There is a strong prejudice against the 10th-generation Ford F-150 sold from 1997 to 2004 in the Unites States, based primarily on its softer and more rounded looks. This is utter nonsense. The late ’90s Ford F-150 is a fantastic design and one of the most attractive trucks ever made.
(This is another in our Prove Me Wrong series wherein we tell you the obvious truth and you, for some reason, deign to disagree.)
The internet is built for takes and this may sound like the ultimate take if you’re a BIG TOUGH FERD TRUCK guy, but I sincerely believe it. In fact, up until this morning, I wasn’t even aware there was a disgusting prejudice against the 10th-gen F-150. I was talking about how much I loved the design with David Tracy and he said, in his words: “That’s the worst F-150.”
I was shocked. David is a supreme weirdo so maybe this is just a strange David thing, I thought. Alas, here’s a thread on a Texas Aggie forum that starts with someone complaining about this generation of truck. As a Longhorn I’m legally required to point out that basic things like indoor plumbing and foods you eat with a utensil other than your unwashed hands are beyond an Aggie’s general comprehension (sorry sis). What Aggies do understand is trucks, which they call “loud mules.” What’s going on here?
The F-150 of this era is actually great and it has a unique aesthetic that I believe has aged quite well. It also has way more in common with the OG Ford F-Series than any new truck.
Let’s start with the basic, Lariat, SuperCab F-150 like the one pictured up top. Styled by Ford’s design chief Andy Jacobson as his swan song, the design does a great job at including the rounded fenders and friendly visage of the original Ford F-1s that are generally considered the first generation of the F-Series. Those trucks were not an aggressive amalgam of shiny bits and hard angles that we’re used to today. The trucks look tough but also approachable and happy.
The proportions on this single-cab XLT are also wonderful. It’s still a truck and you’ve got a short frontal end and hood that bleeds nicely into a large, open canopy. You can see the world in this F-150 and the world can see you. If you’re going to run over a postal employee on his route in one of these things it’s not gonna be by accident.
And let’s just go ahead and cheat and go straight to the F-150 Lightning with its short cab, short bed, and delightful flareside. Even the rear of these things, with their Mustang-alluding taillights, just ooze charm.
If people do not like these it is because:
- They are wrong.
- They have bad taste
- They have been trained by modern trucks to not know what a truck can look like.
[Editor’s Note: How does the first option even make sense? Isn’t that a truism? Anyway…-DT].
I’m not going to go on a rant about how modern trucks are too big and all that horseshit because we demand a lot of trucks and some of that size is just a reaction to the capabilities people desire. I will, however, rant about how modern trucks have been designed to look like the Batman evil villain Bane if Bane were making out with someone and got a surprise finger-up-the-bum and can’t decide whether or not he likes it. [Editor’s Note: Things are getting weird. -DT]
Some modern trucks, and especially the newer F-150s, were inspired by Tonka Trucks. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but a good truck should look strong while also looking like it’s a part of the family. Think of a German Shepard. A German Shepard can look strong and even fearsome while also maintaining a gentleness that makes you want to cuddle up to one. A good truck should do that!
If you think this:
Looks better than this:
I’m not the one who needs to get their eyes/priorities checked. And the trucks sold, too! In 1996 and 1997, Ford managed to sell 780,838 and 746,111 F-series, respectively. Because Ford is weird about breaking out sales numbers between different F-Series models it’s hard to say exactly that this was the most successful generation F-150 from a sales perspective, but if it isn’t it’s pretty damn close.
So, there you go. These look great. You can tell me I’m wrong below but what you’re really telling me is you have bad taste and ya basic.
David’s Take
Look at those two photos above. One’s a beautiful portrait of a nice green truck in a field, with horses in the background. The other one is a boring black color with no background and no charming animals. Clearly Matt’s stacking the deck against the newer F-150.
But let’s just move beyond that. My main qualm with the 10th-gen F-150 is: that it was so much uglier than its contemporaries. Just look at what Ram had in 1997:
Lord have mercy, if that ain’t a beautiful machine! That’s the second-gen Dodge Ram 1500, which was around from 1994 to 2002, and which in many ways revolutionized pickup truck design. It really ushered in the era of “tough” looking trucks with “big-rig”-like styling, and whether you like “tough” trucks or not, I bet you’ll agree that the second-gen Ram did it right. Oldmotors.net has a phenomenal writeup titled: “1994: The Ram Revolution.” Here are some quotes from it describing just how big of a deal this design was in the truck game:
The “miniature big rig” shape of Ram pickups is familiar today, but in 1993 it was genuinely radical. At that year’s Detroit Auto Show, Dodge’s first totally new big pickup in 21 years dropped slowly to the stage from the rafters of Cobo Hall. It landed in the public consciousness like a thunderclap.
Despite a recurrence of financial woes after the AMC acquisition, that event brought a constellation of talents – Bob Lutz, Francois Castiang, Tom Gale, and many more – together just as Chrysler switched to modern “platform team” setups for design.
Like the Dodge Viper and ZJ Jeep Grand Cherokee before it, this wildly different truck was one more symbol of Chrysler’s early-90s renaissance, a time which some ex-staffers call “The Camelot years” (roughly 1988-1995).
[…]
A full-size truck was something fairly new for him and his team – nobody at AMC or Jeep had designed a full-size pickup in decades. Veterans of the 1972 D-series/Ram program were also mostly gone – it had been 20 years.
The truck was famously inspired by Kenworths and the WW2-era power wagon, but also the mid-1950s Studebaker E-series/Transtar. It had bold fenders that suggested the separate fender look and big grilles of highway trucking, and it was big and bold in every respect.
Though the visual action was most obvious on the outside, the inside of the truck cab was also totally re-thought. Loads of storage spaces were added inside to a larger, more ergonomic overall setup .
This beautiful Dodge Ram had been out for three whole model years by the time the new F-150 showed its hideous, round face, and that’s all Ford could come up with?
Not to mention, look at the relatively beautiful GMT-400 truck Chevy was selling in 1997:
The F-150 is the least pretty of the three; even when Chevy rounded its truck a bit for 1999, the new Silverado still kept its edge over the 10th-gen F-150 in terms of styling:
And then came Ram with an updated 1500 for 2002, and it looked just as good as the second-gen! THAT THING GOT A HEMI?:
Not only was the 10th-gen F-150 the most hideous of the Big Three offerings at the time, but it was also much uglier than its now-nicely-aged successor. Look at how “clean” the 11th-gen design looks:
I will admit that I don’t actually hate the 10th-gen F-150. It’s kinda grown on me, to be honest. This work truck with the steelies? I kinda dig it?:
But I’d never say it’s the best F-150 ever. Not even close. I mean, Matt, are you seriously gonna sit there and tell me the round-nose “Triton Generation” F-150 is prettier than its predecessor, the “Aeronose”?
Though maybe Matt’s right, since he’s from Texas and thus has authority on all truck-related matters. Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
The 10th Gen looks like an 11th Gen that got left under the heat gun too long. It’s going to melt before it has a chance to rust. I applaud Ford for trying something new with truck design, but this ain’t it man. It looks like the unholy crossbreed you’d get it a 9th gen F-150 fucked a bubble era Taurus.
A quick word of advice for Bane if he is reading- If you can’t decide if you like the surprise butt stuff or not, then you probably like it. That’s just fine! Your sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of, and it doesn’t make you less of a villain to do what you like behind closed doors. Batman basically wears a gimp suit to fight crime.
Unfortunately, you’re both wrong, although DT is somewhat less wrong. The best F150 generation, the peak, the pinnacle, the zenith, was the 9th generation. Although I shouldn’t have to explain why, I’ll generously provide 2 reasons:
1.) Just look at it. I’ll wait.
2.) It housed the glorious 300 inline 6. That engine bay was a temple, a church, in worship of longevity and the almighty Torque. The 10th generation was too small and wimpy to accommodate its length.
Not a truck guy in the least, but I like Matt’s point early on that this gen has some nice callbacks to early F-series pickups but without going overboard on the retro.
There was a fair amount of this across Ford’s lineup at the time (with vehicles that had history) and I always liked it as a balance between being respectful to heritage but also simultaneously looking at least a little forward into the future design-wise.
And yeah, I own an SN95 Mustang so totally biased. I love her look b/c she has plenty of through-the-years design elements (e.g. that insane fake hood scope is right out of the early Fox body years) but it’s not slavishly retro.
I know it’s likely not a popular view, but I find that retro-element cars age better than the full-on attempts to mimic earlier designs.
Early S197 Mustangs are already starting to scream to me “hey it’s the 2000s Mustang whose design ethos is it looks like a 1960s Mustang,” leading me to wonder if in 40 years, Ford’s latest plasma-powered, AI driven Mustang will be a copy of that one…
The same year ranger looked great, the f150 is all bad.
Go look at the hideous black playskool-grade plastic surround around the back window they all had, and tell me again with a straight face that these trucks aren’t the ugliest things ever.
I agree that modern trucks are too big, and way too tall. There were the last F-150’s that were the right size. But dude they are FUGLY!
Maybe because I’m not American and perhaps don’t deserve an opinion on this, and maybe because I had a matchbox F150 in that generation when I was a kid, but I think its one of the best Ford truck designs in modern history. I’m sure its interior fell to bits quickly and was made out of the cheapest plastics imaginable, but they all were at that time.
I side with DT on this one. The 10th gen F150s have never grown on me. Maybe in a bubble they aren’t that bad, but compare them mechanically or stylistically to everything else in their era, and they were an absolute mess.
For one, the styling just hasn’t aged well; these will for ever look like a jelly bean on a pickup frame. For two, these things had all the reliability of a cheap rubber band. Fords of this era aren’t know to last long, and these were plagued with the troublesome spark-plug-shooting Triton motors and weak V6s. This was also the generation where they did away with the venerable 300ci inline six and 5.0l V8s. Reason three, I also think the interiors were a mess of cheap, hard plastic shaped like a Little-Tike’s toy. They creak and crack with age, and every one i’ve spent time in was inexplicably sticky. The fourth reason may only be a midwestern thing, but these generations of trucks rusted BAD. If the mechanical maladies didn’t get them, the frames would straight up RUST IN HALF directly behind the cabs.
Go on your local marketplace or craigslist, and count the number of these trucks for sale in running condition. Now, go look for the equivalent Rams or Chevies. At the time, Ram was still selling the 5.2l and 5.9 V8s, and while the transmissions were garbage, at least the trucks look good. Chevy/GMC had the ever-lasting 4.3l, 5.0l and 5.7l; the next generation spawned the fabled LS motors the everyone is swapping into racecars and boosting to the moon. When was the last time anyone put a Ford Triton in ANYTHING?
In short, these are trash, and you couldn’t pay me to own one. But, as always, your mileage may vary.
This is the correct take.
Whoa Whoa Whoa, these were phenomenally reliable trucks, spark plug issues come from crappy mechanics, and it’s a cheap and easy fix. These didn’t rust any worse than the Dodges or Chevys of the day and there’s still loads of these on the road. To think there are more 2nd, or even 3rd gen Dodges (probably both combined) on the road than 10th Gen F-150s is hilarious. The only Dodges left on the road from this era are Cummins powered because that’s the only powertrain that’s worth dealing with the rest of the BS that comes with a Dodge (don’t get me wrong, I love the 2nd gens but they’re few and far between). And the GMT800? Pssshhhhh please, if you can find one with any semblance of rocker panels left or a functioning tailgate latch, you’re one of dozens. Not to mention that you then have to get inside of an interior that falls apart if you breathe too hard and squeaks and rattles over even the smoothest of roads. The 11th gen F-150? We’ll the turdtastic 3 valve 5.4 killed enough of those that’s there’s 3 10th gens left for every 11th. AND THE GMT400?!?! Yeah those are fantastic trucks and will be around until the death of the earth and will then be adopted by whatever being comes after us. The 10th gen F-150s were and still are great trucks and great buys, competitive with everything in their day and just as reliable as some of the greats, people just don’t like them because they look different.
The best F150? I might be able to be convinced they were not the worst, but even that would take some work.
Wow. I’ve been slapping my hands away from the keyboard as much as possible lately because I hate to perpetuate negativity, but this one stings. I loved my ’94 F-150 and seeing the design change to a truck that
1. Looked smaller but was somehow bigger,
2. Had a headlight silhouette that was nearly indistinguishable from as Ford Escort, and
3. My G-D that awkward slab of metal between the rear wheel well and the cab on the long bed versions made me not want to be a Ford guy again.
Bad take. Bad, bad take. I mean, good for you for having it. You can hang out with the Pontiac Aztek fans and the ever-dwindling club for people who like to back into each other in Ford Pintos.
Wait, I have a 92 F-250 with the 300-6 and 4 speed manual, so *I* have the best truck, ha!
Always wish I had the 5 speed on the highway, but the 4 speed (actually 3 speed with Low) is great for beating around the farm, pulling stumps, etc…
Dreading the day I have to replace that truck
I have the f150 twin of yours. Selling it now to go get a 250 with a zf5 so I can try to make it last until I die.
I think the 10th gen F150 looks good, but then again, I drive a 2004 Tacoma that had similar front end styling.
David would have already drawn the ire of my late father, who bought a ’97 F150 specifically because he hated the Ram and all it represented, and would never buy a truck that looked like “that stupid Dodge.”
Personally, I did like the second-gen Ram – though the third gen started to look crap in the same way all DaimlerChrysler-era models started to look crap – but I liked the ’97 F150, and it’s aged into something respectable. It wears work well, like a friend’s dad who is generally happy and always in dirty t-shirts.
But here’s my scalding take – the ’99 Silverado is, without question, the worst looking truck made to that point. The Silverado was just taking what they were already selling, and making it less appealing in every single conceivable way. It also takes a ton of inspiration from the ’97 F150 while doing absolutely everything worse. The front grille also looks like it was designed by a couple going through a messy divorce – some parts look like they were on speaking terms, some don’t, and the whole thing is a mess. There have been worse trucks since – many by GM themselves – but little 14 year old Citrus found himself becoming a Ford guy – I lived in rural Sask, I had to pick one – entirely because he wouldn’t want the embarrassment of his dad driving one of those Silverados.
You left out it was the last full size Ford pick up available with a manual transmission. Which just means everything after is trash.
Last V8 with a manual
Not correct, you could get a manual in the 11th gen F150, and in the F250/350 until 2010.
The interesting thing to me is that both the Ford and the Dodge have a lingering “feeling” that I get when I see them. It is hard to explain, but both represent a very particular change in trucks and came at a particular time in my formative years. Not many cars do that, but both Ford and Dodge did so for me.
Oh, and I’ll take the Ford over the Dodge. Family was never a Mopar family and I blame Dodge for being the original ancestors of the modern brodozers.
No. Just no.
David is right, the 9th and 11th gens are far better looking than the 10th. Personally I really like the 11th, it’s a good blend of modern styling without being overdone like the more recent trucks.
Counterpoint: the rounded Tundra from 1999-2006 is the best of them all
Signed, an owner of a 2000 Tundra SR5 4.7l with a frame replaced under the recall that I will request to be buried in upon death
What? No. That’s like saying the SN95 was the best-looking Mustang, or OU812 was the best Van Halen album. Bad Matt. No cookie.
The generation previous to it, all sixteen years of it, was more durable, easier to work on, and just did truck things better than “The Blob” ever did. And it looked the part, not like some sorority-girl-friendly version of a truck.
Jeez, I’m gone for one day, and….
Exactly. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, knows it doesn’t get any better than Van Halen III.
Relevant user name
That’s an Extreme take.
I’ll take that red Chevy, thanks.
Hardibird is correct. My 1998 Beige Unicorn (as David would call it, HOLYGRAIL!) is a testament of this, Torch even got to meet it right after I bought it. It’s a proper truck, it’s got crank windows, non power mirrors, an 8 foot bed, 4×4 with an LSD in the rear, a V8, a bench seat, a 5-speed manual, factory towing package, and cruise control. It sits higher or even with brand new trucks but with more ground clearance and a lower belt line. Visibility is insanely good and I, a 5’10” adult male, can reach into the bed standing next to the truck. Even with the craptastic chinesium tires that were on it when I bought it I never got stuck in mud, sleet, snow or ice. There’s no traction control or off road modes, just a 2-speed transfer case is all it needs.
Damn, that’s a nice truck. Thank you for sharing the truth with him.
Matt, if you’re ever in the Cincinnati area, hit me up and you can take it for a drive.
hell yeah
The 2 valve 5.4 is pretty unkillable as well, although the three valve of the next generation quickly ruined that motors reputation as one of the worst engines to ever see the light of day. The Dodges were made of self destructing plastics and turn to rust, and the Chevy while also being pretty unkillable was peak GM bean counting design. I would say all three of these were peak truck as after that they all became overpriced family haulers. This makes me miss the days of the humble no frills dead ass reliable trucks you could buy CHEAP.
Send me pics? Readers wanna see this thing!
Done did!
I used to have a lot of respect for you Matt …LOL
Well, that was your first mistake.
Let me just say that all of those ridiculous Chevrolet trucks with the “double decker” grilles are simply hideous. And lazy. Its like the designers ran out of ideas and couldn’t decide what to put in the hole below the grille and headlights. Until someone said…’Let’s just put anther grille in the hole’.
And everyone stood back agreed that solved the problem and they all went to lunch.
As for the F- truck? You are all wrong, the 6th gen is by far the best looking truck ever made.
I did not think it was possible to have a take this bad.
There’s a reason Ford never used this design language again, or used it on the Super Duty, and none of its competitors ever copied it. It’s not Cybertruck ugly, but David is correct that it’s much worse than its contemporaries, and every F150 since has looked better as well.
I mean, it is a fair point that they never repeated this design again, but have you considered that they realized they’d never reach this level of perfection and so quit while they were ahead?
I’m sure that’s what the Aztec designers told themselves too.
Going by Ford design in the era, I suspect the real reason they didn’t follow it up was the ’96 Taurus, which was the point where Ford had second thoughts about their ’90s round aesthetic. The New Edge design language started to get developed around that point, and you can kind of tell what was greenlit before the Taurus failed, and after.
Also, the ’99 Silverado 100% copied many of the ideas – the weird Flareside bed especially – but made the overall package substantially worse.
And to add to your point, Ford anticipated the ’97 F-150 might be rejected by consumers, yet it sold well – while the Taurus they considered to be as revolutionary as the original, flopped. As did Ford’s larger family sedans globally with risky design attempts: Scorpio in Europe, and the 6th-gen AU Falcon down under.
I do think it was more the shift in styling themes, even if the trucks weren’t fully ‘New Edge’ the way a Focus was; plus simply leaning into the “butch” image for trucks. The 2nd gen Explorer was much more rounded than the 1st gen and continued selling quite well, but the 3rd gen got much more squared off, like the 11th gen F-150 would.
I’m not sure if I would straight up say every F150 has looked better since, but every F150 has looked better compared to its contemporaries since. I think the 10th gen looks better than the 12th or 14th, but the 12th and 14th generations look better compared to Chevy/Dodge contemporary offerings offerings (maybe not beating them, but certainly closer).
David has the crux of the argument right. The 2nd gen Ram was simply a beauty. The GMT400 and GMT800s were quite good lookers as well. And that’s why the 10th gen F150 was ugly.
I was always ambivalent about this year body style but the article does actually sway me toward liking it. The shot of the green one in the field is what persuaded me.
Ford may never have used this design language again but looking at it now, I’m realizing I might like the current Honda Ridgeline as much as I do because it reminds me of this era of non aggressive rounded corners.
I have a copy of it in my Truckport right now-a 2001 Thundra. Had the badges custom made. $60 for all 3. One of one. I’m easily amused.
This is definitely my take excepting that lazy 5.4 and the spark plug thread issues. It was the last truck that had normal step in height and load bed (2 wd). Had a decent interior, workable audio, sufficient fuel economy for the era and the ability to do all truck-y things without a single complaint. Sure, I didn’t tow, but overloaded that bed regularly. Parts were cheapish, and it was way better than my wrangler as a truck (duh), so I call it a win. The Contemporary Dodge and GMC were solid too, but I liked the seats on the ford much more for long drives.
My dad has an XLT 4WD ’99 Expedition of the same body style. I used to hate the thing, but have since grown to absolutely adore it. Way better build quality than you’d expect (massive panel gaps yes, but no squeaks and no cracks), and the thing is just a champ. Solid no frills truck. And yeah, the styling has grown on me too, although I definitely feel the F-150 fits the styling better than the Expedition. One day it’ll be mine, and it’s gonna become a fun overland rig.
Does it have the 300 inline six? No? Not the best F-150 then
My current daily is a 2 tone brown 1992 aero nose with the 300 i6 and a 5 speed manual. Perhaps I have the best F-150.
Nah, Bullnose F150 is best generation F150. Then you’ve got to go back to F100 (’53-56)
If it has a regular cab and long bed it’s at least not getting laughed out of the argument.
I had the bullnose with 4 speed and special order fuel saving rear end. It really could have used that 5th gear for closer ratios.
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes!
David is correct.
Also, you can love the way the Ferd looks all you want. But after you drive it, you’ll end up hating it just the same.