My Newest Bullnose

[myrl883]

I bought this a couple of weekends ago to build, because I wanted another SWB. After getting it cleaned up a bit, it turned out to be rustier than I had hoped. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it right now, unless I use it for a donor to convert my other flareside to a 4x4.
Lots of things about this truck that strike me as really odd. First, it has a build date of 09/86, and it's still a bullnose, not a brick. Other than that, it's a Lariat trim level - it has all of the Lariat velour interior trim, the exterior mouldings, everything... BUT, it has no A/C, nor power windows or locks, or an automatic. It's a 302 truck with a NP435. Lariat? Really? LOL
It just seems like an oddball. Either that, or I'm not as familiar with bullnoses as I thought!

[salans7]

I believe it also has the highest GVWR offered on an F150 4x4, and on a shortbed with a 302 as well. Definitely a weird truck.

[Frank Wyatt]

That is the GVWR on my SSLWB F150. Being a FSSB, it must/would ride like a log truck.

[Gary Lewis]

I would have bet that by Sept of '86 they were producing 87's.  Obviously not.  I wonder if they shifted to the next year's truck on a plant-by-plant basis so they could still deliver some of the earlier trucks if ordered?

Speaking of ordering, it was ordered by someone in the Seattle district.  And they obviously wanted the looks of a Lariat XLT but w/o the optional things like A/C and auto.  That is unusual.

[thefraze_1020]

Please please show more pictures.

It drives me nuts when I go through Craigslist and eBay and every other ad says "rare" somewhere in the ad. As if to jack up the price...

But, I seriously think by the sound of it, this may well be a somewhat rare truck.

[myrl883]

Just as a sidenote, my son bought an '85 that is nearly identical except for the exterior color. His is also a Lariat with no power options or A/C, and a 302/4 speed.

We found the trucks not more than 20 miles apart in Washington state. I'm thinking that they must have been ordered and sold by the same dealer.

His is a total rust bucket, but he bought it because it was so cheap he said that he couldn't walk away from it...

[Rembrant]

myrl883 wrote

Lots of things about this truck that strike me as really odd. First, it has a build date of 09/86, and it's still a bullnose, not a brick. Other than that, it's a Lariat trim level - it has all of the Lariat velour interior trim, the exterior mouldings, everything... BUT, it has no A/C, nor power windows or locks, or an automatic. It's a 302 truck with a NP435. Lariat? Really? LOL
It just seems like an oddball. Either that, or I'm not as familiar with bullnoses as I thought!

At first glance, this truck almost looks like it was intended for the Canadian market. The Lariat trim level, but minus the options like AC was not all that uncommon up here. AC was quite a luxury item in Canada back in the 1980's and earlier.

They were still building Bullnoses late into the fall in 1986 at more than one plant. I've seen the 09/86 build dates before, and I thought even 10/86, but when I look through the certification labels pictures I have saved, all I can find is an 09/86 built in Norfolk.

But you know what makes this truck an even odder oddball? The 3 digit (163) axle code. The 16 is for the 3.50 rear end, but the 3 indicates it was a Power Steering delete truck, which is REALLY odd. If it has power steering now, it was added after it was built.

Here's a link to a thread where the guy had the original invoice that showed the truck had dealer installed power steering. How funny is that?

https://www.f150forum.com/f13/axle-code-359260/

The 302/NP435/4x4 means that the truck also has a 9" rear end (and confirmed by the 3.50 gears), which was also not very common by 1986.

Quite an oddball indeed.

[myrl883]

It does indeed have a 9", which I've also never seen in a truck this new. I always believed that 1985 was the last year that axle was used.

Although commonly claimed on the interwebs, the third digit of 3 meaning p/s delete only applies to 500 series and heavier trucks. This one has factory installed power steering.


And I know everyone loves pictures! Sorry they're sideways, I couldn't rotate them on my phone.

[Rembrant]

myrl883 wrote

It does indeed have a 9", which I've also never seen in a truck this new. I always believed that 1985 was the last year that axle was used.

Although commonly claimed on the interwebs, the third digit of 3 meaning p/s delete only applies to 500 series and heavier trucks. This one has factory installed power steering.

And I know everyone loves pictures! Sorry they're sideways, I couldn't rotate them on my phone.

So what does the 3rd digit in the axle code refer to on the F150?

Somebody mentioned previously (I forget who now) that the 9" was used on F150 2wd trucks with 351 until 1986, and on F150 4x4 w/4spd trucks until 1986, and that everything else got the 8.8, but that could just be internet randomness. I've seen a couple 1986 F150's with 9" rear ends, but they also always had an NP435 too.

[myrl883]

I'd have to go upstairs and dig through the old paper catalogs to see if the information is there. In the LT catalog, it just tells you to refer to section 30 for information on what the 3rd digit means. That information wasn't included when Snap-On converted our catalogs to digital. It sucks - I hate lost information!

[Rembrant]

myrl883 wrote

I'd have to go upstairs and dig through the old paper catalogs to see if the information is there. In the LT catalog, it just tells you to refer to section 30 for information on what the 3rd digit means. That information wasn't included when Snap-On converted our catalogs to digital. It sucks - I hate lost information!

Ahh, OK, it would be interesting to know because the 3 digit codes have shown up before, and with the 3 being the third digit (on both 4x4 and 4x2 vehicles).

So the information on the 3rd digit from the Ford book that is posted here (and elsewhere) is incorrect?

[myrl883]

Not wrong per se, just included in the light truck catalog and commonly misinterpreted.

[Angelo Voltura]

I have seen exactly one 10/86 truck before. I think , not sure, but think, I have seen one 11/86 door tag before, I assume that would be from when plants were changing tooling. I would not be surprised if some of these trucks were built and sold alongside each other in their final few months. GM has done that for years.

9" and 8.8s were used interchangeably until late 86.

Looks like you got an oddball overall.

Seems like a lot of these trucks were oddballs. Ford was doing a lot of weird things in the early 80s.

[ArdWrknTrk]

My bricknose has a 10/86 build date and weighs 500 pounds more than your GVW when empty (6,723)

I think it was a VA built truck too. But the drivers window sticker is long gone, as is my rememberer.