zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?
At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:09:19

Nice Price or No Dice 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat 4X2

Today’s F-150 was dubbed the “Bullnose” for the way its grille cants into the hood. This one also happens to be the model’s fanciest edition. Let’s see if that makes its price a deal, or if it’s just a load of bull.

The general consensus in the comments for last Friday’s was… meh. For whatever reason, that seems to almost always be the response CLKs engender. At just $2,900, however, our V8-powered convertible edition piqued enough interest to pick up a solid 77 percent Nice Price win. That proves just that Black Friday deals can be had.

Image for article titled At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?

Speaking of deals, have you ever stopped and asked yourself “what’s the deal with luxury pickup trucks?” They’re supposed to be built for work, not for a night on the town and two tickets to La bohème. Despite that seemingly incongruous dichotomy, trucks today can be had with pretty much every luxury accessory imaginable while still being able to flex at the job site or when called upon to tow a few tons. And we can trace much of the luxury part of the pickup experience back to the Ford F-150 XLT Lariat of the mid-1980s.

Here we have just such an example of that two-year-only luxury Lariat, a . What exactly did checking the Lariat option box get you? Well, this truck sports an extra fancy interior—or at least what Ford imagined that to be in the ‘80s—including plush velour upholstery on both the bench seat and the door cards, as well as full carpeting with extra sound-deadening beneath, a dashboard resplendent in faux wood trim. Added to that was power windows and door locks, both previously unheard of extravagances in a pickup.

Image for article titled At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?

The engine is also pretty fancy for a truck. The 5.0-liter V8 under the hood here sports Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI), a first on the Ford truck line and an important enough feature to earn its own body-side badge. Not only did the F.I. improve drivability over the carbureted edition, but it also bumped the two-barrel-equipped engine’s 133 horsepower to a more respectable 190 horses.

Backing that up is a four-speed Ford AOD automatic driving the leaf-sprung rear axle. The front suspension is comprised of Ford’s unique twin-I Beam independent setup, which will save money on camber adjustments since none are possible.

According to the ad, the truck sports a clean title and just 85,500 miles on the odo. The paint is monotone brown over the standard cab/fleetside bodywork. That’s all offset by a set of handsome (and reasonably rare) factory alloy wheels.

Image for article titled At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?

The pictures in the ad show off the truck’s best face, although, upon closer inspection in the , there are quite a few boogers on this baby. None of those seems too egregious, and the seller’s declaration of there being no major rust seems borne out in the under-side pics.

Of course, where the Lariat really shines (or, perhaps, coddles) is in the cabin, and this one looks to be in great condition. Everything appears clean and showing only minimal wear. The only significant snafu here might be the radio which looks like it was bought for $29.99 from Pep Boys. An era-correct Ford-Philco unit would be a nice change-out.

Image for article titled At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?

Other plusses noted in the ad include some undetailed recent mechanical work and Pennsylvania State safety inspection tags for the last two years. According to the seller, the truck was outside of Pennsylvania before that, and the paperwork shown in the indicates this may have originally been a California truck. That could help explain why it’s reasonably rust-free.

Could buying it be reasonably hassle-free as well? We’ll just have to see about that.

Image for article titled At $14,999, Will This 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Rope You In?

The asking price is $14,999, which the seller has recently reduced from $16,299. What do you say about that price drop? Was that enough considering the truck’s condition and kit? Or, will the seller need to keep dropping before they’ll lasso in a buyer?

You decide!

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
For $20,000, how you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm?
For $20,000, how you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm?
Aston Martin made so few of the outrageously styled Lagonda sedans it's hard to believe there still some unaccounted for. Today's Series II is claimed to have been found hiding in, of all places, a barn, but does that make its price farm fresh? A fresh Chevy Caprice cop car...
Aug 28, 2025
For $12,000, V8-powered X90, that is all
For $12,000, V8-powered X90, that is all
In October of 1947, Chuck Yeager piloted the Bell X-1 rocket plane through the sound barrier and into the history books. While not quite that fast, today's SBC-powered Suzuki X90 should be just as scary to drive, and its price may prove a substantial barrier. You may be asking yourself,...
Aug 28, 2025
For $10,500, this quattroporte isn’t that Quattroporte
For $10,500, this quattroporte isn’t that Quattroporte
There's an old maxim - practice makes perfect - that suggests it's worth doing something over and over until you finally get it right. Today's Maserati 430 is hopefully the result of following that dictum with the company' s Biturbo line. But, does it's price make it practically perfect? So...
Aug 28, 2025
For $2,999, keep waiting for that VTEC to kick in, yo!
For $2,999, keep waiting for that VTEC to kick in, yo!
There's an old saying about things difficult to categorize being neither fish nor fowl. Exemplifying that maxim, today's custom Civic is neither wholly Honda or BMW, but will you find its price is completely foul? The only thing more amazing than how Bob Ross effortlessly turned blank canvasses into works...
Aug 28, 2025
For $3,000, this EuroVan is like a Euro beach
For $3,000, this EuroVan is like a Euro beach
Remember Top Gear's ? The guys who built (un-built?) today's Eurovan Cabrio sure do — but will this topless VW's price make you say forget it? At twelve grand, yesterday's diminutive came up a little short in the vote - like 82% Crack Pipe short. But that automotive equivalent of...
Aug 28, 2025
For $7,500, you don’t have to be a superhero to have a Sidekick
For $7,500, you don’t have to be a superhero to have a Sidekick
In the 1992 movie , an asthmatic kid learns karate in the hope of meeting his hero, Chuck Norris. Today's Sidekick has an industrial diesel - which is likely pretty asthmatic as well - but will its price make it something even Chuck would kick to the side? Applying custom...
Aug 28, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved