Rare 1979 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Short Bed 4×4
Smack me if I’m wrong: the classic and collector pickup truck market has been a-BOOMIN’ with hammer prices for trucks like this beautiful Medium Copper Metallic Ford F-250 Crew Cab Styleside 4 x 4 reflecting sharp demand and intense desirability for American work trucks. People have finally caught on to pickup trucks’ inherent, functional beauty. This F-250 can be found for a few more hours on eBay here with a current auction price of $30,100.
When you decide to look under a 42-year-old pickup truck that was built for hard work, you don’t expect to find this level of detail and cleanliness–especially when all of that cold white stuff is all over the ground and in the tire treads. The photos in this listing show Seller’s very high level of attention to detail. Equally impressive is the long list of new parts and recent refabrications of body parts that were replaced by Seller from the time when this truck was someone’s daily work vehicle. Seller admits that he built this truck for his own utilitarian purposes and not as a showpiece. We will assert that it would be a difficult morning to sit with the adding machine and add up all the receipts. Might have to slip on down to the Oasis right after that calculator encounter.
Power for this truck comes from a 400 cu in 2v engine fed through a C-6 transmission to Dana 4 x 4 axles, the rear end a 4.10:1 Dana 60. Surprisingly–there are no engine pix–though the list of recent replacement parts is extensive: valve guide seals, valve cover gaskets, a new water pump, fuel pump, rear main seal, oil pan gasket, all belts and hoses, a new aluminum radiator, new high output heater core, new heater blower motor, master cylinder, among a long list of other parts replaced or repaired in the drive train.
The truck is located in Charles City, Iowa, not far from the Wisconsin border. The truck has been outfitted with a new 38-gallon fuel tank. The classic late 70s Ford pickup truck body lines and this truck’s decent panel and door gaps are testaments to this Seller’s patience in his recent renovations. According to the accompanying Marti Report, this truck is one of only 1,862 F-250 4 x 4 regular pickups made with the crew cab option and 1,082 with this paint color.
She’s been worked hard, but the sheet metal is solid and the major headache replacement parts seem to have been all tended to.
It looks to be a solid, quality machine; here’s hoping the Seller takes up another project after this one. (And gives us a peek at his engine detail work, too, next time!) It is hard to fathom when pickup truck popularity will plateau–the upcoming New Year auctions will give further indication of that meteoric trend. Prediction: expect pickup prices and interest to keep going north for now. But before the auctions establish new stratospheric hammer prices for quality American iron like this F-250, get the parka and galoshes out and head to Iowa after you win the bidding on this Crew Cab. Hurry up, though: Bidding closes at 1:44 eBay time today.
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Comments
Nice old truck. Sad that the current “Pet Rock” craze is trucks-this one would be a good one to keep around the place but not at $30k+!
Yes, I realize you have to pay twice that for a stripped new one but you generally exactly that-a new truck.
This would be one you can use as a truck and not an oversized boutique SUV. Well, GLWTA anyway.
Couldn’t agree more. Its like everything else in the old iron world…..those that have will pay through the nose.
The rest of us will just keep driving and fixing up our old trucks. But it is a weird world.
Yes, ridiculous money. I think the bottom is going to fall out of this market, and when it does it ain’t gonna be pretty. Just my opinion…
What exactly is barn find here ? I can go to any number of car lots here in SoCal and find hundreds of these. And they never saw snow,ice, and salted roads !
A long bed, 4×4, crew cab in such good condition? Surely they’re around but not hundreds of them in SoCal car lots.
I’m in Arizona no snow, ice, salt except in the northern part lived here my whole life but I’ve never seen hundreds of these anywhere they’re rare but not 31000 rare
Be grateful they published your comment. Mine wasn’t offensive either, just an opinion that differs from theirs, so they won’t publish it. Probably not this one either, now that I think about it.
I,ve got a 78 Bronco that I have put about $7,500 in. Plus work.I,ve replace the complete gas–brake system,4 row radiator (brass)new tires,shocks,290 motor many other parts that wear out and I still have the interior and outside to do. I,d rather spend money on it.Something I can fix cheaper. Then buy a cheap built new one any day. When the warranty runs out on a new one–you still owe thousands of dollars on it. Then when something electronic quits and you take it to a garage.Because you can,nt afford the electronic tools to trouble shot your problem. The garages hand you a outrageous bill.So when you look at that. $30,000 isn,t as much as the new truck bill. .I,ll keep mine and keep making improvements and out of debt.
390 motor–yet I wouldn,t spend $30.000 on any vehicles to make an impression on anyone. Theirs alot more vehicles out their in nice shape for alot less and dependable and better then any new one. If you don,t know anything about mechanic.Learn to and save yourself some money for a rainey day. Its enjoyable to and gives you time to work with your kids and come closer together.
$120.00 per hour is the going rate now in Prescott,Az. We are quickly going from a wonderful Arizona mountain town to a foo foo crowded California suburb where home values are rising faster than old trucks. I hate it. I hate these ridiculous prices that are pumped by all the online vendors and auction houses. I,ve already mostly lost interest in old vehicles in general except to just see how beautiful some are. My wife and I are seriously thinking of getting an electric vehicle if we can swing it. Go on youtube and view all the advances and you,ll see that it is the future, Europe is way ahead of us. The USA is getting some awesome electric trucks in the pipeline. Here in Arizona people are buying and driving the large powerful side by side UTV,s as their little mini pickups. A see Ford is bringing back a true mini truck soon, some may feel they fit a need. I love this copper beauty but love is all I can muster.
At $30k its safe to say that this truck will never see inside of a construction site again. I guess the price of anything is what someone agrees to pay. If you are looking for a better alternative to new luxo truck, Ford OBS trucks is the answer. Speaking from a practical standpoint, an F350 (1 ton compared to 3/4 ton here) crew cab dually will have a greater weight capacity at 10k lbs and cost anywhere between $10-$20k depending on the condition and configuration (low mileage 7.3 diesels with manual usually fetch top prices) but will have much more modern amenities such as ice cold a/c, oven hot heater, lots of power amenities and will be just as rock solid as the ’79 we see here. The market on OBS trucks plateued long time ago and now the clean ones are a great investment that can utilized as intended.
You hit the nail on the head. It is (was) my truck. I’m selling it to get a crew obs 7.3. Still has style, but gobs more practicality.
7.3 is the engine of choices for long distance and heavy lifting. I have a 1996 F350 Crew Cab dually low miles with 7.5L 2WD. It’s way more truck than I really need (hauling my track bike around, about it) but when I saw it I was blown away how clean it was and how well it drove. Inside seating is better than my wife’s suv. Aside with a bit of paint fade on hood I can’t find one thing wrong with the truck. Good luck in finding the one you want and enjoy it!
Sold for $31100. Congrats! For that kind of scratch you can get the best OBS out there. Good luck!
I love these old fords had a few over the years. They rode like trucks not like the car/trucks of today. Options were few and yes new trucks have a lot of comforts that improve the driving experience. 85k for a loaded new truck is not something I need. I’m looking for one just like this or a high boy . Can’t spend the 30k in these times and the longer I wait the price will go up. As to thousands of these around for sale in a given place is not true. They were few and far between even back in the day especially 4×4’s . They just didn’t make that many. Whom ever gets this bit will have a nice truck and 30k is reasonable.
I better change my comment from reasonable to can see someone paying 30k for this truck. Before you all start hammering me. I sometimes forget you all don’t live in Washington state like I do. We pay more for everything out here .
In Cali too. At least the dumb folks do. The rest of us know not to! :)
79 classic great body style ! Back when trucks were still trucks !
Not sure why a pick-up truck is worth much if it’s not a 4×4. At least here in Michigan, with snow, mud and sand. And I would hazard a guess in lots of other states, even those without snow.
Guess my comment about the relative value of 4×4 vs. 2×4 is offensive enough to not be published?
This is worse than Twitter and Facebook re: suppression of opinions
Well, my apologies are in order. Seems sometimes it takes longer than an instant for comments to appear. I’ll keep that in mind for future reference. Thanks for publishing all of them. I think.
Remember when the advertisments for trucks showed what the truck could do instead of what it’s luxuries were? I’m 17, and and this says a lot coming from me, but I would have preferred if this truck be left alone. The wheels aren’t ugly, they just ruin the image of the truck.
If that is the 400-M motor (not a Ford expert, please correct me), isn’t that 400-M considered one of the worst engine of all (old) time? Power and efficiency all smogged out?