I think I have found a suitable vehicle to use as a winter beater, and I may be buying it tommorow. It's an 89 F150 2wd 302 at 213,000 miles and lots of rust. The truck seems to run good, and everything on it works. It's gray and the body is VERY rusty. It has had a lot of recent mechanical repairs and it seems to be pretty sound mechanically, so I think it will do the job as a beater truck. Also, it has a good CD stereo in it, so that's a plus.

 

Good Deal John Keep the sharp ones out of the snow.

Edberg

 

The deal for the 89 F150 fell through because every time I called the guy about coming to get the truck, he had a different excuse for why he couldn't sell it that day. So, I decided to look for a different vehicle and I ended up buying a 68 F250. I got the 68 yesterday. It's a 360 V8, 4 spd, 2wd, manual steering and brakes. The body has a fair amount of rust on it, but it's actually in better condition than the 89 was. The main rust is on the cab (cab corners, lower doors, lower fenders). It seems to run pretty good, so hopefully it'll make a decent winter vehicle.

 

Going heavy duty with the 3/4 ton,sounds like it will be fun to drive with the 4 speed in it.

 

Hi John............I'm sure you'll have many ideas to make that beater a show winner if you care to. Would make a cool basis for a wild 4x4 station wagon or Van too.

 

Spent all morning working on the 68 F250 today. I noticed that the lower radiator hose was leaking, so I went ahead and replaced both radiator hoses and backflushed the cooling system. Not a bad job to do, except for the fact that it was like 20 degrees outside today. Hopefully the 68 won't give me anymore problems in the near future! It's not a very enjoyable vehicle to drive because of the manual steering and brakes and it has no radio. But as long as it gets me where I need to go during the winter months, I guess it'll be OK.

JohnT- IL Chapter leader