3 days ago
1971 Ford F-100 Pickup Is Today's Pick on Bring a Trailer
The fifth-generation F-series ran from the 1967 to 1972 model years.
This was from the era when the F-series was a real working pickup, long before it became America's favorite means of personal transport.
This truck is nicely presented, looking just as it did back in the day.
By the end of the 1970s, the Ford F-Series was the best-selling truck in America. A couple of years later, it was the best-selling vehicle, a title it has retained for more than four decades. But lets wind the clock back to the beginning of the 1970s, when the F-Series was just a truck, but a charming one.
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This 1971 F-100 Sport Custom is up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). It's so square-jawed handsome it could take over the lead role on Yellowstone now that Kevin Costner has bowed out. It's a time capsule in a cowboy hat, what with it's Boxwood Green over Seafoam Green two-tone paint and its steel wheels with hub caps. (Extra points to the seller for resisting the urge to go the restomod route with a lift kit and oversized wheels and tires.)
This good ol' Ford was sold new in Oregon City in (you guessed it) Oregon. Situated just south of Portland, Oregon City marks the end of the Oregon Trail, and is filled with folks whose ancestors successfully dodged dysentery and took up forestry and farming.
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A '71 F-100 would have been a lot nicer ride down the Oregon Trail than a Conestoga wagon (lack of gas stations notwithstanding) but it's a pretty basic truck by modern standards. The Sport Custom was a mid-tier grade, with a rubber floor covering and a simple bench seat. This example's luxuries are limited to a three-speed automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and an aftermarket cassette player. You're gonna want to get some Conway Twitty tapes for that.
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Under the hood is a 360-cubic-inch V-8, and much recent mechanical servicing has been done, including replacing the water pump, the fuel pump, drive belts, the battery, and some gaskets. Elsewhere in the truck, the shocks have been replaced, and the braking system gone through with new parts. It should drive as honest as it looks.
At 54 years old, this F-100 has earned a quiet retirement, but there is a spray-in bedliner, so it could earn its keep around the house hauling mulch or supplies for weekend DIY projects.
The auction ends on June 6.
Brendan McAleer
Contributing Editor
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. Read full bio
