At $12,500, Is This 1964 Ford F-100 A Patina’d Peach?

While today’s Nice Price or No Dice F-100 looks completely old-school, secretly it has a more modern five-speed behind its 292 Y-block V8. We’ll have to decide if we like its also-modern price tag.

Eddie Harding was a pianist and singer best remembered as an on-again, off-again member of the British blues band the Spencer Davis Group. After leaving that band for the first time in 1968, Harding embarked on a solo career, releasing his first album in 1972, titled “Home Is Where You Find It.” We found a home this past Friday: a massive 1996 Winnebago Vectra Grand Tour WQ-P Class A motorhome. 

No doubt, if Harding were still alive and touring, such a home-on-the-road would make for a comfortable tour vehicle for between-gig decompression. At $7,500 to buy, the Winnebago was affordable even on a busker’s wages. Many of you commented on the myriad of potential landmines an old motorhome might have, but that didn’t sway the vote. Ultimately, that resulted in a solid 74% ‘Nice Price’ win.

It’s arguable that the title of “Best-selling Vehicle in America,” long-claimed by Ford for its F-Series trucks, is something the company would fight to the death to maintain. The F-Series has held that honor for so long that it just seems like a pat part of the automotive industry milieu. A lot of effort has been poured into the F-Series lineup over the years to maintain that record, with the big pickups probably accounting for the largest share of Ford’s R&D spend here in the U.S.

Sometimes there have been misfires along the line in the series’ evolution. One of those occurred with the introduction of the fourth generation of F-branded trucks, when Ford got the bright idea to build unit-body pickups for the F-100 and F-250 lines. Rumors started circulating that overloading the trucks could cause the unit body to bend, jamming the doors in their jambs. As a result, after three model years, the “Integrated Pickup” was no more. Happily, this 1964 F-100 came the year after that discontinuation, and rides on a traditional ladder frame that carries its bed separate from the cab like a normal pickup.

While 1963 was the last year for the “Integrated Pickup,” this model year would prove the last for the 292 Y-Block V8 in U.S. market pickups. The Y-Block was first introduced in 1954 as a replacement for Ford’s fabled flathead V8 and earned its nickname “Y-Block” for its deep skirt and tall heads. Available in multiple displacements over the course of its career, the Y-Block powered everything from Mercurys and Lincolns to the fabulous Thunderbird.

According to the ad, this F-100’s 292 comes with a factory four-barrel carburetor and ram horn exhaust manifolds. Originally, that engine would have fed a transmission with no more than four gears. This truck, however, has been updated with a five-speed manual from an ’80s Mustang. The ad makes no mention of whether the rear-end ratio was also changed to accommodate the extra gears. 

Other updates include an aluminum radiator and what the seller describes as “Period correct Craegor wheels.” Both the original transmission and oil bath air cleaner will be included with the truck in the sale. Additionally, the next owner will get a grille and front fenders from a ’65 truck as a parting gift.

As far as appearances go, this standard bed F-100 is a bit of a mixed bag. The two-tone teal-and-white paint has a pretty nice patina, and a few bumps and bruises ensure people will know this is a work truck, not a poseur. That theme continues in the cab. Most obviously, the bench seat has one of those great serape-style seat covers on both the bottom and back. That’s matched with a steering wheel wrap on the skinny three-spoke tiller that seemed to be all the rage fifty years ago. 

The rest of the cab is pleasantly spartan, right down to the instrument cluster, which comprises a single gauge housing the speedo, gas, and temp gauges, and lights for charging and oil pressure. A more modern stereo is housed in the metal dash, but it’s not evident where the speakers are located. Thankfully, they are not cut into the doors. An S-shaped shift lever obviously gives center-seat passengers a little thrill on the road, and there’s an upturned sour cream container on the floor that has me all kinds of curious to know its story.

It’s safe to say that old pickups are having their moment right now. Prices are all over the board, with pristine restorations often going for over $30K. This one comes with a clean title, some acceptable wear and tear, and, if sold to an Idahoan, a set of original 1964 black-and-white license plates. The asking price for that appealing package is $12,500.

What do you think about this F-100 for that kind of cash? Yes, that’s more than you might expect one to pay for such an old and primitive truck, but as we discussed, the market for classics like this is pretty hot right now.

Could you see someone paying that $12,500 price tag for this truck in its present state? Or is that just too much for something this old and spartan?

You decide!

East Idaho, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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