This 1978 Ford F250 Ranger XLT has spent its life in the Rocky Mountains, and it appears that it has served its owners well. With a healthy V8 under the hood, a tow hitch, and a camper cap, this is a Pickup that the buyer could use for many purposes. However, it seems that the time has come for it to venture out of its Rock Mountain hideaway, so the owner has chosen to list the F250 for sale here on eBay. It is located in Canyon Creek, Montana, and frantic bidding has pushed the price to $6,100 in a No Reserve auction.

The F250 wears its original Dark Brown Metallic paint, and the camper cap that it wears is a Ford component that was fitted when the vehicle was new. The paint is looking tired now, but it is still relatively presentable. There’s no doubt that the Ranger would benefit from a repaint, but whether this happens would depend on the buyer’s future plans for the Pickup. For instance, if it will be barging its way through rough and overgrown tracks in the wilderness, applying a perfect paint job will probably lead to a lot of heartache every time it cops a scratch or a scrape. However, if it is to be used as a tow vehicle or a regular commuter, it would be worth the effort. The F250 has never seen salt, but it has seen its share of muddy dirt roads. That has allowed mud to compact in a few areas, and rust followed along right behind it. None of it is severe, but if I were to buy the Ranger, I would be tackling it sooner rather than later. We’re talking about the rear box corners, rear-wheel housings, and the driver’s side cab corner. Because these issues are so common, replacement steel is easy to find and very affordable. The cap is showing its age, but this could potentially be restored. The trim is in excellent condition, while there are no problems with the tinted glass.

I’ve had the privilege of writing about some amazing vehicles here at Barn Finds, but this F250 marks a new experience for me. This is the first that I’ve written about that comes complete with a genuine bullet hole. The owner says that this was caused by a 30-06, which was accidentally discharged inside the cab. He also says that nobody was injured, and apart from the holes, the only other casualty was a set of underwear. Gotta love a man with a sense of humor!

Even though emission regulations had taken a nasty big bite out of the V8 engine by 1978, the F250 could still be ordered with an engine that made it a reasonable sort of tow vehicle. In this case, we find a 400ci version that produces 169hp and 277 ft/lbs of torque. All of that energy has to go somewhere, so it feeds through a 4-speed manual transmission and a dual-range transfer case. If the mood took the owner, they could fire the F250 down the ¼ mile, and it would complete the journey in a hair under 20 seconds. However, that wasn’t what these vehicles were all about. With maximum torque delivered below 2,000rpm, these were a Pickup that could crawl through some rough terrain in low-range effortlessly. As a tow vehicle, they demonstrated great flexibility, removing the need to row through the gears to keep things moving. The engine in this F250 is in sound health. It has accumulated around 50,000 miles since it received a rebuild, and it runs perfectly. The transmission is smooth, the hubs engage easily, and the vehicle drives well. There are a few minor items that will need attention at some point, but nothing would be considered urgent. Included in the sale is a huge collection of documentation, including receipts for completed work, along with the original dealer paperwork and Window Sticker.

When you open the doors and take a look around inside this F250, you learn pretty quickly that this is no trailer queen. Under the saddle blanket cover, the original seat upholstery is shredded. It is possible to buy a replacement, but I admit that I quite like the cover. The carpet is badly worn, and if a restoration is being considered, this would need to be replaced. The pad is cracked, but the rest of the dash looks good. The door pockets have begun to sag, but some new elastic would soon fix that. The rest of the trim seems fine, except for the bullet hole in the driver’s door trim. I wouldn’t touch that because it is quite a conversation starter. There aren’t many luxury extras, but the F250 does come with a sliding rear window and an aftermarket radio/cassette player.

The prodigious engine torque and the hitch on the back make me believe that this 1978 F250 Ranger would make a great tow vehicle. It might not be the fastest at that job, but it should still be able to haul some heavy loads with ease. As an off-roader, it could take its occupants deep into the wilds, and with its legendary reliability, it should be able to return them home just as effortlessly. It has some rust problems, but none of these would seem to be insurmountable. That begs the question of whether it would be worth pursuing further. If you have a fat wallet, you could wander into your local Ford dealership and drive away in a shiny new F250 XLT, and it would come with all of the bells and whistles. However, it would also come with a price tag of somewhere around $48,000. It would be a vehicle where you would think twice before venturing down any narrow track for fear of doing physical damage to the panels or paint. That is all before we even consider the question of depreciation. You can expect that to run at about 10% during the first year of ownership, but that will taper in subsequent years. When you add all of those factors together, this 1978 Ford F250 suddenly makes a lot of sense.