I wouldn’t worry about it. I think the talk of leaks is blown out of proportion anyways. I’ve had lots of trucks with cab lights, and have never had a single leak.

 

Less is more: Most everyone I know would give anything in the world for a BASIC 4x4 truck.

Less is more: No turbos, 18 speed automatic transmissions, no infotainment centers, touchscreens, no greenteeth, PCM,ECU,EFI, LED, EV, HIV or LGBTQ. Hold the plastic, aluminum, super stroke hemi duty sensor and emissions choked drivetrains that the everyday home mechanic can’t work on by himself. No hydraulically operated tailgates or light up keypad door handles and running boards. No light up proximity sensor mirrors, back up cameras or 5000 horsepower. I don’t need to talk to a satellite, see my speed in kilometers, have my cell phone connect to my truck, pre-set my cruise control and seating position or know the weather in Zimbabwe. None of it. I need my truck to go to the worksite in all weather, haul tools, firewood & crap around my house and go play off road once in awhile. I need to save stealership money by being able to do basic, general maintenance myself.

 

While I agree, and would buy that truck tomorrow, it will never be built and it will never sell even if it were. Like winning the lottery, all you can do is dream about it.
If you say you'd pay $100k for a truck like that, then you will have absolutely no problem dropping $50k on an immaculately restored 70's/80's/90's truck to get what you want...even repowered with a 7.3L Godzilla, ZF6, NP205 to your liking...

 

The problem is, you and those who want that are in the less than 0.1% of truck buyers. No demand, ergo no production.

Oh, and By the way it's not just Ford...

 

Actually, .01? fleet buyers have been complaining about this for many recent years. Major companies and gov agencies buying hundreds and thousands of fleet vehicles/work trucks want basic, capable and easy to maintain (read: not languishing at the dealership with the cab off waiting on a 700 dollar emissions sensor) Yhey want trucks that are reliable, capable, sparsely equipped, cheap and easy to maintain by their own fleet mechanics. That’s a far bigger number than 01 percent, add to that every old man over 50 who actually uses these things on a job site, ranch or farm wants basic.

Regardless, good trucks will never be built again. Time to get used to 100k trucks and 1000 dollar general maintenance visits at the dealership I guess. I may not be able to respond to an emergency, haul wood, stone or cattle or plow snow up to my door handles like the days of old, but dangit my kids can watch Dora the explorer in the headrests, and I can almost fit some camping gear in the back of my 6 ft bed, crew cab super family duty diesel F-9000 Eddie Bauer lariat!

 

7.3 Godzilla? Why would anyone downgrade a vehicle like that?!?! The drivetrain in my 70s truck has lasted just fine for nearly 50 years and hundreds of thousands of hard miles, and I dont remember ever having to drive home in limp mode, plug my truck in to get a code, reflash the computer, change a sensor, injector, cat, or idler pulley. Basic maintenance and GO in any climate or place. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s never ever been back to the dealership, not even once. I could do without 10 mpg, but that’s a small price to pay for decades worth of cheap maintenance and proven reliability.

And that was the point of the post. Give us cheap, basic, reliable, easy to maintain work trucks again. 🤷‍♂️

 

I sort of disagree... with the caveat that I have been saying very much the same thing.

We bought a 2025 F-250 XL... we had to order it, of course. It's about as basic as you can get, with some reasonable add-ons... cloth seats, power windows, computer thingy in the center, remote start, but with a vinyl floor and a split bench seat. I built it for me... so camper package, better tires, locking rear axle. NO 4WD. Yes, it's made of aluminum, and has far too many electronic doo-dads on it, but this is 2025, not 1975. It has far less electronic doo-dads than my 2023 STX, which is just a gussied up XL... most of which I don't really want or use, but you buy what is available to you if you are on the spot, which I was. No, these trucks are NOT on the dealer lots... and only because the dealer does not want to sell these low margin vehicles, they want to sell fancy trucks that people will accessorize as part of the deal. Finance companies don't want to finance vehicles that depreciate excessively as soon as it's driven off the lot, which low-ball trucks do, and dealers don't want them back as lease returns.

 

No, I said 0.1%. Meaning that, according to some AI bot, out of 765,649 F-series trucks sold in 2024, that would be 766 (765,649 x .001), or about 100x the 8 members on FTE that want a stripped down truck.

Sorry, Big Corps go for Big Numbers They care nothing about the specialist.

As previously said, if you want a stripped down truck with NO electronics, for the $70-100K you'd pay for a new one, you could get a really nice, completely rebuilt from the bottom up, classiic.

 

And that is why I have a slew of the old pigs, although... having a Godzilla with a ZF6 in my 78 Bronco would be killer! Minus the computer crap of course, but it comes with it, minimal hopefully I would think in the crate...
All my old trucks just work when I need them, sometimes even when slightly neglected, heck, my old 66 F100 "Shrek" has never failed to start, even on the coldest day, after sitting for a month or 3, nothing to drain his battery, no motors to die on the windows, even when his clutch rod broke, I was still able to get where I was going and back home, start him in 1st or R and no clutchy shifts, no nanny controls to make sure he doesn't start while in gear.

But unfortunately, the basic driver has been dumbed down soooo far, they have to have warnings to not lick the windshield when it's frozen... or drink the washer fluid... when the old owners manuals showed you how to change a tire, jump start it or adjust the valves, he!!, just last night, we had been to dinner with my daughter and SIL, got in my Ex, and sat there for 5 mins watching some nimrod try to pull into a parking spot at least 4x's, then she decided to back in, and that was a terrible 3x, she wasn't even looking in the mirrors!!

The lowest common denominator that makes the most $$ is what the auto mfr's have, and always will build towards now...

I would love to be a gozillionaire, and just make simple, no frills, easy to maintain vehicles... a small sedan/hatchback (commuter) like the 78-80 Ford Fiesta, seats 4 or 5, gest 40 mpg, manual trans, roll down windows, vinyl seats, an SUV (like the og Bronco), same concept, seats/carry's more (add a 4 door like the Exploder), a small Ranger truck, 2wd and 4x, manual, no frills, and then a full-size truck, manual w/pto option, 2 or 4wd, 3/4 or 1 ton, manual, Godzilla gas or simple diesel, heck, make it a 7.3 powerstroke, all 4wd's having a solid front axle in all platforms, maybe, maybe have an AT as an option... no radios/infolink or that crap, basic manual mirrors, but cupholders though, def need at least one of those, so you're not holding hot coffee or a cold beverage between yer legs! I still think it'd sell if it was priced right and reliable... but be that as it may, I'll just keep my old ***** on the road and enjoy them while I can, simple, reliable, and easy to fix and work on, reminds me of the old Merle Haggard song... wish a buck was still silver...

 

Not to play devil's advocate but in today's market, Honda Civics are $30k now. That's the kind of inflation we're dealing with. And you're not alone; we're all feeling it. "Today's market" is the key term though. All cars/truck prices have gotten super expensive after COVID, but that's a whole different discussion.

My point is, I don't think "tech" is driving up the costs as people like to claim. My question is... What tech? In-dash monitor, PCM, sensors, etc... that's pretty standard stuff and shouldn't cost much. A very good new Windows laptop is around $1000 these days.

 

Fixed it for ya.

 

In my case, I have 3 sets of dark tinted glass to look through with the cap, for rear view mirror.
Almost useless. I wanted a permanently on, rear view mirror cam, which I did install.
Downside is it blooms like crazy at night, but still overall better than seeing nothing through stock
rear view mirror.

I took the HO diesel over all the doodads, base XLT, locker, aux switches, wheel well liners and mud flaps being the only options.
(we can debate all day if that is worth it or even "needed", but it is much easier for me to add some "upgraded' options I may
have missed, than an entirely different).

My sticker was $70K (in 23) and paid price was only $66K. Smoking deal for the towing ability, IMO, and it's not like I'm rolling
without AC or PW/PL. Add in Ford's quality with the electronic doodads lately, some of these trucks are pure lemons due almost
to just the upgraded electronics, right off the showroom floor.

 

Definitely something to be said for old world reliability. Carbs can be more finicky with ethanol gas, if left to sit "long term" without higher grade fuel stabilizers,
but my 78 Bronco is still used to tow our 24' boat and plow out my whole neighborhood, pretty much always works.

And this is doing really nothing to it for years and years. I did a mild upgrade/rebuild on it a couple years back, maybe spent 3 grand to do some body patch panels/paint,
redo seats/carpet, rebuilt/upgraded suspension parts, finally ditched 16.5 wheels (I'm upgraded to 8 lug front and D60 rear for towing) and new tires. They just keep going.............
(and they still look darn good too). Now would I expect them to tow like the new trucks (especially with the low NVH), nope.......... But I bet that 78 is still around with almost no
issues, even 20 years from now (god willing)

 

We have a WiSight rear camera mounted on our travel trailer. It has a contrast adjustment so you can turn it down at night. Works great.

My wife's Telluride has a combo reflective/digital rearview mirror. She doesn't like it, but I use it for two reasons:

• I can leave the physical mirror alone so she doesn't have to re-adjust it when she drives. It's a digital picture, so you can see it from about any angle.
• The image is from the back of the car, so no obstructions from stuff inside.

It doesn't work as good at night as the WiSight camera, but it's decent. And better than a reflective mirror.

 

Thankfully we have two stations within 10 miles that have non-ethanol 91 octane. I use that in all my vehicles when I'm around town, and it's the only in my small engines (I also run them out of fuel before storing)