My mother has been conducting a spring cleaning on steroids. When I visited her a few weeks ago, she had exhumed a copious number of pictures. Her statement was “take what you want; the rest are going in the trash”.
Good thing I was paying attention as the pictures for most of this multipart series were found in her refuse pile. In a switching of roles, I roundly chastised her hastiness as this old 1970 Ford F-100 was the first set of pictures I found.
Mildly modified for better color
She and my father purchased this F-100 new. In fact, Dad special ordered it from Stout Ford in Mounds, Illinois. Old Mr. Stout was a one-man band Ford dealer, being manager, salesman, mechanic, and finance manager all rolled up in one. He kept very few cars in inventory, preferring to order what the customer wanted. What a concept.
Thus, my father, at 26 years old, ordered nearly the cheapest pickup Ford would sell. No power steering, no power brakes, no a/c, the base 240 cubic inch straight-six, three-speed manual transmission, and no rear bumper. He added that later. His only concessions to civility (read as my mother) were an AM radio and a heater.
Yes, it’s utterly counter to what most people now would consider owning. Thus, I love this old thing.
Most important of all – this was the very first vehicle I ever drove.
Mildly modified for better color
As a monument to how my photography skills peaked 40 years ago, I took these pictures in 1985, the day he foisted it off on the Toyota dealer in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for a year old Ford F-150. This tired looking yellow Ford had only 76,000 miles.
As basic pickups seem to induce phobias for some these days, basic routine maintenance is a phobia of my father’s. Other than changing the oil, this Ford was never washed, likely never tuned up, always sat outside, and was worked like a cheap, rented pack mule. For years, he never exceeded 50 mph in this pickup due to a “bad front end”. As I later learned, the tie-rods were bad, hardly an overwhelming problem.
This Ford mostly withstood the abuse.
It only went away due to terminal cancer. The day it happened, I remember my father saying “the body had fallen in on the frame” so I’m guessing the cab supports went kaput from rust, putting the shift linkage in a bind. His inability to shift out of first gear led to the diagnosis. My dad shimmed up the body with a few chunks of used 2×4 and off it went. He had paid about $2,000 for it new (that’s always been his quote) and he got $500 at trade-in; I was there. He never once argued with the dealer’s offer.
If I were to guess, the old F-100 likely went straight to the salvage yard.
After finding these pictures I told my wife if she ever buys me an old pickup, I want it to be a 1970 F-100. I don’t care about color, trim, or engine; it just needs to be a long bed. That’s how bad I want one of these, thanks to this glorious old girl.
Mildly modified for better color
Various memories with this pickup were captured here.
(Author’s Note: There were only three pictures, taken with a camera having 110 film. Remember those? Where noted I altered the pictures with a few filters and color alterations to help overcome the washed out appearance of the raw photo prints, which are also included. Similar will be the case with Parts 2 and 3.)
It’s amazing/horrifying how “old” a 15 year-old vehicle appeared in those days. Now, many look perfectly presentable and clean-up well if they’ve been taken care of, even a little. My first car was a 1963 Ford Falcon that I purchased, for $45, in 1976. Rust everywhere, including a basketball-sized hole in the driver’s side floorboard (which we covered with marine-grade plywood). Even at the time it seemed like a really “old” car.
How did pickup trucks become six figure vehicles that just sit in the garage to be kept in pristine shape?
I grew up on my grandfather’s 1985 Toyota pickup. Aside from five on the floor, didn’t sound too different.
A nice old truck, I hope you find it’s twin in decent shape .
-Nate
Lovely story. You always remember your first…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/coal-requiem-for-a-truck/
That’s the 1970 counterpart to my ’66 yellow F100. The only difference is that your dad’s had an AM radio.
And under the skin, these two really were essentially identical. The ’65 F100/250 got a major chassis revision, with the new Twin I beam front end, new steering, new 240/300 six and other changes. That frame and chassis would then be used for many years to come, with new body styling riding on it.
I’ve long suspected there was little difference between yours and this one. Makes me wonder if things really changed much by ’96 when the twin I-beam suspension went away.
Long ago you had a picture of yours loaded, with the rear bumper almost touching the ground. Seeing your picture took me back to seeing this one loaded similarly.
The guys of Hemmings recensed some nicknames then Ford fans used to each generations of trucks.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/ford-f150-generational-nicknames/
At least your mom asked. My folks just threw out all of my old photos (some even in albums) when they moved out of their former house back in 2009. Lots of photos of our cars, and also random car pictures I just happened to take and save.
My folks told me they were sending me a box of stuff they thought I’d want, but when that box arrived it consisted of a toilet snake and a bunch of woodworking tools. I never asked if they’d actually meant to send me that – chances are about 50% they sent me the wrong box and 50% they really equated me with a toilet snake, and I didn’t want to know the answer. Honestly, I have used that snake a lot, but I miss my actual mementos.
It’s amazing that the F-100 only had 76,000 miles – looks like about three times that.
And $500 for this truck in 1985 seems pretty good! I can see why he didn’t argue with the offer.
What I said about her getting rid of stuff just touches the tip of the iceberg. But I shan’t go there. But being equated to a toilet snake is rough; I have similar, but it was a pink t-shirt.
While writing this, I kept thinking this is similar to a 2010 F-150 now. Scary. I’m not quite sure I’ve seen any F-150 of that era look similarly rough at the same age. But living hard and not taking care of yourself will do that to cars as it will with people.
Wednesday features the replacement to this F-100. If memory serves, I took the pictures of each on the same day. Or it close proximity as it came from the same roll of film.
Word of warning: I’ve struggled mightily with Wednesday’s feature as my hope to sound reasonable has led to my tweaking the wording for two weeks…
I’d have to guess those “California mirrors” were an option, too, unless they were added aftermarket. My 1979 C-10 came without a passenger mirror of any kind.
The front cab mount supports on these trucks were prone to rusting, which would usually first manifest itself as a windening gap between the fender and door at the bottom. As the problem progressed the weight of the front of the cab would eventually transfer to the steering column, which would result in the steering and gearshift binding. These days the supports and cab floor patch panels are available to repair the problem, but it’s quite a job and to do it right the cab usually has to come off.
These were some of the best Ford light trucks of all time, and are sometimes called ‘Bump-Sides’. Paul is correct, from ’65 to ’72 Ford light trucks basically have the same chassis, and the ’73 to ’79 chassis is very similar though some models have wider frame rail spacing to accommodate the fuel tank.