When it comes to selling vintage cars and trucks, there are a few “gold standards” in terms of what will drive a strong sale price. One is equipment levels – the more features and options it left the factory with, the better. The other is color scheme, as the visuals alone can drive a potential buyer to open their wallet a little further. This 1978 Ford F250 “Ranger” checks all of those boxes and then some with the added bonus of low mileage. Find it here on eBay with bids to $15,800 and no reserve.
I feel this era of the F-Series is a bit of a sleeper in the marketplace at the moment. These trucks check all of the same boxes as a C-1o from the same era, but they seemingly fly under the radar a bit more than the Chevys do. You also don’t see them modified nearly as much, whereas seemingly every day there’s yet another short-bed C10 on the auction block that’s been slammed on its belly atop some cheesy chrome wheels. F250s like this one seemingly never get modified in that fashion.
In addition to the excellent body and paint, the interior of this F250 is also quite clean. The interior doesn’t look quite right to me, for whatever reason – it seems a hair too modern, like the bench is from a later truck. It’s probably just the cloth that’s throwing me off, as most photos of this era of Ford show a vinyl bench with cloth inserts, but rarely a full cloth surface. This is pretty small potatoes, and the bigger story is just how clean and dry this cockpit appears to be. The paint inside the door jam is quite nice as well.
The seller describes the truck as belonging to one family prior to coming up for sale. With just under 61,500 miles, it didn’t see a ton of use during that timeframe. The truck is well equipped with four wheel drive, locking hubs, front disc brakes, power steering, air conditioning (just needs a recharge), and a 6.6L V8. The seller also notes it hails from the Pacific Northwest, so rust is a non-issue on a truck like this. The original jack, spare tire, and radio are all included, but the radio doesn’t work. A minor gripe for what overall looks like a very nice specimen.
Nice, would be better if manual,and for Pete’s sake iffen A/C on needs charge then charge the dang thing!
I always take that to mean a/c needs REPAIR.
Great trucks and will pass everything on the road except a gas station.
Nice truck if you can put up with the colors
Love the colors.
Black interior’s a bit of a disappointment after the orange-and-beige. Ford offered a nice golden tan interior and this trim level would’ve had striped seat fabric if original. What’s there is in good shape, though.
Would look great lifted IMO
Id add another leaf spring in the front and a snowplow ❄️ too Greg
I always loved this color-combo.
Geeze i sold this exact same truck 4 years ago….same color scheme and everything….in just as good if not better condition , for $4000. Have the bull noses really gone up in value this much?
Depends, naturally, I think it’s all hype, you may have got another grand out of someone on your truck, but coming from the real world,,kind of, I’ve seen example after example of trucks in my area( Colorado) that are featured here for 5 figures, sit for months, eventually taking half, or no sale at all, and it goes back behind the shed. I recently sold my ’77 2WD squarebody, for $2500 to a neighbor, in so-so condition, good body adds a grand, 4×4 adds another grand( easy) so, you, like me, may have some remorse, but I think you and the buyer did okay. It’s what trucks like this, I feel, should go for.
And just for gits and shiggles, the author says the motor is a “6.6”. In 1978, we didn’t call these motors “6.6”,,,it was gol dang 400 CUBIC INCHES, BABY,,take your metric system back to Russia,,,was the cry of people like my old man in Beer City/ AMC/ B&S/ A-C/ Harleytown, USA( didn’t get more “American” than Milwaukee) in the 70s. We were slow to change, for obvious reasons.
Agreed Howard! I used to (pre Covid) sell quite a few 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s Ford trucks. I often wonder what the % of sell price to ask price is. I usually got about 90% of my asking price, but rarely sold anything for over $7k.
And you are right, nobody says “6.6”!!!
Great colors. It would never fly today, people hate colors now. It’s all black/white/gray
Great looking truck. I just hate 4X4’s, too much of gas guzzler. 2wd deliver plenty of power and get decent mileage.
def a seat cover & carpet out of the LMC catalog
I just saw a news story today about a company that is recreating 78-79 F250’s. Loaded, 4×4, etc. Are you ready? $250,000…and up! Get the real ones now!