My wife and I just made our first "Ford" purchase... I've been a MOPAR person (can I say that here?) for all of my life, raised on a Hemi diet since 1971, and about a dozen 50's Chryslers that I shamefully sold.

However, we needed a truck and were able to pick up a '68 F-250 Camper Special, in fairly good condition. All I've done is drive it home and I'm sure I'll have questions for all the seasoned Ford enthusiasts posting here, as I get into this new rig. It's been garaged all it's life, with about 111,000 miles on the odometer. (Shows 11,000, but was told by a trusted source that it turned over only once). The engine is the original 360, stroked to 390 ci. (or so I'm told). I'm not sure what the differential ratio is, but it seems like a higher ratio, with the engine winding about 2500 rpm at 60 mph. (Maybe that's normal). Minimal rust, great interior... and between making the purchase and driving home, I've already received two complements saying... "cool truck!" And that was only from those who could say something... all the others on the road just smiled.

I'll try to get some pictures in the AM, with better lighting. Thank you for the forum and all the Ford history represented here. I look forward to learning and sharing. .

CaptainJRS

 

Welcome to the forum. I look forward to seeing a few pictures...

Pat

 

Thank you Pat

 

Welcome aboard, Captain! Mine's a '68 CS as well.

You've come to the right place for help. I joined in 2014 and I've leaned a lot here.

Good luck with your first Ford. Post some pics when you can.

Cheers!

 

Welcome to the forum!! I have a 68 Also! But it's an F100. These are awesome trucks, and will serve you well.

 

Dentless beauty

One Chevy, one Chrysler, one new (to me) Ford

 

That's a really nice one. Congrats on the purchase!

 

When we looked at trucks, (after much prayer!), and one actual day of looking, instead of going with a newer "something," we found this '68 Ford and I figured it would NOT lose its value. That was an important factor, at least for me. When we made the purchase, it was about a 2 hr. drive to the private owner's city. He was receiving multiple texts from interested parties, both before we arrived, and during our chat. Before we were able to close the deal, the seller received an additional phone call in front of me, and I told him to tell the caller; "it's already sold." In my mind, it had been sold to us, the night before, as long as I would be able to arrive before anyone else.

As is visible in the picture, the wheels are not stock. I'm not sure if that decreases the trucks value or not. It also has exhaust headers, and a stroked (original) engine block. Again, not sure if that'll decrease its value. Just looked under the air cleaner and found that this has a 2bbl carb. I'm wondering if there was a 4bbl option from the factory... I'd like to consider a 4bbl. Has anyone done this swap and if so, what was the result?

 

That's a beautiful truck! What an awesome find! Being a 390 with headers. If you put a 4bbl. on it, it will have no problem making over 400hp. So it is definitely a good swap. And little things like that or the wheels will really not hurt the value at all. These trucks will hold their value no matter what!
And with just a few mods. it can probably make more power than most MOPARs!

 

Good looking truck! Congrats!

 

Very nice truck. My 70 f250 camp spec came with 3.73 gear. Dissecting your VIN should tell you what it came with in the rear end unless axle was swapped. Also, the trucks all came with 2bbl carbs but you can swap intake and carb. I swapped intake and carb on my 390 which came out of my 70 but its getting transplanted into my 72 f250 4x4.

 

Nice truck.
I think you might enjoy one of these reports: https://www.martiauto.com/index.cfm
Well worth it.

 

Thank you for the recommendation... I've already begun my research.

 

I've been able to drive a fair number of miles (in town and freeway) in our "new" '68 F250 'Camper Special... runs great and is fairly loud... Prior to our purchase, previous owner had headers installed with duel exhaust, along with the 360ci being stroked to 390. It still has the 2bbl carb. I'm making a list of minor repairs; high beam switch replacement, headlights, wipers, possibly a 4bbl carb. It has the 3 speed auto trans.

Now to the main question; When looking at the VIN, all I have for the "axle code" is "G," then there's a "24" under "loading Trans." From this, I'm unable to determine the differential ratio, even with the shop manual explaining the VIN designators. The numbers don't match the shop manual that came with the truck (68 Ford Truck). In any case, it feels/sounds like the engine is revving high, even at 60 mph. The red line is about 3000 rpm, and I'm not hitting that yet at 60, but would do so at 70. I'm guessing there's a 4.XX Dana 60 differential. Has anyone swapped out the gears to a different ratio (maybe 3.XX?) to improve the RPM's at freeway speeds? If so, what's a good ratio to shoot for and did it help? I'll never put a camper on it and I'm not worried about low end torque. I just don't want to hear the engine winding so high when doing 60. Thoughts? Thank you in advance! CaptainJRS

 

Actually it is G-automatic; 24- Dana 60 4.10. You can go down to 3.73, but IIRC there is a carrier split at this this point, which means to go higher, you must get a new carrier. You can then go to 3.54 and 3.31 which is very rare.
https://www.fordification.com/tech/VIN68.htm