Just Another Ford Owner!

I learned to drive in a manual transmission '82 Escort.
The first vehicle I owned was a 1970 Mustang Coupe 302/C4 that I ended up significantly restoring and modifying for performance.
I've owned a 1969 T-Bird with 429ci/C6 and suicide rear doors.
The first new from dealer vehicle I bought was a 1992 Ranger XLT that I owned for almost 17 years. Donated to DAV at 110k miles and it still ran flawlessly.
Owned a 2006 Taurus for a short time after the Ranger.
Taking delivery of a 1999 F-250 SuperDuty XL 7.3L/4R100(?) w/192k miles tomorrow. The body is straight and to be honest, I didn't even see any door dings when I went to look/test drive, but I was more interested in the mechanicals than the body. It has two issues, but I'm a research nut so I think I have a comprehensive list of things to check to hopefully resolve them. Interior is pretty dirty with the seemingly requisite seat tear and missing foam on the driver's seat edge.
1) SES Light is on. The truck starts fine and sounds like it is running perfectly. Clean exhaust, smooth idle (for a diesel). Responsive throttle and clean exhaust in gear (for a diesel).
2) Transmission: It isn't shifting when it should and hunts a little bit between gears (2-3). Column shifter is sloppy. (Already read the post here about the bolts/nuts in-cab under dash)

First order of business is a complete fluids and filters service, and a solenoid pack for the transmission while I have it opened.
We'll see...I have nothing but time on my hands to bring this vehicle back to KBB Very Good/Excellent condition.
I live near at least a half dozen salvage yards here on the southeast side of Tucson, AZ, so getting parts cheap should be easy.

Purchase Price: $3,700!

VIN Says Oxford White. This is so close to Cabernet Red of my old Ranger XLT. I think I'll go with it on repaint.

 

Cool history!

Welcome aboard!

 

Literature from my "new" truck.

 

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