What a great-looking truck, this is a real one, not a trailer queen. It has a few dings and a couple of pieces of trim missing on the driver’s side, you know, from being a real truck and doing real truck things. The optional “roof clearance lights” are a great look, in my opinion. This 1997 Ford F-350 XLT Crew Cab 4×4 Diesel 5-Speed (h h h h) (panting) is listed here on eBay in one of the greatest cities in America: Austin, Texas. The seller has it listed at $27,900, or you can make an offer.
It appears that the side view mirrors have been moved, or something else was mounted on the two spots visible on both front doors, and here’s the missing trim. For all the dings and other small cosmetic issues, this F350 4×4 diesel is priced well under Hagerty’s #3 good value of $38,200, so there’s a lot of work you can do with that extra nine grand to bring it up to speed, cosmetically. I’d pocket the money to pay for fuel and insurance and drive the wheels off this beauty. Ok, I guess I’d get replacement door and front fender trim pieces, but that’s it.
The ninth-generation Ford F-Series was made from 1992 through 1997 here in the U.S. and, as usual, came in many configurations. It’s always unusual for me to see an older pickup with four doors, even though most of them you see today on the road have four doors. The one-ton F-350 4×4 wasn’t available with a 6.5-foot short bed, so this giant truck is even giant’r with its full-size 8-foot bed. This truck is almost 21 feet long, so check your garage before hitting the buy-it-now button. This one has the optional chrome rear step bumper, a very nice feature.
Even with a few dings, it’s hard to believe this truck has 250,000 miles on it. The seller says it looks and drives like one with half that mileage, and I believe it. The interior shows some wear on the lumbar padding and things, but the big thing is this one is equipped with the standard 5-speed heavy-duty manual transmission. A 4-speed automatic was an option, but it’s nice to see a manual here.
The big, powerful, cool, everyone-wants-one diesel engine looks like a rear seating compartment, mainly because, yes, the seller didn’t bother to take a photo of arguably the most important feature of this truck: the 7.3-liter OHV Power-Stroke V8 International-sourced turbo diesel. Even the name of it is long, I sure wish there were photos of the engine. It had a factory rating of 215 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque (according to a Ford brochure) rolling coal through that 5-speed manual and a transfer case to all four wheels, and this is another one I’d love to own. Any thoughts on this F-350? Is this a good buy or not?
Good write-up Scotty. This generation of F-Series is hard to beat. Good looking, sufficient creature comforts, yet tough and capable. Though this example isn’t perfect, I too would have guessed it has half the miles it has. A decade ago, who would have guessed the prices they fetch today.
Bob this type of package/optioned truck was also known as the Hillbilly 🤠 Deluxe 👢
Make it a dually and you’ve got a “Cowboy Continental.”
One that nice today would cost over 3 times as much and not be a bit better truck
🎯 aj 👍
Beautiful truck, had 2 diesel fords, not Dodge Cummings, love the color, 250k is nothing on these engines, would remove mirrors for ones that swing, had those before always somehow bent the door me hitting someone, or someone clipping me. Worth the price compared to new electric nightmare trucks which they want you to have a tea party inside instead of working.
You have said it. I had a 93 straight 6. Loved that truck. The style is timeless. Workability is un matched. I like to park that BEASTon top of one of those EV want to be trucks.
Well, since i had a 96. This truck is closer to 23+ feet. I could not sqeek by the front or back in my 24ft garage. Haggerty is crazy. This truck rolled out of the show room at close to $38k. My 96 was $34k. The only reason it’s worth anything is because the new ones are ridiculously over priced. Mine burned up 9 months before the recall. And even tho i sent in 2 similar tricks at dealers for sale, like the insurance asked they still screwed me out of 4500$ ! So if you buy this for $28k you better check your insurance value ! Mine was only 8 years old and still looked new at the time. My kids all learned to drive, back up 200 ft of driveway and park the beast too. Before drivers ed.
Wow. I can not believe the mileage on this truck. And a 7.3? You have tons of life left in that. And when I saw the 5 speed????
Lets recap here…..
Crew Cab…. excellent condition inside and out….. 5 speed manual…. 7.3 Powerstroke… and lets not forget 4WD …..If I had money back in ’97 and was ordering one of these. This would be it. Including those beautiful rims Ford had too. Wow.
Very nice truck Scotty thank you for writing this up. I love it.
250k miles and no engine pics? Hmmmmmmmm?
KC , cross batch is stool in the cylinders at that many miles ! Guaranteed
Jerry I believe the kids call that “you got smoked” 🚬 💨 😲
My kid calls.it Rolling coal…. sounds about right.
That 7.3 is a very good engine.. I always liked the look of that series of Ford pickups.. If I was younger I would buy it in a heartbeat..
Yes, a for real 7.3 Powerstroke! They were the beast of the road. Someone was definitely drinking his own bathwater when the decision was made to replace it with that anemic 6.0 Liter. You could chip the 7.3 into the stratosphere and it would just come back for more. But chip a 6.0 and you had an instant meltdown. Actually you hang a gargantuan RV on the back and you had a meltdown, stock.
Enter the 6.4 and your bathwater was served by the 24 pack. I really don’t know what was going on at Navistar but I have my reservations as to whether or not it was actually making engines. Yes, I realize that those EPA Klansmen were calling the shots which killed the beloved Power Stroke as we knew it.
Now the Ford-built 6.7 Power Stroke. It looks like Ford managed to reclaim some of its lost ground. Maybe a trifle behind the 6.7 Cummins but it’s still a contender.
So typical of the western plains. Not at all uncommon to see these pulling stock trailers to the rodeos and take the wife and kids to church on Sunday. That’s why you have REAL-sized parking places in the parking lots, everywhere except WalMart.
Now, this truck. It’s barely broken in. Light it and ride it, and CHANGE your oil regularly! These super high-mileage synthetic oils work just fine but you still have to get them out every 3-5K miles or you’ll plug up the hydraulic passages in the injectors/high pressure oil pump. A lot of truckers found that out the hard way with their Cummins STC systems–load cells in the injectors would plug up and hydraulic-lock. And that will cost you very large dollars. Worked on lots of them back in the day and it will treat you right as long as you give it a little TLC.
I wouldn’t postpone a trip across the country in this truck…
Now THIS, shivers me timbers.
I like the 5-speed security system.
Lol. Great 👍 comment geo
A real security system would be a twin stick 5X4 quadruplex!!