FIRING ORDER
“W
hy would I buy a
pickup truck with
anything but a
V-8?”
This was recently
said to me by a reader who was incredulous
at the proliferation of^1 ⁄ 2 -ton pickup trucks with
an array of non-V-8 options. His opinion of
anything other than a V-8 was clearly less than
positive. “No six-cylinder in my truck,” he said.
And don’t even get him started on GM’s new
2.7L four-cylinder. “A four-cylinder in a fullsize
pickup? Hard pass.”
The conversation put me on yet another
trip down Memory Lane. It was spring of
1982 when I met my farmer father-in-law
for the first time. Of course, I didn’t know
he would be my father-in-law at the time. It
was my first date with his fiery red-haired
daughter, so I nervously went to his barn
for the official meet ’n’ greet. At the time
he was a dairy farmer, and he was in the
middle of evening milking. When he saw me,
he smiled, thrust out his right hand, mas-
sive and calloused, and shook my hand. My
father-in-law, as I would quickly learn, was
a kind man of few words, with an incredible
work ethic. That farm and his hard work put
food on the table for his family of six until
he “retired.” But to be clear, he never really
retired. That was just another word for flee-
ing Illinois for Florida in the fall to escape the
harsh winters, and then he was right back
“up north” planting in the spring and har-
vesting in the fall.
Like most farmers, my father-in-law put
great stock in his tractors (which were red in
color, never green, blue, or any other color)
and his pickup truck. His truck for decades
was a ’79 Ford F-250 powered by a 300ci six-
cylinder engine mated to a four-speed manual
transmission. I wish I had a photo of the truck,
but alas, I can’t find one, so here’s a descrip-
tion for your mind’s eye: regular cab, longbed,
dark brown with beige stripes. He purchased
the truck off the dealer lot in Durand, Illinois,
and it had zero options to the best of my recol-
lection. It had manual rollup windows, vinyl
flooring, and no A/C. The fact that a stripper
truck like this was on the dealer lot proves that
the late ’70s were a different time for trucks
compared to nowadays. A DMI rear bumper
and a set of tall white stock racks on the bedso he could haul livestock were the only modi-
fications he made to the truck.
My father-in-law used the heck out of that
truck. It was a tool, not a toy. Over the years
I saw that truck loaded with just about every
farm-related item you can think of. The truck
wasn’t fast, and the throw on the trans shifter
seemed to be measured in feet. Horsepower
wasn’t so hot, but torque came on relatively
low in the rpm band, and when matched with
the granny First gear in the four-speed manual
trans, the truck could pull a surprising amount
of weight. From what I remember, the ratio
between First and Second gear was a tad too
wide though, so thought had to be given before
planting it into Second gear to keep the engine
from lugging.
After a couple decades of farm work and life
in the Rustbelt, the truck was showing its age.
In the late 1990s, I drove it to work often when
my ’84 XJ was broken, and people found it
amusing that when I applied the brakes the
driver-side front turn signal illuminated. By
then the majority of the truck’s panels weren’t
straight. They resembled aluminum foil after
it’s balled up and then straightened out. Oh,
and add rust.
But here’s the thing: That bulletproof
300ci I-6 was still running strong. It wasn’t
economical on fuel and it wasn’t a house of
horsepower, but it was a reliable workhorse.
Looking back in fullsize pickup truck his-
tory, there have been a number of non-V-
offerings, and compared to modern pickup
trucks, the horsepower and torque numbers
were very low. Me? Well, I love a V-8 too, but
I have a deep respect for that ol’ 300ci I-6,
and I wonder if any of the new crop of non-
V-8 offerings will go down in the “legendary”
category of engines.
Have you owned a truck with one of the
old non-V-8 engines? Like Ford’s 300ci I-6,
Chrysler’s Slant Six, or GM’s 292ci I-6? Or, do
you have a new fullsize truck with a four- or
six-cylinder engine? If so, drop an email to
the address below and let me know what you
like(d) or dislike(d). Or, if you have no time
for anything other than a V-8, lemme know
why. And please include a high-res photo of
your rig!
—KEN BRUBAKER
[email protected]
PHOTO: KEN BRUBAKERfourwheeler.comFour- and Six-Cylinder
Engines in Fullsize
Pickups: Yes or No?
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