Just picked up a 1969 F-250 Ranger, Camper Special VIN #F25YRF13307 for $1,300. Truck is in pretty nice survivor condition. It's a 360 2bbl, C6, with power brakes and manual steering. Royal Maroon exterior and black vinyl interior. Body is super straight with very little rust and the paint is decent enough for a 43 year old truck (damnit, I was born the same year. We are getting old).
The PO had it sitting in his back yard for at least a year on old bias ply tires, but receipts in the glove box show routine maintenance through 2008 including having the brakes overhauled about a thousand miles ago and a total rebuild of the rear suspension about the same time. The new leaf springs have it sitting pretty high in the back and the receipt has a note that it was "in at 24 1/2, out at 32 1/4". It also has a new Holly carb sitting on it. The engine runs nice and strong, no smoke, and does not seem to have any oil leaks. It does have the usual exhaust leak on the driver side that I'll have to deal with soon. PO claimed it had been rebuilt at some point, but no receipts for that, so who knows. It is mighty clean though, with fresh looking Ford blue paint on the entire engine. Today I changed out all the fluids and filters.
Flat spots in the tires (and a near total lack of tread) made the ride home pretty bumpy and it wanted to jerk around the lane on the freeway, but I'm hoping a new set of tires will calm the ride down a bit. And while the brakes are strong and don't pull to either side, the master cylinder is leaking like a sieve. Other than that, we are planning to leave it alone for the most part and use it as it was intended and fix things as they break.
This is a replacement for the '76 SuperCab in my user name. I miss the big cab, but never managed to get that truck quite right. A friend put the poor thing out of it's misery last year when he just kept driving after it overheated. He will be funding a portion of the purchase price for our "new" Ranger.
Wanted to share this with those of you in the Bumpside forums. I spend most of my time over on the 7.3 list, but love wrenching on the older trucks when I have time. This will be the fourth old Ford truck in our family. My brother-in-law has a 1966 F-250 and my dad has a 1972 F-250, Ranger, Camper Special that my grandparents bought new in 1972.
