1972 Ford Stake truck

As you may or may not know, I was lucky enough to Venture to southern California in August 2006. I had the up-most pleasure in seeing many old cars, but quite a few old trucks as well. In my one week stay in lovely San Francisco, this '72 Ford was obviously still hard at work, and man did it ever show! Where I'm from here in Montreal, you would probably never see such a vehicle still in use. Not just because rust eats away at our vehicles, but because Montreal is a very hip city, (and probably too hip at times) and this old truck would be just too ugly to see for most folks. I was glad to have captured this Ford on film, as it looked like an ancient relic rolling past the more modern, but still old Mazda R-X7.
This '72 was the last year for this styling from Ford, as the design primarily used for pickups, had been around since 1967. I personally have always admired the clean styling of this generation, and feel like they have that look like they were built to last. These trucks were as usual available in a 9 or 12 foot stake bed, but our featured truck here appears to have had home made type of wood stakes. This '72 is an F-350 and is classified as a one-ton truck, and an Internet search didn't even reveal one that came close. Standard power would have come from a 300 cui. V8 with the 302 mill as optional. It's very interesting to note that 88.9 percent of all light duty Ford trucks built for '72, had V8 engines. 45.7 percent of them had power steering, while 49.9 percent had automatic trannies.
Ford trucks Built tough? This one definitely!