Good morning! Today is a celebration of cast-iron excess as we look at two good ol’ V8s installed in very different vehicles: one incrediby useful, and one utterly frivolous. But before we do, let’s just take a quick peek at Friday’s results:
Two clear front-runners, and the winner is a surprise to me. I didn’t realize there was still so much love for the X1/9 out there. It’s definitely a cool little car, and I’m glad you all think so, too.
By the way, what do we think of the Friday runoff? Do we want to stick with that, or go back to weirder/more expensive Friday choices? And if we stick with the roundup/recap, do you want a poll? Or just an open discussion about the four? Please let me know what you think in the comments.
“I don’t know what the world may need,” sings David Lowery of Cracker in the song Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now), “but a V8 engine’s a good start for me.” I agree; there really is nothing like the heady throb of a good V8. We may not have invented the V8 engine (that was the French), or been the first to stick one between the frame rails of a car (that was Rolls-Royce), but once we started mass-producing the things (starting with Cadillac, in 1914), we were hooked. And the rest, as they say, is history. So for today’s Shitbox Showdown, to celebrate Independence Day tomorrow, both our contenders are V8-powered. Let’s check them out.
1993 Ford F-250 XLT – $4,800
Engine/drivetrain: 7.5 liter overhead valve V8, four-speed automatic, part-time 4WD
Location: Oakley, CA
Odometer reading: 113,000 miles
Runs/drives? Just fine
Based on sheer numbers alone, one could argue that the Ford F-series trucks are the most American vehicles there are. Ford sells hundreds of thousands of these things every year, in all its various configurations, and shows no signs of slowing down. Add to that the fact that they’re built like tanks, and it’s no wonder there is a Ford truck on damn near every street corner in America (even Winslow, Arizona).
Back in the early 1990s, this was one of the biggest, burliest Ford trucks you could get: the heavy-duty F250, in extended-cab long-bed format. It’s the XLT trim, with four-wheel-drive, and a gigantic seven-and-a-half liter V8 under the hood. That’s 460 cubic inches to you and me. Or three and three-quarter Ford Mavericks, if you prefer. It’s a big engine. It doesn’t put out a ton of horsepower – only 230 – but it produces almost 400 pound-feet of torque. Need to pull a gigantic boat out of the water? Have a big-ass trailer? Gotta pick up and deliver the entire contents of a Home Depot to a job site? This is your truck.
The seller says this big Ford runs and drives well. It has a bunch of new parts, good tires, working air conditioning, and it just passed smog. It’s ready to go. The interior looks pretty nice, and the outside isn’t too bad either, except for a little peeling clear coat. You wouldn’t want to commute in it – it probably gets ten miles per gallon on a good day, and parallel-parking is a pipe dream – but it can handle anything else you can throw at it.
Trucks with more capability than any sane person will ever use are common these days, and they do get used for such mundane purposes as commuting. Back when this truck was built, you didn’t buy the heavy duty big block unless you needed the heavy duty big block. But when it comes to thirty-year-old used trucks, you can only choose from what’s available, and it makes sense to shop on condition rather than spec, and this truck is in nice condition.
1985 Chevrolet Corvette – $4,500
Engine/drivetrain: 5.7 liter overhead valve V8, four-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Seattle, WA
Odometer reading: 118,000 miles
Runs/drives? “Strong,” says the seller
The Chevy Corvette is, use-wise, just about as far away from a pickup truck as you can get. It’s not practical, it’s not efficient, it has zero cargo space, and it can’t really do anything except look cool and go fast. And this one isn’t even all that fast, and the degree to which it looks cool is highly subjective.
Personally, I like this look on a C4. The spoiler and the ground effects are a little silly, but at least they have some provenance – they’re genuine Greenwood pieces, a company that knows a thing or two about Corvette tuning. The black BBS wheels look pretty sharp on there too, though the stock wheels are included as well if you’d prefer.
C4 Corvette engines came in one displacement and one displacement only – 350 cubic inches. This one features tuned-port fuel injection instead of the previous year’s “Cross Fire” dual throttle body injection. It’s good for a reasonably healthy (for 1985) 230 horsepower, and spins the fat rear tires through a 700R4 overdrive automatic. Corvettes of this era did offer a manual, a four-speed with overdrive on the top three gears commonly known as the “4+3,” but personally, having driven early C4s with both transmissions, I prefer the automatic. It just suits the car better, and the 4+3 is kind of a pain in the ass to deal with.
The seller says this car runs and drives “strong,” but needs “a little TLC.” They’re including new power window switches and a new stereo in the sale, so I guess those are included in the needed repairs. But overall, this is about the nicest C4 I’ve seen for this price. You can find them cheaper – if you don’t mind trashed interiors, blown transmissions, or faded paint. This one actually seems useable from the get-go.
So there they are, two good old fashioned V8s, in very different vehicles, with very different purposes. Both of them are ready to drive off, both are low mileage, and neither one looks abused. Which one fits better in your life?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
+1 for the Friday runoff, even though people got this one wrong, because a Crown Vic is always the best answer.
The price on that truck is suspiciously low. Like “bring friends and firearms” suspiciously low.
F250 FTW. Even adding in the $800 in gas and $120 one way airfare and $400 in hotels to drive it home across the country, still a bargain. Hmmm. Giving the wife the side eye and she’s gonna ask me what I’m thinking, I know it… Must. Say. No!
Different use cases, and the Ford is just better for its use case and condition. The ‘Vette would be a good project car as many have stated if that’s your thing, but that Ford can just do it’s thing without any modification. Give me the Ford.
I did enjoy the Friday group of four, but I like the idea Eric McCullough had of different price brackets on different days. There are shitboxes in many different prices ranges.
I actually prefer the ‘vette by a lot but I voted for the truck since I already have a Miata and have more use for the truck.
Corvette all the way over here.
Also, huge points to Mark for the Cracker reference.
The dude has good taste.
It’s a hard choice… The truck is a deal and being a 250 you opt out of the lousy TTB front suspension and get a good old stick axle.
The killer for me is a 460, it’s horrible mileage for so little benefit over the 351 in those years.
Vette for me because it is just cheap enough and ratty enough I wouldn’t feel bad abut gutting it to drop weight an have fun.
AT in the Vette? Well let me pay for my Arizona flood insurance 1st because that is more useful.
For the Friday how about ranking 4-1 and points based on everyones ranking and see if a #2 beats a #1.
The F250 all day. I have a 97 F250 7.3 and can vouch for the mpg seemingly never changing regardless of loaded, pulling, or empty.
As others who have them would probably also attest to, it gets decent (~18, lol) cruising mpg, if 55-60 max mph is stuck to. But the moment you get into 70+ mph territory, you can basically watch the fuel gauge needle continuously dropping.
No way that truck gets even close to 18 unless it’s rolling down hills in neutral.
Realistically I would put that truck more in the 9-11 range. My 6.8l 2wd F250 got 12 and my experience with small block powered trucks of that era run more on the 9mpg end of things.
Yeah, my 94 single cab 460 was in the 8-10 range and my 95 Chevy with the 454 is about the same. The 7.3 was a beast of an engine and relatively economical for what it was, but that’s why those are still commanding $20k+ to this day…
That truck will do literally anything, and there will be parts everywhere for it when it does eventually break.
The Corvette I appreciate as being pre-LT1, but that thing is a headache and a half. Between the body kit and the vaporized clear coat on the rear decklid/quarters, it’s gonna be a cosmetic nightmare. Lots of debris and rust in the engine bay; it’s been sitting a while. The fact that it comes with spare electronic parts makes me nervous.
Take that pickup and baby it until you need to pull the stump of the largest cottonwood tree in the county. Or maybe to haul a less-shitty C4 project home…
Oh and I liked this past Friday format. There’s something about the poll AND discussion that seems fun, and the comparison between all the previous showdowns. Feels like a Friday sort of thing.
I have a better truck than this (2010 RCLB Tundra, 5.7L). I could never justify a ‘vette (Che or Cor), so I’m going Corvette.
BTW, I like the Friday runoff. It gives me a chance to reconsider.
I like both but my gun-to-the-head vote goes to the Ford. Maybe I just like blue.
Why is that truck completely across the country from me?
$5k for a pickup in my area is a 2WD with 200k miles and the frame will probably turn to red dust in a strong gust of wind. Never mind that 95% of them are short bed, crew cab, and I want a long bed for actually hauling weekend warrior homeowner stuff. I don’t need a backseat the size of a Cadillac Fleetwood in my truck. I need a bed for lumber. Don’t care that it gets 10 mpg, it will only be driving to the lumber yard, landscaping supplier, charity donation dropoff, etc.
Don’t mind the Corvette either.
There are no losers here. That F250 is in perfect “Grandpa’s truck” spec. But I have always loved the C4 — and it wouldn’t take long to do a body kit-delete. We’ll take the ‘Vette.
Truck is a bargain. But I’d take both.
Corvette. The BBS RKs are worth half the asking price, and those Greenwood bits from the car’s contemporary era are difficult to find. A fully assembled Greenwood bodykit is a pretty good chunk of change, and this has a complete one. It’s no GR4, but the Aero bodykit’s still a rare thing.
but they look so cheesy and this vette looks a bit shady.
Pretty much all C4 Corvettes that aren’t the Pace Car or 35th Anniversary versions at this point look a bit shady.
Truck. That’s a stout engine and the transmission can be rebuilt by mere mortals. Or beefed up to handle about anything. Plus that interior looks really clean.
Which would you prefer, an apple or an orange? How many full sheets of plywood can the Corvette carry at one time? Truck.
Both are basically trucks, so I’ll take the truck with actual space inside, the Maverick-sized blue thing
Well, I own two trucks now, so the answer is obvious for me. This truck has low miles too. My 92 F350 longbed dually has 198k on it. Running strong. As someone else mentioned, budget for 11 MPG. Mine doesn’t care if pulling a trailer and a camper or empty, still 11 MPG.
These are both extremely not for me. The C4 is, I think, the vette I like least, made worse by the memory of a crappy boss I once had who stored his two c4s (one black, one white) in the two parking spots directly outside the shop.
Voted truck though. I don’t like it, but I understand it
Many would disagree, but I have a soft spot for the C4, just not this C4. I’d prefer to spend a little more to get a better example. The truck is an example of an honest-to-Got pickup truck that’ll do what pickup trucks are supposed to do. At this stage of life, I can appreciate that. Looks like someone kept after it as best they could, that’s worth something as well.
I want a C4 so bad.
The TPI SBC is such an underrated engine because it was saddled with a not exactly great management system and stuck in a PIG of a chassis.
Update the ECM and sensors and you could seriously wake that dumb thing up.
Put that car on a serious diet, ditch all the power interior stuff lots of sound deadening and extraneous crap and it would probably be fun in a package that’s cheap because nobody else wants it.
I’m not a truck guy, but DAMN that truck is clean inside!!!
Also, I’m NOT a muffler delete guy. If it gives me a headache or a heart attack when you drive past, then you’re being an ass.
Truck for the win!
That’s a good deal on the Ford, we have the exact same model and generation. They’re cheap to insure and will drive like a Cadillac with a yard of gravel (or a camper) in the bed. Remember to budget 50¢/mile for fuel.