Saw this on a forum and thought it'd be a hit here! Pretty board, so I posted it!

Any of you got any stories? Or just tell why you like your truck!

Here's mine:

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

 

Great story John. Not sure anyone can follow it...

My dad always drove Ford trucks as I grew up. The ones I can remember include a 93ish F250 2wd with a PSD, a 98ish F250 2wd with a 5.4L, and a 2000 F250 6.8L V10 4x4 which drove him to the grave. He crashed his truck on some winding back roads when coming home from our boat one very foggy night, all by himself. Killed him instantly, blunt force trauma to the back of the head. That was 3 years ago this past December, I was a junior in high school when it happened.

So my dad was my inspiration for wanting to drive Ford trucks. I've always wanted to be exactly like him and I've always loved the trucks that he drove; plus I never saw him work on them (although he knew how) -- indicating to me they were very mechanically sound. My dad bought my brother a 94 F150 5.0L 2wd for his 16th birthday with around 150-200k on the ticker. My brother drove that truck for a while and then I inherited it on my 16th and drove it for around a year. My dad died while I owned that truck and we later had to sell it when money got started to get tight and we feared it would break down and be worthless.



When I inherited the Ford my dad bought my brother a 2000 Toyota Tacoma 2wd with a 3.4L V6 and a 5-speed. That was a really fun truck to drive and FAST as hell. My brother grew tired of it quickly because his friends in our affluent community were driving Escalades and Tahoes. My brother found a 97 Ford F250 7.3L 4x4 that he fell in love with shortly before my dad died. It was the first truck that my dad REALLY wanted to get for my brother. My dad pulled the cash out of the bank for him and stuck it in the safe, awaiting the day when they'd go to pick it up (later that week). My dad died a few days later before my brother got his dream truck. My mom later agreed that my dad would have wanted my brother to have this great truck, so they took the money from the safe and grabbed it. This was right around when I sold the F150, so I inherited the Tacoma and drove it for the next year and a half.



I, too, grew tired of the truck eventually and wanted to be back in a Ford more than anything!! Searched for several months and my mom kept telling me everything I was looking at was rediculous and unnecessary. I wanted a crew cab for sure so I was looking at 97+ trucks (being somewhat naive at the time), but I never found anything that REALLY tickled my fancy. Then I found a super rare, F150 Centurion Crew Cab in my FAVORITE body style on craigslist. Had never seen a truck like this and had to have it. My mom could see this time how much I really wanted it and she agreed to go look at it. 1 week later truck was mine, with the promise that I'd sell the Tacoma and pay off the truck. I did just that, and even had some money leftover



(my brothers 97 in black)


Sometimes I daydream about my dad telling me how gorgeous my truck is I know he'd love it if he was still alive, and I hope I'm making him proud by learning how to work on them and make my own the way he did when he was my age. He bought a brand new Corvette at the age of 17... Lol, I know it's hard to fit in those shoes but I can damn well try. I'm now a student the University of California in Davis and working towards my bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering.

That's my story

 

well mine started when i was looking for a new vehicle. i was still driving my first vehicle (1986 chevy s-10 blazer 4x4 BROWN ON TAN!! bought it myself for $1000 cash and it even had a cd player!)


. somehow i hadn't blown it up after all the mudholes, 5 foot high jumps(replaced the whole suspension after...but worth it, doing 105mph, beating the living crap out of it, and just making it mine. i had it for about 2-3 years until the frame rotted out, exhaust fell off, gas lines were literally pouring more gas out then what was going in the engine, tranny was slipping horribly(700r4 auto tranny with a 2.8L v6 ...) burning about 3 quarts of oil a month, rocker was rusting through, doors fell off 3 TIMES!!! haha.so when i started to search for another "beast" i was being kinda picky for some reason. i specifically wanted 4x4 because of all the places i had gone with my blazer, i wanted a full size truck or suv(bronco, blazer, ram charger you get the point), and i wanted a v8. not too much to ask. but for $2500, around here it was actually kinda hard to find one i liked. i looked at a couple of 80's chevys (my favorite body style of the chebby's), a few 92-96 f150's and 250's but they somehow didn't appeal to me. i did look at this wicked sick gmc jimmy which i do regret not buying(only a little) because the thing was a monster! it had a 454ci with a th400 that i swear had 8 inches of lift and had 38 super swampers. when i saw it i just thought (omg i am going to get myself into way to much trouble in this) i passed it up because it was rusting around the rear wheel wells pretty bad. i wanted something that my dad had. he has had 2 ford trucks (86 ranger 4x4 and his current one since 97, 96 f-150 long bed std cab 2wd 4.9 auto, that truck has been AWESOME and wicked reliable)then i spotted my truck. it was on the side of a country road near a farm. i stopped and looked at it and it had everything i wanted BUT the v8(300ci was not a disappointment!!!!). im not sure why i had to have it but when i first looked at it i thought(wow this is exactly what i want) so a week later and $2200 cash it was mine for the taking.

every since i bought it have been making it my own if you would say. i have pretty much rebuilt it it mechanicallu(i am a mechanic so i couldn't help myself) then last spring i rebuilt the motor and thats when i fell in love with grabber green and old ford blue. ive done a good amount off wheeling in it, working with it, towing with it and just using it. its done its job and an extremely well done job at that!. it has never broken down once! or had any major failure on the road(besides a quick starter swap)

next biug thing im doing to it is putting f-250 coil springs in the front to raise the front end up a couple of inches and level her out.
GOTTA LOVE MY 89 FORD F-150!

 

i got my ford truck because it was broke and i knew i could fix it.

 

When I first got my driver's license, I wanted a mid 80's 3/4 ton 4x4 Chevy. Growing up Dad had Chevy's and I really liked that body style of truck, so I finally bought an 83 that was beat to death, but it had a 396 in it Drove the snot outta it and blew the motor, so I dropped in a 350 in its place Spent WAY too much money and quite a bit of time fixing the truck up. It took me about 2 years, but I got all the bent/broken parts replaced, the truck was 7 different colors at this point Took some $ I had received for high school graduation and had my uncle do the paint and body work, the truck ended up being Las Vegas Gold metallic with a Medium Concorde Blue stripe (DuPont colors). The interior still needed some work, but I was stoked! Truck looked like a million bucks on the outside. That was September... fast forward to April. Going to college one day I pulled into the campus off a busy road, There was the road I was pulling onto and a cross street right inside the campus parallel to the road I came off of. I had to goose it a bit to squeeze between cars (running late) and someone else decided to try and outrun my truck to the intersection. Well, she didn't make it! I T-boned her and pushed her Nissan something or other into another car. The Nissan was hosed, bad. Couldn't even open the glove box to get the insurance papers out. It was the girls' mom's car, and this was the 3rd time she'd wrecked it! My truck faired okay but had some damage to the fender and hood. I was getting ready to move in a month and didn't have time to fix it, so I took the insurance check and bought an identical 87 with an EFI motor. Drove that until June and rolled it on a gravel road when I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a deer (lesson learned, hit the %^&(($# deer next time). Rebuilt that truck and drove it for about 3 months. Parked it and bought my old 92 F250 4x4... haven't looked back since! The 87 is now long history, but I still have the 83 in hopes of fixing it up again one day.

 

Lets see here. My trucks a 1994. y dad bought it in 1996 with 30k miles on it for just shy of $21k.

He drove it and gave it to my grandfather in 2003 with 154k on it when he got his 2003 F150 Lariat FX4 SuperCrew. My grandfather drove it for a while, had a new (rebuilt) tranny put in and other stuff, case of some minor acidents people rearending him, happened twice)

I got the truck in December 2006 , 2 months after getting my licence =] i got it with 172k on it and ive been driving it for over a year and it currently has 181k on it and still running strong =]

O love it cause for one, its rare around here just cause of the body style, and its rare cause its in such good shape, original paint and all. Theres only a few flare sides around here and the only one thats the same ifnot better conditon then mine has had lot of work done to it, from paint to body work.

Theres my story

 

"He drove it and gave it to my grandfather in 3002 with 154k on it when he got his 2003 F150 Lariat FX4 SuperCrew."

did your dad wear like a one piece silver jumpsuit in 3002?

 

Lol whoops, tranposed the numbers

2003***

 

Yes! Cool story, mine can't compare by any stretch...
My Ford truck journey started because I finally picked up a 17.5 ft 115 HP bay boat for fishing and stuff. Needed something to pull it to the ramps around here. Found a 96' retired work truck. Black junker 80,000mi with a good running motor 4.9 I-6, e4od trans, new U-joints and radiator and good exhaust, BUT no brakes one side, shot frontend, 4 different beater leaf-bag tires and plenty of dirt inside and out.
Took it to a good tire-frontend shop had the new tires and big stuff done. Brought her home and went over the whole motor, tune up, battery, cleanup, lights, covered the bench seat, new toolbox, little wiring and so on. Still needs a steering box change and repair to front fuel tank which doesn't work, after that it should run for a few years or 300,000 mi. whichever comes first .
Anyway turns out I'm getting attached to it, they grow on you. I'm looking at another to mess around with, I found an older diesel and a clutch six 91. Both cheap but I'm still thinkin' Cheers Dave

 

whats interesting here, most of us have either gotten our trucks form our fathers or have been infuenced by our fathers to drive ford. I honestly will NEVER by a dodge or a chevy truck, or the poor excuse for a truck tundra. I dont really like foreign and probably wont buy one, i never really got into the whole tuner bit, i follow it and know my shtuff but i never sunk as low as to bu one and do all kinds of crazy stupid crap to it.. i personaly like the idea of AMERICAN MADE cars and im proud to drive the FORD truck that i do.

People bash on us with Found On Road Dead, Fix Or Repair Daily, and all those, but hey, even after we fix it when nesesary, there still on the road arent they?

 

Well here is my story, which is pretty much that same as everyone elses. I bought my 1996 F150 because my dad has one. He bought his new in '96, it's identical to mine, was made about 600 trucks apart, came from the same dealership. I watched him over the years as I was getting older work his little half ton to the max and it would take everything he threw at it. DOT wouldn't be too happy to hear it but I've seen him pull 5500 lbs worth of scrap metal, not including the weight of the trailer, with his truck. So needless to say I was convinced that it was a great truck. I've had my truck about a year and a half now and I've put 50,xxx miles on it and it hasn't missed a beat. Best damn vehicle I've ever owned. It's coming up to the 200,000 mile mark soon but still runs great.

 

Here is my story. I was lookin for a Mustang when I was a freshman in high school. Well my mom showed up with this a week after I went looking for Mustangs. 96 Grand Marquis, had 9K on the clock and she paid 9G for it. Now has 145K on the clock.

Well it was the end of my sophmore year when we were gettin the floor pan changed in my dads 88 Crown Vic, no pics sorry, and then I saw it, my 88 Mustang GT, Blue and Silver 2 tone 5.0 5 speed. So I had to have it. 5G later it was mine with 90K on it. This is her bone stock a few hrs later.

This is my Mus now 6 years or so later.

A few days later I picked up a 85 Mustang 4 cylinder 1bbl carb, no pics also..Was on vacation and came back and it was gone. Parents sold it caus they said I didnt need it. Well then My pops car was dieing and we sold the Crown Vic, and Picked up an 88 Wrangler

He drove that for a few months then I got a 91 Civic hatch ,no pics again, for free and traided it to him for the jeep. Well I beat the Jeep for a while and then my buddy told me that his dad was going to be selling their oldest work truck. I was like ok ill take a look. My father did alot of landscaping in his spair time and a truck would work better as a truck then the Civic was. Well A few weeks later I went to look and behold it was a 95 F350 Standard cab long bed. with 96K on her. All stock and worked all its life as a landscapers truck. Took it for a ride and I knew I had to have it. I took my dad an hr later to look at it also and he was like this truck is big as hell. So I knew I had to have it. Sold the wrangler 3 days later for 3200, and went to the bank and took out 300 to make up for the 300 more that the truck was. So went to my friends house handed over the 3500 and drove the F350 home with the plow on and all. Here is the closest to stock pic I have of it.

I drove the truck most of the time untill my dad needed it for work. I grew to love it and me and my pops worked on it all the time, mostly changing things that I didnt like, like exhaust, wheels and tires and such. Well he passed away in March and it will be 2 years this March and I know the he loves what my truck has become today. The Big Red Best that still works its butt of and goes and has fun on the weekends.

Well my mom wanted me to sell the Civic as it made her sad to look at it. I wouldnt let the truck go as that was our project. So I did sell the civic for a g and got this, another 88 Wrangler that my dad drove, this one had 59K on her opposed to 114K on the other 88 Wrangler. Both were the same as options and everything.

I ended up selling it for 5500 to some lady in colorado. But Ive been trying find my pops orig car that got us into Fords, an 88 Crown Vic. Thats my story.

 

Guess we've got more in common than just our name Chris I feel for you brother. Might I ask how he died or is that too personal?

 

Good storys! Sorry about everybodies passings!

by the way, FORD = Found off-road (really) Dirty or first on race day, you choose!

Lets see if I can scrounge up a picture or two... know the only thing I have pictures of is my ol '95 red F-150.

I don't like to get my truck muddy because it breaks **** and makes it tuff to work on, but around a farm it's kind of hard to avoid! Especially after 3" of rain after an extended drout. This happened while trying to check on the fenses after the storm.



My goofy *** waiting on Dad and the tractor to yank me out. Note the duct tape headlight..




Needless to say and oviously why, I had to ditch the truck when checking fenses after a good rain for this. Yea, I'm a big fella, 6'2" 240lbs, 340lbs with saddle, chaps, and other tack.



Stout tailgate, wouldn't do this with a Tundra! That's my wife!



I'll add pics of the gray and white 1/2 ton and bronco soon! I'll scan some of the '72 in if I can find them.

 

FORD - Fine Off Road Driving. Haha