In their hey-day, you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Ford pickup of this vintage. Now it’s a classic! This stunning, mostly-original 1985 Ford F250 HD Super Cab 4×4 XLT Lariat enjoyed a lifetime of garaged slumber interrupted only by 24,100 miles of travel. And look here folks; this F250 features an honest eight-foot bed, a rare feature that lets you load full sheets of plywood or drywall and close the tailgate. Thanks to AMXBrian for spotting this tastefully updated one owner vehicle from Hebron, Maine. The listing here on craigslist seeks an asking price of $18,500.
This “Fordasaurus” may seem like a dinosaur compared to today’s aluminum-bodied Ford trucks with their twin-turbo EcoBoost engines, but my 1985 F250 4×4, with its 302 EFI and trick twin-tubed plenum intake, three-speed manual (four if you count the creeper) proved quick and flexible, pulling any hill in overdrive. One time I pulled at least a ton of lumber up Pittsburgh’s Green Tree Hill in (overdrive) top gear at 65 MPH. In mixed traffic, I got a consistent 14 MPG, and I could hit 20 MPG on the highway.
Nothing shown disputes the low-mileage claims. In addition to air conditioning, this black beauty pampers you with captain’s chairs, power windows and locks, cruise control, and tilt steering wheel. In addition to heavier payloads and towing capacity these three-quarter ton Fords corner better than the softly-sprung F150s thanks to the stiffer suspension. This one “runs and drives well,” according to the seller. Though the transmission is automatic, the transfer case requires manual operation via the floor shifter.
This four-barrel 351W filled the middle-level V8 slot between the 302 and 460. My brother-in-law owned a small fleet of these 351W 4bbl-equipped trucks in the ’80s, and they proved generally trustworthy for a lifetime of daily work. It will take the right buyer to swap nearly $18,500 for this admittedly sweet ride. I bought mine for $2400, drove it six years, and sold it for $2000. I guess those days are over. A 2018 Ford F250 XLT 4WD SuperCab with eight-foot bed starts at about double the price of this one. What would you give for this low-mileage beauty?
It’s a shame Ford didn’t have Turbo diesels back then. Had a 84′ dually same as this truck. non turbo 6.9 diesel with manual trans. What a dog .Never could figure out why Ford wouldn’t put fabric on the rear bench seat. Looks like non factory ac.
I heard a lot of people complain about the lack of turbocharging available. Interesting enough the 6.9 already had spray cooling for the pistons so turbocharging wasn’t a big problem. Of course companies such as BAE and ATS came out with turbo systems that were fairly easy to install and sure did give them some get up and go. We installed a lot of turbo systems in our shop and there are some that are still in service.
Incidentally, that is a factory A-C unit. It’s the same as the one in my ’85 Bronco. It was kind of a let-down from the old Tecumseh compressor they used to run but that mini compressor does the job. It kept my Bronco cool for 300K+ miles and kept right on going…
This is a man’s truck with those warn lockout hubs and manual shift 4 wheel drive, I would love this truck except the “Fordasaurus” bug shield would have to go, never liked those cheap things anyway. Price is a little steep though.
That’s serious dosh for this guy- especially given the non-op A/C and no chassis images provided ( read rust-belt or rust-belt AND coastal ) but I suppose this is meant to be a local ad and prospective buyers can look for themselves.
I’m familiar with that hill you mentioned… my father’s 240d 4speed has a real hard time getting up it.
I don’t see the belt on the ac compressor ? Does anyone else see it ?
It has the “belt delete” factory option… lol Nice truck, but seems like a lot of money to me too. I’d put it in the neighborhood of 11-12K tops.
I just had another look at it, and noticed the belt missing. That’s frustrating, a nice vehicle like this and the A-C needs work. For the money, the vendor should’ve gotten that working. He’s going to have problems selling the truck for what he’s asking if the A-C is on the fritz….
When I see somebody tout the extremely low miles, I don’t expect to see that somebody has been in there and messed with things.
It looks like there are a few belts missing.
Maybe this truck as it is, being a F250 and 4X4, is a little more rare that other trim levels, but they are still a lot of trucks around at accessible prices.
So much length, I was in a parkade and turning radius was so bad. Always a 2 step process on every turn in my dentists building parkade….. Big pain in the a$$.
NRG8 eludes to the biggest downside of this truck. I have a newer model, extended cab with an 8′ box. It’s 6″ too long to fit into the garage, a bear to turn corners and parallel park. But on the same token, when you have to take more than 2 people and a full load in back, it can handle it. Hope the right person finds and uses this one, they are good trucks.
So is this a Lariat, or XLT? I don’t remember the trim levels overlapping, even back then. But maybe the Explorer edition (which I barely remember having existed at all) was special and had both trim badges?
Back then, there was the “XLT”, the next step up was the “XLT Lariat. 1978 was the first year for this. The Explorer package was a special trim option added to the base models.
I remember my (Ford garage) mechanic boasting that his “1978 F250 XLT Lariat” was the best truck ever made. lol True or not, he certainly believed it.
Back in the 70s they “were” the best trucks ever made. Then the government stuck their nose in, and that was the end of it.
There are a couple drive belts missing. AC compressor and smog pump. rom the amount of the rust scale on the pulleys it has been that way for some time. Also, I am from New England originally. I wonder what the framed looks like. Garage kept or not. Now That being said, That is a beautiful truck that has def been pampered!
That’s a darn good price for what you are getting! You won’t get much more than what this is equipped with for under 50,000 today!
There’s so much junk under the hood even the air cleaner is barely visible! Wow.
Outside of that eyesore under the hood this truck is very nice, these were great trucks “built Ford tough”. Always liked the interior of my dad’s ’85 extra cab long bed, hated tryin to park it in close quarters though. Price wise, well, everything is getting expensive these days, especially the brand new ones, it is sick how much new cars and trucks cost these days!
Here’s mine