Currently a '95 F150 and a '97 F250 (I really like the 9th gen F-trucks... the last of the "old school" beasts). I don't "need" them, and would not dream of driving them every day. But when they can be useful, they are awesome. I don't think I'd like to try and get by without them.
That is a nice combo. 7.3L in the '97? I have a similar but less desirable pair - 93 F150 4x4 with the 5.0L and T18, and an '02 F250 Super Duty with the 5.4L, 2WD, and NO A/C... easily the most unwanted SD configuration out there, LOL. Both are strippo trim work trucks and cost me almost nothing, since they are not of interest to folks who want a pickup to do commuter duties. The '02 is easily the best, hardest-working, least-needy vehicle I have ever owned and it even gets half decent mileage, 15-16 on the open road unloaded. I bought it from a surplus auction for under a grand with 180k on it, put a set of brakes on and changed the fluids, and since then it has seen 50k hard miles, most of them towing or loaded to GVWR. Other than losing an alternator in the middle of a snowstorm in Wyoming once a couple years ago, with a trailer behind of course, it has asked for nothing, it just runs. Another side benefit of this truck is that between the lack of A/C in the summer and lack of 4x4 the rest of the year, nobody else ever asks to borrow it...
The '93 is the "cooler" truck and the 9th gen trucks are deserving of their classic status, I agree.... but I think you can also kind of make an apt comparison of the 9th gen to an AHU/1Z generation TDI, where the Super Duty can be compared to an ALH powered Mk4.
The later platform seems to be a highly evolved, perfected design that benefited from a lot of engineering effort and learning from the previous design, and a clean sheet of paper in most areas. The earlier truck has the classic look and feel, but inherits a lot of limitations and annoyances, IMHO, from the legacy chassis it uses... Has greater tendency for rust, common for door handle problems, engines (especially the Windsor gasser V8s) that are always leaking something somewhere, areas where service access is harder than it needs to be, ... etc. Paper gaskets all around in the motors where the later engines use modern seal technology. All sounds kind of familiar like a MkIII right?? Plus there's always one sender or pump that's dead with the dual tanks....
The later chassis solves all those problems and I think the 2v Triton 8 and 10 cyl engines must be some of the most underappreciated drama-free workhorses ever sold, as long as you get the spark plug torque right. But you can argue they're a little charmless compared to the 9th gen.
The big point as we are all saying, though, is that it's one thing to have trucks like this that come out of the yard once every few weeks to do some work but drive a high-mileage car for the rest.... and completely a different deal to be driving one to work every day hauling nothing but itself at 12 mpg.
Its amazing how many people think they need and buy a new full size truck and only use it as a truck for 4 times per year, and get 15 mpg year around.
Yeah not to mention every time you need tires, brakes, oil change, insurance, etc.... you're paying for it there too. And if you get into a wreck, the damage you'll do to someone else's property (or injury, god forbid) will be greater several times over also. You could argue that the waste is not just with the fuel cost.
What really sucks is, the vehicle I'd really like to have, that would be a good all around workhorse and if necessary could be driven a bit more without worry, is not sold here:
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Yeah. Now that some of the early T4 platform sinka and doka trucks are importable under the 25 year rule, I am tempted to try to bring one in and swap the 1Z in my beater B4 when the rust finally takes it off the road. It is true that one of these, even with 90hp, could do 95% of the tasks a 1/2t or 3/4t domestic pickup are needed for and would be a reasonable proposition for commuter use too. The exception would be heavy towing though.