There’s rarely a vehicle that tells you so much about what consumers wanted in a work truck than this stick-shift 1984 Ford E150 van. In an era where the manual transmission is quickly disappearing from even the most basic of economy cars, this survivor-grade van reminds us that at one time, even the plumber wanted to shift his own gears. Find this impressive example here on eBay, listed by Cherokee Auto Group, which seemingly has a knack for finding obscure gems like this one.
There it is – an actual 4-speed manual in a vehicle whose modern equivalent would most certainly be equipped with an automatic (heck, it might even have paddle shifters). This E150 belonged to a ranch in Nevada all of its life before making its way to Cherokee’s headquarters in Georgia. The combo of cream paint over a cardinal interior only adds to the intriguing features this van has, especially since most buyers of utilitarian work vans like these didn’t sweat the options list.
A single, if not slightly arbitrary, rear bench is all that sits behind the driver. The relatively unscathed paint (there are a few scratches, sure) in a storage area unprotected by carpet is truly impressive. As far as being a ranch vehicle, it seems it was used for transporting hay, or sheep wool, rather than lugging tools and fence posts from one end of the property to another. The van is equipped with a smooth-running 4.9L inline-six, and not much info is provided on maintenance history other than a recent oil change and fresh battery performed by the selling dealer.
The exterior is said to wear a high-quality repaint, and while the chrome wheels aren’t original, they aren’t offensive, either. As the dealer notes, this unusually-spec’d van was primarily an errand runner for the ranch, so it may be safe to assume its usage was minimally taxing, which would hopefully mean it has many miles of gentle use left to give. Mileage is safely under 100K and the seller is asking $7,890 with the option to submit a best offer.
This thing is very cool. It’s also been for sale for a long time.
Ford stuck that awful looking steering wheel on everything they made!
A little work would make this into a classic shaggin wagon! Thumbs up for a nice survivor, thumbs down on price.
My mouth dropped to the floor when I clicked on the Ebay page. $7,890.00 for a stripped down work van. There are no words.
Yeah cool van……but that price is insane
I agree with everyone that the almost $8k price is crazy, but it does have a best offer option. The high price will allow for a bidding war if 2 people wanted it bad enough for its uniqueness.
I’d make a firm offer of $5k and see what happens
I admit its a smidge over priced,but curious combo of frag proof I-6 and 4spd manual
would be worth looking into……..of course thats just my $.02
Again, unusual to see one like this. Work vans were generally neglected and beat to heck. The 300 in line 6, is one of the best motors made. They are literally unstoppable ( except for the distributor gear roll pin that shears and progress stops) The 4 speed is actually a 3 speed with an O/D.( see shift knob) It was the only way to get any kind of decent gas mileage out of these vehicles ( which was still only in the low teens) Working on these, while rare, was still a pain.( As you can see, not much room under the hood, requiring the removal of the “dog house”, or from the bottom) Pretty nice van, try and find something like this new for this price. I like it a lot, and I’m not a van guy.
My dads 83 bronco with 300 and 4 speed got 22 highway. He use to drive it to Florida from mass
Hi Josh, It did make big difference how it was spec’d out. I had 1980 full size Bronco, 300, carb model, non-O/D automatic, and it got horrendous mileage. Maybe 10, and with the 4×4 engaged, single digits. Fuel injection and O/D transmissions helped a lot. Early fuel injection was not without it’s problems, though. I had a friend with a F150 pickup this vintage, 300, FI, and he pulls out to pass a car, puts the left signal on, and everytime the flasher flashed, the motor would cut out. I LMAO.
Actually most vans get about the same mileage or close regardless of how they are powered. It’s mostly a matter of aerodynamics. Moving a brick through the air is still moving a brick.
I like the Ford 300/stick combo in F150 form. Thanks for the heads up on the roll pin. On another note, keyword shorty or cargo in your area and you can find some great vans out there.
I daily drive the identical van. 300/6 and 4 speed manual od. Great van! Just got close to 19mpg on the cheapest low grade unleaded I can find. And with the exception of the clutch master cylinder design, it’s very easy to work on. And that engine pulls! It’s like a smooth tractor.
I saw a very similar one for sale in Berryville, VA last August. I was pretty shocked when I looked inside and saw the 4-on-the-floor. I think the guy wanted about $4K for that one, which is more reasonable.
Wonder if this is the same van.
Ford makes some of the toughest work trucks around and yes this one is over priced but compared to what the big three offer today along with the cost for a work vehicle it’s not that bad.
Just another example (to me) of why rare doesn’t necessarily mean valuable.
This is a novelty in itself. I’ve seen a lot of vans over the years and this is the first six cylinder/manual transmission in this style for me. As I look at it I can’t help but wonder what I could use it for. I like it. Now, as far the price goes, yeah, it seems a little steep but if all you have to do is light it and ride it, what’s the difference if you paid $4G and then had to rebuild the motor and brakes before you could use it? It doesn’t take long before the cost is up there anyways. I would take something like this over one of those custom carpeted, black-lit, shag-dens with built-in stereos and blowup dolls…..
A friend’s dad bought a couple just like this to try out in his plumbing business. He was hoping for fuel savings. They didn’t end up working out as good as he thought. Being half tons they were always overloaded. As someone already commented these are not a typical truck 4 speed with a granny first gear. They are a 3 speed with overdrive. With any kind of load on a hill it took major clutch slippage it get it moving. These would probably work okay as a light duty delivery van but definitely not designed or intended for heavy duty use.
Had a 1982 Dodge Ram B250 passenger van with a 4 speed floor shift.
My dad had a 1978 Ford work van with the same setup. He bought it to convert into a passenger van during the 70s conversion van craze. It came out really nice.
I drive a modern Ford work van (2012 Ford Transit Connect), and although it doesn’t have paddle shifters it does have +/- shifting buttons on the side of the shifter knob. You can use them to drive the van in faux-manual mode this way in it’s designated S drive mode. It still shifts for you at lower revs, later than it does in standard Drive mode, but when you put your foot down you are given pretty much full control over the gear box. I find it mostly useful for merging onto highways (I-270 and 495) and for when I’m in a hurry!
European Transit Connects still have manual transmission options, but in the states this 6spd automatic is all we can get.
Had one of my birddogs go look at this van for me.
In person this van looks Nothing like it does in the pictures.
It sure looks like the interior sheetmetal is a different color — like the van was originally a lighter color before the repaint. Door jambs, etc, still appear the original color. With a quickie research it looks like there were 2 different Desert Tan colors available this year — maybe looks like it was repainted the darker of the two. This is about 15 miles north of me if someone is interested but it sounds like Vintageracer has already scoped it out. BTW — no a/c, 5 digit odometer, upper tie bar a different color, and lots of new wear parts inside (seats, floor mats, etc.) might make someone a little cautious.
That “rear bench” looks suspiciously like it’s from a school bus or similar transit vehicle and isn’t likely original to this ride.
Ford did have a rear bench option for its cargo vans, they priced it pretty high to discourage people from ordering it from what I recall, it slowed down the line because they had to add rear seat belt brackets to the cargo van, but such a thing did exist.
We actually went to see this beauty in person and it was just as described drove smooth and as shown in photos….there are no new interior flooring’s or all new seats it looked org so not sure what you folks are looking at? It has been repainted as seller stated and looks like decent job the door jambs are org paint and its a close enough match. I mean its not going to be judged at “World of Wheels” so its good enough boyz…We really wanted it buy but only had 6200 cash on us and could not make it happen so they showed us another RV pkg Ford van and we bought it instead.
SOLD! Thanks Barn Finds!
I have a 1978 van with a floor shifter. It may not be a true 4 speed but a 3 speed with overdrive. Had issues with it jumping out of second gear from day 1 until I put in a true 4 speed.