djhives

I will add also that I like the old trucks because the newer ones look like ! You look at new cars and truck today and it looks like a designed them. Everything is overly 'aggressive looking' rather than just 'cool' or 'beautiful' - take ANY car and compare the beauty and coolness of the old/original to the bastardized insecure newer version.

Im so sick of the word 'aggressive' to describe cars and trucks. I didnt say words like aggressive when I was a kid playing with toy cars and hotwheels -- I said stuff like "COOL CAR" and "THAT LOOKS SO COOL!"

Today people want war-machines to drive... I swear if someone desinged a car based on the common porcupine it would be a hit. Ben-Hur Roman chariot wheel lug spades, etc. Tank turrets, and don't forget the air-horn so you can have road rage while inside your ORB.


I digress -- that was a bit of a rant.

I like the old ford trucks because I look at it and I say 'thats a TRUCK'

but when you look at this:



...when I look at ^ that I can't help but say to myself "what is the MOTIVE" behind this crime.

How crazy can we PUFF OUT the fenders and bumpers and quarter panels before it get's too ridiculous.



I like the ALL-TRUCK look of the older ones. With no "poofed-out" body panels to make it look 'bigger' than what it already was naturally.



With new car design, all I think of is this:



...the car arching its back to make itself seem more 'aggressive' that in really is.

The no-nonsense unpretentious look of the old ford trucks is what makes them so COOL to me. I WISH ---- *WISH* car manufacturers would go back to the basics on design again.

Today is almost like the 50's when car designers were getting out of control with that FIN they used to put along the rear tail lights:




Excess with STYLE is a good thing in my opinion - but excess 'aggression' simply detract from what cars are all about -- FUN! i don't want to have an "AGRESSIVE" time when I'm out driving - I want to have a FUN time while I'm out driving...

Thats my VOTE for these beloved older ford trucks!

--rant over!

Bibo1985

True dat...
Just to add fuel to the firey rant, the overly technological aspect of "creature comforts" bugs the hell outta me. Creature comforts should be simple; seat, arm rest (optional) shocks, oh and an operable radio.
If you can talk to your truck, and have it understand you? WTH? Are people seriously to lazy to PUSH the buttons on our navigation systems and CD/DVD/MP3/Blu ray players???
Hell, I'm not even that fond of A/C unless it's 100+ degrees, too cheap to waste the gas
Or having so much computerized $#!+ that it's impossible to turn your own wrenches...

djhives

Great points! Take for instance the original Mazda Miata.

It came with no powersteering, no ac, no radio, no antenna, no cupholder, no power windows, no cruise, no nothing - a purists sports-car -- a super-light RWD topless-dream come true.

Look what it evolved to years later. Today it resembles what back in the 90's I though only a Cadillac or a Lexus should have -- cupholdres, power seats, power windows, power door locks, powersteering, AC, heated seats, heated neck vents, heated steering wheel, LEATHER for crying out loud (hot hot hot), cruise control, climatecontrol, power mirrors.

I think those things are GREAT in a luxury car - but there's something about having a pure feeling in a pure vehicle - and I consider pick up trucks to be pure vehicles. When you sit in your OLD ford you say to yourself "IM IN A TRUCK!" --- go sit in a 2011 F-150 or a 2011 Miata --- your senses are dulled the same way they would be like if you were sitting in a Limousine.

The sensory pleasure of driving a vehicle is being diminished. When you were a kid, when you rode in a truck, you rode in a TRUCK... when you rode in a sports car you were in a sports car... when you rode in moms sedan you were in moms sedan. And when you rode on a bus you rode on a bus. Today they all blend together - I suppose trying to please everyone. But 90% of driving to me is feel... the individual characteristics of the machine.

Don't get me wrong - I think the new luxurious F150s are awesome - I just wish there was a more 'truck like' alternative -- but again that's why WE drive the old fords....

BigGreyBox

I like that I can adjust the timing, replace parts, and do major work without a computer and fancy electronics, just a few wrenches, a timing light, and a few hours. And I too, am a sucker for the hard body lines and shape of the 80-90's trucks. The only newer f150 I would own is the 2003-200? body style before the newest ones. The only reason I like it is because it squared up a bit and had some characteristics from the old ones.

I like that half of my truck is painted in flat black spray paint. I would cry if someone did that to a new truck. But I can scratch mine up all I want and then just spray some more. Hell, it's a truck, they're meant to be used. The older a car gets, the more personality it takes on. My truck has a push button start, a home made paint job, and a slew of parts from other not-so-lucky trucks from the junkyard keeping it going. And I love every bit of it.

hiredman77

I like the older ones because I treat my truck like a big toy and its easy to work on, primitive in technology, and CHEAP to work on.

Its nice knowing I can pick up a new door from the junk yard for $25.

tailgatefisher

I like the fact that they are heavy metal and the trees jump out of my way.

SEMPERFIDELUS8403

I love mine because it is reliable (current broken downess not counted), they have more personality, they are not made out of plastic, actual real metal bumpers, and everything isnt controlled by a computer that costs 10,000 to have replaced. Also, no one makes a truck like mine anymore.... no more manual transmissions. Course hardly anyone knows how to drive one anymore neithar

Rick C

Lets see, I now have a 89 F-150 4x4 with the ol 300 6 cyc, 4 speed trans, just rolled over to 190000 miles.........this makes my 3rd truck with the 300 in it and for some crazy reason I just cant seem to get away from this engine...lol....and all my trucks have been either a 5 speed or 4 speed trans...and of course they have been a 4x4 in which needed in the winter times here...my ol 89 is still a daily driver....
And I really like the idea of the older trucks have better metal, ect in them...
My truck also has the heavyduty front end in it....

Ive been looking at some of the newer models, but man they are high $.....and of course I like the fact that mine is paid for....

wde3477

It's paid for, property taxes run a grand $5 per year, very few other people have one anywhere near like it, and over the years - I've learned what makes it tick, when it doesn't sound quite right, and how to fix it.

As Glen Campbell used to sing, "I love my truck, it's right outside, ain't got much luck, but I sure gotta ride". :-)

trumsey07

i always liked the look of these trucks and just out of school and about to get married 2000 seemed like a heck of a price the previous owner said there was something wrong with it and it sat for over a year for sale.i stopped in a couple times to look at it till one day i dropped the cash and went to get it. found out the positive wire goin to the starter was bad put a new wire on climbed in side and turned the key,and it started rate up waved good buy to the owner and took off. i will never forget the look on there face. these trucks are known for the working ability i use this truck to haul lumber and a job trailer very day and it doesnt let me down. my boss had a 96 like mine and traded it for a 03 avalanch and he complains everytime he gets a scratch and i just laugh i thank god every day for my wife a roof over my head and my ford truck