One of the earliest memories I have of riding around with my dad involved his Ford F-250 that he owned. I’m 90% sure it was a 1968, if not it was certainly that bumpside body style, and it was a manual transmission truck, white, with the styled dog dish caps and the typical blatty glasspack-tinted exhaust note of the early 1980s. I couldn’t tell you when it was or how old I was when this ride took place, I just know that for a long time, that white Ford defined “truck” to me. It didn’t have to be this big, flashy, overdone monster that was more Lincoln than pickup. It didn’t need to be anything more than a very mobile wheelbarrow, just comfortable enough, just big enough, plenty rough enough to handle whatever he needed it to do. It’s the way I still expect a truck to be today, and it’s why I’m disappointed at trucks of the last twenty years or so. Something got lost in translation.
Digging through the Craigslist ads in Denver turned up a gem in Parker, Colorado: this 1971 Ford F-250 that is very similar to Dad’s rig in overall feel. The 360ci FE big-block isn’t a fire-starter…215 horsepower and 375 ft/lbs of torque, as measured pre-SAE, was simply “enough”. A four-speed manual trans got the job done then and gets the job done now. The interior is just about literally mint, the underhood much more sanitary that you would normally expect, and even the vintage bed topper is spotless. 
In my personal lexicon, this is “Grandpa’s Truck”. Meaning that this is a well-optioned example that had the necessary items, nothing too frivolous, and was kept as pristine as possible thanks to someone’s fastidious cleaning habits. At nearly fifty years old, this truck barely has any visible age on it at all. Some would consider it a toy or an investment at this point in time. I would consider it a duty to bring it out early on Saturday mornings to go into town for a nice breakfast, before getting started with the weekend’s chores. Even if that’s all you do with it, you owe it to yourself to detach and enjoy some analog motoring.
At that price, it’s already gone. What a sweeeet truck!!!!
What a great price! I am going to have a truck similar to that very soon.
my brother had a 70 with the same drivetrain i took it to trade school body worked an painted it,he put new tires on it they were split rims,truck was perfect,solid, a good looking ford truck.i feel the same way thats when trucks were trucks.we left it in a park an ride lot one day,this was about 30 years ago now, came back around 4:30 and it was gone.called the cops that was useless,some dick got away with it.
Ditch the boat rack, add some day 2 aluminum wheels, and put a 428 Mustang on an open car trailer behind it. Perfect vintage race rig.
MMMM love those bumpsides my 68 mercury is the one I always regreted getting rid of