At $3,500, Is This 2002 Ford F-150 A Darkly Good Deal?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice F-150 looks like it’s straight out of a Mad Max movie and is claimed in its ad to have “unique performance and needs.” Let’s decide if a lower price tag is also necessary.

Ford Is Gearing Up To Make A Lot More F-150 Lightnings

There’s a very old joke about a dog that, it is claimed, can talk. The gist is that the dog can only answer questions like “What’s on the house?” to which it responds, “Roof!” If we were to ask this taking dog for its opinion on yesterday’s 1969 BMW 2800 E3, the likely response would be “Rough!” Most of us would be in agreement, as the car’s bubbly paint and worn interior trim meant a less-than-polished appearance. Owing to that appearance, few of you took a shine to the car’s $9,900 asking price. That saw a 63 percent No Dice loss as a result.

Do you ever dream of living in a totally bed-linered world? That’s a mythical place where there’s no need to worry about dinging things up or ever having to use a coaster. If that’s not heaven, then I don’t know what is.

The idea of a bed-linered everything might be a wonderful fantasy, but today’s 2002 Ford F-150 XLT offers a sizable peek into that dream world. Along with its Rhino-liner spray-tan, this Ford Four-by-Four has been raised on a lift kit and wears 37-inch tires, and has a bull bar, tow hooks, and a roof basket to make off-roading a little more practical.

According to the ad, this four-door/short-bed pickup has 252,474 miles under its old man-high belt and is not for everyone. In fact, the seller warns that the prospective new owner should be someone “with mechanical knowledge and skill to tend to its unique performance and needs.”

That somewhat cryptic caution aside, the ad provides a good bit of description, including that the truck had new brake lines and a tune just one year back. It also has a straight pipe exhaust, a set of digital gauges stepping in for the non-functional factory dials, and an aftermarket stereo with a bass box that makes the right-side rear seat only good for the legless.

The truck comes with a V8 engine and a column-shifted overdrive automatic. Unfortunately, the seller doesn’t say whether that V8 is the 230 horsepower 4.6-liter or the 260 horse 5.4. Either way, the truck should be able to get out of its own way.

Aesthetically, it’s pretty badass-looking in its textured bedliner coat and matching black trim. The goth look extends to the black-painted steel wheels. Oddly, the truck’s bed seems to be the only place where the bed liner spray neglected to reach.

The cabin, in gray mouse fur and plastics, seems inviting in the pictures, a stark contrast to the truck’s “I may kill you” exterior vibe. The title is clean, and for that “special someone” who might appreciate this truck for its unique attributes, there’s a $3,500 asking price.

What’s your take on this apocalyptic truck and that $3,500 price tag? Does that seem like a good deal to take on the end of days in style? Or is this too much of a personal statement to ask that much?

You decide!

Tampa, Florida, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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