Ford F-Series Part I - From the beginning (1948) to 1980

July 9th, 2007 by Shenron

The Ford F-Series is Ford’s full size pickup truck line, with various sub-models that range in power and size. First entering production in 1948 the F series has proven to be one of the longest lasting trucks ever made; now nearly being sixty years old in age. The first generation of Ford F-Series trucks were comprised of the FX numbering system, where X was a number between 1 and 6. The F’s started at one, and topped out ant the huge F-6 which was rated at higher than one and a half tons. It was not until later in 1953 that ford restructured its numbering system and introduced the F100’s. In fact the numbering went from 100 to 900, but it skipped a few numbers. The Ford F-Series 1953 numbering system is as follows: 100, 110, 250, 260, 350, 360, 500, and 900.

The 1’s rated as 1/2 ton, the 2’s were 3/4, the 3’s were a ton, and the last two were higher than that. The Ford F-Series next generation lasted just three years, and had the same numbering system until it reached the 500’s. 500 was a 1 and a half ton, 510 was the same but with less GVWR - the 900 had been dropped from the line. The next gen, the fourth, saw no change in this numbering scheme except for the 100 series being renumbered as 100, 101, and 102 - with the same happening to the 500’s. Seems like a bunch of numbers all convoluted in a mess that’s harder to keep up with than a pack of jackalopes. Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse - ford springs generation five on us with the same numbering scheme up to 501, and then adds 600, 700, 750, and 800 just to shake everyone up a bit. Six came in seventy three, with the totally renumbered system. The F-100 Ford F-Series was still there, but then came what is now today the most popular of them all, the F-150, followed by the Ford F-Series F-250, 350, 600, 700, 750, and 800.

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