Midwest shocker
 

I grew up in Minnesota but haven't lived there in 30 some years. Lived in eastern Washington for past 20 years. Anyway I went back with my son last week to visit my parents in Mn. After a couple days it seemed like something was off but I couldn't put my finger on it. Finally on day 3, I asked my son if he had fixed a problem on his 92 f350 and it dawned on me what was wrong. There were virtually no obs ford trucks around town. :'( Saw a couple but they were rusted out bad.Used to seeing lots of rust free obs fords driving & working around out here. I'd completely forgot about the salt in mn. Poor old midwest trucks. Was glad to get home to my ol 93 f250.

come down to iowa, all kinds of obs fords. not "exactly" rust free though

Come to florida... The OBS body style is a dime a dozen down here unless its a 4 door. But you also got to remember our trucks are 20-25 years old now and the obs body will soon be harder and harder to find. I doubt it will ever be a "classic" like the 70s but I love it and doubt i will ever own any other body style

I thought there were tons here in Montana till I drove through Eastern California, Eastern Oregon, and Idaho. Man, they were everywhere. Still being used for logging in Idaho, and farms all over Oregon. Pretty cool.

As a resident of a suburb near Detroit, I can tell you that I looked long and hard on Craigslist for rust free Ford trucks that were old enough to afford. I had a budget of 5 g's. I did have some parameters that had to be met though: 4x4, manual trans, I wanted the 4.9 straight 6 (but would settle for a V8 if it was the right truck), and it had to be rust-free. After looking for months, there were very few within 4-5 hours of here. I started looking at far away areas - like the state of Washington, Oregon, Cali, Zona, NM, Texas, and Georgia. They are everywhere - for cheap too. You should feel very fortunate. I still look on Craiglist when i have time to just look, and I find great trucks every time. Here are a few examples of todays fare just in the Seattle area:

-Rare- 1976 F250 4x4 99% STOCK

1978 Ford F250 Ranger XLT 4X4

1980 Ford F250 Long Bed 4x4 **IMMACULATE SHAPE**

1986 Ford F-250 XLT Lariat "Highboy Edition" 4x4 RARE

I can tell you feel fortunate to be around all of these great trucks - and you should.

Never thought to look in Idaho, but you're right!!

1994 Ford F250

My favorite:
1979 ford half ton 4x4

1970 Ford F100 4X4 Truck...Price Reduced!!!

1975 Ford F250 Ranger 4x4

I shopped for about 3 years on the internet before I found my current truck ('97 F-250 crew cab). I was looking for a solid (I gave up on rust-free) crew cab with a gas engine and manual transmission that could be picked up in a day trip. Eventually I gave up on the manual transmission and drove 900 miles round-trip in one day to pick up this truck in Indiana (first half of it's life was in New Mexico).

I'm hoping I can talk my wife into lifting the "day trip" restriction before I'm shopping for my next truck, because you're right, older trucks are not a dime a dozen here in MN.

Even the 4 door ones ain't all that rare here in FL. I see them every couple months or so. Usually pulling a lawn service trailer.

I was at Hartsfield-Jackson International (Atlanta GA) waiting in the Delta Airlines terminal and saw an OBS Ford with the Delta logos on the doors working the ramp, so at least down here in the South, they're still out here earning their keep. :-X22

Plenty of them out having fun too, just drive over to Redneck Yacht Club and take a look. :D

My favorite body style too... I looked for a couple months to find mine.

Wow, 3 years looking. Bought mine almost 5 years ago & it took a few weeks just cause there were so many to look at. Almost wanted to cry during cash for clunkers, almost mint trucks with 50-60k on them getting destroyed.

plenty of them here in Illinois also,glad mine is a flareside,my bed looks GREAT compared to all of theirs!! my cab corners look just like theirs,though..... :(

Former MN resident here. That's where my truck came from, and it shows. Looks like a rusty old pile compared to most of the other 96' rigs in CO & WY, but when I head home for the holidays it's a "clean" 96' for MN. What a joke. Deal with much, much worse weather in WY/CO than MN and don't need salt. Slow down, keep good tires on the vehicle, and it will be OK.

We've got the same rot problem here in WI. Seems as though the answer is always "more salt!". Usually the cars and trucks from the northern part of the state are better since they typically use sand, and people actually know how to drive in snow, unlike those around Milwaukee.

There is like 25 on my street because mexican :-P

Yeah not too rare but you dont see them near as often as the other cabs, and when you do they are usually work trucks like you said and they are ragged on and beat up. I can find sclb all day long in clean almost perfect shape... CCLB thats another story and when you do find them the prices are way too high

turns out there is a little used truck shop right by me with a great business plan, go to texas, buy cheap trucks, sell them to chicago-ins. the 95 cclb i bought has less corrosion than my 05 mustang did. i was casually looking for 2-3 years. of course things changed when my son was born. narrowed the choices down to crew cab. and i love it till i get to a parking lot. haha

most of the obs i see the doors are ready to fall off, but they are still hauling and towing their hearts out. while new trucks take suits to the office.