No worries on the long bed...I'm sure some jackhole will cut it up to a short bed soon enough anyways, just like the Chevy squarebodies. Long beds are considered worthless to most of those guys, and its starting to get hard to find long beds that haven't been molested into short beds. I have a '85 K20 sitting in my yard that I've scavenged quite a few parts off of, and should have gone to scrap long ago, but I've been holding on to it just in case I ever decide to build another Chebby and can't find an uncut long bed....

As for the interior/exterior shape, I've got a buddy that does high end detailing (as in he handles detailing work on SEMA trucks and stupid expensive exotic cars), and I've watched him take a car that looks like it's been sitting out under a bunch of trees for the past few decades, and make it look damn near new from 20 feet. Including cleaning a few decades worth of grease and grime off the engine. My '90 F350 has been abused all of it's life, has a few hundred thousand miles on it, and given a new carpet set along with a decent seat and engine scrubbing, it wouldn't be all that far off from this thing.

 

That must be what my old POS 150 looked like new! Mine is three tone grey with all the peeled paint revealing the primer and we can't forget the rust red accents around all holes in the body panels. LOL That truck looks really nice for being 30 years old.

 

94ZR580,

I think those rims look darn near new!

 

LOL! A little time with a wire wheel and a can of Dupli-color charcoal metallic wheel paint did wonders for the wheels. Unfortunately, I think the body will take a little more than that.

 

Someone with my thoughts on that matter. I just cringe every time I see a long bed get hacked into a shortbed. Yes, I own a factory '69 shortbed, it's my hot rod. My daily drivers all are longbeds.

 

Even with these bricknose trucks, I found it hard to find a long bed that hadn't been molested in some way when I bought mine a few years ago. I specifically wanted a crew cab long bed 460 5 speed 4x4 dually, and spent quite a while trying to find that unicorn before learning that Ford didn't make a 4x4 dually until '99, lol. So I settled for a CCLB 4x4, and even that was hard to find. Ended up buying an old fleet truck with a flatbed on it, that aside from a real **** poor mounting of the flatbed and a motor that leaks from everywhere along with a single mass flywheel swap, was a surprisingly unmolested truck. Still wish I had a 460 though....yeah, I know..I'm the oddball of the group, lol.

 

I'm really surprised at the number of folks who look at not having 4X4 as a deal breaker. Maybe it is a location thing, but I use both of mine as farm trucks & can't remember getting either of them stuck. We get torrential rains at times, and it gets very muddy, but a little careful path picking yields good results. I see it the opposite way, the truck being 4X4 is a deal breaker. IMO there is more to break, workng on everything gets more complicated, and expensive, the ride and fuel mileage are worse. I'm having a hard time finding the draw.

 

I don't understand how someone buys a truck, then gets concerned about ride quality or fuel mileage....

I think a lot of it is like people who buy Wranglers, or big diesels - many are buying the image, not the capability. My Cadillac sees more dirt than most of those things ever will even think about.

On the other hand, ever try to pull a boat up an algae covered ramp, or one that isn't paved? My old Geo Tracker was a better tow rig in these situations than my F350 diesel in 2WD, even with a boat that was a solid 50% heavier than the rated tow capacity on the Tracker (yeah, I went through clutches pretty fast doing that, lol).

Regional? Absolutely. I live in the desert southwest. Around here mud isn't so much an issue, but sand sure is. And rutted rocky areas. Can I do it in 2WD? Sure. I drove a 2WD Ram 1500 for years. It sure is smoother, and MUCH easier on the vehicle when I have 4WD and can literally crawl over these areas rather than having to maintain momentum. Pulling a trailer down a sandy wash can be a white knuckle experience when I know all it takes is one yahoo come flying down the wash in the opposite direction, forcing me to get off line to avoid making his quad turn into a pin pong ball, and my forward progress comes to a grinding halt, losing momentum, and those rears will never gain enough traction to get going again.

Miss a drop off or rut at night and drop the front end of the truck down? 2WD, and the rears don't get traction in the loose stuff...4WD and I crawl right out. The few times we get good rains here, the roads turn into slop, and all the kids think it's hilarious to tear up the roads in their trucks. 4WD means I drive right through, 2WD means I'm tearing up the road more trying to get to work in the morning. Monsoon rolls through, and the rain is enough that the road floods over, or literally washes away in areas. I have exactly two ways in and out of my property. The one road, and a path through the open desert behind me. The path goes through a much deeper wash that you often can't climb out of in 2WD. A friend of mine has a Chevy on a 6" lift and aggressive mud tires. Couldn't do it when it was dry in 2WD. My stock 4WD F350 drives right through it, even when it's muddy.

I also find that 2WD low range (front hubs unlocked) is extremely handy when maneuvering trailers, when I don't need the extra traction of 4WD, but a slower ground speed is extremely handy in tight areas without having to be on and off the clutch or feathering it. Though I run a manual transmission, this "feature" is probably less handy with an automatic.

 

Okay I see where you actually need one, but the average user is likely living on a city lot, & as you say "My Cadillac sees more dirt than most of those things ever will even think about.". I still convinced that for my course a 2WD is the right horse. Trailer pulling is a pretty small part of the usage, mostly it is hauling feed or riding fences though the last fence upgrade made that job less likely. I've had 4X4s, I used to be a salesman for a Dodge / Jeep dealer, in snow country, and my demos were always 4X4. I didn't mind so much when it wasn't my dime, and they never got enough miles on them to break.

 

A lot of truck owners need 4wd trucks.I couldn't get by without my main truck being a 4x4.There isn't really anything extra about a 4wd being a higher risk of breaking than a 2wd truck.The front ends last well (ttb or straight even if some do have a preference) the transmissions don't have any extra strain on them,the transfer cases are known to be long lasting and they're cheap and easy enough to swap out when they do fail.If you live in the north,your not going so well in 2wd as you are a 4wd.I have a 2wd too but I know exactly where not to put the thing either lol and I do have a 4x4 I can go get to get it out if needed too (haven't gotten there.......yet lol.That's mostly because I'm old enough to know where not to risk going with it.Not because it has good traction haha.)
Sure the south and western guys down in Florida or Georgia,or down in Texas (they'll want one anyway need one or not lol) or the guys out in the Arizona desert more than likely wont have much need to ever turn them hubs but that's not the case for most truck owners.Most of our states get some pretty heavy snow and of course all of Canada.I sure would hate to be 2wd truck salesman in Canada.That would be like the devil trying to sell coffee down below.

 

It definitely isn't the best color, is it?

 

​​​​​I could get by with a 2wd truck, but it would make more work for myself. For example, instead of being able to drive up into the woods to cut and load firewood, I'd have to park on the nearest piece of pavement and carry everything back and forth between the truck and where I'm cutting. A couple of the junkyards that i frequent have long muddy, rutted driveways that you need a 4wd to get up. Without 4wd, I'd have to park at the bottom of the driveway and carry all my tools up to the top, and then back down again when I'm done. I don't drive my truck in the snow, but if I did I would definitely want 4wd.

 

Maybe I've been in Texas too long. I was raised in Penna, spent a lot of years in Ohio. During my formative years, 4X4s were rare, and expensive Just the occasional Jeep or Power Wagon. I learned how to cope pretty well without it. I had several 2wds that worked well enough to break open back roads after a healthy snow. The main things were tires, & weight. I had an old automatic transmission, well drained of fluid, that went into my trunk about November, & came out about April. "having to maintain momentum" as Urbex said was the key, that and lots of practice controlling the drifting that resulted from "having to maintain momentum" .I'm probably lucky to be this old . Never really crashed one, but stuck my '60 Chevy Bellaire so bad the wrecker had to chain off to a utility pole to get it out. The '65 Chevelle, was probably the best of all, posi-traction, lots of power, 2 speed automatic & some really aggressive studded winter tires (legal back then), made it practically unstoppable. The Jeeps I used from the dealership, surprised me, mostly that the expensive one; CJ5 V-8, auto, big tires, was useless, get into deep snow and it would bog down and throw snow onto the roof and that was it, back out, go back the way you came. The cheap one; CJ5 6cyl, standard shift, narrow tires, was more unstoppable than that old Chevelle, considerably better. You could go right out into the woods with that one, easier if there was a trail, not absolutely required. So i do see the point, but here in Texas, people buy them if they need one or not, and it makes shopping for a 2WD a bit harder, so i guess I've gotten a bit frustrated.

 

I don't think the undercarriage of this truck looks that bad, just looks like a used truck that is kinda old. I've seen far worse. I'm not quite sure it is worth the 9k that is sold for though. I'm thinking more in the ball park of $7500.