1978 Ford F150 Custom 4x4 review from North America

Nothings failed on it, they called this the Golden Age of Ford for a reason.

I bought this truck from a farmer a little while back. It has always been my dream truck and it has been everything I wanted and more.

It is a standard cab short bed. 351m engine with 76k original miles. C6 tranny that shifts perfect. 9" rear end. Dana 44 full floating front axle. Originally full time 4x4 that had manual locking hubs put in awhile back to give it a 4x2 option. Of course it has the 4x4 floor shifter, none of that push button 4x4 crap.

This truck fires right up every time. It is easy to work on, the easiest part being that I rarely have to work on it, and when I do it's either an oil change or I'm adding something for fun.

I have 31/10.5/15 tires on it right now, thinking about going to 33s. I have taken it off road a few times, not any of that ridiculous stuff some people do where you are biting off more than any truck can chew just to get your rig stuck and spend 2 hours trying to tow it out. I just take it on trails, through mud, through the woods, etc. Hot, cold, dry, wet, it doesn't seem to matter. I have never had to put it in 4 wheel low, 4 wheel high walks me through anything I attempt.

The truck is rough cosmetically, since I got it from a farmer it was a work truck, and looks like it. But mechanically it's flawless. I can't decide if I want to fix it up just a little bit so it looks decent, or let it show its battle scars. Both options are honorable.

This truck only has a 2brrl carburetor, but with the way it screams and pushes you into the seats when you bury your foot in the gas, you'd think it was a 4brrl.

A lot of people don't want to believe this, but I get 15-18 mpg in this truck. They tell me I should only be getting 5-8, not 15-18, but its not complicated to estimate gas mileage. I will fill the tank, go 100 miles, then fill it again, depending on the driving I was doing it takes around 5.5 or 6.5 gallons to fill it back up, give or take 10ths of a gallon. That equals out to 15-18 mpg the way I ad it up.

I love everything about this truck, the style, the rugged heavy duty, "over built" way it's put together, the ease of working on it, and how cheap the parts are. This truck is 30 years old, runs like it's new, and I bet it will still be worth keeping around 30 more years from now.