The Ford F-Series was the best-selling motor vehicle in the United States for the 1982 model year and has remained at number 1 ever sinceYou would think that Jewel of a car graveyard-worthy examples of that historic F-Series generation would be easy to find at the junkyards I frequent, given how many have been sold, but most of the examples that do turn up have been used beyond recognition and then gutted by junkyard buyers. That’s not the case with the truck I see today in a garden in northeastern Colorado: a fairly solid 1985 F-150 with two-tone paint and the Explorer equipment package.
The seventh generation of the F-Series was sold in the United States for the 1980 through 1986 model years. For the 1980 through 1983 model years, the F-100 cost-saving half-ton model was still available, after which it was replaced by the F-150 as the only half-ton F-Series. This truck has the mid-range XL versionpositioned between the standard And XLT layers.
The Explorer Packagewhich included styling upgrades and several popular options at attractive prices, was first available in F-Series trucks for the model year 1968. There were Explorer Rancheros And Broncos too for a while. 1985 appears to have been the last model year for the F-Series Explorer package, after which it was replaced by a set of Preferred Equipment packages. From model year 1991, The Explorer name was reused as a model name for a top-selling SUV based on the Ranger chassis through the Bronco II.
The F-Series was not yet far along in its metamorphosis into the replacement for the American family sedan by the mid-1980s, so the powertrain in this one is extremely truck-likeThe engine is the base 300-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) pushrod inline-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 optionsand buyers of the 1985 F-250s and F-350s could choose a 460-cubic (7.5-liter) big-block V8 or a 6.9-liter diesel.
No drive-to-the-office parking machine here! This truck has the manual four-on-the-floor transmissionwhich was an upgrade from the basic three-on-the-tree column shift manual but cheaper than the four-speed gearbox with overdrive in the highest gear.
Who says you can’t have a floor shifter with a bench? The middle passenger just had to get used to taking a beating from the shifter.
Ford had not yet introduced a six-digit odometer for these trucks in 1985, so the actual final mileage must remain a mystery.
There is some rust here and there, but from 30 meters away it still looks good.
The original buyer of this truck even opted for the optional AM/FM stereo radio, which was a good idea for the kind of long drives you do in the Mountain Time Zone.
Ford carried over the 1980 F-Series chassis almost into the present century, finally undertaking a major redesign for the 1997 model year. The current F-Series is the 14th generation of a truck family dating from 1948.
Willie Nelson should have been paid more for Ford’s use of this rewrite of his song from 1980!
Climbs a rocky hill while carrying a Chevy truck and towing a Dodge.