New Toy - The $500 1973 F250

Pic from ad. 460/C6/D60


It made it 7 miles to my house in traffic. It definitely needs work. Doors rattle, steering wheel is thrashed, motor misses pretty bad, but does not smoke. There is a leak in the fuel lines (dual tanks) so we drove it using a 2 gallon gas can bungee'd to the inner fender. lol Motor ran cool in spite of stop and go traffic and the oil pressure looked great. Power steering works GREAT, brakes are awesome, trans shifts nice but the old bias ply tires are square as a rubik's cube. Interior is pretty dirty, speedo does not work, no keys (you start it with a screwdriver) but has a new battery.

There is one rust hole in the passenger fender and the spot above the driver's rear fender is just barely starting to rust. It looks pretty clean underneath so far. It had a camper on it for years so I am hoping the bed is in decent shape. It came with 4 chrome wagon wheels and 2 white wagon wheels and a bed load of crap that was in the camper. I rubbed a spot on the yellow and it shined right up so maybe there is hope for the paint.

Nice find.Looks like something I would drag home. 

Hey man, that ain't a bad lookin ol truck! Nice snag. I agree with rick, looks like something I would drag to the house. What's your plans for it?

My current plan is to clean it up, get it to run properly, buff out the paint and drive the wheels off it.

I love dentsides and have been prowling for a cheap 460 powered one for a while now to use as a tow vehicle.

Can't wait for it to warm up so I can get busy working on it.

Yeah, 73-79 is the best body style in my opinion. That'll be a great tow rig for sure.

61coon wrote:Yeah, 73-79 is the best body style in my opinion. That'll be a great tow rig for sure.

X2 on the best body style.

61coon wrote:Yeah, 73-79 is the best body style in my opinion. That'll be a great tow rig for sure.

Best body style, solid trucks, easy to work on. For 500 dollars you did great.

I do love the old truck's. That is one reason I put the 87 up for sale. I found a 66 short bed 3/4 ton 4X4 that I am interested in. No money to fund a new project with a sale.

My son has been looking for one like that to tinker with. Good find

Froze my butt off taking some more pics. The junk in the bed is the remnants of a cab-over camper. It is still bolted to the bed floor.



Found some of the trim buried in the bed.


and some F-100 emblems, a replacement passenger mirror, the ashtray and a brand new distributor cap from who know's when. lol


Duraspark distributor....unexpected. Looks added on from the condition of the wiring. Duraspark box actually says "Made in USA" on it.


Motor



New master cylinder


Gigantic two piston brake calipers. I was really taken back when I looked under there and they were so huge.


It has the optional dual front shock setup.


Dana 60. The tag is still on the diff and it says it's a 3.54 ratio. I was SUPER happy to find that it was not 3.73 or 4.10's.


The bottom of the truck looks really clean. There is surface rust on the floor pan, but I did not see any rust through anywhere. The bottom of the motor and trans have the typical dry crust associated with something 40 years old. Body mount rubbers and radius arm bushings all look pretty decent. I did not notice it before, but it has a front sway bar tucked up in there too.

I'm liking this thing more and more everytime I look at it.

It's a whopping 9 degrees outside right now. Sounds like a good day to go to the wrecking yard and see what they have. Supposed to be 40 tomorrow.... I hope so.

Nice. Even has old Texas Truck tags with the old stickers on them. Was it a Camper or Trailer special? Did it have dual batteries? Check the radiator and see if it has 3 or 4 rows, they made both with the large top tank? May have a Trac Loc or Power Loc in that Dana 60 if you are lucky?

It is a Camper Special. From what I've read, the only way to positively ID a Camper Special is if your truck has this connector wired into the harness It is for the camper's interior and clearance lights. Found mine yesterday by accident.



Got the bed cleaned out and jumped up and down in it. The suspension barely moved.    I mean like 1/2" at most and I weigh 200lbs.

Might need to remove a leaf or 2. Yowza.

On the super duty Modine radiators, behind the top tank, if one row is vacant, it is a 4 row, if two rows are not used it is a 3 row. Neigherbors kid just got a 79 Trailer Special and it had the dual battery option. Good to know about the wire plug on the camper specials, learn something new everyday. Does it have a two piece driveshaft? I think this is part of the HD features also?

It does have a two piece driveshaft, but man if it did not it would be a long sucker.

  looks like its all still together.

BigBlockRanger wrote:It does have a two piece driveshaft, but man if it did not it would be a long sucker.

My F150 has a single shaft. I bent it horseing around off road, and had a new one made with pipe used for deisel trucks, at the driveshaft shop. It's heavy but solid. Did you decide on a carburator yet?

No I have not. I have a known good 950hp I might bolt on just to trouble shoot with.

Did it warm up enough for you to work on it anymore? I would throw your 950 on it and a new set of spark plugs in and drive it a little. Looks like its been parked awhile and needs some exercise to loosen up.

I know this isn't the classifieds but if anyone is interested I have a 1971 F-250 Camper Special I would sell. It is a solid body(no cancer) but not perfect. If anyone is interested I will give more info. It does need to be redone. $750

supervel45 wrote:

BigBlockRanger wrote:It does have a two piece driveshaft, but man if it did not it would be a long sucker.

My F150 has a single shaft. I bent it horseing around off road, and had a new one made with pipe used for deisel trucks, at the driveshaft shop. It's heavy but solid. Did you decide on a carburator yet?

Did some trading with a buddy for a Speed Demon 750 vac sec. Have not installed it yet though.

^^^ Those carbs are a pretty decent deal for a street/tow rig.... Good trade