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.
In Texas, it only matters how many people you can annoy with your truck (I.E. parking across three parking spaces, leaving clouds of black smoke, using an air horn, etc.). Size is key, looks are irrelevant.
Source: lived in rural east Texas for over a decade.
I had a 2002 F150 SuperCrew Lariat for a while with the 2V 5.4 V8. The ride was a bit bouncy, especially on concrete freeways. It could tow 8,000 pounds, but I turned out to not need that much capacity. I thought I’d be vigilant about the spark plugs, and one of them did give the warning “tick tick” noise, but it sounded for all the world like it was coming from the bottom of the exhaust manifold, not the very top of the heads where the plugs are. So it blew out a plug on the freeway heading into Bakersfield. Given my commute at the time (through empty desert subject to 115-degree temperatures in a cell service dead zone), I traded it in after getting the ejected plug fixed in favor of a 3-year-old 2015 Chevy Colorado crew cab with the 4-cylinder. I get about 7 mpg more in any situation now, but it actually feels just as fast around town or on the highway as the 5.4 (unless towing a 3,500-pound trailer, but I’ve towed like 3 times in 4 years). It also rides and handles far better, and has a shoulder belt for the center rear seat instead of only a lap belt as in the ’02 F150.
I haven’t ever seen crash test footage for the ’01-’04 SuperCrew, but I’d have to assume it’s safer than the extended cab. In the extended cab, the latches for the rear-opening door let go, allowing the roof to buckle up and the floor to buckle down, while the crew cab has a post that would hold on better, keeping the top and bottom from buckling to the same degree. Maybe it’s as safe as a Chevy Astro…?
My current truck is a 2020 F-150 Lariat and it is by far the best ruck I’ve ever owned. It does everything and does it extremely well. It replaced my 2002 F150 XLT supercab, flareside, 4.6L, manual that I owned for 18 years and loved every time I drove it. It was a fantastic truck and I resisted replacing it because it was the right size, not too bloated, was infinitely capable and almost never let me down. I say “almost” because those 4.6L engines had a fatal flaw which was they only had 4 threads holding the spark plugs in the heads. They were notorious for blowing plugs out and that’s what happened to mine. It never was the same after that until I replaced the whole engine. I ended up replacing the truck because I wanted the bluetooth, the keyless entry, the heated seats, unreal towing capacity, etc. of a modern truck but I still miss that manual and wish I had kept it.
I have a 2003 100 anniversary heritage edition I bought new! I’ve put 110k on it so far without any problems. I just recently bought a 2022 F150 Lariat, was going to sell my 03 truck privately. But after 2 months I realized I liked my old truck better. Smaller design that is easier to drive around in traffic. Had to buy a Super Crew to get sunroof that I have on my 03. Good thing is I sold my 22 for 4 grand more than I payed!
Please keep hating this generation
F-150 America, so I can continue to pick them up and sell them for pennies on the dollar.
It’s ugly. It’s got the front fascia of a similar year Toyota Camry. Terrible terrible trucks.
If anyone is harboring one of these in the PNW, hide it’s ugly un-truckness from sight.
Let the blackberry brambles cover its ugly with years of thorny untamed growth. Then when you decide to finally take your yard back, give me a call.
Matt, you are wrong. Only because I selfishly don’t want you to be right.
Great article.
I hope no one reads it.
I don’t mind the 10th-gen F-150’s looks. It looks fine. My problems with the truck are its crash safety (and lack thereof) and its godawful rustproofing. My parents bought a 1999 model in 2002; it was three years old at that point. They sold it in 2005 at age six because the frame had turned to Swiss cheese and they didn’t want to put a new one in. There’s a reason you see more of the previous generation of Ford truck around than this one, despite the newest of this generation being almost ten years newer, and that is that more of them have turned into iron oxide.
I was never a fan of this body style, but something about the taillights ignites a primal rage in my soul. From the first time I ever saw one, and every. single. time. since then, I have visualized smashing those abominations with a lead-filled ball bat. Not a regular bat, not an aluminum bat, only a weighted bat. Maybe a cast iron pipe in a pinch. I want to destroy every single taillight already installed. Then replace those and smash the replacements until there is no stock left. Exterminate them. Forever.
Nothing else instills this kind of rage in me. Not even the pop-the-pig inspired taillights on 10th-gen Civic, or the vomit-inducing lamps on the 4th-gen Prius, or the ginormous lights on the Alero that obstruct Marvin’s view of Venus.
God it feels good to get that off my chest after 25 years.
I keyword searched ‘taillight’ just so I could see if anyone else disliked specifically the rear lights as much as I do. Bingo: someone hates them possibly MORE than I do.
To me they look like an abscess appearing on its host, a horrifying zot or carbuncle about to ruin a teenager’s day. Sorry to paint such a grim image, but they look both organic as well as ill to me.
If Jason doesn’t respond to this, I will be horribly disappointed.
The prior generation F150 was available as an Eddie Bauer, so that’s a big point in its favour over the 10th gen. On the other hand, compared to modern trucks, the 10th gen is utterly refreshing (it doesn’t need a stupid little drop down in the belt line, because it’s belting was set at the proper height from the start).
I’m just gonna say it though – I know GMT800s are beloved for lasting forever and being fixable with parts you can find before you even know you need them, but they don’t look great, and the interiors are straight trash. I’m not a proper truck person, I accept that.
It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best for sure. I’m with David on this. I even got to own a 1997 Dodge Ram for a while (sold it to move overseas). No comparison, not even in the same league. And it’s not just styling. 318 magnum engine vs 4.6? 318 every time. Shoot, even 4.6 vs the previous green 302 or the legendary 300 straight six? Those were better, stronger engines, even if the numbers don’t agree, I don’t care, they weren’t rounded off and soft just like the styling of the 10th gen.
David covered most of why this is a steaming take. But to add some more just look at the lower sheet metal on the sides of the bubble50. First of all there is to much metal down there which throws off the proportions, then it flares back out which my god why why why would you do that all it does is make it look like a blob of silly putty some one threw against the floor.
I have never liked this generation of truck. When GM left the square body era, they created arguably the prettiest, cleanest, most aesthetically-pleasing truck series of the modern era. Yes, I’m partial to GMT400s. When Dodge when into the Tonka-era, they created a truck that, if not beautiful, was at least fun and unique to look at. When Ford retired the aeronose era, they….I guess fell asleep? The Super Duty trucks I suppose aren’t bad (although that’s mostly because if the 7.3…now THAT’s how you build a diesel.) , but I’ve always felt this era of F-150 looked sleepy. Or lazy. Not exactly terms you hope to describe a pickup truck. Along those lines, regular cab longbed f-150s have got to be the most strangely-proportioned trucks I’ve ever seen.
And I also hate that they discontinued the 300 inline 6 with this generation. Just like the discontinuation of the 7.3 in favor of the 6.0, ditching the 300 was just dumb. So no, this was not the best generation of F-150 by a long shot.
I like this generation F150 enough to own one (2002 Super Cab long bed 4×2) and I always saw it as an extension of the second generation Ranger introduced in 93. The biggest weakness on these is the 5.4 Triton and the launching spark plug issue is fixable with solid inserts and 20 ft lbs of torque. This is nothing compared to cam phasers and broken plugs on the 3 valve. Others must agree because my city is full of them, mostly XLT trim 4×4 Super Cab short bed or Super Crew.
I bought a 1998 F-150 STX regular cab shortbed new, in fact ordered it with 4.6 v-8 5 speed. I loved that truck, great ride, handled decent although I did add a Helwig rear sway bar. Had it for 15 years, sold it before moving out west. Being in Michigan rust belt for 15 years it got to the point where things underneath were rusting thru such as the gas tank, brake lines, exhaust manifolds. The truck looked great, but the rocker felt soft under the chip guard coating. I went from a 89 F-150 Regular Cab short bed with the 4.9 5 speed to the 98. The 89 was a decent truck, but the 98 was a bit more roomier, rode better, more power and refined truck as a daily driver. I hauled a pallet of bricks for a friend in the 89 it hardly squatted, the 98 i hauled a load of drywall and it looked like a low rider. Currently have a 18 regular cab short bed, I like the truck but it feels really big compared to the 98.
Jellybean F150? All I can say is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wb66PzljP8
reddit can add quite a bit more & funnier: https://www.reddit.com/r/regularcarreviews/comments/vuqq3y/10th_gen_ford_f150_the_official_truck_of/
I didn’t care for that gen at first, but I think it has aged incredibly well. Still love the look of the Lightning, and I think that gen’s crew cab was the perfect size (and looks phenomenal with some pre-runner fenders and big tires).
While I much prefer the entire generation from 1973 through the “aeronose,” I must admit: someone pulled up to my neighbor’s house across the street a few years ago in a late-90s-ish F150 as I was going to work, and as soon as I saw it, my instant reaction was, “Well, look at that – one of the last of the real pickup trucks before Detroit lost their goddamn minds.”
These were decent trucks, but only if you didn’t crash them. The IIHS overall rating for the 10th generation F150 was “poor,” for the minor flaw of the passenger compartment accordioning itself in crash tests. To quote their description of the aftermath: “Massive intrusion and pitching forward of the driver seat wedged the dummy into a tight space during the crash.” Yikes. I don’t want to be that dummy.
The 10th generation F150 was a death trap. For that reason alone, it is not the best F150.
In order to decide if these things aged well, I would have to be able to actually see one in the wild that has not returned to the earth as iron oxide.
At the rate these rusted, I’m surprised David doesn’t like them.
I would never argue with your opinion as to the best F-150 because it’s just that: an opinion. There is no objective best, whatever some commenters may say. I do, however, object strenuously to your reference to a German “Shepard.” True, there is a surname spelled that way, but the dog was originally bred to herd sheep and as such is, like humans with the same job, a shepherd. You may argue that the name Shepard is clearly derived from the word shepherd, and you’d be correct, but it’s irrelevant–Shepard is only correct as a proper name.
Prove you wrong? Sure. It’s steel. It’ll rot out. The current and last gen F150, being aluminum, are superior here in the midwest. There’s really not another truck I’d even consider based on that fact alone. Aluminum corrodes SO MUCH SLOWER than steel, and once your truck gets giant holes, it’s resale value is gone. Aluminum F150 is best F150.
While I grant your point about corrosion resistance, all current pickup trucks rust MY EYES.
All three of “The Big Three” American automakers have retro-styled models that sell like hotcakes, and have had for decades now. Even the 1994 “Ram Revolution” redesign was a conscious throwback to the Power Wagons of the past. Why haven’t any of them tried this with a truck since? The first one to take design cues for their next model from the roughly 1966-1990 golden age of pickup truck design will make all the moneys.
There’s a guy who reskinned a 2018 Silverado with modified 70s “square body” metal. It looks fantastic. See for yourself: https://www.motortrend.com/features/silverado-conversion/ Look at that thing and look me in the eye and tell me Chevrolet wouldn’t INSTANTLY own the new truck market if you could buy one new with a warranty at the dealership.
Pretty neat Chevy. The only way it would be better is if they painted it Ochre.
This is the primary reason I bought a Ford for my current truck.
I’m beyond tired of my trucks rusting away, it’s inconceivable to me that GM and Ram haven’t made this move as well.
What I cannot believe is that they cannot figure out a way to prevent corrosion on steel bodies. It isn’t like other makers haven’t figured this out. Much respect to Ford for making that wholesale switch to Aluminum. That was an absolutely monumental retooling, and not having to worry about corrosion period is pretty awesome. However, I do see a valid case for steel in the bed section.
Prove you wrong?
I stated the same opinion in the comments of a recent shitbox showdown.
Styling aside (the jellybean look is nobody’s favorite, and the interiors looked dated in these trucks from day one), they are, objectively, the best generation of F150. The 4.2 and 4.6 are adequate, and the 5.4 is a beast, with all three engines being dead reliable all the way up to a quarter-million miles or more with proper maintenance, and all three common issues on the two V8s are well documented and reasonably easy to deal with. The chassis underneath them is rugged and overbuilt (though, admittedly, not as overbuilt as it’s successors), and the mechanicals of this truck from bumper-to-bumper are the last to be easily serviced by a shade-tree/DIY with common tools.
They’re also suprisingly resistant to rust, and way more durable than their soft, rounded, bubbly appearance lets on.
If I’m looking for a sub-$5000 beater truck (and I am), this generation of the Ford F150 is at the top of my list, and GM is a distant second, in spite of the fact that the GM trucks from comparable years are far better looking.
Best engines? Do you like having Bluetooth sparkplugs and a folded frame? If you want a Ford buy a bricknose or aeronose, they’ll last until they rot out or you die whichever comes second.
The aeronose is awesome, but it can be a pain to keep up with all the little crap that ages out. I speak from experience as an owner of a ’94 with the inline 6. Great truck, but I am always replacing soft/plastic parts and some are becoming harder to find.
Considering you couldn’t get one with a Truck 6 it is in no way the best F-150. The Truck 6 is arguably the best engine to ever be put in a F-150 from the factory.
Sure the F-150 from the late 1990s looks alright, but if I did everything based upon looks I’d be paying more than the GDP of some countries in child support.
Matt, you’ve gone and made a damn fool of yourself. That is objectively ugliest f150 ever made and there is good reason you and only you would make this hot take. It was a flaming pile of shit when it rolled off the assembly line and took a nose dive off a cliff from there. It was not reliable, well built or stout as the truck it replaced and had such bad engines that they shot spark plugs out of the block. And that is just the beginning on the litany of issues those trucks had before they even reached the end of their generation run.
The bricknose and aeronose obs trucks were so much better in every single way. You can’t cherry pick the lightening because it was the only configuration that looked okay in that body style. Look at that crew cab short bed. That is appalling. I want to bleach my eyes and carve out the portion of my brain that remembers it exists. You need to go to your local license bureau and turn in your Texas card sir, it has been revoked for misuse.
On what planet is the 2V 4.6 or 5.4 considered unreliable?! They’re dead simple, no phasers or timing advancement, a grand total of two chains that last the life of the vehicle, easily accessed accessories that hardly ever need replacing either. They may be wider than an LS motor but once you work on one it’s actually less complicated than a pushrod motor. The rest of the drivetrain was the standard Ford AOD which went in everything and a 8.8″ or 9″ axle which GM folks still swap into their cars for some reason…
The only issue that could come up is the sparkplug ejection. This is primarily a problem for the supercharged 2v/4v motors, unless your a shadetree mechanic who never heard of a torque wrench. Even if it did occur that’s an afternoon driveway repair, albeit with a 300ish toolset.
Because the engines that came before them were better and didn’t eject spark plugs. It wasn’t just supercharged ones, it was every single one that rolled off the line.
You want dead simple go buy a 300i6. That is best f150 motor.
You want bolt on power go buy an LS.
As someone else put it have you ever seen someone do a triton swap?
No I’m putting this internet nostalgic nonsense to bed right now.
The best 5.0/302 cracks it’s block at 450ish rwhp, not even the worst modular aluminum block manages that achievement. Even in it’s best state the 5.0 made less power than the 4.6 that replaced it, all while needing a “freshen up” before 200k. If you pull a junkyard 4.6 of the same mileage it still has crosshatching in the bores. The 302 also somehow has worse chain wear than the ohc 4.6! It also had dogshit heads unless you went aftermarket which still are worse than the best factory 4.6 heads. Godsakes the best factory version of that motor was in an exploder, let that sink in. It was only considered good because the gm 305 was garbage.
The 300 is an iron pig (100 lbs heavier) that guzzles fuel while making less power than the 4.6 and being no more reliable. See the millions of 4.6s still in fleet duty today. Hint the 4.6 was also a far more successful motor with folks that plan on running the for hundreds of thousands of miles. To add insult to injury the 300 is often considered 2nd best to an amc/Chrysler product of all things.
The modulars are the unsung heroes of the v8 world. They’ve been continuously in production for the last 30 years and will likely be the last ones to be replaced. Yes the Coyote is a modular.
A 300 makes less power than a 4.6!?!?! Imagine that! an engine designed 25 years later makes more power than the older one!
Ford did no development on the 300 past a certain point. They alleviated problems like heat soak (barely) and worked to avoid detonation with the fast burn head and retarding the timing, but if they had actually done any real work to the head the 300 would have crushed the 4.6 from the get go.
And I get why they didn’t, crash testing and other factors made the 300 hard to put into a newer vehicle. Having a six cylinder beating a V8 is a no-no in any domestic manufacturer. There’s also the issue of only being able to fit the 300 in trucks and vans, whereas the mod motor was in pretty much anything bigger than a Mustang.
So it makes sense that they killed off the 300. Calling it less reliable than the 4.6, though?
Saying that a Chrysler/AMC motor is better than it? That’s fucking funny.
It might be a one off but the first guy I knew with one of these trucks (a local plumber and one of my friends father) had his 5.4 shit the bed at 30k miles (something with the valve train) so ever since then I have associated these engines with head problems.
Jesus wept, you believe that the 10th Gen F series is the best?
How have they not beaten you out of the gang there at the Autopian, yet?
Don’t get me wrong, new trucks suck in terms of looks, and the 10th gen Lightning is just fucking phenomenal. I also disagree heartily on David’s points of how good the GM and Dodges of the era were (less disagreement of the Dodge.) However the 10th gen F-series overall is just bleh.
Also, why the hell are you guys going to make up words like “aerosion” and then not use them?
David is in the right here. Not only does that gen F150 pale when compared to its contemporaries from Dodge and GM, it also does when compared to several generations before and after it; IMO Ford was moving from hit to hit starting with the 1978 square headlight 6th gen all the way through the ‘aero nose’ 9th gen – I have a soft spot for the smooth-headlight 8th gen since I owned and loved an ’89 XLT, but they’ve all proved to be classic, timeless designs.
I think the 11th and 12th gen got back to that timeless-good-looks design language, but they’re starting to lose the thread again with the angry-cyborg looking current generation trucks.
Plus, the single cab versions of those trucks have a back window that looks like some kind of prolapse that you should call a doctor about. You’ve chosen the wrong hill to die on this time, Matt.
The square lights are shit. Roundlight club 4 lyfe!
This is exactly correct, the 2 generations before and after the 10th are MUCH better looking. At best, the 10th gen was a bridge between two different styles. The Dodge and Chev trucks of the era all looked much better than the Ford.
Speaking about bad grilles, I REALLY dislike the abomination of a ‘grille’ on the F1 pictured. Chromed versions were even uglier.
As far as Fords go, my favorite look (other than ’53-’56) is the fifth generation (’67-’72). To me it says, “I’m a pickup truck. I have work to do and I don’t need a lot of useless bulk to do it. I haven’t got time for your self-image-boosting horseshit. Get out of the way.”
As for the 1997 and onward Dodge/Ram, to me it’s obvious the folks in the marketing department said, “The only way we’re going haul our trucks out of the ditch of irrelevance is to pander to the guys who doubt their own masculinity by giving them a cartoon of a big rig.”
Harley Davidson was starting to do basically the same thing then – selling outlaw cosplay to both blue- and white-collar men and making a baggerload of money from it – so I give Dodge credit for seeing it too.