Two-Tone Tuesday: Classic 1979 Ford F-150 Pickup is a Stunner

Well restored, or well preserved? This classic Ford pickup is a gem either way.

We spend a lot of time looking at classic Ford pickups for sale and daydreaming about them. This classic F-150 Ranger pickup is right up our alley, and we figured you’d like to see it as well. This thing is just about perfect: two-tone coral and tan paint, single cab, short bed, 4×4.

They sure don’t make them like they used to. Thankfully, this one has been either exceptionally well-preserved or sympathetically restored. Either way, with just over 41,000 miles on the odometer, the 351 cubic inch V8 under the hood has plenty of miles left.

That’s not to say that we’d daily drive this truck – it’s way too nice for that. But this would be the perfect Saturday night cruiser, and something we could pass down to our kids someday. We just hope that they’d appreciate it as much as we do.

This classic pickup is offered for just under $30,000 at Grand Rapids, Michigan dealer GR Auto Gallery. Their website has dozens of detailed photos, including several showing the exceptionally clean undercarriage. We’re glad to see that this truck is more than just a pretty face.

Inside, the interior appears impressively well-preserved. Light-colored interiors usually don’t look this good after 40 years, but the driver’s seat is covered in plastic. It reminds us a bit of the couch at Grandma’s house. All joking aside, the cover did its job, and the interior looks amazing.

Overall, this truck wears its four decades much better than most things its age. That’s especially true considering that, when new, this was likely a work truck, expected to earn its keep through hard work.

While it may not have the performance or panache of a classic sports car, this would be our pick for a fair-weather summer cruiser. There’s just something fun about driving a pickup truck. That’s especially true when it comes to classic examples like this one.

$30,000 is a lot of money, but if we had that sort of bread in our bank account, we know exactly how we’d spend it. Just don’t expect us to help you move into your new apartment.

Photos: GR Auto Gallery

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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