1978 Ford F-150 Tops Cheap-truck Challenge
While most entries in this low dollar off-road contest require major mods, this Ford F-150 only needed tires.
The guys over at Motor Trend‘s highly entertaining Dirt Every Day never fail to provide us with some awesome truck-based content. But perhaps the coolest series they’ve done to date is known as the Cheap Truck Challenge. The in-house contest gives staffers $2,000 to find and buy whatever kind of off-road vehicle they wish, and an additional $2,000 to spend on mods. And out of this year’s group, we’ve got an obvious favorite. This super sweet 1978 Ford F-150.
This year’s Cheap Truck Challenge lineup was rather diverse, as it always is. There was a newish Toyota Land Cruiser, and of course the requisite Jeep Cherokee. But an editor by the name of Harry Wagner captured our hearts with his choice – an old school Ford F-150. And well, maybe his blonde mullet, too. As Wagner points out, “they don’t make them like this anymore. It’s got a V8, manual locking hubs, manual transmission, high-pinion Dana 44 front axle, and a 9-inch rear axle.” And that’s just the start.
But oh, what a good start it is. And because this Ford F-150 had all that great off-road kit to begin with, Wagner was able to spend his entire $2k mod budget on a set of massive off-road tires. As he describes it, “if Cheap Truck were homecoming, my truck would be homecoming king. And then it would stuff Rick’s Cherokee in its locker.” And we agree, ready the crown!
While everybody else made a ton of modifications to their rides, Wagner’s Ford F-150 was already good to go as is. Which proves an important point. We often see people worship Jeeps and Toyotas for their inherent off-road ability. But an old school Ford truck is every bit, if not more capable right out of the box!
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