Talk about a grandpa special! This 1986 Ford F-250 sports some period modifications that seem to be lifted right off the pages of an accessories catalog in 1986, and undoubtedly viewed as totally appropriate by members of a certain age demographic. The Ford, of course, is desirable with or without accessories because it simply remains in good shape and is said to run out decent enough. But it’s the whole story, right down to the conversion to an automatic when the elderly owner could no longer operate a clutch, that tells you how much the older fella loved it. Find this F-250 here on eBay with an opening bid of $5,000 and no action yet.
Fender skirts! Lordy, I thought those were only made for DeSotos and Cadillacs with fins. This is an interesting look, but it clearly speaks to a generation that didn’t want to lose the styling trends of their youth. If you had to trade in the Caddy for a workhorse Ford, no problem! Your local custom shop will give you that taste of yesteryear with fender skirts for your F-Series pickup. I like that the seller left these in place, as it would be shame to remove them and further erase the history of its long-time owner. The blue paint is good, not great, but it presents well from a few feet away.
You can see the hole where the shifter used to reside. As the seller tells it, this F-250 was parked for a while by the same owner, and then put back into use, before an unexpected break-down caused it to be parked for an extended period of time. Once this happened, the older owner didn’t go back to the Ford, and it ended up in the seller’s hands. He discovered all three fuel pumps were dead, and there was old gas in the tank, leading to the no-start condition. In terms of the transmission retrofit, he notes that the work was done to a decent standard, and that “….is a plug and play factory transmission controller under the dash and it shifts great.” The interior is in tidy condition as well.
To get it running again, the seller replaced “…the fuel pump in the front tank, the switching valve, filter and the rail pressure pump.” He didn’t touch the other pumps and it sounds like the rear tank has been bypassed. His recommendation is to replace both gas tanks and the rear pump, which makes sense. Replacing and/or cleaning tanks is a messy job, so I can understand why he didn’t do it if his plans were to flip the truck. The 5.0L V8 is a trusted engine, and while this one isn’t as desirable as a diesel-powered rig, it will outwork most anything on the road. If it were mine, I’d leave the fender skirts and the bed cap, and put back the air horns the seller removed. What do you think of the previous owner’s style?
Fender skirts on a pickup? – NEVER!
I had one of those Leonard hard bed covers,& it was
almost totally useless,as only the opening was on the
back third of it,which meant that you had to climb up under
the front of it if you used that part of the bed.
The upside was that when I finally took it off,the
bed was in great shape,& I even waxed it after I saw how
good it looked.Not too bad for a 31 year old truck.
This seems to be a nice truck,once you pull all that
JC Whitney-type stuff off of it.
Here’s a picture of my truck bed.
That truck bed fresh as a daisy anglia. 👍
Hmmm, can no longer operate a clutch, they say? See? I was taught not to gloat,,,but see? I’ll admit, the skirts will be the elephant in the room, what’s next, a continental kit? :) It’s okay, gramps did his thing, and easily removed, good for him. The cover does look like a clunky affair, but any cover is a good cover, and the neglected fuel system will be an issue. Those #*%@X fuel pumps. While there’s no question fuel injection is superior, give me a manual pump and a carburetor any day. And you get what you pay for, as usual. I replaced a fuel pump in my Sonoma( just cut a hole in the box floor) got the cheapie pump, 1 year warranty, IN THE 13TH MONTH, it failed again.
Nice truck, and I’d make both tanks operational, these love gasoline.
I remember seeing a few pickups of this styling in my younger years. Was usually driven by some guy my age now. Yeah they made skirts for most anything back then. As far as the topper have a fiberglass unit on my 03 F150 Lightning and it is far superior than the vinyl tarp that came with the truck. Yeah I have some scratches in the bed, but it is a truck, geeze. Shame the stick is gone, but it is done. Agreed these trucks 5.0 injection engines can be thirsty. This was Pop’s pride and joy!
Do dad’s just don’t do.
So the old fella couldn’t work the clutch or did the firewall blowout at the master cylinder and the clutch didn’t work?
If this was the factory manual transmission I would be bidding but now I’m not sure its worth the cost to buy it then get it home to continue the work with a 5 digit odometer because you are left trusting their word its NOT rolled over
Nope, too urban for my taste.