New Here , found this old gal sittin in a shed on a customer's property, should I buy it and what should I offer? 66 f100 LB, 300 inline, no rust in the body ,awesome patina, been sitting a long while

 

Looks reasonably rust free, but these trucks are masters at hiding rust. Look at the floor pans, cab mounts, core support where it bolts to the frame. If he wants to sell it try to get him to price it first. In today's world probably 2 to 4 thousand. Seven or eight years ago it would have been $1500 or less. If you can do your own mechanic work, go for it. If you have to hire a mechanic, I would think twice before buying a sitter.

 

I looked it over good,I cant find any rust on the frame or body, only surface rust .The floor pans, rockers and cab corners are solid, only bad spot is one small place in the bed,If I get it ill to do all the work Myself, I am a mechanic , He is asking 5k,

 

For it to be worth 5k it would need to be a short bed and be fully optioned as well including a/c, p/s custom cab etc. and be in running condition. I paid 2k for my truck 6yrs ago which had the Deluxe camper package. The deluxe 2 tone paint being the only option missing. I see too many low or no optioned trucks going for stupid prices. People don't seem to think that should factor into price. To an extent though it will depend on what your ultimate goal is for the truck. Options available at the time might not matter if going custom. Best I can tell from the photos, the body side mouldings and winshield washer indicates to me could be at least a custom cab, but lack of windshield trim, steel grille etc makes me wonder. Short of the mirrors and wheels, seems to be fairly original, so that's a plus.

 

Hagerty shows a #4 fair condition truck at $7000. A fair condition truck would be running and driving with some defects.
Just take a sack of 100-dollar bills and negotiate. The sight of green money is very persuading.

 

i dont the difference in the option packages, heres a pic of the interior, it has the basic single instrument, am radio, vinyl headliner,,carpet, and dash pad but no door cards

 

That's at least a $2k truck in the PNW if there's no rot. $5k is a bit steep for a standard cab, long bed 6 cyl anywhere.

 

The truck is a Standard Cab as opposed to a Custom Cab. One nice thing about them is they can cost less to restore. The Custom Cab was the upscale trim package. I wouldn't buy a Standard Cab myself since they were lacking in options. That said - this truck seems to have its original seat upholstery and it is visibly intact which is somewhat uncommon these days. Rubber floor mat might be original, too. A little hard to tell from the pictures. Has its oil bath air cleaner which is a good sign. The long bed trucks are less desirable to many. I like them but only in an F250, not so much in an F100. You might want to check the headliner material. Original would be a cardboard sort of material. Standard cab used a non-perforated headliner material. Custom Cab used a perforated headliner material. Here's a picture of a fairly decked out Custom Cab interior.



The 300 would be a little more desirable than a 240. Might be worth decoding the warranty plate if you haven't to make sure it came with the 300 since they were a bit less common. The 3-on-the-tree isn't bad, but they are getting tough to find some of the pieces for them. $5k does seem a little heavy on the price for it but prices have been creeping up some over time. If you are actually looking for one of these trucks there are more desirable ones to be had, but if you feel it's something you want and can live with the price go for it. Might try talking them down some with some cash. You'll probably have to put in a new battery I'd guess, plus all new fluids, filters and probably some other bits and pieces just to get it running. Like most everything else - none of that stuff is cheap these days. Make sure the engine does turn over by hand since a locked-up engine could lead to some bigger expenses. Might check to see what the inside of the gas tank looks like. Stale gas is to be expected but see if you can see any rust scale inside of the tank. If so, I'd clean it at least before trying to use it to start the truck with.

The dash pad was standard equipment for all 1966 trucks. I can see a crack above the radio and some distortion it looks like on the driver's side which could be from moisture. A new pad, if you wanted to replace it, is north of $500 these days. Most remove the pad and polish the paint underneath which can be quite nice still sometimes.

 

It was probably parked for a reason, bad motor, brakes, clutch, rear end? Who knows. I picked mine out of a field sitting 20 years. Had it running in 20 minutes. Quickly found out why it was parked, had a spun rod bearing.

At a minimum to get safely driving: new tires, all new brake system hydraulics, lines etc. New fuel system, rebuilt or new carb, lines etc. Possible new radiator and water pump. Good news is most parts are pretty cheap and available. Plan +- $2-3k. If motor bad add another $3-5k.

Looks like a real nice mostly original truck to start with. Hard to find ones that have not been messed with last 57 years, so worth a premium for me. Plus its local save on shipping. Id say its worth at least $3-4k if floor pans and cab mounts are as nice as you say.

 

I spoke with the owner again, I Was told it was parked after his grandfather passed, in 94,, he said that Grand paw bought it new on December 5th 1965, They have all the original paperwork and it is a 300ci , said they had it running about 5 or 6 years ago but had no breaks so they didnt drive it, I think hes high on the price cause its sentimental to him as he grew up riding around with grand paw growing up. Ive been wanting a old patina shop truck and if I can get this onefor the right price it will be a fun project for me and my grandson.

 

Go for it! Looks lie a solid start - but, yeah - negotiate. Sometimes Ive paid more and sometimes less - but in the end it comes out in the wash.

 

Welcome to FTE! The key to me buy or not to buy would be the inside of box and overall condition of the tailgate. If there is zero rust elsewhere and inside box is equally as nice it is a 5k truck. Would not touch it here in AZ for 5k if as nice as it appears. A couple years ago yes. One can easily spend 2-3k on body parts if needed. Hoods and front fenders will be GOLD very soon if mint. Same thing with boxes and tailgates. Really hard to see overall from these pics but the originality alone is something. Seat looks really nice as does the entire dash, cluster, steering wheel. It all adds up.
Looks like you are in Georgia?

If in fact they have original paperwork like bill of sale and one family parked when they said it was AND the inside of box is really nice 5k is a good starting point if they will not negotiate. Where else will you find one for 5k? those days are gone for nice stuff.

PPG DX 579/520 will dissolve all the surface rust. Looks like paint will clean up nice. As long as engine is not stuck I say go for it. Looks that complete and original underhood not to doubt what they are saying why parked. ANy parts needed are still quite cheap. 90% of the time a running driving truck needs most of it anyway.
Absolutely no way I would sell a complete straight, rust free '66 F100 or 250 even less a engine for under 5k.

 

I say bring the 5k with you try to negotiate but if not take it home!

I could not count the number of vehicles I looked over real well, made a quick determination what it needed and overall shape negotiated best I could.

I followed a 1969 Cougar Eliminator 428 CJ-R with 40k miles on it for nearly 30 yrs so original it was scary. Tried to buy it all those years. One day he said 20k I flew out of town to look but then he jacked price to 22k. I bought it did some work on power steering lines hoses. Pulled oil pan which had never been off tried to turn engine and could hear the nylon cam gear teeth breaking. I had a NOS gear and chain, car even had original exhaust. Found 2 build sheets under back seat. valve covers had never been off. A bunch of other people knew about car but refused to pay the 20k.

I cleaned car up got it running and driving then the offers started to come in. I kept saying not for sale not for sale It was a keeper. Finally a guy said ok will give you 54k! I said I wasn't really interested in selling the car.
He then said Ok, How about if I throw in my 1970 429 Cobra Jet station wagon only a few built. I took the deal.

What I am trying to say is by the time you get it on the road get it running driving it will be worth a bunch more. Buy it and keep it. Unless of course you can find a equal one owner truck with paperwork for less? Most likely NOT!

 

The old truck appears to be in nice original condition. I am not used to what these old trucks are bringing today, so I wont speculate on the asking price.
It seems that all years of these old trucks seem to have came up a lot in value in the last few years, and they seem to have virtually disappeared around here.
They used to be sitting in barn lots, hedge rows peoples back yards, etc, but not anymore. I suppose many of them were scraped, when scrap steel was really high a few years ago.
So maybe the owner's pricing may be touch high, but will said the true value of something is what someone is willing to pay and what some one else is willing to take.

If its a good rust free truck, will save you a pile of money, over a rusty truck needing a whole bunch of structural repairs.
Long story short, buy it if it's what you want.
Good luck.

 

I'm not as experienced as many of these guys...but I have looked at A LOT of trucks in the Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia area over the past 10 years and will tell you that what you're looking at is not something you'll find very many of.

I bought my 1965 F100 Shortbed, Stepside in 2019 out of Nashville for around $6k. At that time I had looked at around 30 trucks and had been holding out for one as close to original as possible. It was money well spent for me because original is what I preferred. To me, that truck looks to be very close to original. Seat cover, engine, wiring, dash, etc. has not been hacked apart or thrown away. It even has the original radio. I would buy that truck in a minute for $5k if it doesn't have structural rust damage but I think that how you value of originality just depends on your long term goals. I will tell you from my experience that many of the original items on that truck are very hard to find and expensive if you do find them so maybe something to keep in mind if the factory look is something you're interested in.

I agree with Boss9F100...bring $5,000 and test your negotiating skills...good luck!