Same.

That's the year I was born.

My 1'st truck was a VERY abused F-150 that was given to me by a sweet old lady so that I could get to work and back in High School. Biggest POS in Aransas Pass though. Bent frame, full of dents & rust, leaked a quart of oil a day, windshield leaked bad and was cracked, smoked like the mosquito man, busted glass/had to tarp it for a while, bombed the hell out of it and never could kill all the roaches but it was my first truck and I drove the hell out of it with an amp and (literally) 16 speakers mounted everywhere. Put an AUUUUGAA horn on it, like no one could hear the clicking of those lifters when I was getting close to the party. Never could get a date in that damn truck, but I sure put a lot of fish in the back of it. Drove it until the motor locked up on the Harbor bridge in Corpus and me and my buds had to walk all the way home lol.

Sure makes you appreciate things later in life.

Ha, I was 17 when I bought a new 78 off the lot.

1975 F-150 bought new

I trusted my life to Fords for many years and they all worked great. None of them had an Ecoboost thank goodness.

Personally I'm over Raptors and the Ecoboom. I tried to be open minded towards that engine but it has been a disappointment for the last 5 years and 92k miles. Poor fuel mileage, short punchy power band, sounds goofy, oil leaks, blown turbo, cam phasers, water pump, cracked (plastic) valve cover. To be fair though the transmission tuning has played a part in my frustrations too. The Fox shocks are a joke too, unless I got a lemon, the ride quality is always to stiff and jittery...and the rebuild interval is short and expensive. Money pit. Sure looks cool though.

My first was a 1971 F-100, long bed.

302, 4 in the floor

No power steering, no power brakes. Drum brakes on all four corners that all ended up getting rebuilt.

Dang right it makes you appreciate things later in life.

You didn’t get a lemon. The shocks are tuned for running fast off-road. They are terrible for driving around crappy highways. I actually speed up for speed bumps, much smoother than going slow. The newer ones have much better shocks and are dual tuned and way better the Gen2s. I’m also not impressed in the least with the power of the Raptor. And yes the fox shocks are supposed to be rebuilt after 60k and crazy expensive. Had to do it on my gen 1 once and just bought brand new shocks and kept the old ones to rebuild so I didn’t have to put it up on blocks for a few weeks before the shocks came back. I probably will not be getting another one.

Trucks listed in my life.

1985 3/4 ton inline 6 with a granny gear. Drove in 1987.
1986 F150
1989 F150
1995 F150
1998 F150
Etc. never had any issues.

Superduty:
1999
2001
2007
2011
2017 (two actually)
2023.
Only problem was a heated steering wheel, and 4x4 would not engage..


I bleed blue and will always buy Ford, no reason to look anywhere else.

That's right.

There was a girl in HS that IMO was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. Absolutely gorgeous from head to toe. Her parents invited me to meet them at their very nice house on the water (I was nervous). I parked my truck down the road and walked to the house. Her Dad asked me why? Because I don't want to leak motor oil on your drive way Sir lol. We started talking fishing and her parents liked me, her Dad was excited about us going fishing and I was too......but no way in hell was she getting into that truck, and broke it off Never even kissed her.

Guess I don't blame her.

My first truck was like yours; 1970 F100 short wheel base with a 390 and an automatic. I owned it for 12 years and modded the hell out of it. Sold it to a guy who was a judge in Dallas County who lived off Swiss Ave. I would buy it back if I could find it.

You're are so full of [censored]. That dyno tells you what you want a customer to see I bet. Pro tuners are so above you that you could not comprehend what they are doing. You are not a pro. I know the pros

^^^ What are you blathering on about? Have you been drinking? I have a Superflo engine dyno not a chassis dyno. It shows the torque the engine is producing and is pretty accurate. I tuned for a living and was well know in the Dallas area. Have you ever owned a 1995 FLM anything? I did the cold start calibration on every single model for nearly 9 months straight in the middle of Canada. I got out of the business because I found something that pays much better and that was more than 20 years ago. There are no customers that I have to show numbers to on the dyno. Ever hear of a man named Jim Fueling? I worked with him until his death in late 2002 and the OEs are just starting to catch up to what he knew and taught me nearly 25 years ago.

There's a ditch on both sides but only one road. No need for me to bash F*** or their loyalists. I make a living fixing problems my favorite manufacturer (NOT F***) "engineered" poorly as well.

(Edits) As I start preparing for retirement and finding that Ford 1/2 ton 4wd drive beater pickup that is long-term reliable, wrenchable and capable of driving halfway across the country when needed and locally, I keep looking back to the 4.6L years. I've had two models with the 5.4 2v and 3v and have been very happy with those. My daily driver is a 2011 Expedition with a 5.4 3v...and although I'm helping manage the cam phaser/top end oil starvation issue with very regular synthetic 5W-30 oil changes, I'm (over?) thinking that I would rather have the 4.6L (2005-2007) F150 for that long-term retirement truck.

Do you guys think about this too? Vehicle, engine, electronics, and transmission designs are just too overengineered today. My take is that platform/design reliability hit a peak point about~10-15 years ago... and I'd like to stay in that wheelhouse. Honing in on that wheelhouse is the trick. No infotainment screens for me.

We have a large fleet were I work.

I can honestly say the most reliable vehicle that I’ve seen is the Chevy 2500 w the 6.0 gasser.

I do not own one personally but once I’m done w my diesel that’s probably what I will drive

The most surprisingly reliable I’ve seen is even further back. The 96’ with the 5.8L roller motor and 4 speed automatic. Very reliable to 300k plus. Just change the oil. Unfortunately they’ve all already got that many miles on them. Did mention bad gas mileage and underwhelming performance by todays standards?

How about a 71 F-100 with that drive train and 393 stroker, aluminum heads, and a mild-ish comp cam? Don’t forget the Holley Sniper fuel injection! Of course the transmission and rear end have to be built as well. Its like throwing $12,000 at an $8000 truck making it worth $10,000.

Oh wait, did I get off topic?

First was a 1949 Ford F100 with flathead 6 and 3 speed on the floor. May go 60mph down a long hill.

It's Jim Feuling, not Fueling.

HOBART #1 as I recall

Dad bought 73 C10…….…broke me of ever wanting buying a Chebberlay
Had 2 Chizzler products,,..........no mas!!

Ford and Toyota have been excellent vehicles.

WP - I hear you on the mid late '90s models. I had a 88 and 92 5.0 F-150 models...they were great. The 88 was 4x4 5-speed manual and never got above 11 miles per gallon

With that in mind, I lean toward the 4.6 and a few years later. I believe that's the best combination ( strong technology strong reliability not to overly complex) per my post just a couple above.

The most reliable ford trucks that I've ever owned were all manual transmissions. One was an 82 f150 with an in-line 6 and I have had a bunch of 4cly Rangers for pool service trucks. The only problem the rangers have is the clutch hydraulics.

When it comes to reliability the top for decades has been the Mercedes Unimoog, Toyota land cruiser, and some 4runners. There are also so many one million mile plus mercedes m124 chassis cars running around for decades with no maintenance in 3rd world countries that they should also be mentioned.

I sure don't have the luck with vehicles like most of y'all on here. I guess the ones I buy are made on Mondays or Fridays and I have owned all of the big 3 3/4 ton trucks.