1996 Ford F150-Darrell C.

Darrell’s story about his 1996 Ford F150 XLT begins with a very nice 2003 Ford F250 XLT Lariat Super Duty. The F250 was fire engine red and fully loaded. It was Darrell’s dream truck, but sometimes life gets in the way. With college tuition to pay and other responsibilities, the F250 had to be sold.

Still needing a truck, Darrell began the process of finding a replacement to go to the dump and haul wood and other necessities to his camp in Maine. The truck needed to be 4WD because of the harsh winters.

After looking for quite a while, Darrell found nothing suitable for his price range. Then he saw an ad for a 1996 Ford F150 XLT 4WD with low mileage in his price range that sounded too good to be true. He called and made an appointment with the owner.

When Darrell arrived at the owner’s house, he found the truck parked under a tree whose berry-like droppings had discolored the paint. Looking underneath the truck, Darrell found that all of the shocks were rusted and the exhaust was floating because all of the hangers had rotted off. But the rest of the truck looked sound.

The owner was the son of the previous owner. His father had lived only three miles from work and didn’t like to drive the F150 in the winter. The owner explained that the previous inquiries into the F150 had only been interested in a “beater” and he couldn’t bear knowing someone was beating the pulp out of his father’s baby.

After a test drive and making sure that the newly installed Warn manual hubs functioned properly, Darrel returned to the house and mentioned that he reconditioned vehicles on the side. The owner stated that he thought Darrell would be a good owner and to come back tomorrow with the cash and it would be Darrell’s truck.

The owner left the signed title and paperwork with his wife the next day and left. He didn’t want to be there to watch someone else drive off in his father’s baby.

The truck had 22,000 miles on it after 10 years of the previous owner’s commute. In the next 10 years, Darrell put 70,000 on her. The 1996 Ford F150 XLT’s 5.0L V8 has only seen Mobil One every three thousand miles.

Darrell has had to replace the cab corners and one wheel well about five years ago. But then the rest of the truck started to deteriorate fast.

Darrell had to make a decision. Darrell’s love for the truck far outweighed the price of a replacement. Darrell started by replacing all the front bearings, axle bearings, brakes and brake line hardware. Then with the help of Dennis Gettings the bed was taken off and rust blasted and coated with SEM and POR15. New frame rails and bed rails were welded into place and also coated.
Cab corners, rear bed skirts, and front fender bottoms were all cut out and replaced with virgin steel hand-bent replacements. Both doors and all rockers were sandblasted and then coated with POR15, which was sprayed into all available channels.

Then the new parts were installed from LMC: replacement tailgate, new body side moldings, new front bumper and hood bug shield. Still to go are a new front grille, headlight bezels and new style reflector beam headlights which will house Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. Down the road, Darrell plans to replace the window and door moldings.

For now the 1996 Ford F150 XLT is looking great and runs fantastic with the three inch cat-back system and K&N filter.

“Hope I get a shot at the cover as that would make the original owner smile from above on his baby.”
-Darrell Cove