From 1987 to 1996 if you wanted a Ford SUV with room for more than five passengers, a Centurion conversion was a good option. Although the sticker price was nearly $70,000 in today’s dollars, you were getting a nine-passenger luxury SUV. If you opted for the C-350 version like the 1990 featured here, you got a one-ton chassis, Chevrolet wouldn’t offer a one-ton Suburban until 2015. Located north of Los Angelese, this C-350 can be found for sale here on Craigslist with an asking price of $17,000. Take a closer look at this “4-door Bronco” and thanks to Rocco B. for the tip!
There were several seating configurations that were offered in the Centurion. If you wanted to maximize passenger room, you could option three rows of bench seats. If seven seats were acceptable, you could get captain’s chairs in the front and middle rows. Along with comfortable seating, you could get items like TVs, VCRs, and a cooled storage compartment!
There were four engine options between the C-150 and C-350 with this particular one getting the largest one available at 7.5 liters of gas power! The 7.5 translates to 460 cubic inches, but unfortunately, it is rated at only 245 horsepower and 400 lb./ft. of torque although this was an improvement from the carbureted version of years earlier.
Here is a period ad for the Centurion. After the discontinuation of the Bronco in 1996, the Centurion as we knew it ceased to be made. Ford wouldn’t have a one-ton SUV in the market again until the Excursion was introduced in 2000. Overall, these are pretty neat vehicles that are rare enough that most people don’t know they exist. What do you think of the Ford Centurion?
For the price I would probably get something a little newer. It’s kind of in a gray zone age wise for me where it’s too new to be interesting. Having said that, it is interesting how Centurion was ahead of their time.
I know everybody heard this before ,to bad it’s 2500 miles away. Love this truck
I drove one of these years ago and it was low powered, rough riding and had a huge turning radius. It was ahead of its time, with 4 doors to carry a crew, family or all your tools securely and for that it was easy to overlook its faults. But boy,was it pricey! Not sure I’d want to own this for the price, there are are a lot of used extended cabs for a lot less money with far more function.
Wish it was not 2500 miles away,almost bought on of these when they first came out.
Nice. I looked at these but went with a 3500 Suburban. The kids called it “Big
Red” and the gas mileage was 8 MPG whether going uphill, downhill or towing. We put 235K on that truck and a photo of our family of Big Red
in Tahoe in the snow sits in our family room. It was a kick to see my daughters wheeling it around. This could be a great alternative for a 50K to 60K new SUV or Truck.
So the transmission was rebuilt telling me they did poor maintenance on it or the odometer has rolled at least once yes I know those years had transmission issues but most people will change their oil and ignore the transmission fluid until they have a problem then somehow its the manufacturer fault your transmission went out
Does the rear top come off?
Yes it does. Bronco Tub was cut in the center of the doo and welded to a Crew Cab at the center of the rear door. chassis shortened to match.
There was a guy that had one of these rigs in Pine Bluff AR back in the day. I worked at a convenience store and he would come in and fill up and buy beer and cigarettes and his was green in color. Neat looking ride
Always liked the body style of the Ford trucks in the 90s. They still had wing windows, and the fit & finish seems a better quality to me. We had a 1ton crew cab with the long bed and big Power Stroke diesel. Great truck. The two tone color plus the comfort in driving it were superb. It was used for both business and fun.we put well over 160K miles on it with no big issues. With our kids in their teens it would have been nice to have this body style over the crew cab. I guess we had the next best thing.
That era Ford auto transmissions, 4EOD, were good for about 80k then boom. I know, I had two.
Funny you mention that. I had asked some of my Ford buddies their thoughts on 4EOD life and they said “maybe 115k miles” then at 119k miles the transmission in my Centurion bit the dust. I wasn’t angry but it was amusing that it died about when my friends thought it would.
I hunted for and bought a ‘92 7.3L IDI turbo 4×4 centurion. Smog exempt.
I’ve had 7 adults 2 kids and 2 dogs in it.
If you are a Ford man then it’s the way to go.
I remember seeing these at the production plant just south of White Pigeon MI.
Trying to figure out which is the best way to sell mine.
’88 bought from a Ford dealer in Las Vegas in ’89.
73,000 original miles.
Sitting on Brand New 35x12x16.5’s so long that 2 popped with the stickers still on them.
White paint, catalytic converter and fuel pump new with zero miles, but haven’t even turned the key in 25 years.
Just picked it up from where I had it stored, outside, last weekend.
Drove it for 5 years and meant to use it as a toy when work gave me a take home ride for 30 years and it never moved til this weekend.
Send it in and we will auction it for you!
Don’t know what it’s worth. I’m guessing y’all charge a commission, which is expected although I don’t know the going rate.
Do I just send pics, video, description?