Got an email earlier today, from Ford, introducing the '18 F150. Looks like the trend to jewelry continues. Only thing I noticed that might be interesting is a new 3.3L gas engine and a 3L diesel.
Haven't had my "new F150 for 5 whole months yet. Still kinda missing my '85 with the straight 6 300ci engine and 5 speed transmission. Excepting rust, it was indestructable, and always got me home.

Wouldn't the '85 300ci have been a straight 6?

Seems like there is a gap in my info base here - what idid Ford call that 300 ci straight 8 engine. Was it gasoline or diesel fueled?

That's what I was thinking. Ford hasn't made a straight 8 in a long, long time.

You do hear lots of good things about those old ford inline 6's tho

4.9 Straight 6 Gas Torque Engine...crap for fuel mileage though. No better than a 302 IMO

Yup, it was a straight 6. Lots of torque tied to a great transmission.

In 1989 when I joined the Fire Company in NE PA, I had a Chevy C10 with a 350 V8, and one other guy had a Mazda 4 cyl. Every other member of the Fire Company had a Ford 150/250 4x4 with the 300 six cylinder engine. Zero drive line issues. The biggest issue I remember was a recall for trucks with grey/silver paint that peeled. And the local dealer that sold every one of those trucks stood behind them and repainted every truck that had peeling paint. Zero gack.

I bought a new 1979 Ford F-150 4wd that had the 300 CI 6 cylinder engine. It had a 4 speed tranny, and that thing would out pull most V-8's, especially the Chevy 4wd's with a 350 engine and auto tranny. BUT...and a very big but it is, that truck was the worst Ford I've ever owned....bar none. First motor was shot at 80,000 miles. Second lasted about 20,000 more, although it was used when I put it in. I bought a rebuilt engine the third time, and it lasted for maybe 20-25,000 more miles. I used it as farm truck, but really never used it all that hard. Contrast that to my 2000 Ford Ranger with a 4.0 that's got a 192,000 on it. My experience with the 300 6 cylinder was not good.

Local Ford dealer was advertising a New Ford Raptor F150 their ad stated only $91,500....OMG

I had a 92 F150, a basic truck 2WD, single cab and short bed. 4.9L inline 6. By then they had fuel injection and overdrive trans. The trans eventually started slipping around 180k, but the engine never used oil. I sold it to an employee and he was delighted to have it.

The 300 six was durable and had decent torque. In a pickup it started running out of breath above about 75 mph. And it wasn't particularly efficient. It got about 15 mpg. Do did my 98 supercab 4x4 with a 220 hp 4.6L V8. So does my 2004 Supercab 4x4 with a 300hp 5.4

My 2014 Ecboost 4x4 gets 17-18, and has a pile more power than any of the above

I looked at a new Ford in the showroom the other day while waiting for my Dodge to get serviced. Over 60 grand. 4 times what our first house cost, and it was no hovel.

I don't see how anyone can even think about buying a new truck now, but I guess there are those that the price is no object.

I hope it rots on his lot, Fuggin ridiculous pricing on vehicles. I forget the exact figures now, but I read where built into the price on every vehicle is a certain amount to cover TV advertising. As often as they all run ads, especially Toyota & General Motors, it has to be substantial.

I had a '68 F150 with the 240 straight 6. It was identical to the 300 except for a shorter stroke. Except for the rods, all parts were interchangeable. While it had less power than the 300, it was still a very reliable engine. I had way over 200k on it when I traded it.

Let my '85 with the 300ci straight six go with 176,000 miles on it. Still running strong and I never had a problem with it.
Since had one with a 302 V8, pretty much the same story.
Now trying one with a 3.5L Eco, and hoping.
Geez this new stuff comes with a lot gizmos I didn't know I needed, and I'm still discovering "features."

True, but then again I was once eager to make $5.00/hour

And the real fun starts when the warranty runs out and you need to pay for repairs on them new features. I read that the 2018 trucks would also shut off the engine when/every time you stop, that alone would be a deal killer for me.

Had a pop up add from the local BMW dealer recently. I can get a pretty good BMW(not a little "entry-level " model) for less than the new truck I want.

Thats interesting on the paint. Every 2001 Ford truck I know that has the same red as mine, has the seal coat failing, and NO recall. Tough [bleep]. Kind of makes me want to say screw Ford. But i"m not trying GM again after gettting actual junk from them a few times... I'm not a dodge person. So its othermarket or ford I guess.

Plus Fords have lived LONG lives for us.

Sure wish they would do something about the failing paint though.

Only thing we've found on "fancy" cars is the repair/maintenance costs for the names is through the roof.

Interesting, I see GM all the time. I don't recall ever seeing a toyota commercial. Will have to watch closer I guess.

I had a 89 with the straight 6/300ci. My standard 5 speed used all the gears, no granny gear. If I needed super low, it was 4WD and had low range. It was a great motor, lots of torque. The next 1999 Ford had a V6 in a F150, and it sucked. Poor power and in an automatic, always shifting.

I had an 85 F 150 I bought new, with the 4 speed goose neck trans shift, the 1st gear being a granny gear... 75 mph was about flat out...

See got 12 mpg, around town and on the freeway... last year of the carb'ed version...but then pulling a trailer and SeaRay on it that weighed 8,000 pounds, she got 11.9 mpg...

Mine was geared with like 4:10s, 4 WD.... plenty of those at most dealerships in MN, especially in the rural Ford Dealers.. they moved them for $200 over dealer invoice where I bought mine...

I had the grey and silver paint on mine, that started pealing early... dealer repainted the truck, and sent Ford the bill.

Mine was made over there in St Paul, IIRC...

Was a solid truck the couple years I owned it... sold it when I sold my boat... as that is what I had bought it for.

Wore tires out fast with that I Beam suspension tho, had to rotate them about every 2000 miles to get any life out of it...

Thing sure had torque tho... why farmers bought them...

Was pulling out at about about 6 PM one night on one of the boat ramps on Lake Minnetonka...was next on deck and some guy in a same vintage truck with 2 WD Dualey, and 460 CI stenciled on his bug guard, was trying to pull out a boat that was probably illegal to have on the road due to its size...

the ramp was big enough for 3 people to usually pull out a boat the size of my 24 ft SeaRay. Said he was pulling the boat out for the season and was towing it a mile to a dealership and they were going to have to tear the engine down for repairs...

With being 2 WD, having city tires on it, the angle of the ramp, and being wet, all his truck was doing was smoking tires, and going no where...there were 20 other trucks lined up to pull their boats out, it was Sunday night.

People were getting pretty irritated, as was I.. since I was next on deck, I offered to unhook my trailer, hook onto his trailer and give it a try....he was frustrated enough to try anything... so they let the boat back into the water, and he pulled the trailer up...

I hooked it onto my Ford, backed down and they winched the boat up onto the trailer....and secured it...

I had put my truck into 4 wheel low lock, slipped the trans into 1st granny gear and gave the engine about 1200 rpms...

the gearing and the torque off that 300- 6 just walked that boat and trailer right up the ramp... never spun a tire or anything else...

Lot of cheering, the guy was excited and asked how big of a motor did I have in mine.... since he was so excited about his 460, I didn't have the heart to tell him it was a 6 cylinder...he was having enough of a bad day....

did do a drive down to St Louis and back in mine, and going down old US 63 from Rochester... 2 lane farm road...

just did 45 mph the entire way down and back...engine was only turning 2000 rpms instead of the usual 3000 it turned at 60 mph.... instead of 12 mpg, I got 19 mpg out of that engine...with two 19 gallon tanks, it had pretty decent fuel range.. sold that truck used and almost got as much for it as I paid for it... bought it for 12,500 and sold it for 10,500... having put 40,000 miles on it...

old designed motor, but one hell of a low end torque... great for farm use...

I purchased a New Ford straight 6 with manual trans and 4 wheel drive years back and this was the worst truck I have ever own for gas mileage. Plus you could hear it rust on a quite night. Sold it and never looked back.

Pickup trucks like so many vehicles are getting overloaded with bells and whistles beyond what is necessary. It all comes crashing down on your checkbook when they start to break after the warranty period.
The consumer needs to resist this unneeded sophistication.

Brother bought a used 81 model.... it was ones that they made after the Movie "Urban Cowboy" came out and everyone was wearing cowboy hats/boots and thought they needed a "truck"...

Darn thing was built on a station wagon frame, had a 247 rear axle ratio, and the trans was a three speed with a 4th overdrive... darn thing was turning mega low RPMs on the freeway for fuel mileage...

but it was so high geared, even the torque off the 300 6 could not maintain 70 mph in OD, when going up one of those Minnesota "mountains" on I 94 or 35....

any incline at all ( and they aren't that big in MN), and that thing would loose speed drastically...

F 100 Ranger.. Urban Cowboy Special is what I called it..

Real POS... we did have to replace the motor tho, piston slap from being lugged all the time...

Ended up with a 1958 motor that had been rebuilt... how cow, compared to the lack of horse power in the 1981 engine...that 1958 spec motor had plenty of get up and go..

and even the crap gearing on that truck wasn't an issue.. compression ratio on the 58 was a lot higher than the 81...

compression specs on the 81 were about 130 lbs across the board... the 58 had 180 or 190 IIRC...maybe the rebuilders put more into it that the factory specs...

the shop that installed the engine out in Eden Valley, ended up buying my brothers truck when he wrecked it in a fender bender.. just to get that engine...

I had only one Ford, an '89 with the 302 V-8 and five-speed manual. It got 16 mpg and I drove it for more than a decade. It's major fault was that it ate clutches. The engine was flawless.

My old 300ci straight 6 flipped the speedometer twice.
When I sold it the rest of the truck had rotted away and the powertrain was the only remaining good piece of it.

3.0 diesel with 10 speed... sounds promising

Lived in a rural farming community at the time. This particular dealer was about 20 miles down the road in another rural farming community. However, the owners had a good level of integrity that led to a good measure of their repeat and word-of-mouth business. They acknowledged that there was an issue with the factory paint. IIRC, the only caveat was that they would only schedule one or two of the warranty jobs per week so they could keep up with paying customers. As a result they had a waiting list. However, if you were "on the list" it would eventually be taken care of. Have never owned a Ford in my life. However, if I had stayed in that community, I would have gladly purchased one from that dealer...

Interesting. I had a '95 w/302 and 5spd. Rebuilt the tranny @ ~180K, still roughly 25% of the clutch left but I had that replaced since everything was already out. I didn't ever pull anything heavy with it though and ND is mighty flat so going down the highway you'd find 5th, set the cruise and didn't need brakes until it was time to fill the truck and/or empty your bladder.

Why would anyone want a 200ci Ford pickup?

I had a F150 with the 300 ci straight 6.
It got 12 mpg and had a small gas tank.
Very dependable though.
My 4.6 with 5 speed manual gets 15 city 17 highway.
I was looking at a lot full of 2017 F150s
yesterday. $46,000 take your pick.
The F350 with Lariat Diesel was $64,000.
OMG
I talked to a guy who buys a new one every year.
He says it costs about 10 grand to trade in every year.
He was smiling from ear to ear. He loved his 2017.

This, but then if you think you can afford it carry on.

As a first responder, I do see the benefits of all the safety measures, some of those make you survive but make our world a nightmare, but regardless much safer in wrecks etc...

The rest of the stuff, won't last forever, IE 350K miles plus that I had on my last explorer, and will not be cheap to replace.

True except for BMW that comes with a service contract. I bought a 2014 535d and it came with a 4 yr 50,000 mi service contract. The only thing I pay for is tires. They cover all oil and filter changes plus any other maintenance during that time. Cabin filters, DEF, brakes, etc...

I ended up extending it and the warranty for 7 yrs 90,000 mi. The entire car cost $53,500 with all of it. It was a much better deal than I could get on a lot of vehicles I was looking at and a far nicer car. Plus it gets over 40 mpg on the highway since it is a diesel. Tons of power off the bottom.

I had an 87 F-150 2wd with the 300 straight 6 with a 4 speed. It got 13 mpg no matter what you did. It would pull a bass boat through the hills and maintain speed. But at 80,000 the timing chain came apart. after that pretty much everything on the truck started falling apart.
The trucks everyone makes now are so much better and nicer.

I had a 2013 BMW 535I X-drive(AWD) that I traded off a few months ago. I'm 48, comfortable with a good job, and it's the first real nice vehicle I've ever had. Even at that, it was still less expensive than most pickups I see the locals driving around here. As Longbob mentions, it also came with a service contract where it cost me nothing other than gas and a set of tires for the time I owned it. Expensive, yes, but a hell of a nice vehicle that still cost me far less to own than most of the gussied up pickups that nobody actually uses as a truck.

It was a luxury for myself that I can afford so no harm. Meanwhile take my friend's new son in law that's 20, been in the Air Force for six months, and has a baby on the way. What does he do to celebrate graduating Air Force bootcamp? He goes out and finances a $50K pickup then adds $10K worth of bling to it. Now he's wondering why he and his wife have no money, the note on the pickup takes his entire paycheck. He and my friend's daughter are 1000 miles away living on ramen noodles calling home crying about being broke all the time. Completely effing stupid.

Payments....they sell payments, think about this

I read stuff about all the new things in trucks and all the power and such. My truck gets about 16 miles to the gallon and starts every morning. That is all I expect from a truck. It's a 97 F150 and only has about 330,000 miles on it so I ain't the best when it comes to new stuff. A 46k half ton truck interests very little. 91k for a Raptor interests me even less.

Because it'll do everything the majority of truck owners need their truck to do, while hopefully getting better fuel mileage.