This Bright Lime box-checker has a lot going for it, with no rust other than normal surface rust underneath, it’s a short bed, it has a 360 V8, and a 4-speed manual. Oh yeah, it’s a 4×4 and also has the cool Explorer package with this special paint and striping. The seller has this 1973 Ford F-100 Custom Short Bed 4×4 listed here on eBay in a no-reserve auction! It’s located in Tacoma, Washington, and the current bid price is just $8,600.

This great-looking 4×4 also has some things going against it. You may have noticed the damage to the grille in the first photo, and you can see a crunch in the spot where the short bed meets the back of the single cab. I don’t know if a paintless dent repair expert could do anything to help that area or not, but it would be a shame to have to paint this original truck. And, the whole front clip seems to dip down a bit, as can be seen in the hood gaps and also the tight gap between the passenger door and right fender. The seller went way above and beyond the call of duty in loading dozens of great photos, including shots under both doors.

The sixth-generation F-Series was made here from 1972 through 1979, and the Explorer package was a fun option that provided one of three bright colors: Burnt Orange, Grabber Blue (yes, like the Maverick), and Bright Lime as seen here. Here’s a photo showing the surface rust underneath, and it looks solid to me. Plus, one showing the almost-like-new bed floor. It doesn’t look like it’s even had a silk-lined bag of cotton balls back there. I believe chrome bed rails were part of the Explorer package, and those aren’t shown here. The wheel covers are a bit different from what’s usually shown on brochures for an Explorer package F-100.

Sadly, the special Explorer interior fabric in Avocado for the Bright Lime Explorer pickup is long gone. In its place is gray velour. That would be ripped out in the first week under my ownership of this cool truck. SMS Auto Fabrics has samples of the correct fabric. Whether they can supply enough for the entire seat is not known. The big thing here is the 4-speed manual transmission. On a fun little truck like this, or really any truck, make mine a manual every time. The steering wheel has seen better days. I’m not sure what happened there, but I’ve heard that the Tacoma area is home to Bigfoot, so maybe…

The engine is Ford’s middle choice, above the base 302 and below the 390. This is the 360-cu.in. OHV V8 with around 145 horsepower, and it’s sent through a transfer case and a 4-speed manual to all four wheels as needed. I’m assuming the factory air-conditioning works, but we don’t know for sure. The seller says this is a two-owner truck and does what it’s supposed to do well. Hagerty is at $14,600 for a #4 fair-condition truck, how much will this one sell for?