This is the 7.3 Ford diesel. It is running, it is near original, and it is classic.
I bought this in 2011 as a vacation vehicle and mostly I've run it in the summer. Lots of time with the family with the cruise set to 75 mph, most of the towing on the first day when I bought it back from Ohio to New Jersey (with my 1997 Volvo on a U-Haul).
The seller in Ohio told me his Uncle bought it out of public service and used it to pull his bass boat (still in Florida). In 2010 it was re-titled to a friend in New York when the owner was looking at bankruptcy, and then went to me nine months later after he died. There's an antennae post on the roof and the connection inside I've never used.
I had a parts guy at a Ford parts counter tell me it was custom paint, and he did not have a color code for it.
The frame is intact, everything runs. The under-body paint was in pretty good condition when I bought it. I have taken care not to run it in winter when salt is down on the road. As of my last look I didn't see any joints swelling and no evidence of more than surface rust. I sprayed a bunch of rust converting primer in the summer 2024. I also sprayed Rustoleum behind the wheel wells in 2024, back around the tail lights. This summer I sprayed four and a half cans of 3M under coat on any place I could reach with a wire wheel on a grinder. And I still am not running it much or in the salt.
Two accidents: one left rear wheel well which I had a shop repair and one that wrinkled the right passenger door before I owned it. I've never done anything about the door. It needs paint and it is priced accordingly.
We also took a spring break trip down to Cape Cod and back in April 2025. Everything was running fine except the serpentine belt was shredding, but did make it to Cape Cod and back. I replaced the idler pulleys and the serpentine belt is fine after 100 miles or more.
I have put up some video of the frame on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@davidschierholz4178/videos
Most recently I replaced the pulley on the power steering pump after installing it backwards two years ago. I took the truck down to Baltimore January 17-18, and it is working great! 350 miles.
