Well FINALLY sold the wife's minivan. Back to looking for a truck for moving equipment/various projects. Want to be able to tow a heavy trailer every once in a while. Thoughts on this bad boy?

1971 Ford F250 Ranger XLT

Key is to avoid smog checks with '75 or older. Best scenario would be an extended cab but probably not going to happen.

 

Looks like a solid truck, go to the bank (call ahead and see if they have them on hand) and get some nice crisp, new issue $100 bills in sequential serial # order.

The guy is asking $3200, betcha you can drive it home for about $2500 or so. Put $2000 in one pocket, and be sure to fan this out and watch his eyes get big. Put the other $500 in your other pocket, maybe in a thick stack of $10 bills and pull that out as reserve if needed. He'll bite.

 

2x with the smog-exempt 75 and older vehicles!

Fancy. Looks like a Camper Special by the cowl emblem plus bumper guards, Western mirrors, Dentside bed hooks, bed tool box, tailgate decor panel, and emblems. As a 71, the grill inserts currently installed are for a '70. I think it'll clean up nicely.

Here's my '71 F250 Custom with its OEM chrome bumper, bumper guards, custom-painted hub caps, and, as an FYI, "correct" grill inserts.

 

I like it, but not for $3200. The value of these trucks is going up but there are still a ton of them on the road and some great deals can still be had. My '68 F250 had been sitting in a field for 10 years when I found it, no rust, 1 owner and I worked on it for about an hour and drove it home for $300. There's an early Bumpside, '68 or '69 off the west side of 101 around Novato (maybe a bit further south, can't recall at the moment) that I keep eyeing when I go by, never moves and I can't help but wonder if someone showing up and waving a little cash under their nose might go home with a pretty nice truck.

Of course, you're probably looking for more of a runner than a project so of course that will take a little more coin. Extended cab didn't come out till (I think) '76 which is a Dentside, and doesn't fit your no-smog requirement. However, I just had a smog check done on a vehicle I sold (smog checks only required when a vehicle changes hands in my county) and the smog tech told me that he just renewed his license and they were told an interesting little tidbit of info, which is that when the number of OBDII cars on the road reaches 70% (it's at about 60% now) smog requirements for OBDI and earlier vehicles will ease up and the bi-annual smog checks will be dropped for the whole state for everything but OBDII vehicles. I'd imagine that '76 and newer will still have to be smogged when changing hands like it is now in the northern counties, but that's certainly a lot easier to deal with than every two years.

 

This "1971" has a 1970 only grille frame and grille inserts.

Super Cabs introduced in 1974.

2008: An FTE member bought a 1976 F350 Super Camper Special, it was sold new in NorCal (DSO code 72). He made two BIG mistakes.

1) He didn't notice that the tag was expired, went to the San Berdoo DMV office, was told the registration and penalty fees were: $1,833.00! but he needed a smog certificate first.

2) He also didn't notice that ALL the smog related parts had been removed: PCV, EGR valve, smog pump, Evaporative Emission system, original air cleaner replaced by an aftermarket.

Today, nothing has changed except the registration and penalty fees are probably close to $5,000.00!

In CA: The seller is responsible for the vehicle to pass the smog test, but by the time "clueless" found this out, the seller was long gone.

 

Agreed that this is too steep. Just bought my '68 in Santa Rosa for $1,500, and the interior was not anywhere near "quite worn". I' d keep his number and call when the ad expires, then negotiate.

If you plan on getting the interior looking decent and doing the few mechanical tweeks she needs you'll burn through cash quicker than you'd think.

 

Don't get me wrong though; looks like it's a nice truck with a ton of potential!

 

Excluding the aforementioned parts above, some say that I stole my F250; https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...n-71-f250.html

 

They'd be absolutely correct! But then, why pay retail when patience yields results like ours. I looked for a year 'til I got a steal.

 

Most of the firm prices mostly come down after a while with how many hits the guy gets from the ad. Who knows maybe it a member from here?

It's got duals pipes and a alum intake it looks to have this money already saved.
I'd check the p/n on the heads and see if it has the later D2-D4 heads that have the harden v-seats, or maybe other harden seat heads ask owner about this.
A newly rebuilt motor or low mileage is a big A plus

Summer is here and many guys will be looking for a truck to do summer jobs also.

Check for rust in the front cab mounts & the roof drip rails an floor pans are the main places.

We all like getting a good deal and hate getting screwed over on a bad deal that sounded good at first.
So do your home work on the market prices for your area and if a lot are around to choose those if you can, don't sound all that high for the bay area classic truck.

The good guys at the end of month may have some to choose from but all the one's I see their guys want 5-6k. and not all that good of shape waiting for a sucker to come along
Good luck sometimes if you low ball a guy to low they will just walk away and dealing is over with and won't sell it to you at all now, when they post PRICE is FIRM!

That's what, I do when selling something on C/List and a guy offers me half price, that's an insult to me in my book when you post firm. I tell them, Ha go buy it from someone else at that price while walking away.
Orich

 

Man,I am certainly glad I don't have to deal with all that smog crap that you guys have to put up with!!