hey guys found the origonal owner "id" card that came stapled to the owners manual from the dealership under the seat the other day. i figured id look him up and see if he was still around, maybe id give him a call. turns out the fella died in 2001 he was 84. bought my truck new in charlotte nc on 6-5-1976

 

I know the original owner of my truck and I have his address. I called him a while back and told him I still have the orange Ford I bought from him 18 years ago. He seemed surprised to hear it's still with me. I believe he's in his 80's now, but he still remembered his old 1976 F-100 he sold to me. I just bought a new printer for home use and I think I'll print some pics off of my 76 and mail them to him along with a letter explaining the last 18 years of ownership. That may bring back some memories for him.

OJ

 

i realy wish i could have talked to the guy that owned mine he could answer sooo many of my questions .....as far as i can tell its had 6 owners

 

I bought my truck 79 from the original owner about a month ago. He is in his early 70's and parked it in the back of the yard at work 5 years ago. My company bought his lot and he left his junk (except the f350 :-)) in the back and didnt come back to get the stuff due to heart issues. I called him up and asked about the truck and he said he bought it new in 1979 and I live close by where this all took place. The guy was a pig and left all kinds of junk in the truck that he worked with because he was into concrete work. Said he rebuilt the engine and trans and thats all really he could remember of the truck. Oh hauled his backhoe to jobs too...

 

I Got my 78 when my father in law died, he was the second owner, I do know Charlie (original owner) died a few years ago. I was told he loved this truck more than his wife and was crying when he gave the father in law the keys. I wish he was still alive so I could show him his truck is in good hands.

 

I know It would be nice to show the ones that really loved their truck but had to give it up or what ever and let them know that their truck is now in good if not better hands to keep living on.

 

The guy I bought my truck from had it parked in a barn in Oregon and he needed to sell it to make room for a new Ford truck and 5th wheel trailer he was planning to park in the barn. Sometime after I bought the truck I heard he had throat cancer and I didn't know of his condition for a number of years. So when I called him one evening I was happy to hear he was still alive. Oh...and I also figured out that I've now owned the truck longer than he did by almost 2 years! Just a little fun fact.

OJ

 

I purchased my truck from the original owner, through the second owner. The second owner bought it and within one week, his..........ahem, ....."ample" wife could not drive it without her...ahem...ample belly... rubbing on the steering wheel and she made him put it up for sale. It broke his heart, but was a great thing for me! I know where the original owner is, but I have not spoken to him. I have records from the day my truck was bought brand new right her in good ol' Kaliforna, including the original invoice! :-)
Dak

 

I have no clue how many owners my truck has had but I'd like to show it to the kid I bought it from. I've put it through quite the transformation. At the time I'd say he was about 20 and I was about 25. He seriously started balling when I bought it, it was quite awkward. I'm betting he will cry again. lol.
I did find the owners manual shoved behind the dash with an Auto Zone receipt for a u-joint from 1991.

 

Nice interesting stories! Mine was built in Michigan, sold at a dealership in Ohio to a company (unknown what they did). They sold it in 1978 (don't know why) to the second owner who lived on a farm in Curtis Ohio. This guy was 61 when he got it and the last records show he replaced belts, hoses, oil, air cleaner on 6/13/82 with 71,042 on it and when he was not using it he parked it in his barn.

He passed away 12/31/07, and his 86 year old brother went to a home and the farm and contents were sold. A woman from Millbury Ohio bought the truck at public sale for her daughter (20's) who took one look and said NO WAY!. She went and bought a black sports car. One week later it went up for sale and on 08/20/10 I will have had it for two years now. When I got it, it had 80,151 on it. The woman had put 10 miles on it test driving it on her farm. SO the second owner from 1982 till 2007 chocked up about 8,000. Would have to assume he didn't do the work to not drive it, but not long afterwards had got something else to drive, (possibly?) health issues prevented him from driving etc,etc(?). (who knows why)

It has been ALOT more work than I thought it would be, but I also enjoy it MUCH more than I ever thought I would.

Now its a case of each area being a project to take it to the next level of better then it was when I got it. One other tidbit, from the title from the woman I got it from, that title had the second owner and address from which she bought it from. I went to google earth and plugged in his address and went to street view and could see where my tuck had lived its life from '78 till 2008, which was kinda cool.

 

Not too sure about the original owner.. All I know is that the truck is originally from Butler, PA. It was built at the Ontario, Canada, truck plant.
It's still the original Hatteras green metallic, with the original interior still.
The only modifications I made to it were to add a set of wheels and tires,
A Grant steering wheel, and a Thrush glass pack. It does need some TLC, as the bed is pretty rusty, but for now, until a major rebuild is in my budget, I'm just content to drive it as is. It has around 34,000 Miles on it.. It sat in the guy's garage for 20 years after he passed away. When I bought it, It still had bias ply tires on it. Not too bad for a 35 yr old truck.. and let me tell you, the 'ol 302 still has plenty of power.

 

Rocky was bought @ Ben Hur Ford (a still active dealership without a website) in Souix Falls, SD by a Mr Heipl. He passed away and his wife gave/sold the truck to her grandson in 2004. HE NEVER REGISTERED IT! I bought it from him a month ago and i guess, from all info, that technically i am the second REGISTERED owner of the truck.

 

I know what you mean Mike, mine had bias ply tires, and regular sealed beam head lights. The driver's side was out when I got it, which I replaced with a halogen, but the passenger side is still the old lamp. I have a replacement, but I keep the old lamp in for the entertainment value for now. (could it be original?)

It's nice to get a barn find, you know it wasn't beat hacked and chopped up, but usually it means everything is old and does not work, or its rusted together pretty good, which can be a real battle even with the best penatrating oils.

 

I bought mine off the original owner. I think it was in '85 maby '86. He's still around.

 

My truck was my grandpas and he is still alive. He had it from new until 2001. He drove it only when camping across the country and kept it covered with huge canvas painters tarps. He gave it to my brother who left it out and never did one thing to it including washing it. After pleading with my sister in law, I got the truck in 2009.

When my gramps found out I had it he said ' why don't you sell that old truck, it's gona need a lot of work I imagine'. I showed up at a family function after spending a few months of cleaning/detailing and he almost fell over. He walked around it and look at it for 30 minutes repeating, 'this can't be the same truck...'. Made me feel pretty good. My brother who was there was not too thrilled.