Score! New to me '71 F-250

[HIO Silver]

Hey guys. Just wanted to share my latest addition to the fleet... a one-owner, mostly unmolested F250, 200K miles and she's never been apart. The VIN is F25YRLxxxxx with a DSO 74 and sold outta Portland where it is still registered.. 360FE-2V, T-18, PS, PB, Dana 60 with 4.11 gears. The original color is Regis Red but it's been repainted Calypso Coral which seems really close as shown by the interior. Comfy bench seat, newish dash pad, CD player, and that narrow tool box. I picked it up from my co-worker's ex-husband who can no long drive it due to diabetes in his left leg. Back in the day they towed a ski-boat with it.

It drives great on smooth roads, stops on a dime, and handles very well. The split 16.5s were ditched a few years ago and replaced with 16s wearing 245/70-15s all around. I'll find some dog dish caps to at least make her look whole. I've got take-off parts from my '70 project like the front bumper, western mirror heads, reflectors, etc. and refinish/replace with other spare parts that I've been collecting. The grill shell was pushed in a bit but I managed to pull on it gently and it's good as good can get... very straight in fact. I was concerned about that.

Cost? $1,000 !! You guys in the mid-West oughtta come out to the Peoples' Republic of Khalifornia for your next project. There are folks ditchin' old iron like this for "eco-friendly" lemmings.







Here's the pulled out grill shell. Notice the difference from the pic above?:



And the line up on the driveway next to her cousins... my '73 shortbed 4x4 and '01 SuperCrew 4x4.



She's still got the engine tag!

[JTW_Jr]

Even here in Nevada that would be $3k plus.

That is a score !

[Stealth69]

I know my truck (i purchased in stockton, CA) is mostly brand new mechanically and i'm only $2000 in next is electrical though.

[Mancar1]

Great score. There is a good supply up in the North end of Ca. also.

[popeyes71]

Congrats on the great looking truck for a great price!! Your right, there sure seems to be a good amount of these trucks around up here at a reasonable price. In fact, there is always at least two in the local wrecking yards that make you wonder how they got here because they look like good solid trucks.

[sargentrs]

Great truck, HIO! You got a steal.

[72BahamaBlue]

Looks nice and straight!
Good score.

[Camper Special]

Calypso Coral.... love it! can I get some Jimmy Buffet music please?
Coral Refers... anyone?



.

[thin41]

Excellent find at a great price - congrats Take care of her.

[Craigerf100]

How many trucks u got now?

[HIO Silver]

Four...
By year....70,71,73 and an 01.
By type....F100, F250, F100, F150 S'Crew
By configuration... 2wd, 2wd, 4wd, 4wd
By engine... 360FE, 360FE, 390FE, and a 5.4 Triton
By tranny type... manual, manual, manual, auto
By tranny model... TKO-500, T-18, NP435, and 4R70W
By color.... New Lime, Calypso Coral, Custom Camo, and White

[HIO Silver]

Update....

The bumper was rusty and a little twisted so Big Red Dick got a new bumper. Actually, it's the 44-year old take-off from my '70 project. 'Gave it a quick polish with Wenol (red tube) and she's as pretty as a penny. Also polished some of the grill pieces too like the middle horizontal bars - it was really gritty.



Last weekend 'had some time to kill so the parts bin give up a western mirror head to replace the off-brand one the PO was using. I'm pretty confident the original set was an over-the-counter kit since it is engraved "Rotunda" instead of the Ford oval or FoMoCo. These Rotunda arms are also shorter than typical westerns and the mirror head brackets are also different.. the Rotunda bolts through the arm whereas the typical westerns use a band clamp.

I aligned the passenger side to cover up the top hole and flipped the driver side brackets to mount the head up higher to even it up, side for side.



Whoever painted the truck simply reinstalled the wipers and payed no mind to how they align when parked... it was buggin' the heck out of me (I'm OCD that way) so I repositioned them to be more "normal'. Ahh.... much better now.



At the GoodGuys show/swap meet last Sunday I found a set (six actually) of painted but crusty, 12-inch hubcaps.. all of them for $10. For that price it was worth the risk. Five are the same size and one is the deeper version which, due to rust-through, will likely end up as a clock. They've still got some heft to them so it appears I'll have something to work with when they come out. In they went into the electrolysis vat...



24 hours later.... and the hubcaps came out nearly rust free after scrubbing with a small wire brush. The process works by line of sight and the back sides were still a tad rough. Build-up on the sacrificial steel also needed to be knocked off. The caps are in for another round...

Oh... ya might be also interested to know that the process also softens paint. Again, these needed another round to be more thorough.





See ya at the next update...!

[Craigerf100]

Lol big red what?

[guerra]

Huh? What did you name your truck?

[HIO Silver]

Lol big red what?

'Big Red, Dick'....The previous owner's name is Dick.. as in Richard.

Git yer mind outta the gutter!.. It's one of them old school nicknames like Peggy for Margaret, Ned for Edward, and Bill for William.

Lol.