was 14 my Dad bought a 68 Ford truck. It was candy apple red, crome wheels, and fun to drive. I always told him that if he ever decided he didn't want it that I would buy it. I use to just get in it crank the V8 and pump on the gas so that the truck would rock from the power. He sold it to my older brother, who traded it for a Honda Goldwing.
He got another one a couple of years ago. He decided it wasn't worth driving anymore so he parked it. Last November he called and said that if I wanted it I could have it. Of course I wanted it. I am currently in Iraq and can't do anything with it but I can't wait to get home and get it running. Why a truck because we can!