1979 Ford F-150 “Leviathan”

The Ford F-150 nameplate first appeared for the 1975 model year inside the sixth-generation F-Series that collectors call the "Dentside," named for the long horizontal crease pressed into its body sides. Ford slotted the 1975 F-150 between the F-100 and the F-250 as a heavier half-ton, and set its gross vehicle weight rating just above 6,000 pounds. That figure kept the 1975 F-150 in the heavy-duty emissions class, so it avoided the catalytic converter and unleaded-fuel requirement that hit the lighter 1975 F-100. The standard engine was the 300-cubic-inch (4.9L) inline-six, with the 302 (5.0L) Windsor V8 as the entry V8 across the run. The larger V8 options changed during the period: the 360 and 390 FE V8s through 1976, then the 351M and 400 V8s from 1977, with the 460 big-block offered across the period in two-wheel-drive trucks. Four-wheel-drive 1975-1979 F-150s used a solid Dana 44 front axle, the setup that preceded the Twin-Traction Beam introduced for 1980. The F-Series became the best-selling truck line in America for 1976, a position it held through this generation's final year of 1979.