Andrew showed us a nice, no, an almost-perfect, 1978 Ford Bronco a few days ago and if a person were a serious post-powerball-winning Ford truck collector, surely this 1978 Ford F-150 would be on the list, too. This isn’t any ol’ 1978 Ford F-150 as you’ll see in a minute. It’s listed on eBay in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with an unmet opening bid of $5,000, and even at that the reserve won’t be met. You can see that this truck is worth much more than $5,000 by this opening photo.
I’m personally not a huge fan of jacked-up pickups, in general, but I really like the look of this short box, or short bed, stepside at its current.. altitude. This is a sixth-generation Ford F-Series truck and it’s about as nice of an example as you’ll ever find. Not to mention that it’s one custom pickup.
I know that we’ve gone through this before, but I really like a stepside pickup. I got schooled with a king-sized ruler on the knuckles a while ago for even suggesting that stepside trucks were inherently more valuable and desirable than fleet side pickups were. Ouch, lesson learned, so I’m not going to say anything about them being better or worse, I just like them better. Nobody can call anyone wrong for liking what a person likes, I hope? Or, at least they shouldn’t, that would be ridiculous.
And, this isn’t any ol’ short bed stepside as you can see, it’s a custom dump bed! Or, as we grew up saying, box, not bed. But, either way, it dumps. I can’t imagine anyone hauling anything that would need to be dump’able in this perfect pickup, but I guess for car shows it would be cool.
This Rat-Pack-like interior is pretty nice compared to what a regular 1978 Ford F-150 would have been, at least on the floors and door panels. The carpet looks a little loosey-goosey but maybe it’s more of a floor mat type of situation than being installed carpet? Supposedly, the ultra-low mileage of 6,400 miles is correct. These fabric seats would have been great in our 1969 F-250, those black vinyl seats were killer when it was hot out, even with the AC on and dripping on the passenger’s feet.
The seller says that this is a 351 V8 which would make it the last pushrod V8 block that Ford designed: the 351M. It was basically a shortened 400 cubic-inch V8 and it was available in light-duty Ford trucks until 1982. Unfortunately, this engine only had 156 hp from the factory and supposedly this one is bone-stock and is perfect with original “crayon” marks and the seller says that “any restoration shop should jump at the chance to document what an F-150 from 1978 looked like when it left the factory.” They’re only original once, folks! But, wait, then there’s that dump box. Does that hurt or help the value of this truck? What is this one worth?
Long way to the asking price of 89,900. Forget Flea Bay this one is going to get snatched up quickly!
It is worth what someone is willing to pay and yeah winning the lottery then why not?
It sure does bring back memories. The late 70’s early 1980’s just as the van craze was leaving 4X4 trucks were IN. Back yard 4X4 shops were opening replacing the old speed shops. You couldn’t pass a magazine stand without seeing 4X4 something on the covers. The new rage.
This example was the norm taking over the street (and trails). One thing for sure. Had you been lucky enough to own one like it back in the day you were certainly riding high!
It’s the same price as when it was shown here a few months ago. These guys will never get close to that amount. It does represent a specific period in time, however, there is nothing about that truck that warrants anything close to the asking price.
Steve R
Man I just have a hard time getting excited about anything from the seventies…..even one that has it’s own look as this one does. It was o n l y 30- years ago. practically new!
If I’m paying that much i would expect the wheels to not have so many weights on them
Because it’s a Ford truck, the correct terms are flare side and style side, as opposed to step side and fleet side which are Chevy terms.
Nice truck, but I do agree, it’s priced a bit to high.
These older trucks are going up in value –
but not that much!
I just bought a ’96 F150,in great shape.
This truck looks awfully close to this other one posted here at BF back in June
http://barnfinds.com/low-mileage-show-truck-1978-ford-f-150/
I wonder why it was not sold 2 months ago ….
Top bid on ebay last time was $29500. I like these year Fords but I can think of many other vehicles I’d purchase first at their asking price.
I would like to see a pile of dirt in that dump bed with that angle the hoist is installed on. it would push right through the floor
Already been posted on barnfinds
Ford trucks of that era were the finest on the road, hands down, bar none, nothing else came close.
different (solid color & 2 very wide race stripes)paint, 400M, 4WD – reasonable price – would sell (2 me!) pretty quick.
Great looking ford, to me the best looking body style of any ford pick up. I just don’t care for the smog hobbled engines from that era terrible gas mileage and lousy acceleration.
Troy – Pickups were still exempt from emission controls on their engines in the 70’s.
Nothing hobbled about them.