Here goes...another time honored topic...chevy vs ford?. Actually, I don't want to start a chevy bashing thread, but I just wanted to hear about other's observations in their respective regions. I'm an old Ford truck guy. I've owned a 61 F100 and now a 79 F-150, and at one point, an 85 Silverado. The two Ford's, in my opinion were far better trucks. They were both unrestored and ran reliably and never let me down.
I have two good friends that are in the "chevy or die" camp and claim that they would never own anything old from Ford, "they're junk" in their own words. We've had our heated discussions and I challenged them to pay attention to what they see still driving. Being an old truck enthusiast, I am constantly on the lookout for others on the road and usually only see Fords, some Dodges, and rarely Chevrolets, in that order. Fords actually by a long shot where I live (Central Va). When I say "old" I mean 90's or earlier. My question to you guys: What's the case where you live? Since my friends and I had this "discussion" I have kept an open, unbiased eye out and still see mostly older Fords. I'm not talking about restored show trucks, but original, sometimes rusty old work horses still doing the job they were built for. On the rare occasion, I will see a C10 or C20, but they are far and few between and have usually been restored. To me, this is a testament to the quality of the old trucks ford has made over the years. What do you guys think?

 

I see more Dentsides than I see '73-'87 or whatever GM trucks, at least as far as pickups go.

As an older kid in my neighborhood explained to me in the late '70s, "Chevy makes the best cars, and Ford makes the best trucks." He had had a '68 Chevelle SS for his first car and wrecked it, (beat up 4 speed car, and a 327 in place of the 396) and then as a replacement he got a '70 F250, 2WD with a 390, and heavily customized with orange paint, pinstripes, Mack bulldog hood ornament, and every other accessory you could think of for $1500, as he was in the masonry program at the vocational school. Pretty sure I asked him why he'd gotten a Ford. He kept it for at least 10 years...

I notice that on Ford trucks, and GM too, that Ford will wait a few years before installing new technologies in trucks. Just look at all of the '60s-'70s passenger car parts on our Dentsides, such as the dash-mounted ignition switch. Ford needed for especially their trucks to be reliable, because their customers needed reliability for their work.

I think you could get a 348/409 in GM trucks for a couple of years after they were no longer available in passenger cars after '65. Ford did a lot of that, with Y blocks in trucks up to like '64 or '65, and with FEs in mid '70s trucks, and with the 302/5.0 SBF in late '90s Explorers and Mountaineers.

And I think it helps that Ford F-series generally kicked GM's butt in terms of styling from '67 to '79.

 

I get crap at work all the time because apparently I live in Chevy country. I drive a 78 F150 to and from work everyday. Some guys won't even park near me! Lol. Anyhow, a coworker asked why I drive it in the winter, to which I replied 'it can handle It'. Being a Chevy guy, he fired back ' no it can't!' I asked him where his 40 yr old Chevy was....crickets chirping after that. About the only old trucks I see (pre-80's) near me are Ford's.Very seldom a Chevy. Once in a while an International!

 

I'm a "vehicle guy". Ive owned everything from my first in the 70's -- 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator, then a 71 SS El Camino, a 74 AMX , a corral of multiple Mustangs and on. A handful of Toyota trucks, my daily driver is a Tacoma. Currently a 78 F150 Lariat Ranger is in the "toy bay" of my garage. Around here it is Chevy country. Corvettes and Camaros as far as you can see at the shows. Im usually one of very few, to only Ford truck in the local cruise-ins and shows. Used parts around here are non existent. But that's why Hayride gets the attention. It stands out. You can build most any model Chevy from ground up with parts from repo suppliers. Back in my drag days many of my buddies pulled their Ford motors out of their Stangs and put in small block Chevy motor because they were so cheap to build. My thoughts are find something you like or that's different and enjoy it.
But, back in the day... I used to wear a t-shirt that read " This is Ford Country, where on a quite night you can hear a Chevy rusting".

 

I love hearing the import trash inspired "SQUARE BODY" come out of chevy millennials mouths, I want to vomit and drive a Toyota up their butt crack.............However, I have owned all three over the past 40 years, Ford, Dodge, Chevy. None of these trucks ever let me down until the late eighties until now when they started putting computers, sensors, turbos injectors and other unnecessary crap on them. I cant get into ANY vehicle without a CEL light on or some electro-mechanical expensive code throwing problem......... but I can jump in my rusty 42 year old gasoline, carbureted high milage big block wreck and GO anytime I want.

 

Hi Adam. When I lived in southern California in the 80s I owned a 1973 Chevrolet El Camino. I wish I still had that car. But to call it a truck is a stretch. I loved the 350 V8 it had and the ride was comfortable. I now own a 1973 Ford F100 with a 360 V8 and I love it more!! If you do a Wikipedia on the 1973 Ford F100 and the same year Chevy truck you will notice a difference. The engineers for that series Chevrolet truck seems to have concentrated on styling. More sloped windshield for better aerodynamics, curved window corners, padded dash for added safety, etc.... But if you read about the F100 of the same year you find more galvanized metal body parts, better AC and heating and rear window visibility just to name a few. Clearly the manufacturers had different priorities and it shows on the road still today. Granted, the old fellow that I bought my truck from might have purchased the factory undercoating. That said there is NO rust under my bed or cab or any fender or corner panels. My 73' El Camino was rusting in those very places 30 years ago!! Just a few days before I bought my Ford two-tone beauty I looked at a 1971 Chevrolet truck. The seller had a plastic bed liner in the back. I asked why he had that there and he lifted up the liner to reveal that the entire bed had rusted out!! The bed on my truck is as solid as the day it was sold. I am willing to bet that there are regions of this country that favor certain truck brands. But if I must judge by the attention my truck brings at gas stations and just about every place I take it, then Tennessee is Ford Country!! Nothing I have ever owned runs as sweet and reliable as this old girl I own. Hope this helped.

 

I often compare the 70s ford and Chevy trucks. They were both pretty good. As a rule of the ones I have owned, the chevs have rusted a little more, but they are still one hell of a good ol' truck. In my area the square body chevs seem to be around a lot more than the dentsides.

It doesn't matter to me though, I like them both.

 

 

While south Louisiana has many Chevy cars, and I can't support my thoughts with registration numbers, when it comes to older trucks, there seems to be more Fords surviving. During the 60s & 70s, GM produced vehicles that were very susceptible to rust. This is only aggravated in the coastal regions where the salt air takes its toll on sheet metal. I'm not in the coastal regions. My '76 F-250 has no rust of significance.

 

 

I see more pre-80 fords on the road. From 80ish up I'd say its pretty even, maybe even favoring gm but very close. But as far as dodge goes I see plenty of old mopar cars but I know of only 2 pre-80 dodge trucks on the road here. I never, and I travel the entire nc/tn/va area with some SC thrown in , see 1 dodge (before the early 90 "big rig" body style) to every 50 ford or gm. And I point it out, considering my dad is a gm guy and my brother in law is a dodge guy.
. I would gladly buy a nice gm or ford although I currently own 5 fords 1 Toyota and 1 jeep. But I'll never drive another mopar.

 

Chevrolet couldn't even make a fuel gage that worked worth a crap in their trucks but to their credit, you will have a good idea how much was in it if you get hit in the bed side.

 

I see a few dentsides, a few more bullnoses, and about a zillion 87-97 OBS fords around my area. Square body chevies are still around but don't see as many. Still a lot of the medium duty square bodies. Dodges are the rarest.

I test drove a used 78 D-100 this summer and it was....weird. The clutch feel was hard to get used to. Build quality seemed lacking but had very little rust.

 

And bonus MOPAR points if you get a '70s Plymouth pick-up. They made them for a few years - along with the Trailblazer, which was like a Bronco or Blazer/Jimmy.

If you like them a little older, you can get the Canadian trucks and have a Mercury Bumpside, or a Fargo, which was basically a Dodge...

 

Here's my 2 cents

My buddy has a 76 k20 and I have a 75 f250 4wd he won't take his over 100 miles or so and that's a stretch there where as the 75 has been on several 1500 mile road trips

The Chevy owner doesn't even trust his own equipment so now he is looking to get a ford