The 7.3L Power Stroke in today’s Excursion is one of the holy grails of Ford’s big oil burners. Let’s see if this 4X4 truck’s price might have you shouting “holy smoke!”

I was saddened to see that yesterday’s found almost no friends here. We’re usually a very inclusive bunch, welcoming to pretty much every automotive community, quirk and kink. But I guess being a wannabe Ferrari that’s broken (actually needing a tow home) as well as in Hawaii, was more than we could stand. That animus was also reflected in the 75 percent No Dice loss.

Despite its obvious foibles, yesterday’s MR2 should in concept be a pretty good car for running around its Hawaiian Island home. Being a convertible is a big plus in that Pacific Island state, but so is being small in size. There’s historical evidence that being physically smaller in a geographically constrained environment has its advantages. It even has an official name — insular dwarfism — and is evidenced in the fossil record of such creatures as the Channel Island Mammoth and the ancient Homo floresiensis hominins discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores.

Texas, on the other hand, is a vast, expansive space with very few constraints either physical or geographical. As a result, the common phrase is, “Everything is bigger in Texas.”

It’s unsurprising then to find that today’s is being offered in those vast expanses of the Lone Star State. Well, it’s offered in Austin, Texas which admittedly isn’t quite as vast as some of some other areas of the state.

This Texas-sized Ford does seem the perfect beast for someplace with room to roam. After all, at one time this was the biggest E-name Ford that you could buy. Today it’s a model sought after by fans since its discontinuation, as there’s never been anything quite like it in Ford’s lineup.

This Excursion includes a big motor too. The 7.3L Power Stroke turbo diesel has long been considered a hot commodity for its power and long-term reliability. The big V8 is Ford’s riff on the Navistar T444E, offering a spacious 444 cubic inches of direct-injected displacement. In the Excursion, that massive mill makes 253 horsepower and an earth-churning 505 lb-ft of torque.

According to the ad, this one has done a solid 220,000 miles and has enjoyed new fluids as a reward for that feat. Other updates include a new steering box, refreshed brake consumables, some hoses, and the front wheel bearings. A Banks TransCommand update and engine tune help keep things fresh. The Ford 4R100 four-speed automatic is said in the ad to be a remanufactured unit, but the seller doesn’t divulge the mileage it carries. A number of other maintenance and update efforts are also noted in the ad.

The Wedgewood Blue over tan 4WD truck sits on a four-inch lift and wears a Ranch Hand bull bar up front that makes it look like an old-timey locomotive. Per the seller, the winch in the center of that is non-working. Other aesthetic issues include a few dings here and there, and way over there, plus a rear bumper that’s slightly tweaked.

Inside, the cabin looks suitably spec’d and in decent shape. In fact, the upholstery appears to be in better condition than on most Ford trucks of this age. An aftermarket double-DIN stereo mods up the dash which otherwise looks pretty stock. There are also three rows of seats, as expected.

The title is clean, but according to the seller, the truck could stand a good going over as it’s not all that clean after 20 years of use.

The present owner hopes that any future use will be under the auspices of a new owner, and to get there all that is needed is a bit of gumption and $18,500 in cash — first come, first serve as the seller notes.

What’s your take on this big Ford and that $18,500 asking? Does that seem like a fair deal for a cult-leading truck? Or, does that just prove that everything is TOO BIG in Texas?

You decide!

Austin, Texas, , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to James Mayhew for the hookup!

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