The Ford F-Series was one of the best selling motorcar in the US for the 1982 model 12 months and has remained within the No. 1 spot ever since. You’d think that Junkyard Gem-worthy examples of that historic F-Series generation could be easy to search out within the automotive graveyards I frequent, given what number of were sold, but a lot of the ones that do show up have been used up beyond easy recognition after which picked clean by junkyard shoppers. That is not the case with today’s truck spotted in a northeastern Colorado yard: a reasonably solid 1985 F-150 with two-tone paint and the Explorer trim package.
The seventh generation of the F-Series was sold in the US for the 1980 through 1986 model years. For 1980 through 1983, the F-100 cost-cutting half-ton model was still available, after which it was replaced by the F-150 because the only half-ton F-Series. This truck has the mid-grade XL trim level, positioned between the Standard and XLT tiers.
The Explorer package, which included styling upgrades and various popular options at tempting prices, first became available in F-Series trucks for the 1968 model 12 months. There have been Explorer Rancheros and Broncos as well for some time. 1985 appears to have been the last model 12 months for the F-Series Explorer package, after which it was replaced by a set of Preferred Equipment Packages. Starting with the 1991 model 12 months, the Explorer name was repurposed because the model designation for a hot-selling SUV based on the Ranger chassis via the Bronco II.
The F-Series hadn’t gone very far along the technique of its metamorphosis into the substitute for the American family sedan by the center Nineteen Eighties, so the powertrain on this one is amazingly truckish. The engine is the bottom 300-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) pushrod straight-six, rated at 115 horsepower and 223 pound-feet. 302- and 351-cubic-inch (5.0- and 5.8-liter) gasoline V8s were available as options, and buyers of 1985 F-250s and F-350s could go for a 460-cube (7.5-liter) big-block V8 or a 6.9-liter diesel.
No drive-to-the-office-park automatic here! This truck has the four-on-the-floor manual transmission, which was an upgrade from the bottom three-on-the-tree column-shift manual but cheaper than the four-speed with overdrive top gear.
Who says you’ll be able to’t have a floor-shift manual with a bench seat? The center passenger just needed to get used to taking a beating from the shifter.
Ford hadn’t gone to six-digit odometers in these trucks by 1985, so the actual final mileage must remain a mystery.
There’s rust here and there, however it looks good from 100 feet away.
The unique buyer of this truck even sprang for the optional AM/FM stereo radio, which was a great idea for the form of long drives you are taking within the Mountain Time Zone.
Ford used the chassis of the 1980 F-Series nearly into our current century, finally doing a serious redesign for the 1997 model 12 months. The present F-Series is the 14th generation of a truck family dating back to 1948.
Willie Nelson higher have been paid well for Ford’s use of this rewrite of his 1980 song!
Climbs a rocky hill while carrying a Chevy truck and towing a Dodge.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
