When looking for a collector-grade vehicle to buy at a project car price, you sometimes have to stoop pretty low. I know this personally with my 1986 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 project, which I bought for peanuts and have since had to rebuild piece by piece. It may have been painful, but the project has been gratifying as values of that car have kept ahead of the overall investment. This 1994 Ford F-150 Lightning pickup is in the same basic state of affairs, and is offered here on eBay with bids to $4,300 and no reserve.
The first-generation Lightning pickup is certainly picking up speed in the marketplace when found in outstanding condition. However, it hasn’t grown by leaps and bounds to the point that you will overpay for a project – which is why this tired performance truck is seriously tempting. You can get into a truck like this and still be well below the value threshold that the top trucks clear, all the while enjoying it as it’s being restored.
But don’t be mistaken: this Lightning pickup will still need plenty of love simply to return to driver status. The seller notes his uncle is the owner who parked it due to the rear end making noise. That was several years ago, and while the Lightning does run and drive, it’s still going to need plenty of mechanical love to be anything approaching reliable. The fuel pumps and spark plugs are supposedly new.
The interiors were simple affairs and very similar to the standard issue F150, aside from the bucket seats in the cab which sported a novel upholstery pattern. The interior has definitely seen better days and is also a tell-tale sign that this Lightning pickup wasn’t exactly loved and treated like a collector’s item. Still, the damage we see here is mostly superficial, so this 90s performance truck still makes an awful lot of sense to restore to its former glory while still likely keeping pace with its current rate of appreciation.
These were the hot setup at the time, they ran circles around the nearest competitor, and this one, like most, was rode hard and put away wet. Overall, this was a good generation of Ford pickups, except for one thing, the front bumper mounting was a little lax, as can be seen in the photos, they were not ment to pull, or be pulled. Not from the bumper
With the 4.10 limited slip this thing will still beat most modern higher horsepower pickups off the line. It can’t be caught, at least to the other side of an intersection.
An issue with these is that the paintjobs sucked. There was a double secret probation recall for the paint, but you had to know about to be able to ask for it. My ’93 was never garaged and the roof is a panel of surface rust.
I was working for a considerably large body shop back then when these trucks were produced. Ford had a real problem with a lot of them and we had to Media blast them all the way down to bare metal and then Vera Prime primer work them and repaint them. Some of them people had used the old paint job as a base and put nice custom paint jobs over the top of them and Ford paid to reproduce those paint jobs. Also hand and pinstriping and murals and whatever else was on there was paid for by Ford. Then they found out how much money they were losing and scrapped the project and let the people go Sue them. At least that’s the part I heard I know of what I had to do the end was just hearsay.
Hold on there boys and girls, paint was an industry wide issue during the late 80s and early 90s, paint was falling off chevrolets, Dodges and even rice burners as I recall
The eBay listing says this truck has 183,000 miles. Those seats have held up remarkably well for that kind of mileage.
bought one of these lightnings brand new in ’93 mine was red i loved it been kicking myself ever since i got rid of it
I had a black’95 model that I sold when we built a house. Always liked that truck.
Looks like this one needs some work on the rear bed corner too. I remember when you’d see rough ones like this still on the road – wish I had picked up one then for peanuts. Never could justify the fuel mileage for what would’ve had to have been a daily driver.
I bought a white 94 new. Used it as a daily and sold it with 150K miles. Paint held up nice in the AZ sun. Great truck! Sold it for a like new black 01 lightning.
Looking for a supercharger for my black 94. I love it. It still won’t catch wife’s 13 SHO or my 2020 Explorer ST.