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PS: If interested, I hope to have a pic in the gallery soon. [/B][/QUOTE]

can you get us a better one??? that one (not to be rude) is kinda crappy can't see the rear badges.

 

Here's the rear half.

 

Speaking of truck histories,

My father had a 69 F Series (don't remember the number) which he used in his business. My older brother ran it into a tree. After repairs it was fine again, but we scrapped it after my older brohter hit a train. Fortunately the brother was ok in both cases though my dad wasn't too happy with him.

After that the next truck was 72 F250 Camper special which he used for our camper and as an escort for his mobile home moving business. It ran well for many years but its duties became less and less. It ended up being a trash hauling truck before it was eventually sold. But it still was running well.

In 1974 my father really wanted one of the new extended cab F series, but he got a great deal on a regular cab F250. It was a very nice looking truck too. White on white with blue interior. I was about 10 years old when we got it. Unfortunately my father was killed a month later and the truck never saw any serious work after that. Instead it became our "family" car.

My mother drove it exclusively for four years and maintained it well. As we kids got into our teen years, the truck wasn't big enough for us all, so she about a Buick station wagon (sorry for having to bring up the "B" word). When I began to drive, the truck and I thought it was the coolest. My school friends, however, thought it was the pits having to drive a truck all the time. I guess it shows how times have changed.

After I went off to college in the early 80's mom didn't maintain the truck as well. My younger brother began to drive it and abuse it. After a few ill fated modifications, its useful life came to an end. That it too bad because I think that if it had been taken care of, it would still be running well today.

My very first truck was a 1972 F-250 camper special. I bought it in 1998 to ease the burden on my 1989 Continental. I enjoyed the truck a bunch, but it used more oil than gas. In 1999, I bought a 1996 F-150 and sold the 250 to a high school kid. Last I heard, he still loved it.

Well, last September, my 150 was stolen. I decided to replace it with something so old and beat up that no one would want. I found it in my 1972 F100. I bought it in January and intended it to be a project truck, but because my old lincoln got hit and run on last month, I've had to drive it more than I intended right away. I must say, it looks like "do-do" but it runs great.

I tell you there is nothing like an old truck to get those "manly" hormones to flow.

Tony in New Mexico

 

Sure thing,

I scanned that pic at home and brought it to work to upload, but it was too big. I tried to reduce it to fit the gallery requirments, but it doens't look too good. I'll rescan tonight and try again on Friday.

Tony in New Mexico.

 

Ok now you guys got me interested on this Explorer topic. My truck is just like the Explorer trim. With the white racing stripes, thats what I call them. They go over the hood at an angle and al the way back to the bed where the word Explorer is missing but sounds similar, my truck is an F150 Ranger XLT with AC PS C6-AT and a 351M it has 15'' wheels and is a 4x2 with a nice chrome grill and bumpers front and back. I know that some of the regular ford parts don't fit like the vacuum booster, I had to get it off of a '75 Explorer. What have I got I know the body was placed on a 79 chassis and that it might be a 75 or 73 body.

 

The stripes that go over the hood were on the 75 and 76 Explorers. Assuming the grille is correct to the body, you could tell the diff by that. The grille on the 75 is the same as the 73-74 trucks whereas the 76 grille is the same as the 77 trucks. That doesn't help much but just look at some of the pics in the gallery and you will get the gist of it.

Assuming the engine is original, then you are correct, there is a mismatch between the stripes and the motor. The 351M was available beginning with the 1977 models but the stripes you describe were not.

 

I know that the chassis and cab are from a 79 pickup and the body is from some other 73-9 truck but it matches all the descriptions of an Explorer truck. Except that it is a Ranger XLT F150 4x2. It has the AC and heating vents of the other 73-9 trucks but the cab doesn't have some of the holes in the dash for the vents, I think I am going to make some because the plumbing is there but the holes aren't so I figure all I gotta do is make some holes and cover them with vent panels. I can hear the air blowing behind it when the heater or AC is on high.

 

Well, I gotta correct my post about the Explorer stripes. I did that totally from memory and I got some of it wrong. The stripes that go over the hood are 1975 only. In 1976, the stripes were on the top and bottom of the body side molding and there was also a stripe on the hood that followed the raised portion in the middle. In 1977, they added a part on the rear upper stripe that made it continue up the top of the bed and in this portion they put the "Explorer" badge (whereas previously 1973-1976 it had been below the bodyside mldg. in the "normal" spot). I suppose this change was made because in 1977 they started putting the series and trim badges up on the cowl and maybe wanted the Explorer badge to get more recognition?

Not sure. I am still doing most of this from memory but I did see an original 1976 Explorer and it had the stripes as described above. I recall in 1977 they also changed the design of the mag wheel covers - they flattened the center portion and started offering the painted part in accent colors instead of only black.

 

Thanks, John, for making sense of this stuff. Prior to Dennis's Explorer with Ranger trim, I'd never seen the Explorer package on anything but a Custom. A couple of years ago I got a great deal on a 79 Explorer F150 (custom) that was white with red striping. It had a 460, tilt, slider, dual tanks, carpet etc. I was just looking at the '10th annual Explorer pickup sale' (1977) brochure I picked up at a recent swap meet. It only shows packages 'A' and 'B', so they must have added a couple more for 78-9. The pictures confirm your description of the side and hood stripes. Package A included the plaid seat (or vinyl Ranger seat-no charge), carpeting, door trim, windshield and drip rail chrome, striping, hood ornament, color keyed wheel covers and front bumper with rub strips and guards. Package B threw in power steering and the 'SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic' auto trans(C6). The brochure also mentions Ford's other truck models and the 'new' high-efficiency 351 and 400 engines as well as the 'free wheeling' packages with the multi colored side panel decals.

mike