Amazing Survivor: 1977 Ford F-150 Ranger XLT 4×4

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Sometimes a vehicle comes along.. wait, who am I kidding, I want almost every one of the vehicles shown here, this one in particular! The machine has yet to be invented that can measure my desire for this 1977 Ford F-150 Ranger XLT 4×4 pickup. It’s listed on eBay with a current bid price of just over $10,600 and there is no reserve. Why I didn’t buy this instead of a certain 1966 Lincoln I’ll never know. This gorgeous truck is located in equally-gorgeous Spokane, Washington. A sneaky Barn Finds reader sent in this submission without giving a name, so thank you to whomever that was!

This truck has 99% of what I would ever want in a full-sized pickup. I haven’t seen too many silver vehicles from this era, especially trucks. Now you can’t swing.. anything.. without hitting a silver vehicle. The seller says that the “body is very straight on this truck with no dents or dings she is straight as an arrow the truck has no rust”. This thing is drop-dead perfect in my opinion. Everything from the smallish-but-perfect wheels, the full-sized wheel covers, the locking front hubs, the nice topper, the bull bar in front, etc. With 113,000 miles (2,756 average per year since 1977) this truck is barely broken in.

They say that it’s “mostly all original and in immaculate condition” and it sure looks like it is. Can that paint be original? If you check out the photos, and I hope that you will, it looks as close to being perfect as any 1977 vehicle that I have ever seen, including new ones in 1977! The photo of the inside of the box/bed shows what I would imagine that most 1977 pickups would look like all over, not just in the working portion of a truck. I mentioned the “small” (i.e., normal) sized wheels and the seller says that this “truck was always garage kept and never hot rodded Never Off roading and was always babied”. I hope that the next owner doesn’t instantly put on gigantic monster truck wheels which is usually what happens. I love the innocent look of this truck with the current wheels and I’m sure that it gets better MPG and has a much quieter ride than droning monster treads would.

This photo shows a couple of the only real flaws that I can see in or on this F150: the seam separations on the driver’s side of the seat and a missing clutch pedal pad. Wait, clutch pedal?! Yes, this truck has a 4-speed manual, just to taunt me even more (shaking fist at the tax collector, having just mailed a ’77-F-150-sized check to the IRS). The passenger side of the seat is perfect, hopefully a good upholstery shop can somehow string the driver’s side together again.

This is where the 1% of my 99% perfect statement comes into play. This truck, being an XLT Ranger, has power steering and brakes and other XLT/Ranger goodies, but there doesn’t appear to be AC in this truck. It gets hot in Spokane but I don’t know if it gets as humid as it does in other areas of the country. Certainly this truck couldn’t have been driven in the snow too often with no rust? The engine is a rebuilt 351 V8, Ford’s 351M. This is the perfect engine for this truck in my opinion but AC would be a welcome addition since the engine can more than handle it and this truck should only be driven in the summer, never, ever on salty winter roads. Any thoughts on this sweet ’77 silver survivor?

Comments

  1. KSwheatfarmer

    Good looking Ford at first glance. Hub caps belong on a 66 Galaxie, easily fixed. Seat could most likely be brought back also. Engine bay a bit of a disappointment considering how nice the body looks.After market horn? other bits and pieces need some attention. I have a thing about totally stock under the hood.This truck deserves that level of attention.

    Like 8
    • Blueprint

      We see these wheel covers on stock Broncos from that era, and I recall seeing them on higher trim trucks too.

      Like 10
      • The Walrus

        Absolutely correct for a 77 truck.

        Like 10
      • geomechs geomechsMember

        My ’75 Ford 4×4 came from the factory with the same wheel covers. I saw the odd one on the lot with the same configuration. Almost immediately after I bought my truck I changed the wheels and tires, opting to go with the crowd and installing 8-spoke white wheels with 10R X 15 off-road tires.

        Like 3
  2. John T.

    Nice Truck, SOLD for $11,250! From what I can see it looks like the Buyer got a great deal.

    Like 4
  3. CanuckCarGuy

    Beautiful truck, the cap works very well on it and I’m really loving those whitewalls… looking for a set myself for my ’71. Wheel covers also look like they could be from a bumpside.

    Like 3
  4. BoatmanMember

    If I’m not mistaken, that molding goes with a two-tone paint job. Anyone?

    Like 3
    • Michael D

      The moldings were definitely used with the two-tone paint, but I’m certain I’ve seen them used on single color trucks as well. (THAT IS, providing such trucks hadn’t been converted from two-tone to a single color at some point. I will hold that out as a remote possibility.) A quick look at the 1977 dealer brochure does NOT depict any single-color trucks with the lower chrome trim, for whatever that is worth. Attached is a photo of two full wheel covers that were offered; there could have been more choices, but they aren’t mentioned or shown.

      Like 4
  5. glen

    Postings today are selling, or being deleted, quickly.

    Like 3
    • theGasHole

      people are getting their tax returns right about now ;)

      Like 1
  6. LAWRENCE

    Guy close to me has a like 1969 4X4 with a topper in original condition….lots of guys waiting to see the fer sale sign go on it ……..

    Like 2
  7. Rob John

    I would give my eye teeth for this truck. I would proudly daily this rig. Spoklahoma does get hot, but it is a dry heat. Just crack the wings, roll down a window and open the slider. A/C like I grew up with.

    Like 6
  8. Mike

    Needs bigger tires.

    Like 5
    • Steve

      Yep. Nothing audacious, maybe some factory alloys off a later model ford and some all terrain tires. I never got why anyone would buy a 4×4 and run street tires… my dad recently picked up 44k mile 4×4 85 gmc jimmy and it has street tires and rallys. Tires are rotted and i came across a set of factory alloys that will be going on with a set of all terrain 31×10.50×15’s. Photos of truck to follow soon. Probably gonna do a little work and flip it.

      Like 2
  9. Canadian Mark S.eh!

    My 86 year old dad has a 1992 dodge 3/4 ton 4×4 Cumins diesel, with 5 speed manual transmission. It has a two tone dark chocolate brown and gold paint job with matching topper that looks this good and is all original. It has under 300000 kilomeatres on it and is garage kept. In the last few years it has only been on the road a few times. I hope that it will be mine some day but people are constantly wanting him to sell it. This Ford is a time capsule and should be repaired as required an then preserved.

    Like 3
  10. Shawn Fox Firth

    when I started driving accident chase tow trucks back in ’90 I had one of these with an inline 6 manual shift single wheel no air no nothing with an old sling that I put new white rubber on that we found at the scrap yard it was food service conveyor material , we had the shop prep it for black paint man she looked good with all the chains chromed . .that straight 6 stick easily out ran new Z-71’s and it was an old worn truck ..I made a lot of money with that truck the paint job was worth more than we paid for the truck itself the chrome was free as my girl’s dad ran a commercial chrome shop I should have married her .

    Like 4
    • Steve

      Can i get a period up in this b%*~h?😬

      Like 3
      • Steve

        Oh wait.. there are four.. LOL

        Like 4
  11. cidevco

    The molding question that Boatman brought up is correct. This truck before the respray was probably two tone and the insert color was probably black.

    Like 1
  12. geomechs geomechsMember

    I ordered a new ’75 Ranger XLT 4×4. I got almost everything that was available including the deluxe camper shell. It was very close to this one for equipment. Kind of a controversial situation. I worked for a John Deere dealership that was negotiating with GM for a franchise since the fall of ’72. The boss would have a meeting then lose his temper and tell everyone to kiss his backside and the deal would be off. In the fall of ’74 I finally got fed up, and thinking that the GM franchise would never materialize, I ordered my new Ford. New 4×4 trucks were extremely high in demand so I knew that I would be waiting up to six months for a new truck, which was just fine. On March 13th, 1975, I got a call from the Ford garage telling me that my new beast was in. I quickly got organized and picked it up. The boss was off at another meeting with GM and he came back beaming; he’d just signed papers with GM and we were now an official Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealer. The boss wasn’t too impressed to see that new orange and white Ford 4×4 in the employees’ parking area. He immediately ordered me to sell it and get a GMC, but it was a new truck and I stood to lose far too much. That fall, when the ’76 models came out, the boss told me to go out to the lot and pick out a new (moderately equipped) pickup; I was going to be driving a demonstrator from now on. I was the service manager and it was good business to drive a demo. But the main reason was that I wouldn’t darken the premises with a damned Ford. Well, he shouldn’t have complained a whole lot because in ’78 I bought a new Pontiac Grand Am and in ’79 I sold the Ford and bought a new GMC 4×4. I have to add that although the GMC (which I still have) is one of the best trucks I’ve ever owned, I still miss the Ford. The guy I sold it to still has it….

    Like 7
  13. PatrickM

    Monday, sold, $11,250.00.

    Like 2
  14. Matt

    It’s nice but $11,250.. prices are getting a little out of hand I saw a 79 Jeep SJ the other day for $25,000 that should have been$5,000… But when new pickup trucks cost $100,000 with all the bells and whistles I guess 11,000 looks like a bargain

    Like 4
    • Fiete T.

      Bought a ’95 SB/standard cab truck from it’s original owner last year. 4WD, HD suspension (Ram 1500), AC, 118K on it…but trashed silver “Wash-away” paint. Put in a good head unit, service everything, new tires, redid the seat, and now getting ready to do a tu-tone paint job. Told a neighbor $7k done, he was like “Cool.”

      Like 0
  15. Matt

    It be nice if salaries went up like car prices

    Like 10
    • theGasHole

      Matt that’s the crux of it right there: while $11k+ seems a lot initially for an “old truck” when you compare that to what you’re shelling out for a new truck, with 50 million gadgets that you won’t understand or use, it starts to seem like a bargain. Plus, trucks of this era are still relatively easy to work on, no so with anything modern. Granted, gas mileage isn’t good at all in these older rigs, but the coin you save buying the older truck will allow you to buy all the gas you need until your last day and still come out ahead.

      Like 6
  16. HIDE BEHIND

    Monetary restraints kept me practicle , that and my soulmate, and out of almost every new car markets, and hobbie$ into old autos that she and I liked,so that today when I see these blast from past I once bought used and then used for years I want them all back.
    THE price differential between used beat
    to hell with miles to match to hell and back multiple times mileage, makes me wonder why even look at 5-7 year old when trucks like this beat them all ways to Sunday.
    While gas today is costly I no longer drive as much as 200 miles a day just to work as in past, and payments on newer used beaters being higher monthly plus interest, I could drive at 10 miles to gallon every day and save money enough to still buy one last faster than illegal oldie that my soul mate used to blaze our love of life together in.
    Then she liked old PU just as I did.
    THIS AT EVEN 15k! IS A BARGAIN.

    Like 1
  17. Steve Cota

    First brand new vehicle I ever owned, was a 77 F-150 just like this one except mine came with the 300 six engine. It cost $7,200. The seat material was called “Knitted Vinal” awful stuff, it was split at the seams just like this one within the first year. Ford had a terrible time with the silver paint at that time too. Many of the silver rigs had to be repainted under warranty. I didn’t realize that mine would have been eligible for a repaint until after the warranty had expired. They were awful rust bucket’s too, if you drove them on salted roads they just rotted away, got 15 miles to the gallon city or highway, couldn’t kill it.
    God I’d love to find another one

    Like 1
  18. Don

    Nice P/U- 11,500 sounds OK- the only question I’d have is why do the motor with only 110k??

    Like 0
  19. chrlsful

    hub caps, paint…some 1 has updated my favorite looking p/u truck of all times the ’73 – ’79 Ford F series’n 1st ‘big’ bronco (2 yr only ’78/9).

    If U include the “High Boy” (F250 4X) it also includes the last of those (1977).

    Like 0
  20. Jett

    I grew up in a household with a brown-over-white ‘77 F-150 Super cab which my Dad traded in for a new white-over-brown ‘84 F-150 Explorer regular cab (sans the white Explorer graphics). I love old American iron of all sorts, but due to those two trucks, I’ll always have a huge soft spot for old Ford pickups. In a perfect world, I’d have a ‘67-79 and an ‘80-83 F-100 shortbed Step side. Aaaaah…memories.

    Like 0
  21. Gary

    Well, just to let you all know. This little time capsule just became mine as of Sept 7 2018. It is on its way to Ontario Canada where it will get tidied up a little and left as original as I can make it. I will order up a marti report to clarify exactly how it left the Factory. Next time anyone sees it , it will be as delivered.

    Like 0

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