This Track-Proven 1989 Ford F-350 Is Ready To Be Your Big-Block Toy Hauler

Work trucks don’t lead glamorous lives. They are used and abused until their value is lower than the cost of fixing what’s wrong, then they are either sold off for more work or are simply sent off to the yard. In the case of this 1989 Ford F-350 XL that is currently for sale on Hemmings.com, someone looked at an aged four-door dually that had been retired from working as a track support vehicle and decided that it would make the perfect project vehicle to refresh with a few choice upgrades added along the way.

In the parlance of enthusiasts, what you’re looking at is a “bricknose”-era (1987-’91) Ford F-350. The eighth generation of Ford’s pinnacle truck was mostly a carryover of the design that had debuted for 1980, but featured updates that included the first composite headlight assemblies on an American pickup truck, some aerodynamic smoothing, and a completely revamped interior compared to the “bull-nosed” predecessor. The eighth-gen F-series also boasted rear anti-lock brakes as standard equipment. The buying public responded happily, and millions of copies were sold.

This 460-powered 1-ton has led what would easily be a charmed life for a work truck. Patrons of Watkins Glen International might be familiar with it, though you would remember the big Ford as a red-on-red truck that was probably the truck that came to save you if you wound up off the asphalt and in need of a tow back to the pits. Given that the track is only 2.45 miles long per lap, the truck wouldn’t have racked the miles up quickly. But after thirty-odd years of work, the truck fell behind in favor of newer machines and eventually moved into private hands.

Leaving the 63,000-mile 460 and E40D automatic alone was a wise move. In fact, outside of a new rear fuel tank, tank straps, fuel pump and a new air conditioner compressor, the powertrain has been left pretty much alone. The rear axle has an Eaton Truetrac to help the 4.10:1 gear put the power down to all four driving wheels. It is the appearance side of the house where changes have been made: the truck has been resprayed in “Son Of A Gun” metallic gray with blacked-out trim and features numerous upgrades to bring the F-350 into the modern era a bit. LED lighting, a backup camera system, a custom interior plenty of sound deadening, seats and a console from a 2010 Ford truck, and an infotainment system centered around a Pioneer head unit make driving the big dually a little more comfortable.

In the era of massive trucks used as daily drivers, it is nice to see what a heavy-duty work truck used to be. Make no mistake, this F-350 is still a big crew-cab, but aside from the add-ons, this big-block Ford is still every bit as useable as a working rig as it was the day it took the drive to the track for the first time without being the monolith that new one-ton trucks are today. This F-350 just managed to land a cushy job from the start and isn’t showing the hard use you would normally expect to see. If you want a sorted hauler to tote your toy from show to show, this big, blacked-out bricknose Ford is a fantastic answer.

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