It finally happened - after a long time looking, I finally came into possession of a dentside crew cab, a 1978 F250 4x2 with a 460 and a C6. It's in the driveway now and I had time to look at it in the daylight this afternoon. I thought that some old timer had really gone wild with the aftermarket catalogue, but I found a sticker on the door jamb that made me start to research. I couldn't find a ton of information, though. The door jamb sticker (which for some reason I didn't take a picture of during daylight hours) states that the truck had been upfitted in late '77 (while brand new) by Holiday Rambler. This thing has big clearance lights, a sunroof (yuck!), high-pile carpet everywhere including the headliner, power windows I think, switches, *****, four custom captains chairs, and a big old aluminum camper shell. I could only find one other post on a different forum where a guy is describing a very similar truck and asking for information but nobody answered him. Does anyone on here know anything about these? My personal preference would be to basically turn in back into a regular old custom cab truck by getting rid of the camper and gutting the interior and throwing bench seats back into it, but if this thing is like a one-of-ten vehicle with historical significance it would make me pause.

Without further ado, here are some photos of it. Let me know if you've ever seen one before and if it's worth saving this way or if I should tear it all out and make the truck I actually want - a base model 4x2 work truck crew cab.

 

Wow! What a truck!

 

That is shagtastic!

I've not seen a crew cab built this way before, but would just build it the way you want it to be.

 

Holy carpet batman! That is just nuts. I'd second the "do what you want to it" statement. That thing is screaming for a cleanup.

 

Yeah, I am going to need to remove everything in order to repair the rust (I'm in PA, the truck was from WV) and putting it back in seems like it would be a step in the wrong direction to me, haha! Maybe I'll try to be gentle in the tear-down in case some camper aficionado out there is drooling over the headliner or something. I'm astounded by the fact that the sunroof didn't seem to have ever leaked and the interior, while gross looking in photos, is actually quite dry and has no foul odors or evidence of water damage. The driver's floor is shot but the whole rest of the cab is really solid.

 

Wow, that thing is almost not worth fixing up. That is really rough. Does it even run?

 

Run my friend, run away fast.

 

That is a legit project truck.

 

There must be a reason it's 1 of 10. Rockwood used to do conversion vans along the same lines. A roll of **** carpet a couple gallons of contact cement and you are in business. You could cover that roof rust and sunroof with a heavily padded vinyl top. It would look right at home.

 

Its funny, Like this truck, I've pulled 2 parts cars out of the hollers of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia over the years. They looked like blood relatives to this truck! And one of them had snakes falling out of it going up the road!

 

Hah I haven't found any snakes yet! I'm interested to see the state of things when I pull all the stuff out of it. Like I said above, there doesn't actually appear to have been water intrusion from the sunroof into the cab. The driver's floor is toast but everything else feels (key word, feels) like solid healthy steel. I've been putting feelers out for more information, including directly contacting Holiday Rambler, so we'll see if anything turns up. Whatever I find out, I'll leave it in here in case anyone else someday finds one of these. And yeah, I do think I'm going to make it what I want. It's just my luck to be hoping for a plain jane (really rare) truck only to end up with some super duper unique machine that I'll feel guilty to pull apart, haha! Hopefully the upfitter didn't do any major hidden modifications or anything that will make it too difficult to turn back to factory.

 

Everything feels solid except the drivers floor?

Maybe it my eyes but it appears the roof is a few rust holes away from becoming a convertible.??

 

That drip rail is toast.

 

Errr yeah... I guess I meant the parts I could stand on. The roof is definitely done for, no questions asked. Cab floor is almost fine except for the aforementioned driver's floor, bed floor is incredibly solid. Inner fenders are great, frame is great, and as of tonight, IT RUNS! It needs major carb work but we got it to idle with very little effort. That makes it worth it to me to at least give it at try to see how far I can get with getting it fixed up. Present need - The lower part of the steering column is absent. Without that it's gonna be a pain to move it around the yard. I also need to seat a tire on the bead and inflate it. With those two things done it should drive in the yard, the transmission also went into gear tonight and it tried to move before it choked out. I know it's rough, but it's mine! I'm gonna have a good time with it no matter what. The weather is nice here lately, and as goofy as it sounds, just sittin' in it and reading a book or something sounds like a good time to me. I've dreamt of having one of these since I've been young, so it's gonna be a fun ride!

 

I love it! That's what I used to say about a girlfriend I was with a long time ago. Good times.

Can't wait to see your progress on that truck. I say convert it into a mean looking 4x4 desert runner.