Hi guys and gals,
Just wanted to share some info. I need to preface this with the following disclaimer. I use the internet quite heavily, have over
3,500 pages online, and started doing the internet thing back in '96, but I do go back to when jumping from 300 baud to 1200, sounded like a sure thing to melt the phone lines :-)Also, I do currently sell and ship internationally, a product which has nothing to do with trucks, Ford or otherwise. So whilst I quip, "I buy everything but clothes and food on the net", I guess it is not far from the truth.
Reflow oven, pick-and-place, and even a Komatsu D21P-5 out of Canada. So why am I posting here? Well, just to share some info, which is mostly positive.
I wanted to get a "new" truck. The VA finaly coughed up some money, and given my age, and how many miles I drive a year, it will probably be my last truck, realistically.
I don't want Lexus 4x4 with a bed. I wanted a truck, that still looks like a truck. Know whudda mean Vern? That means '97 or earlier. JMHO, but all the brands went to the "Dying Salmon Look" in '99 and later. Again, JMHO. I wanted a '97 at the latest, for my 'last truck'.
Also, had to have the 7.3 PS, 4x4, CCLB and XLT minimum. Pretty tall order, ehh?
So after about four months of seeing all those marvels from texas on evilbay, I clicked on the Ford direct link, and lots of other alternatives popped up. I agree, that the Ford internet stuff still sucks pretty bad, but the ford direct thing did show some gold in the pan. This I can tell you. If you find a piece of gold, you better jump on it.
Olympia. '97 F350 PS 4X4 CCLB 30K miles, asking 27K. Two buyers, agents went to closer, one buyer got it for 30K. Now, those buyers were there, that is physically at the dealer.
I was not. I pulled up a link, with ZIP for pictures, and called the dealer. They had taken pics, but the truck was only on the lot for one day, and hadn't gotten around to putting them up. They emailed them to me, and I bought it. It was delivered two nights ago, and it is immaculate. $19K, 85k miles.
F350, PSD, 4x4 CCLB XLT. Now for most dealers, the internet thing is pretty new. After all, we are talking about a huge chuck of change here. The dealer I dealt with, basically prices their stuff on the internet, at a price less than their "on-lot" price. In this case, it was $1,000 less.
I am absolutely thrilled with the truck. Getting it here however, was another matter. Stick with me on this. There must be 5,000 links for car-carriers/brokers, that, IMHO, don't even own a pickup truck, let alone a car carrier. There is a rath of horror stories on the net, about auto-transport brokers. My cashiers check was in Chehalis on 31 Dec, and I got delivery two nights ago (14th). My first quote for shipping was 1,200, the second was 800, and the company that actually delivered (within two days of possesion), charged $460.
Now, your mileage may vary on this stuff, but if you harbor my sentiments regarding the "dying salmon" look of '99's and up, there are some '97 nuggets out there, and I hope you are as satisified as I am with an online used buy.
Dealers don't keep marginal trade-ins on their lot .. they wholsale them to the mom-n-pops. For us "older farts", the 97's are in demand, at least here in califoricate. One caveate though, if you stomp on one of these puppies and go back 40 years, you better be at least 57
Jon