So this past week I was on the hunt looking for a new project, this time an older Ford truck. I came across a '73 F-250 and she looked pretty good overall through the pictures and talking with the owner. Here are a couple of pictures that he sent me:















When I asked for more info on it here's what he sent me:

• "it has Edelbrock alum. intake manifold and carburator, with chrome Edelbrock valve covers and air intake cover..
• tranny is 3 speed auto it works well.. no slipping or slow shifts... no fluid leaks.... it has 66,000 miles on the odometer...
• factory air, but fan quit working....
• interior has been redone professionally (really nice )...
• two gas tanks...
• white paint... no dents or dings...
• all lights work...
• windows have no cracks or chips...rear window in cab is slide...
• it comes with a nice matching camper that has 2 doors in back..... also have original tail gate... "

After a two hour drive to go and check her out in person she looked better up close than the pictures gave her credit for. Very little surface rust in mainly the bed and the tops of the doors, absolutely zero rusted through spots that I was able to see. After a test drive I noticed the brakes could probably use some work, just a little soft at the moment, but she started right up without a problem, idles really low but that should be able to be fixed down the road.

I found the problem to why the AC quit working, was as simple as a fuse being broken.

He claimed no dents or dings, but there were a couple you could see up close, and the entire bed, especially the wheel wells in the bed were dented all to hell (again easily fixable).

The entire interior was redone recently, new foam in the seats, door panels, dash pad, and headliner (only two flaws, a small rip in the headliner and a cigarette burn in the seat).

There was a small chip in the front windshield that I didn't find until I brought her home and cleaned her up.

Have already taken the camper off, since it wasn't original, and will be putting on the tailgate that he gave me. (seems to be a repro and not the original tail gate.)

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the truck, and being able to walk away with it for under $2k.

***Now to the not so good***
Was driving fine, and then this past Friday I went to put it into park and the column shifter basically snapped. Took apart the steering column and saw that the pot metal collar broke internally. Now I'm just trying to figure out if I should replace it in kind or use this chance to put in a tilt wheel? Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

I will use this thread for any and all on going progress on my '73. I should be able to upload some photos after work tonight showing where she stands now. I've been going through a lot of the threads here and know I will be asking a ton of questions through out this tear down and rebuild, so please bare with me. I am in no way a mechanic, but don't mind getting my hands dirty.

 

Go for the gusto and put in the tilt. For the amount of time its going to take to fix it you may as well get what you really want.

 

That's really what I was wanting to hear, now my question would be what choices would I have in regards to a tilt steering that would fit nicely?