The Ford Courier…wow. There’s a throwback. Growing up in Washington State, we had a neighbor lady that owned a white Courier, and I can’t be any more blunt about how much I despised that little truck. In the mid-1990s, it was well-worn and honestly had held up pretty well, but there was the rattly four-cylinder that couldn’t pull a greased string out of…well, you know where, the unbelievably ugly six-lug wheels with no poverty caps on, and an interior whose brightest feature was the eight-year-old mini-calendar stuck to the dash that was never scraped off. For several springs, I had to deal with that truck, because I was farmed out to help this kind older lady with her gardening hobby. What that meant was that I was moving literal tons of plant life, the majority of which were unique and rare irises, from the truck to the dirt, with the only benefits being my unorthodox workout I’d receive and the ability to raid her fruit trees at will.

Time has a strange way of making you see things in a different light, doesn’t it? I still have no real use for a stock 2.3L four cylinder, but knowing what I know about turbocharging could make that fun. The right set of poverty caps on those ugly-ass wheels could look pretty good, especially with some paint, and with a detail here and a switch-up there, that overrated work-truck that I abhorred as a kid growing up could be quite respectable. With the bench seat from a Cadillac, a five-speed manual to make driving that much better, and a nice altitude adjustment, this little Courier is putting it’s best face forward. It’s an honest truck with the right touches, and we dig that no matter what it is.

Craigslist Link: 1979 Ford Courier