The seller of this slick 1993 Ford F-150 Flareside is selling it due to his son not keeping his grades up. What a shame, since this looks like an awesome truck. The Ford sports the desirable combination of the unkillable inline-six and the 5-speed manual gearbox, along with the Flareside bed. The modifications may not be to your liking, but they’re also perfect if you dig 1990s style. On the upside, they’re all easily removable if you don’t like them. Check out the F-150 here on craigslist with an asking price of $10,500 and located in typically dry Aurora, Colorado.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Mike F. for the find. This F-150 has another surprise that makes me love it even more; you’ll see why in a moment. In the meantime, this Ford looks sharp with gray paint and sitting on a set of wheels with absolutely perfect offset for that flared bodywork. The stance may not be to everyone’s liking, but if you dig the 1990s truck scene, this is absolutely what it should look like (and thank goodness they’re not chrome!) The bodywork looks as good as it does because it was recently painted, and while the seller does acknowledge some flaws, a 10-footer is fine with me on a truck like this.
Here’s the other Easter egg: check out that interior! Absolutely fantastic color that I believe is referred to as Canyon Red (I could be wrong – Ford fans, don’t crucify me.) Regardless, the unrestored state of the cabin suggests this F-150 was loved before it went to the seller’s son, and while the dash may be cracked under that cover, the cleanliness of the seats and door panels more than make up for it. The manual transmission is a major win for the next owner, as they’ll be able to make the inline-six feel a bit more sporting while enjoying the legendary reliability that engine is known to deliver. With 180,000 miles on the clock, it’s just been broken in.
The massive 4.9L inline-six was good for 145 horsepower when new along with a stump-pulling 265 lb.-ft. of torque. Known for being content to simply received the occasional fluid change and belt replacement, the I6 engine won’t win any races but it will prove cheap and cheerful for years to come. In many ways, this is a killer first ride for a 16-year-old, as it looks the business but it isn’t so fast that mom and dad have to fret about speeding tickets. Perhaps it was saved from an unpleasant future at the hands of a kid; either way, it looks like a great ride for someone regardless of age.
Good news for the son; he’s likely to bring his grades up and get his truck back before Dad sells it for the asking price.
That’s heartless, and probably not as effective as parking it outside his bedroom window and telling him he can drive it when his grades improve. Then again, perhaps they already tried that.
Tough love! At 16, I bought my first car, a ’70 Nova off a dealers used car lot. Right after we brought it home, I was so psyched, so I ran up to my room to get my camera. Meanwhile, my dad put a for sale sign on it, and parked it in the yard. We lived on a fairly busy state route. Within minutes, a guy pulls in the drive, and wants to buy it. Meanwhile, I unearthed my camera, and come out the back door. The hilarity for my dad soon began, as I stood there dumbfounded, and stammered that the car isn’t for sale, while the guy upped his offer! Looking back? I should have taken the guys offer. He was willing to pay more than I’d paid. But at 16, with my then dream car? There was no way he was leaving with my car!
A basic truck, at its core. But being a Flareside, and with a 5-speed, that’s old-school-cool. Add the wheel and tire package and the other trim items (I’m not a fan of all of them, but I get the point), and it turned into a pretty neat sport truck. The 300 six means it will run forever. Looks good.
Nice truck. That six and manual transmission would suit me just fine although I’ve got enough old vehicles to keep my wife and I on the road for a long time.
Give a kid a truck then have to take it away. Sometimes I think that some parents need to be slapped up alongside the head–with a shovel! There was a well-to-do farmer in my region, gave his teenaged brat a NEW Short Box 4×4 for his 16th birthday. And it gets worse; an unlimited gas card at the Co-op.
Well, the kid was going through gas like it was going out of style. Not only that, he was filling up his “friends” as well. A few months of this and the father lowered the boom; the gas card was taken away.
Funny thing, it might have put a stop to the boy’s “friends” but it didn’t seem to slow the kid down at all. He was running the wheels off his truck.
One Sunday morning the truck wasn’t in its usual parking stall beside the house. The father got up and could see the truck way down the road near the neighbors’ place. When the kid rolled out of bed around 12:30-1:00 in the afternoon, the dad quizzed him.
“I dunno,” the useless waste of humanity shrugged, “it just quit.”
The father grabbed the kid and they took the regular farm truck over to the abandoned unit and it wasn’t long before they found out what caused the breakdown.
The kid’s tank was filled to the top with diesel fuel. Apparently when the kid got his “free” gas card taken away, he started stealing gas from the neighbor, who had foolishly moved to town. He still kept his farm (dyed) gas at the farm because there weren’t any problems (until recently).
The neighbor noticed his bulk tanks “evaporating” at a faster rate than usual so he had the bulk agent come around and pump out the tanks, refilling them with diesel fuel. The kid found that out the hard way. And let’s just say that the kid learned the true definition of HARD WORK…
It is a really sharp truck, but nice try, pops, with your “woodshed” attitude, that will only distance the kid from the old man. Ask me how I know. I’ll admit, raising kids is tough, ESPECIALLY today, but this “or else” mindset doesn’t fly, and not only will the kid resent the old man by not improving the grades, they will find something else to do, often much worse than mere poor grades.
I never struck my kids, or brow beat them like my old man did to us, anything they wanted, within reason, I tried to be supportive. I’ve found being a friend to your kid goes a lot farther than being a jerk, again, ask me how I know.
The poor 300 in line, look what they did to you. The F.I. was a big improvement, but had its flaws. A friend had a 150 like this, 300, F.I., he pulls out to pass a slower car, puts the signal on, and the engine misfired everytime the signal flashed. I said, what the heck is that? He said a short somewhere in the F.I.
Bottom line, give the kid the truck, don’t make them ask mom,,,
Grandpa 👴 used to say… “there’s no mistakes, if there’s a lesson learned”
Hi Stan, I think most of us are a result of dysfunctional families, in fact, we never even heard of the term. My old man ( and his old man) practiced what was called “negative reinforcement”, meaning, he’d say, “you’re nothing but a screw up, or you’ll never amount to anything”, in the hopes you would say, “oh yeah, I’ll show you”,and when you did succeed, they felt validated by that. We learned that wasn’t the best course of action.
I guess I was lucky; my Dad always set an example and tried to show us how it was done. Of course he was disappointed that I took to driving and mechanics instead of ranching and veterinary medicine. However, I developed a lot of skills that touched on all aspects of life. I was lucky…
FWIW, I respect the father’s decision and parenting style–soft parenting isn’t the right path forever.
My grandfather gave my mother this advice about raising us kids, “Better that they cry now, rather than you cry later!” Kids need to learn about consequences! And a parent needs to follow through and not cave in.
With this I say, “I’m neither blessed nor cursed with children.”
My Dad sold an identical 1996 EFI 300 six/5 speed with Eddie Bauer trim under my nose. The EFI 300 six is a vast MPG improvement over the older 300s. The 5 speed was still getting 20plus MPG. I lost an amazing truck…this should go for decent $$$. New $60-80k trucks are garbage.
I could have what I wanted when I was a kid as long as I worked for it and paid for it. I kept my grades up when I was in school because it kept my insurance premiums down which I paid for. Giving your kids everything doesn’t help them later in life. My dad was what today’s society would call a hard nose or even go as far as calling him a bad parent but what he taught me was that if you want something work for it!
I sure miss him.
My Dad was the same way Kek. He taught me you want something work for it and nothing is ever handed to you. I am forever thankful for the lessons he taught and i am lucky to still having him around he will be 95 latter this year.
When I was an instructor, teaching evening courses in journeyman upgrading, at the local college, I was conversing with a student over coffee. He had two boys and told them both to get to work and save their money. “When you have half the money for the truck, plus full insurance and registration, I’ll go half on the truck,” the dad promised.
The older boy was a lost cause who thought the world owed him a living. However, the younger one was always busy delivering papers, fliers, mowing grass and shoveling snow. When he was just turning 17 he came up to his dad and told him that he was ready.
“Sure,” the proud father beamed. “How much is the truck?”
“$16K, I ordered it from the dealer.”
The dad almost suffered his third heart attack.
This was quite a few years ago, mind you.
Anyways, the dad had to go to the bank and borrow some money to come up with his half of the truck!
Moral of story: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PROMISE…
My late, dear, twice-divorced, then widowed Mom was a free-spirited hippie-like ma. She had the 60’s “Make Love Not War” poster over her bed. I was a dysfunctional mess as a kid. In high school, I had a ’67 Stang 390 GTA, a ’70 Nova SS350, and then a ’70 429 Cobra Jet Torino, all to the dismay of local law enforcement. I dropped out & joined the Navy after I quit my 2 jobs! As a kid you will never appreciate what you got unless you earn it!
Thank you for your service to our great nation.
Takes me back to 1972, my Senior year of high school. Both of my parents were teachers, and I was actually in my Dad’s American Government, Economics classes. My grades fell below his (their) expectations, and rightfully so since I was spending more time socializing and not enough in the books. He took this path, to a degree. He decided to make my 69 L78 SS for six weeks to see if I would get my grades up. He drove it, I rode it…to school everyday. Needles to say, my grades went back up. I do respect this Dad’s decision. Tough love is needed with today’s kids, just like the past.
Had a 1970 Pontiac GTO goat
Ended up having that taken away from me because the police were calling the house too much.
If there was a tire mark about 100 ft. Long towards the high school I usually got blamed for it.
Ended up having to sell it and ended up with a 1958 Plymouth belvedere.
That was a complete chick magnet which came with other issues.
Gee whiz I missed both cars.
I have seen this truck at that very shopping center only 3 mies from our home. GOOD sell and let him get a brain to live on. FYI That area of Aurora is full of very dangerous illegals
cool truck but the stick and the wheels kill it for me
Too bad kid, you’re spoiled if they bought this for you, and you hopefully learned a lesson. My parents were hard, and I have succeeded because of it. When you earn something yourself you appreciate it. My neighbors have 2 young sons, great kids at 5 and 7. But spoiled, electric bikes, toys constantly, and they are not made to do chores. And they’re changing, heard the youngest call his mom fat this week, and she did nothing! Not a recipe for success, add no church attendance and his future may be rough.
My parents did offer to buy me a car once, a Pacer of all things, if I made the honor role. Being a C student they weren’t serious, when they saw me trying hard they reneged! Another valuable lesson.
I am sure the kid will remember this for a long time and when 18 will possibly hit the road and never look back. Every parent has their own style of parenting but I am not sure ticking off the kid for life is one of them. I would have put the car in the garage until the grades improved and worked with him personally to get the grades or hired a tutor should the classes be over the parents head. Not all kids are meant to go to college and there is nothing wrong with finding a good trade school or even joining the military while deciding what they want to be in life.
I personally was one of those kids on the fence whether to go to college, military or continue the one year of trade school for auto mechanics taken my junior year in high school. I went the path to college with information technology and analytics obtaining a MBA with a concentration in technology later after settling into the working world and thrived in the profession.
The truck looks nice but wouldn’t buy it due to the circumstances.