• In 1984 Ford had departed from its traditional farm customers.rusty trucks in an old farm yard. image by Tom Oliveira from Fotolia.com
  
  The 1984 Ford F-series were developed during the middle of the seventh generation of Ford Pickup trucks. In 1980, the seventh generation underwent another redesign. The body became squarer and certain models ceased to exist such as the F-100, which left the F-150 as the base model. For the most part, Ford kept its line of V8s while experimenting with the V6 line up in search of better fuel economy.
  
  

The Body

• Simple lines and a square body was the key design of the Ford F-series. The hood was slanted to give the truck a more aerodynamic design. The rounded crowned hood was long gone. The grill was chromed and had a large rectangular grid with a less cluttered look. The head lights were squared. Styleside and flareside, which came about in the 1960s, still existed. In the styleside the wheel wells were in the truck bed and the flareside had the wheel well outside the bed and the bed curved. The F-series during this time had a 1/2-ton F-150, 3/4-ton F-250 and the one-ton F-350.
  
  

Engine Choices

• Engine choices available for the F-series continued to be numerous with the reappearance of the 460-cubic inch V8 coming back in the previous year. Ford targeted fuel economy in 1984 so the base engine was the V-6, 4.9-liter, 300-cubic inch straight six engine. The 300 engine had 170 horsepower at 3,600 rpm with a torque rating of 283 foot-pounds at 1,900 rpm. The in-line six had a compression rating of 8.0:1. For more horsepower, the 460-cubic inch V8 was an option. The 460 big bloc was rated at 245 horsepower. Ford offered two other V8s which included the Windsor 302 and 351. The 302 Windsor 5.0 liter had an output of 130 horsepower and the 351 offered Ford trucks 150 horsepower from 1983 until phased out in 1985.
  
  

Features

• The 1984 F-series offered the following four trim lines during this year: base, XL, XLT and XLT Lariat -- with the Lariat being the high end; 1984 models also had the option of an extended cab and a crew cab. In addition, customers could elect to have a short bed or a long bed. All engines in 1984 had an option of either manual or automatic transmission. Another option available was four-wheel drive with the F-150.